I am reviewing the LG Optimus G 4G Android Phone (Sprint).
First off, I upgraded from the HTC EVO 4G which I had from its release. Great phone, and in my opinion, this made for a great upgrade. So why only 4-stars and not 5? If everything got 5-stars then nothing would be exceptional would it? It is just that, a great smartphone, not an exceptional smartphone. That said, after owning it for a couple of weeks I thought I'd share my preliminary observations.
IN THE HAND:
Initially I was apprehensive about any phone with such a large display but I am WAY over that now. For reference, I am a male and I wear Adult-Large sized gloves. Though I think my fingers are a little on the stubby side the phone fits well in my palm. As a righty I can reach the power button with my thumb and volume controls pretty easily with my index finger. I really like the flat sides as opposed to the smooth rounded/curved sides of my wife's GS3. In contrast, my wife does not like the flat, sharp edges of the OG and much prefers the feel of the GS3. To each his/her own. Her seat-of-the-pants observation is that the OG is bigger to her. I think because it has flat sides you have to curl your finger further around the phone to grasp it and maybe that is why she thinks it is bigger than her GS3. From a technical standpoint it has slightly smaller dimensions.
WEIGHT:
If anyone has been using the EVO 4G then you know it is a hefty phone. I liked that about it. It felt heavy in my hand and that gave it a quality feel you don't get from the featherweights they market these days. Don't get me wrong, I like that the OG is lighter than the EVO, but not nearly as light as the GS3 so it still feels substantial in my hands. Amazing what a difference a few tenths of an ounce can make. And the quality of the phone is not only noticeable in its feel but its visual appeal as well (you can Google OG reviews for more on that subject matter). I'll just say that this does not look like a cheap, `plasticky' phone. Not that it should matter, but I like that it has a very high quality, high end look to it.
SCREEN:
Earlier I mentioned it has flat sides and sharp edges. The four corners are well rounded but the front surface is at a right angle to the edge of the glass/case, and to a lesser degree the same on the back. It is finished with a nice chrome trimmed edge when viewed face on. This is not sharp in the sense that it can cut you, but it is definitely not a gently rounded and smooth surface transition like the GS3. This will be great for edge-to-edge screen protectors. The screen is very bright, and easy for me to read. So bright in fact I actually find it more comfortable when dialed down to the preset 63% brightness with auto-dim enabled. Outside in bright sunlight it is very viewable even at this setting. That is a pleasant upgrade from the EVO which always washed out in bright sunlight.
TOUCH:
The touch screen is something I am still getting used to. I don't know if it is because I had an anti-glare/anti-fingerprint screen protector on my EVO, but the OG glass surface is soooooo slick. I sometimes have to make multiple attempts to `press' or `tap' a button because I end up moving the screen ever so slightly, enough to make the phone think I am swiping and not tapping; kind of annoying that I have to `think' about the tapping gesture rather than just doing it, all to be sure as not to move the screen when what I want is a press or tap instead. Guess it is something you get used to doing over time, like swipe (and no, I am not feeble handed or whatnot... I have plenty of dexterity in my fingers). Like I mentioned earlier, I kinda have stubby fingers so for me it requires more effort to reach across the phone with my thumb (4.7" inches of display is a lot of real estate). Single handed texting is somewhat a challenge. It is also just as difficult trying to reach a button or key on the near side of the thumb. If the phone were narrower I could just shift it around in my hand to make it easier to get to the near side buttons, but with its size it becomes less stable in hand as I can't grip it as securely doing so. I'm sure I'll get better at it over time.
PERFORMANCE:
Ok, so this phone smokes! Especially in comparison to my EVO. I had to go back to my EVO looking for a file since I didn't just do a full copy over to the new phone. While scrolling the screen on the EVO I kept thinking that it had some busy process running in the background. I had all radios turned off and as well no sync'ing. No other tools running, just Astro file viewer. I realized that the OG was just that much smoother when scrolling. Looked like a stuttering effect on the EVO while it was as smooth as glass on the OG. Same for any animation and transition. Soooooo fast on the OG. Apps literally just POP open without ANY delay. For benchmarks you can Google it. I am just stating my observations here. Browsing the internet was also soooooo much faster on the same home wi-fi network. Incredible what a quad-core processor and graphics accelerator can do. I don't play many games but the ones I had ran very smoothly and loaded nearly instantaneously. Again, no scientific measurements were taken just side-by-side comparison and a "seat-of-the-pants" experience. I'd say this phone is plenty fast for anything most of us plan to do with our phones. Besides, what's faster? Nothing as of this writing. Oh, and all the extra RAM and ROM make for a happy Me. I had lots of moments when I had delete stuff off my EVO to free up space. Did you know your email stops sync'ing when you get the low storage space warning?! I found out the hard way.
BATTERY:
I'll wrap it up with this. I have had a pretty good experience so far with the battery. On a normal day's use it gets unplugged around 6:30am and plugged in around 11:30pm. I still have above 40% capacity remaining. That's with nominal usage over 30min of voice calls, over 1hr of having the screen on at 63%, Wi-Fi & GPS, and background sync on all day. Under heavy usage over the same period I was just under 30% remaining. For me heavy was a little over 1hr of voice calls, 3hrs of screen time, and lots of web browsing over Wi-Fi, and the GPS and sync was also on. Those are just my numbers so your mileage may vary.
SUMMARY:
Long write up short...I am very pleased with this phone. I like it better than my wife's SG3 on its physical merits alone. The SG3 UI is nicer I will admit, as the OG UI leaves something to be desired, but there's an app for that. ;-) I really like HTC's Sense UI so in comparison the OG UI is very bland. ICS makes up for it though by providing plenty of eye candy in the form of transitional effects. Over all, if you can agree with anything I said above then you may like this phone as well...or not.
My 2¢
******* UPDATE Jan 04, 2013 ******
It has been a little over a month or so since I got this phone and I can say I believe I made the right choice for me. A couple of additional items I would share are...
VIBRATE:
If anything could be done better it should be the vibrate feature of the phone. It is sooooo subtle. The vibration is more like a high frequency buzzing, and not very "strong(?)". I've tried the "long continuous" vibrate, the "short multiple" vibrates (more than one pattern and duration), and everything in between and it really makes no difference. More often than not if I am walking and the phone is in my pant pocket I will not even notice the vibration. If it weren't for the fact that the ringer is so loud I would miss most calls entirely. Even in my jean pockets which hold the phone closer to my leg I don't notice the vibrate when engaged in activity. When I am sitting sure I notice it, but if you like to leave your phone on vibrate you will have to make a concerted effort to feel for a vibration while walking around. You ladies that would carry it in your purse/wallet...forget about it. You would not know it is vibrating unless it is against something that causes it to make some chatter. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it is useless, I am just saying it is not very pronounced. Some may like it this way. I just wish it were more like the rumple of a Harley, than the whine of a crotch-rocket.
BATTERY UPDATE:
I've had no problems with battery life. I am still getting a full day's charge (unplug around 6:30a and plug in around 10:30p or so). Some may do more with their phones and others less, so your mileage may vary.
Don't know how to categorize this last comment but an irksome thing that happens to me is that as I put the phone into my pocket I sometimes either hit the standby button with with my thumb or the cusp of my pocket thus turning the phone on as I put it into my pocket. I've "butt dialed" a person or two because of this and on a couple occasions found that my phone was browsing the web for shoes! Anyways, I'm getting better at not doing that but it still happens from time to time, and I either notice it because the phone is warm in my pocket or after I pull it out.
Either way, none of these have detracted from the phone for me. I am still very pleased with my decision and eagerly look forward to a Jelly-bean update!
Another 2¢
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