[G2 General] jordanprudent:
Hello,

I recently picked up a LG G2 to replace my galaxy note 2, after having the phone for 4 days I thought I would deliver my review.

I always find it helpful to read reviews from actual owners of the phone rather than just the standard review sites. This review does not contain exact specifics but instead my view of the phone rather than an experts. I hope you find it useful if you are looking to purchase the handset or looking for some owner opinions.

Bit of background on previous phones:

HTC Hero

HTC Desire HD

iPhone 4

HTC Sensation

Nokia Lumia 800

LG Optimus 3D

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Look,feel and build quality:

After opening the box (very difficult as mine came with the free official LG case) I was pleasantly pleased with the overall look and feel of the phone. Coming from a galaxy note 2 I was used to the whole plastic feel of the phone, granted a nice metal or glass finish would have been good but overall it is a very appealing phone.

Switching on the handset for the first time illuminates the entire front of the phone, at this point you realize how attractive the phone looks with the cut back bezel allowing everyone's attention to be placed on the fantastic screen (more on that later).

Move to the sides there is a simple metal band which circumferences the entire phone, adding a little detail to the otherwise plane sides.

To the back; we have the standard environment stickers a nice metal engraved LG badge and of course the unusual buttons. The camera, buttons and LG badges are all in a direct line in the middle of the handset which I feel visually appealing rater than the current trend of placing the camera in the corner of the handset.

Onto the buttons, an usual twist on a otherwise standard placement I find that it is easy after a couple of days to become used to the unusual placement. As your finger will usually always land in this area it allows for easy change of volume, quick key (camera / note) and the unlock button. I also find that the unlock button lighting up when you unlock the phone (nice white lines around it) is a nice touch.

Other details on the front include a nice LG badge embedded in the screen, front camera, speaker (standard silver finish) and a LED notification on the right hand side corner.

Overall I find this a nice middle ground between something such as an iPhone or HTC one and a Samsung device, due to it being sealed it appears more sturdy and has a better construction than the galaxy line but due to the lackluster plastic cannot live up to the standard set by apple or HTC.

Hardware:

On paper this handset stands atop the very large android market, in real life it does not disappoint. Use of the phone is a joy due to the snapdragon 800, there is 0 lagg using launchers (tried apex/nova/stock), multitasking and using slide aside happens instantly and web pages load almost instantly.

The screen needs to be seen to be believed, watching videos (especially the stock HD videos by LG) really shows off the screen. With almost 0 bezel around it shows the true beauty of the screen. Giving a little more saturation than a standard IPS, not to the length of a SAMOLED but maintaining white whites and black blacks. Colors pop, look extraordinarily accurate and pictures and moves look stunning on the full HD 5.2" display.

Battery life is excellent thanks to the 3000amp battery, allowing for twitter facebook full google intergration as well as wifi/gps/data enabled will easily power through a day with 4 hours of on screen time with brightness set to 100%.

Camera quality, yet to be fully tested by myself but some of the shots taken have been excellent. Outdoor in well lit conditions produce excellent clear results with a brilliant amount of detail captured. Night time / low light photo seems on par with other high end smartphones, thus far I have had some mixed results as with my previous handsets. I find OIS seems to work very well, taking photos in a moving car led to no blurred photos.

Software:

LG's software I find "borrows" many features from Samsung, such a smart stay / pause many of the camera features and over-all camera UI. However this being said it does have less unnecessary bells and whistles s4/note2&3 come with. The LG does come with a large variety of features, TV remote, gestures, Qslide and knock off. Double tapping the screen to lock/unlock is easily LG's best feature implemented, this counters any downsides of the rear mounted button i.e when using in a car holder. Many comments have been made on the task bar I personally do not use the Qslide option lists however the volume control (again helpful due to button position) as well as quick toggles are many but not overwhelming. Within a few hours I was used to the over-all layout and could quickly toggles and utilize these features.

One issue I do find is that you are able to customize the on screen button layout, helpful if you are left handed or prefer you button in a different order. Despite this you are unable to set a multitask specific key e.g. nexus line. Instead long holding the home button to activate the recent app list.

Over-all:

My overall week impressions of this handset are excellent, ergonomically speaking the size of the phone is perfect. People do not complain about screen size but handset size. By removing the bezel and fitting a 5.2" screen in what is a 5" screen body is a fantastic move by LG. The button placement takes some getting used to but software implementations manage to cure any issues you can have with this (knock on/off when the phone is laid down and volume adjust in the task bar i.e in a car dock). The hardware of the phone comes to impress and does, camera processor screen and battery are all market leading. Software is busy, however brings some very useful additions to android, improved if not a little OTT task bar, gestures and qslide give some good flexibility.

It has been agressivley priced at 400 GBP from three mobile sim free including free official LG case puts it in the same leagure as a preowned HTC one or s4.

From my perspective this is the perfect phone, smaller than the note 2 and bigger than a s4 without the foot print.

Good:

Screen, processor, and overall speed.

Battery.

UI implementations

Camera

Excellent ear phones included in the box

Price

Bad

16gb storage and no SD

Plastic Build

Worries

Android Updates (officially from LG)

Thanks for reading,

J