Note: Before anything else, take note that I'm just an amateur tech blogger and this is an amateur review about the LG G2. I'll give my thoughts, my experience upon using it for 3 weeks. So just bare with me. :D
After putting through the LG G2 to its paces, I finally have my conclusion, my pros and cons about my LG G2. Before anything else, let's take a recap on its specifications.
LG G2 specifications:
Since the LG G2 has equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 clocked at 2.26GHz, it should run everything smooth. But I notice just a little bit of dropping of frames when I'm swiping left to right on my home screens while my weather app is updating on my default home screen.
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| Using Spigen Slim Armor Case on my G2 |
After putting through the LG G2 to its paces, I finally have my conclusion, my pros and cons about my LG G2. Before anything else, let's take a recap on its specifications.
LG G2 specifications:
- 5.2-inch True HD-IPS LCD (1920 x 1080 resolution) with Corning Gorilla Glass 2
- Having a pixel density of 424ppi
- 2.26GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 Quad-core Processor
- Adreno 330 GPU
- 32GB Internal storage (not expandable; 24GB on board storage)
- 2GB LDDR3 RAM
- 13MP OIS camera with LED flash
- 1080p video recording @ 60 fps
- 2.1MP front-facing camera
- 1080p video recording @ 30fps
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot, dual-band
- Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, LE
- NFC, GPS with A-GPS and GLONAS support
- 3000mAh non-removable Li-Polymer battery
- Android 4.2.2 Jellybean
- Dimension: 5.45in x 2.79in x 0.35in; 149g
Glossy plastic chassis yet crazy thin
The LG G2 is all made up of plastic. In front, you'll find the 5.2-inch almost no bezel Full HD IPS screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 2, loudspeaker, light sensor, and 2.1MP front-facing camera.
On its back you'll find the volume rocker, rear key (power/lock and unlock button), and the 13mp OIS camera with LED flash. One that's really intriguing about the G2 is its rear key. The button placement is kinda awkward at first but you'll get use to it after using it for quite sometime. But personally, I don't usually use the rear key simply because my index finger isn't always resting on that area and my hands are kinda big so I'm much relying on the KnockOn feature which we will going to talk about later.
One that really stands out is its hardware is its slim form factor. Thanks to its 5.2-inch with almost no bezel display and its crazy thin curve chassis, it manage to shrink its size into a 5-inch and it fits in the hand properly. It almost has an identical dimension to Samsung Galaxy S4. Since, it's all made up of plastic, the you'll feel that the device is light. Its weight is around 148 g. The thing that irritates me is the whole device is a fingerprint magnet, from its screen to its body. One thing that I'm worry about is it is slippery. So I recommend that you buy a good case like an armor case for it.
The LG G2 is all made up of plastic. In front, you'll find the 5.2-inch almost no bezel Full HD IPS screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 2, loudspeaker, light sensor, and 2.1MP front-facing camera.
On its top, you'll find the IR blaster, and the mic. On its bottom you'll find the micro USB 2.0 slim, 3.5 mm headset slot, 2 speaker grill. About the speakers, actually it's just 1. But we'll talk about it later. Nothing on its right side. On its left side you'll find the micro SIM card tray beside it is the SIM card eject hole.
On its back you'll find the volume rocker, rear key (power/lock and unlock button), and the 13mp OIS camera with LED flash. One that's really intriguing about the G2 is its rear key. The button placement is kinda awkward at first but you'll get use to it after using it for quite sometime. But personally, I don't usually use the rear key simply because my index finger isn't always resting on that area and my hands are kinda big so I'm much relying on the KnockOn feature which we will going to talk about later.
One that really stands out is its hardware is its slim form factor. Thanks to its 5.2-inch with almost no bezel display and its crazy thin curve chassis, it manage to shrink its size into a 5-inch and it fits in the hand properly. It almost has an identical dimension to Samsung Galaxy S4. Since, it's all made up of plastic, the you'll feel that the device is light. Its weight is around 148 g. The thing that irritates me is the whole device is a fingerprint magnet, from its screen to its body. One thing that I'm worry about is it is slippery. So I recommend that you buy a good case like an armor case for it.
Gaming like a boss
In my performance test, I played several high intensive HD games which some of the smartphones that weren't with Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 lags or experience dropping of frames, these are the Modern Combat 4, Injustice Gods Among Us, The Dark Knight Rises, Asphalt 8: Airborne, Dead Trigger 2, and my all time favorite the Minion Rush. (Yeah I know. You're going to ask that the Minion Rush isn't an HD game but I tell you, all of the android smartphones that will run this will experience dropping frames while gaming.) Playing these games on the LG G2 will give you great experience. It runs everything smooth and if you noticed dropping of frames, it's just minimal. I can call this device a "gamer's best friend".
