Living with the LG G2: a long-term review

No man ever steps in the same river twice

In a seeminglyvery distant past, I was 11 years old. A kid that age has very fewworries at that stage of his life, and I was no different, with theexception that I had a typical child craving for a particular toythat had an ad looping day-in and day-out on Cartoon Network. It wasa rifle. You know – the airsoft type that shoots with one of thoseplastic pellets? Now, airsoft handguns were all the rage at thatstage of my life – practically every kid in the neighborhood had apiece (and a bunch of pellet-shaped bruises) – but none had arifle. I won't go through the set of rather shameful tactics a kid 'has' to go through to get a stupidly overpriced item like this –you all likely know too well – but long story short: I finally gotone.

Now this riflewas a downright monster, complete with a magnifying scope and goodfor 'precision' shooting at up to 50 meters – it even hadnon-standard, larger pellets that supposedly helped with accuracy. Itlooked sturdily made, and I am fairly sure it had a ton of lead on theinside to make it feel realistic. And it was beautiful, not tomention that all those kids in the ad seemed to have a blast out ofusing it! The package, in other words, was perfect... until, of course, itwasn't. A few weeks into using it, I realized that it was no good forshooting at more than 10 meters, and that's only when no wind waspresent. I then quickly started stumbling into a recurring problem:it would glitch and the pellets would get trapped inside, forcing mydad to open it up and get it out. You can imagine that he was nonetoo happy about it when this started happening every other day. Then,sooner rather than later, I ditched the rifle and it was the biggestdisappointment of my adolescent life.

Why oh why?

So why did Ijust charge two paragraphs of not-phone-related-mumbo-jumbo worth ofyour life? I mean, you're all obviously smart enough to not getsucked into marketing fluff like I did – you're on PhoneArena afterall, looking for the in-depth commentary you deserve. You'relikely older than 11, too. Point is, while there certainly wasn't an airsoft-toys-reviewing committee at the time, there certainly are forphones nowadays – loads of them, actually. Unfortunately, these can get alittle detracted from what I've always thought the essence – "Ultimately, will I like using this product?" – and get sucked into astandardized, droning commentary about the hardware and what itmeans, with a few lines on the software and its usability. So am Iimplying that this plunge into the depths of the LG G2 is somehowmore objective and complete than the myriad of quality reviews, justa Google search distance away? Kind of, but not exactly.

If you're aPhoneArena regular (doesn't really matter), then you'll probably knowthat it hasn't actually been too long since I joined the team. In myestimates, we probably get about a dozen, give or take, devices amonth for reviewing, and a bunch of accessories. Now, not all ofthese are exciting or good enough to go truly in-depth with, yet Ican tell you first-hand just how meticulous the reviewing process is– it's standardized, measurable and as close to scientific as wecan get. And I actually agree with the methods we use – they aren'tsimply something shoved down my throat. Sure, a lot of it staysbehind stage, but these observations do shape the final review thatgets to you. Yet, despite all these checks and guidelines, it isn'tat all surprising that every now and then a colleague will simplycome and cop a feel of a new device you're reviewing and make anobservation that, as a reviewer, you've missed, usually throughnobody's fault. And that's the practical reality and also why you'rereading this – because it's simply impossible to live with everyproduct for a few months in order to get sufficiently acquainted withit. But in the case of the LG G2, it's well worth it. And I did.

Here's how this is to go down

So how exactlyis this going to go down? A question I struggled with for a while,since coming up with a structure for such a massive quantity ofinsight into the world of the G2, along with the bid to delve deep,ruled out our traditional, categories-driven approach. After a while,however, it dawned on me that what people are looking for is quitesimple, really – “Just how well will the LG G2 feel in my ownhands?”, a question that gave me a direction – this pieceneeds be every bit as personal, idiosyncratic and direct as we allare in our day-to-day patterns. So kind of like a diary.

I by no meansclaim that what you're about to read is an all-encompassing, fullycomplete take on the G2 – one would need a lot more than a fewpages for that and there's still a fairly good chance it won't bewhat it set out to be. But it is personal, and it is direct, and itis very much idiosyncratic, just the way it should be. Sure, my viewswon't necessary match yours, but the human brain, having beenprovided a context and a perspective, is pretty good at drawingparallels. And ultimately – that's the point – for you to drawparallels and hopefully even find this helpful, should you ever endup considering the G2.

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Day 0

The LG G2 arrived in the office on this unidentified day, and it instantly caught my eye. The device is beautiful in a simplistic kind of way – slim, with a large, but compact display and an eye-catching exterior, though, admittedly, not everyone shares this notion. I instantly fell for it, though, and it really made me realize just how much chubbier and less-refined my trusty Nexus 4 looks next to it. The unconventional placement of the power and volume buttons at the rear instantly became the talk at the office, with people giving them a spin and then casting an immediate judgment, along with an estimation of whether they'd end up getting used to them. For me, personally, the otherwise well-crafted buttons were an oddity from the very onset, and my gut feeling said right then that I won't like them even a few months down the road.

