Review: LG Optimus S
Android has plenty of social networking options available, but even with the Sprint ID Socially Connected pack loaded, I was disappointed by how little social networking was integrated into the phone. The Socially Connected pack offers Facebook and Twitter, sort of. The Facebook app is actually a shortcut to download the app from the App Market. In fact, the app icon looks like Facebook, but says "Launcher" beneath, and stays that way until you remove it from the desktop, download Facebook from the Market and replace the icon with the real app. Instead of Twitter, you get TweetCaster by Handmark. TweetCaster is not a bad Twitter app, but it doesn't offer the contact sync of the official Twitter app, so even if you keep TweetCaster, you'll probably want to download the real thing as well. These are all free downloads, so I wonder why they don't come standard with the Socially Connected ID pack.
The Socially Connected pack places shortcuts for Facebook and Gowalla on your first homescreen panel. On another panel, you get icons for Pandora and Shazam, which are music apps, not really social networking. Sprint should have taken cues from Motorola, which bundles its Motoblur phones with plenty of useful widgets and tools to keep up with all your social networks. Instead, a majority of the apps that come with the Socially Connected pack have nothing whatever to do with social networking.
