Have you ever gotten a new phone and thought, "wow this phone makes my other phones seem so dated"? I can say that this is that phone, the LG G2 is AMAZING...funny thing is, my last two phones were the HTC One (AT&T) and the iPhone 5 (AT&T). I am that guy who buys the latest and greatest when I think it will make a difference in my life and I justify my phone purchases with the excuse that my phone is always on me(and I used to be an Apple fanboy and I have owned every iPhone). I use it for work, games, news, remote for my tv, sports, email, camera...Oh yeah, I use it to make phone calls too. Anyways, I haven't been in love with a phone like this since I went to the original iPhone. I hope you find my review helpful and beneficial to your purchase regardless if you buy one or not.
The Bad Let's just get this out of the way.
The case is a glossy plastic. The phone is a finger print magnet. I am slightly self conscious when I let people see the G2I feel like I have very dirty hands and I'm a chemist which means I am washing my hands regularly. The phone is a dirt and oil magnet.
The other downside is no expandable memory but I have a hard time using 32gb of memory anyways so Im not complaining but some of you out there might want more memory.
The GOOD Get ready for a long list. I will do my best to put what is important first just in case I bore you and you want to move on.
Battery The G2 has the longest battery life of any phone I've used. I regularly use my phone for a multitude of tasks. With my iPhone 5 and HTC One I usually could make it through the day without a recharge, but without a doubt I would give those phones a full charge when I slept. It has been 4 days since I have owned the G2 and have only charged it over night twice. All I can say is "WOW". Finally a smart phone with a battery that makes sense.
Software The LG software is really well thought out and not gimmicky like the Galaxy S4. My favorite feature is the double tap of the screen when the phone is in sleep mode which turns it on, and this feature also works to turn the phone off. No more need to find some long and flat power button on the top of the phone which at times isn't easy to find on the phones because at night you don't know whether your phone is upside down or not. I know it isn't a huge deal to find the power button, but double tapping anywhere on the screen to turn it off/on is a very useful feature. And no it doesn't accidentally turn on in my pocket. The software can detect random touches from the double tap. Other features of the software are a long press of the volume button brings up the camera and it loads within seconds or the notepad for quick notes. I am finding more useful software features as I move along, for example today for my meeting reminder which popped up 15 minutes before the start, a "silent mode" option popped up along and I clicked it and my phone went silent for the scheduled time of the meeting. No more forgetting to turn my phone to silent during meetings. Also when I am in an app and I receive a text, a little box pops up with the text and it has a reply box so I can actually reply to texts without exiting the app I'm currently using. If I don't reply the box disappears within a few seconds just like a notification on the other phones and the app in use just runs like nothing happened. With the large screen the pop up box is non obtrusive. If this was an iPhone the box would take up a significant part of the screen but on the G2 it's just like a notification popping up on any other phone. Again it's a simple feature but it makes sense and I love it. Other than that the phone is running Android 4.2.2 which is really smooth and pleasant. In comparison to iOS6 this makes Apple's software seem dated and unimaginative and compared to the HTC One software it is refined and the One is also running Android 4.1.2.
Screen Holy cow this screen is the best screen I have ever laid eyes on. The screen is huge and the bezel around the screen is tiny. Whites are white, blacks are black, colors aren't overly saturated and the resolution is on par with the best of the best. Simply put, this is the best screen of the top phones, iPhone, Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. When I show it off to my stubborn iPhone friends all they say is wow it's so clear and big. It's almost as if I'm holding a mini HD TV in my hand.
Sound For those audiophiles out there, this phone does allow for 24 bit music and it really does sound fantastic. With headphones in this phone blows the competition out of the water and for the record I am an audiophile too. With the speaker the phone is loud, definitely louder than the iPhone 5 but not as loud and clear as the HTC One. In this comparison, the HTC One wins for the speakers but the G2 is no slouch and I find myself listening to my music on the speaker frequently.
Camera Again, best camera of the bunch. I've read about the Nokia having a 41 megapixel sensor which Im sure rocks, but the G2 compared to the HTC One and the iPhone 5 wins hands down. I have a black dog and cat and whenever I took pictures with the iPhone 5 they came out looking like black shadows with eyes. It was disappointing to have such cute animals misrepresented. The HTC One definitely gets the colors right on pictures but the zoom lacked because it only has a 4 megapixel camera. With displays as clear as they are now, 4 megapixel pictures are easily pixelated when you zoom in. The G2 has a camera to replace all point and shoot cameras. My dog and cat are visible! The camera is fast even in low light and takes fantastic pictures.