Day 1

I officially gota mandate to live with and review the LG G2 for about 2 months, yay!Unfortunately, this means that I'll have to retire my Nexus 4 for awhile, and do a full transfer over to the new device, as simplyhaving the G2 as a back-up device would defeat the purpose of theprocess. Thanks to Google, that's a rather simple procedure, though Istill ended up having to do quite some manual work.

On a first look, the LG G2 looks like it's what I'm looking for ultimately – abig screen, but relatively petite proportions, with future-proof hardware insideand great looks. Sure, a 5-incher like the Galaxy S4 is not badlooking either, and its screen is great as well. Yet, the 5.2-incheson the G2 somehow feel more captivating, and the phone is stillincredibly compact thanks to those super-thin bezels on all sides.It's slender and feels great in my hands, though, admittedly, pullingdown the notification panel with one hand is a little taxing.

What's even moretaxing, however, is looking at the default notification panel, withall its LG clutter. Basically, there's a scrollable row ofquick toggles, followed by LG's row for quick app launches calledQSlide, followed by a slider for the brightness and another for thevolume... followed by a strip with the date, quick access to thesettings and a button that clears all notifications. In other words,this is quite possibly the most stuffed notification panel I've everseen out of the box, and while functional, it actually takes about50% of the screen real estate, leaving space for two, maximum threenotifications there. Worst of all, none of these can be removed, soyou're stuck with what you get.

Days 2-4

Days 8-10

I'vebeen testing out the QuickView case for a few days now, and myinitial impression of it has been confirmed – it really adds justenough bulk to turn the phone into a bit of a hindrance. And whileI'm dextrous enough to still handle it, I am unlikely to use it againfor a few key reasons. For starters, the 'flap' that covers the frontof the G2 doesn't have a magnet to it, so even when the case isclosed, it protrudes if you take a look from the side, so it's kindof sloppily made (see above). Moreover, I found that it's a serious pain tooperate the device with one hand this way, since the flap gets in theway unless you snug it behind at the rear, which requires two hands.On the positive side, the software is actually well made, and you canpick up calls through the small window without opening it. That lastone has a number of available… lets call them themes, and mostpeople will probably find one that suites their taste (see gallery to the right), or they can just use their current wallpaper. The QuickViewcase should prove especially handy for those who are already used tohandling such accessory, but do consider the above if you haven't,before coughing up half a Benjamin.

Days 11-15

I've been having this nagging feeling since I first took out the LGG2 in front of company, but now I feel positive – even strangersare definitely staring at the device with interest, and friends wantto handle it often. I take such unprompted feedback as a good sign –the G2 appears intriguing, and definitely has people sold on theexterior.

Speaking of the exterior, I've had some more private time with the G2the last few days, and managed to test out how the bleeding-edgeinternals packed inside are doing. For starters – and this reallyis one of the real kick-ass features of the G2 – the 3000mAhbattery is, simply put, a beast! I seriously am starting to thinkthat I'll never look at a device with a smaller battery the same way,including my dusty Nexus 4, as this phone is a marathoner. I'veconsistently tried to drain the battery these last few days withgames, browsing and whatnot, but it simply refuses to budge, neverthreatening to leave me without juice before at least a full day isout. More impressively, I've managed to squeeze up to 60 hours out ofit, with 3G/Wi-Fi always on and no attempts to change my usagehabits. That's plenty amazing – in comparison, I am pretty much forced to chargemy Nexus 4 each night, every night. Sadly, the batteryis of the non-removable type – the entire backplate is firmlysealed actually – so I do hope that LG's little warrior inside hangs in there for a while.

The best part? This monstrous battery actually has something asequally amazing to power, namely the Snapdragon 800 chip inside.Honestly, I think at this point it's quite safe to say that top ofthe shelf hardware currently far exceeds the needs of even the mostexacting software there is, including the heaviest crop of 3D games.The LG G2 simply breezes through everything and anything, be itsynthetic benchmarks, apps or browsing, without any significant signsof heating up, which is impressive. Better yet, it also navigatesthrough its otherwise quite heavy custom UI with ease – betterthan a Galaxy S4 with TouchWiz, that's for sure – though hiccupsstill exist, mostly when navigating the Home button and opening someapps.

I would also like to take a minute to (rant) talk about one suchparticularly essential app, the messing up of which serves as thepinnacle of the failure of manufacturer ROMs: the Dialer. The issueswith the Dialer are actually two, but they're so profound that I'veoften felt truly frustrated with LG, more so than with the G2 itself. To start off,in a typical TouchWiz manner, it takes forever for the app toactually load, and even then you'll experience swipe lag and stuttersuntil you go through the entire app and it gets cached into thememory. And as exacting as I could be, I can actuallylive with the extra second or two it takes me to make a call comparedwith stock Android, yet I can' help but give LG a giant thumbs downfor their downright nonsensical decision to code the Dialer to alwaysdefault to the keypad, even if you have it running in the background.I could be woefully unaware of the dialing habits in South Korea, butlast I checked – no one actually dials numbers anymore in theWestern hemisphere – we have those attached to contacts in ourphonebook. Said otherwise, something as simple as dialing is actuallyan effort on the G2, and it's just not up to standard.

