LG Optimus G (32G, 4G LTE) Smartphone

[Chuck]

Anyone have this phone and if so, what is your opinion of it? I dropped my S3 and Best Buy is giving away this phone for free if you renew your 2-year agreement with Sprint. 

 

All the reviews I read on Best Buy, Amazon and a couple other places really rated this high, including the user reviews. 

 

Thoughts?

[nate]

Is the money a big difference?  Compared to an S4 or HTC One the LG is pretty poor.  That is why it is so cheap.

[Jobu]

Mobile Tech Review is my go-to for comprehensive no-nonsense reviews:

 

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/phones/LG-Optimus-G.htm

[Jobu]

Is the money a big difference?  Compared to an S4 or HTC One the LG is pretty poor.  That is why it is so cheap.

 

It's a generation old, that's why it's so cheap. I hate 2 year contracts, but I think these newer smartphones will hold up just fine for a few generations as long as you aren't a spec-whore or a version-nerd.

[nate]

The difference in a generation is a lot.  For one thing it is likely to be dropped from OS updates from the manufacturer quicker, also specs are much lower keeping in mind you have to use the phone for two more years.  At the end of the contract it is a 3 year old phone instead of two year old.

[Vladfan]

This is why it's so cheap right now. Out with the old ....in with the new.

 

http://www.androidcentral.com/lg-g2-now-available-att-t-mobile-and-verizon

[Jobu]

Google has been making major version updates less and less important. The decoupling of functional apps like the keyboard along with the Play Store services updates. I think people will be safe with 4.1 for a reasonable amount of time.

[Jobu]

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/balky-carriers-and-slow-oems-step-aside-google-is-defragging-android/

[Pedro Cerrano]

Google has been making major version updates less and less important. The decoupling of functional apps like the keyboard along with the Play Store services updates. I think people will be safe with 4.1 for a reasonable amount of time.

 

Do not listen to this guy and his bag of lies.

 

F*ck you, guy.

 

I say f*ck you, Jobu.

[nate]

LG just announced the G2

 

http://bgr.com/2013/09/12/lg-g2-review/

[Jay]

Obviously it's a great phone but personally I didn't like the feel of it in my hand.

[nate]

I bought a GS4 yesterday and love it.

[NrM]

I have it. It's a great phone, but the battery life is horrible.

[Jay]

I bought a GS4 yesterday and love it.

But what about all the cheap plastic?

[nate]

But what about all the cheap plastic?

 

It is definitely annoying.  I am just happy with the larger screen.

[RePLAY]

grats nate! dun worry about the plastic, you'd probably put a case on it anyways?

[RallyMo]

The cheap plastic thing is super irrelevant, honestly.

 

It's not like we don't shove these things in cases and it's not like we don't plan on getting rid of them every two or so years.

[nate]

grats nate! dun worry about the plastic, you'd probably put a case on it anyways?

 

Ya I was never worried about the plastic breaking.  I have read that its actually extremely durable, just feels cheap.

 

I got one of the official GS4 premium cases and it definitely makes the phone feel much better.  I have some complaints but I think most of it is just getting used to Android again.

 

I actually think that iOS now handles notifications better than Android though.  At least without apps to manage it.  I ended up getting Widget Locker for the lock screen to display notifications.  I also don't like having to hit OK after entering in my pin.

 

Unfortunately the bootloader is locked on the AT&T GS4 and I have the most recent update which hasn't been rooted yet.  Once it has I will be putting a custom ROM on there to get rid of all the bloatware.  I am surprised that Samsung hasn't managed to strong arm carriers like Apple has when it comes to the bloatware.

[RallyMo]

Rooting is the bee's knees.

[Chuck]

I decided to hold out till next week and get the new Samsung Galaxy Note III.

Out of the box with 3G of Ram, the best battery (3350 mAh) and the fastest quad processor (3.4Ghz)of any smartphone on the market. I love the big screen, stylus, 13 Megapixel camera with a 1080 x 1980 HD resolution.

The best part is I can use my 32 Gigabyte SD card in my S3 in the Note III giving me 48 gigs of space with the option to always upgrade my SD card in the future.

I went in today to purchase a S4, but was sold on the Note III which is supposed to be in stores by next week for $299 with the upgrade.

I thought about going over to the dark side today and pickup the new iPhone 5s but since the S4 already crushes the latest from apple and the new Samsung Galaxy Note III will obliterate it in performance, size, quality and features, I'm holding out another week for what will be the best smartphone on the market.