Review: LG G2 Smartphone

After my last article testing the Note 3, I returned to my iPhone 4 determined to give it a go, two weeks later I had made the decision and invested in a new phone, but why an LG G2?

I attended Big Boy’s Toys last month and was wandering around debating whether the bank manager would agree in me investing in a Lamborghini Aventador when I came upon the LG stand.

Curves are definitely in vogue now, with gadgets ranging from the beautiful curved OLED 3D screen that seemed to be flying out of the doors to the LG Flex curved phone (anyone remember the Nokia Banana phone, this is waaaay cooler). And just at the side was a phone I hadn’t seen before. The LG G2.

I met Glen Chean, LG’s NZ Marketing Manager who gave me a quick demo, He kindly invited me back later in the week to have a proper play as well as show me some of the other amazing things LG are bringing to NZ (transparent screens anyone?). LG are bringing a range of products into New Zealand and I for one am really excited they're bringing more products out in New Zealand as they're a company willing to think outside the box!

Glen doesn’t know this, but after playing with it later in the week, I drove straight to Harvey Norman who have exclusive rights to sell the G2 on 2 Degrees and said yes please! Noel and the Team at Wairau Park did me right and got it all set up for me super quickly. Cheers guys!

The LG G2 unashamedly apes the best parts of Samsung’s S4, but it just seems to have done everything a little bit better. The 5.2” screen is gorgeous with an ultra thin side bezel, all the buttons have been moved to the back. That might seem strange, but you quickly get used to it and it becomes second nature very quickly.

Compared to the iPhone, the screen is humongous. With a bright saturated 1080p screen, it puts the iPhone screen to shame (quick tip, disable your number from iMessage before you change phones or you’ll never receive a text message on your new phone from iPhone users!).

LG are also making Google’s Nexus 5, but with the G2 you can see they’ve had fun making it, with lots of little LG apps and adjustments, this isn’t a vanilla Android setup like the Nexus 5. Having played with the Nexus 5, I’m glad I made the choice I did, but you can get the Nexus 5 at a great price!

But there are a few things I’d love to change, it may be my lack of experience with Android but the camera kept being activated in my pocket and boy does it get warm if it’s chewing through cycles! LG have put a 3,000 mAh battery in the G2. What that really means is that this beast easily goes a whole day on one charge!

I would prefer a better quality casing, the Samsung style plastic case is tough but doesn’t feel as ‘premium’ as the iPhone or HTC One. My last disappoint about the phone is the lack of a MicroSD expansion slot.

It is available on other region’s G2s and with it’s beautiful 13MP camera with Optical Image Stabilisation, it aches for lots of video and pictures to be taken. With only 16GB (about 12 available to use), that can quickly fill up as the phone encourages you to consume more storage!

However, Android - I’m still not convinced. Yes I’m an Apple Fanboy and there are some things that Android does so much better than Apple (sharing between apps for one, XBMC for the second) but so much of the software seems like the poor brother to their iOS equivalent, if they’re even available!

Pros:

• 5.2” of glorious beautiful screen
• Super fast Snapdragon 800 chip
• 2 GB RAM
• Slim, powerful and fricking awesome

• Lack of expandable memory
• Range of accessories limited
• Plastic casing isn’t premium

I love this phone, I wish it had more storage and a nicer case (I’m hankering for a wooden case if anyone knows where I could get one?), but I’m happy I’ve bought it.

There is one thing I wish it could do though, run iOS. So if anyone out there can get iOS running on a G2 and can get it to dual boot with Android  (or Ubuntu et al), I’d be over the moon!

In the meantime, what Android apps should I get?

Score 4.5 / 5