Note: Just be careful. I while playing these games for a long time, I noticed that there's a building up of heat on the camera lens. But I think it's normal because it has a quad-core processor. Just pause once in a while or take a break and continue your gaming session later. :)
I don't usually believe or use benchmarks test as the base of performance but in case you want to check them, here are some of its benchmark results (from Antutu, 3D Rating, Quadrant standard, and Epic Citadel).
Good battery
The battery life of the LG G2 is actually pretty good. But I still don't how most LG G2 review said that the battery life of their LG G2 can last up to 2 days with normal usage. My LG G2, on the other hand, only last up to 28 hours max out on low level of usage, 18 hours of normal usage, and 7 hours on high level of usage. Here are some screen shots that justifies my thoughts about it.
Top notch Camera
The camera of the LG G2 is one of the best, if not the best camera on a smartphone today. It shoots great pictures on a natural and good lighting, but on indoors and low lighting situation, it performs around average - above average.
Note: Just be careful. I while playing these games for a long time, I noticed that there's a building up of heat on the camera lens. But I think it's normal because it has a quad-core processor. Just pause once in a while or take a break and continue your gaming session later. :)
I don't usually believe or use benchmarks test as the base of performance but in case you want to check them, here are some of its benchmark results (from Antutu, 3D Rating, Quadrant standard, and Epic Citadel).
The battery life of the LG G2 is actually pretty good. But I still don't how most LG G2 review said that the battery life of their LG G2 can last up to 2 days with normal usage. My LG G2, on the other hand, only last up to 28 hours max out on low level of usage, 18 hours of normal usage, and 7 hours on high level of usage. Here are some screen shots that justifies my thoughts about it.
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| Low level of usage |
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| Normal usage |
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| High level of usage |
The camera of the LG G2 is one of the best, if not the best camera on a smartphone today. It shoots great pictures on a natural and good lighting, but on indoors and low lighting situation, it performs around average - above average.
There are no tweaks on its camera settings. I just use the stock camera app, use the normal auto 13mp mode and voila! One thing I noticed when I was taking a picture on a low light situation, it delays for couple of seconds to focus on an object and sometimes the images were kinda blurred or out of focus.
The stock camera app of the LG G2 has many modes like the Shot & Clear, Dynamic tone or HDR, Panorama, VR Panorama, Burst shot, and many more.
The video recording of the LG G2 is maybe one of the best video recording that I've ever seen. 1080p video recording at 60 fps will spoil you (lol).
Software, kinda Samsung-ish
The LG G2 is running 4.2.2 Jellybean on top of heavily custom LG's UI. It's kinda outdated considering some smartphones are running 4.3 Jellybean and 4.4.2 KitKat, but we will see a 4.4.x KitKat update maybe later this month.
The KnockOn feature is the most innovative software built-in in the G2. You just double tap the screen to wake the phone or to put it in sleep mode. It's just that easy. One thing to remind, waking up the phone using the KnockOn sometimes isn't responsive. Why? Because in sleep mode, all of the internals are at rest which means there are no processing that going on unless you're connected to the internet and downloading something. So the phone needs a particular time just a second or you just do the KnockOn gesture again to wake it up.
Another cool feature that the LG G2 features is the Slide Aside. The Slide Aside is like the recent app button. But the Slide Aside helps you on multitasking. This will help you to save running 3 running applications and bring it back. To store a running app, just simply slide 3 fingers to the left on a portrait mode. To bring back the app, slide 3 fingers to right.
Since the button of the LG G2 are software buttons, LG lets you customize it. You can make it transparent, black, or white background; or change the button placement.
I've been in LG's ecosystem for 2 years and I didn't expect that its UI will turn to be like Samsung (but I'm not against Samsung). For a beastly phone, it's not cool to see icons that are very childish in design. But fortunately, you can change the icons by press and hold an icon and a paint brush icon will appear.
Some of its features are imitated from Samsung like the smart screen which detects your eyes when you're not looking, and smart video which pauses the video when you're not looking. I tried to use it but it wasn't working as it should be.
Speakers and Music Player
There's a defect on the LG G2 speakers. I was playing with it when I got it last 3 weeks ago. One thing that suddenly came to my mind is its speaker, since there are a lot Nexus 5 reviews that their only have 1 speaker, and the Nexus 5 is pretty much the same as the G2. The right speaker working while the other isn't. The sounds the comes out to the speaker are crisp but not that loud.
The music player on the G2 is kinda old. Old in the sense that if you own a LG smartphone before, you'll notice that they are almost the same. They just only change some of its design.
Conclusion
LG made a strong, pound for pound flagship smartphone for 2013. With a good battery and beastly processor, this phone is really for people who wants to have a great experience in a respectable price point considering its rival smartphones like the Z1, GS4, and the HTC One are more expensive.
So waht are your thoughts about the LG G2?
You can check the unboxing of the LG G2 here.
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