[G2 General] GlassForest:
Sorry I know if everyone asked these general questions about what to buy the forums would be flooded. Hopefully posting in the general section I'm not getting in the way of any important development threads or anything. I wouldn't ask if I weren't really struggling with some indecision here.

I'm a Verizon customer, still have unlimited. Using a Droid Bionic with Carbon Rom. I'm planning to buy at full retail price to leave my data plan in tact.

LG wasn't really even on my radar. HTC One was originally what caught my eye for the styling and great reviews, then the new wave of Droids came out, and now the G2. I think I'm fairly decided in terms of currently available devices and don't need help there, I would get the G2 if it came down to what's on store shelves right now. I've seen comments on the HTC One camera ranging from amazing to garbage, and not sure I would like Blinkfeed. The One speakers would be nice but can't say I really need internal audio from my phone that much. Doesn't sound like the Droid Maxx battery is really thrilling anyone, plus with upgrading at full retail price it kinda isn't all that interesting to jump from one Moto Droid to another, it'll just feel like a differently shaped Bionic. Moto X seems interesting everyone keeps saying it's the best all around form factor and the most refined that an Android device has ever felt, but I think I'm ready for a bigger screen and battery.

I'm more a bit hesitant that I'll get the G2 and then the Nexus 5 or Note 3 is going to be amazing. Although I'm well aware of the crop of Nexus 5 rumors, apparently not having Verizon's LTE band (then counteracted by a newer rumor saying there may have been an FCC filing for a separate Verizon LG device that wasn't the G2 and could be their variant of the Nexus 5). Plus a rumored smaller battery for the Nexus compared to the G2 which would lower my interest in it. Note 3... I'm not really dying to own my first Samsung but it seems it might outdo the G2 in a few ways, more Ram, SD card slot, etc. Obviously anything compared to the Bionic I have will seem nice, 32GB (or the 20-whatever that's actually available after system install) on the G2 will be plenty, I am used to working with the 16gb I have on my Bionic and am used to having to send stuff to my PC harddrive if my phone gets too full.

I've owned LG in my cell phone history, had an LG Dare and then an Ally for my first Android phone. Their hardware is alright but if I recall correctly they are pretty iffy about timely updates and then just stop supporting devices once they hit a certain age. But then Motorola pulled the same stunt during my Bionic ownership and most of you will know about how long it took Bionic to get system updates. I don't think I ever really saw myself going back to LG as I've felt the same indifference towards them as the rest of the community for a while now, although it kinda says something about them that they're still good enough to keep getting contracted for the Nexus devices. And then this G2 landed on my radar out of nowhere.

G2 camera sounds great with a few reviews sprinkled in that suddenly didn't think it was all that amazing, but I take pictures like crazy, camera is important, I think I may even sell my Sony Nex 3 full size camera as a way to help pay for a phone upgrade, the big camera just sits here and collects dust when I can have a camera in my pocket all day in a phone.

Important aspects to me, battery life (sick of charging my Bionic constantly, I think my extended battery is wearing out because I can just watch the percentage drop like a rock as I use it), quality display would be nice after settling for the Bionic with it's blah pentile screen, camera as I mentioned above, other than that I browse, text message, need Tethering, and use Pandora in my car. And I do care about developer support, I like messing with Roms, but if the factory Rom is decent once you get it set up, I can live with not having as large of a dev community as S4 might have or whatever. So yeah with that said it seems like a no brainer saying display-battery-camera, G2 sounds to be the best at all of that right now, I'm just worried about what else is coming out this holiday season. I know the Nexus announcement is rumored for next month but I just hate to wait just to find out it's not coming to Verizon or is definitely going to have some lame 2300mah battery. You know how it is when you're ready to upgrade...

-I suppose we'd all be guessing, but how good are people feeling about the G2 getting a KitKat update in a reasonable time window? This is the LG flagship so I would hope for good support, but the LG skin and addons are so overwhelming and heavily skinned devices always take longer to get their updates out. I'd be thrilled to get this phone but that would quickly turn to disappointment if we're waiting for 4.4 longer than anyone else.

-How is developer support looking? Have any big names pledged to add the G2 to their supported devices? I really like Carbon Rom on Bionic. I suppose it's a good sign that root and loki happened right away but so far Rom releases, especially for VZW, looks slow.

-Speaking of ROMs, do we have any idea if any of the stock stuff like knock-on etc will ever be able to be pulled and applied to a custom ROM, or is it pretty much a guarantee that if you switch to anything but stock you're going to be sacrificing a lot of the factory features?

-I noticed the G2 doesn't even come up on the Top Devices window at the first XDA forum portal, is that a bad sign for community interest in the device? HTC One, Note 3, etc all show up as the top devices on XDA right now. Is there a community behind this device or not really? Does everyone dig the specs but shy away from LG with their heavy skin?

-It WiFi tethering working with the current root exploit? I use my Bionic as my home internet access, on the stock ROM it seems like FoxFi will stop working after a couple of days like it's detecting that I'm tethering, on Carbon ROM I can tether for gig after gig of data and no issue.

-I've seen more than one person gripe about thermal throttling and the G2 starting to run like utter garbage in certain conditions. That would certainly suck to spend 600 on. Is this widespread?

I don't think I'd regret buying it immediately but I see the potential that only a few weeks into ownership the "oh crap why did I go with LG" feeling will start.