Performance The G2 has a quad core snapdragon 800 2.3 ghz processor which is the fastest available in all smartphones. In normal people language...it's blazing fast and buttery smooth. I hate to say this but the iPhone and HTC one seem laggy. And I hate to say that because in real world use those phones are more than adequate, but once I go back and play with the HTC One and iPhone5 I think," man these phones are slow." Using the app manager I frequently see 5-10 programs open and running but none of that affects the performance.
Build The phone is plastic but not cheap feeling like the Galaxy S4. The G2's phone back is not removable so it doesn't feel flimsy like the Galaxy S4. It also has a rounded back which has a very nice feel in your hand similar to the HTC One but better. The HTC One has straight edges vs the G2's rounded edges and it is more comfortable to hold the G2. I loved the aluminum on the HTC One and the iPhone 5 but the edges used to scratch and dent from normal usage which got annoying quickly. I truly appreciate the G2's build quality and attention to detail even though it doesn't use aluminum it definitely has a premium feel in a comfortable package.
Verdict I honestly thought we have reached a point with hardware where there really won't be much innovation anymore because everything has become so fast, high resolution, etc. that the next innovation wave would be in software. Boy was I wrong and pleasantly so. Moving the volume buttons to the back makes perfect sense. With phones getting larger it doesnt really make sense to have the volume buttons on the side. You need to reach for the buttons vs on the G2 the buttons are where your fingers are naturally which makes turning the volume up and down rather easy. No more accidentally bumping the volume buttons on the side too. And the screen with minimal borders is gorgeous. I have used the Galaxy Note II and the a few of the other phablets and they are just too big. LG fit a huge screen into a minimal package I can truly say it is phenomenal. And the best part of this phone...I can see my dog and cat! Yes I adore them and love them and am always taking pictures of them to send to friends and family. There has not been one person that I have showed the phone off to who wasn't amazed by it and getting an iPhone user to be amazed by a Droid phone is pretty freaking rare.
For once in a long time, I can say that this phone will last me at least a year without me getting the urge to upgrade and that's saying a lot. I was the guy who waited in line for 12 hours to get the 3g and 3gs. I can without a doubt recommend this phone to all smartphone users and if you do get it I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Update 9/22/2013 I love this phone more and more each day. It charges really quickly. When I get actual numbers on speed to charge to 100% I will post them.
Update 9/26/2013 Yesterday I woke up to LG's native email app crashing continuously even after a restart. I deleted my email accounts and it still was happening so I did a factory reset which eliminated the problem. I then emailed LG's customer service to see if they know about this and I got a good understanding of how their customer service works and quite frankly it is terrible compared to the competition. The phone itself still commands 5 stars but customer service is no better than 1 star and here is why: 1. They asked for proof of purchase to validate that I bought the phone within the last year (the phone hasn't even been out more than two weeks...really?) 2. They didn't answer my question, the reply was I may need to send the phone in 3. Sending the phone in was my responsibility, they don't send a prepaid package like the competitors 3. 5-7 days until I would get my device back. So if you account for shipping I could be without a phone for two weeks (LG should know better most people can't go more than a day without their smartphones .
If you compare Apple's customer service, they have stores that you can walk into (with an appointment) and get your phone swapped out with in minutes. Their reps also can help solve problems like frequent app crashing and it's all included with their 12 month warranty. If you don't live close to a store Apple will mail you a box and it will have priority shipping. You can get your phone replaced within a couple days. Sony doesn't have in store replacements like Apple, but they do ship boxes to send your device in also with priority speed.
If you are accustomed to Apple's customer service or another company's that you like, factor it into your decision when making the switch. I can tell you with absolute certainty that LG's service is awful.
9/27/2013 Luckily I was within AT&T's 14 day exchange policy. The camera would not focus and continually shook...the replacement works perfect. Apparently I was the second person with this issue so keep a lookout for this if you pick up a G2. Charging from 50% to 100% only takes an hour using a nexus 7 charger.
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