Does the LG Optimus One P500 (or maybe any LG phone) play nicely with Mac OSX?

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xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#89324 31-Aug-2011 01:01

Hi all.

I'm seriously considering getting a P500, but something nobody I've asked, including LG and Telecom, has been able to answer is whether I'll be able to connect the phone to my G5 iMac under 10.4.11 via USB and do anything useful, in particular, transfer files and perform software updates. (Bluetooth is right out apparently, even though both devices nominally support it: the channel would be there but there'd be nobody home at the LG end.)

Several things give me cause for concern about this:
- software updates, and even things like manual PDF downloads from the LG website first require downloading of a Windows-only application, suggesting a significant degree of Apple-aversion by LG (or perhaps an assumption that everybody has an Intel Mac, and everybody has purchased Windows for it);
- when I did find a copy of the manual, it makes reference only to connection to a PC, and the use of Windows-only software, reinforcing that view;
- I can't find anything on the net related to the use of this phone with any Apple computer, whether successful or not.

Anyone know what the deal is?

If I go ahead with this phone, should it be under the assumption that I will never be able to transfer files between it and my iMac* or update the phone software? (And Gingerbread is coming "real soon now"!)

Is there an fundamental conflict at some level between LG and Apple that is so well known by everyone except me that nobody bothers to mention it, so I'm busily flogging a dead horse while everyone is quietly laughing at my naivety?

And, just to head off some possible questions and suggestions:
- I don't have a PC, or ready access to one, and my iMac won't run Windows, nor would I ever want either.
- An iPhone is beyond my budget; and I'm really only looking at Android as an alternative.
- the other contending phone is the much cheaper Huawei X1: at $170, I don't mind so much if things don't work.

* = I'm seriously going to try accessing shared SMB volumes from whichever Android phone I get, so that may resolve the file transfer part of it, but not the software update part. Are things like FTP support available on the phone?

xarqi

727 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

#514385 31-Aug-2011 12:07

Update:
I just got off the phone from talking to a sensible person at LG support (in contrast to whoever it was that answered my email enquiries).

Short answer: No.

LG products, if they may require connection to a computer, require a Window platform. The same goes for their downloadable support applications. Numerous requests for extended support have been received by them and sent up the management chain, but there has never been a micron of movement.

The agent also said that the issue may be worse than I thought. It was said that often, people call for support for an issue and the response is "Have you applied the latest software update?".

So it won't just be for the rare time that, for example, a new version of Android comes out, but every time I call for support (but who knows how often that would be?).

One theoretical alternative is to find a friend with a Windows box that I could use when necessary, but that is an inconvenience for both parties, and I am intentionally unfamiliar with Windows so would likely find the experience very frustrating. Cryptic messages that a seasoned user would know were entirely benign would delay things for hours or days while I found out that they meant nothing, etc.

Another is to ask Telecom or LG to do it for me, but that would likely incur a cost and result in my being without the phone for a time.

Bottom line: LG and Apple - not a happy relationship.

So - is it a deal-breaker for me?
I haven't decided yet, but it's taken a lot of the gloss off the idea of a P500.

Of course this does not mean that I'd fare any better with the Huawei, but I could be disappointed for a much lower outlay! By the time my frustration becomes unbearable, maybe LG will have had a change of policy.

Nope - I'll vote with my wallet. No LG phone for me I think.

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1306
Inactive user

#514399 31-Aug-2011 12:21

shorter answer with less BS is "depends on what you want to do"

Android phones, in general, show up as a removable drive. Not sure on mac, but does in Linux.
And to run a custom ROM, you copy to SD and run from that.
Obviously LG software doesn't run on a mac, but then again, it doesn't work properly on windows either... hence all the bricks you read about.

You want to "sync", use your google account, works through wifi, too esy.

n4

959 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 74

#514412 31-Aug-2011 12:32

blakamin: shorter answer with less BS is "depends on what you want to do"

Android phones, in general, show up as a removable drive. Not sure on mac, but does in Linux.
And to run a custom ROM, you copy to SD and run from that.
Obviously LG software doesn't run on a mac, but then again, it doesn't work properly on windows either... hence all the bricks you read about.

You want to "sync", use your google account, works through wifi, too esy.

+1. Never use the PC sync software, do everything via USB connection as a removeable drive. However, not sure if I needed the drivers in the PC sync software to talk to the phone via USB as a removeable drive? Guess not if it works on Linux.

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