Days 16-21

Work's been piling up, so entries-on-paper have been scarce, thougheverything is firmly etched into my brain, and I'll take a minute totalk about a few discoveries I've made about the LG G2 before getting back intopeon mode. First off, I swear to God – LG's KnockOn is an imp of afeature. It always fails when I need it most, yet when I try toshowcase its shortcomings (to whoever would listen), it seems to workperfectly fine. I'm starting to think there's something seriously wrong on myend, but I think I'll just blame LG – it's certainly easier than facing my apparently inconsistent tapping nature.

Anyhow, I am really amazed at just how much of an actual explorationLG's software really is. I continue to discover new features thatI've never read about and I am actually having a kick out of – likethe option to scale each and every app icon on the homescreen totwice its normal size. I've been specifically looking forsuch a feature for a while now, so I was pretty surprised to stumbleupon it randomly. It's not an oh-my-God feature, but it's certainlyhandy.

As I wrap today's entry up, a rather important note follows.We have previously reported on the shortcomings of the G2 in terms ofits build, but I feel like this requires a special mention, becauseit certainly could be a deal-breaker for some. The LG G2 is, handsdown, the most critically creaky device I've ever tested, and thisincludes a number of the oft-belittled Chinese offerings. Evenminimal pressure on the sides (top/bottom) of the device producessome seriously cringe-worthy sounds that definitely speak of thesacrifices that were made to achieve such slim bezels. Take a lookand listen closely. 

Not pretty, is it? I fully agree that this is quite disturbing, and Iwouldn't fault anyone for giving up on the LG G2 after seeing/hearingthis. As for me, I didn't take it to heart, somehow, and I don'tworry about actually snapping the phone in two whilst it's in myjeans' pocket.

UPDATE: Numerous sources have pointed out that their particular unit does not creak nearly at all. I believe this is because there's a discrepancy between the different versions (ours is the Korean one), so if you're on, say, Verizon, it's likely that you won't have the above issue. Just make sure to test out the phone before buying into it, and you should be fine.

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Days 22-25

Today was a rather depressing day. After I had given up on theQuickView case as too bulky and uncomfortable, I ran into theinescapable reality of life – sooner or later, your phone will havea rather unpleasant and abrupt get-together with Mr. Concrete. I won't gointo too many details of how no good deed goes unpunished, though I can show you what to expect from what feels like themost common type of drop – from about 5ft. In my case, the G2landed on its bottom and then on its back, ending up with a dent anda scuff, respectively. The damage is very, very far from critical, andI haven't actually ruined the device aesthetically, though I do havesome explaining to do at the office. 

Days 26-30

I've had a weird thing happen to my G2 every now and then, though Iwasn't exactly sure it wasn't my mind playing tricks. Essentially,despite the titan of a battery inside LG's phone, every now and thenthe battery would start dropping as if something's siphoning thejuice out of it from thin air. Turns out that something aboutGoogle's Play Services isn't playing nice with LG's ROM (and I'msaying this, because I've never had this issue with my Nexus 4), andthis affects battery life gravely. Anytime I notice this, I'dforce-stop Play Services and kill off my Chrome tabs, and it would goback to normal, though that doesn't stop it from recurring. Worst ofall, I can't seem to find any pattern whatsoever – one day it's theendurance monster I've come to love, and another it's dead by the endof the day. Weird, hopefully this gets fixed sooner rather thanlater.

Anyhow, you might be wondering why I haven't talked about what has largely been touted as one of the best aspects of the LG G2 -- the 13MP OIS shooter on its back. We've actually tested the LG G2 on several occasions during the many camera comparisons you've seen posted on PhoneArena and the results speak for themselves. Where the shots you're about to see differ, however, is the amount of preparation and diligence that preceded them. 

Let's face it, life rarely throws you both a great shot and long enough time to tinker with the settings in order to get the best possible outcome. What's even more, I wouldn't call it overly presumptuous to assume that the average smartphone user really just uses the default camera settings that the phone comes with (and those are getting better and better by the day). I did just that -- nearly all of these were shot using the default Normal mode on the G2, with some small exceptions that I've picked to showcase that while the snapper on the G2 sure is one of the very best there is, it's still far from flawless. This means that things like the Night Mode are a disaster waiting to happen, not to mention that sound recording during video capture can get shockingly bad, especially in a loud environment, like a concert. Of course, neither of those are particularly easy on the shooter, but the underlying idea is that in the gallery right below you'll find a bunch of snaps that were taken truly spontaneously in my day-to-day wanderings -- some are good, others not so much, same as in the real world.

And check out this quick panoramic VR I shot with the LG G2 with the help of a tripod. As you can see, even using extra equipment doesn't help much with the problematic stitching of the LG software. Without a tripod, taking good 360-degree panoramas is darn near impossible with the G2.

Days 31-37

To this date, I've made some serious effort to give some of LG'sbuilt-in software features a go, but since pretty much none of these havestuck, I kind of have to force myself to use them. These have been amixed bag – there certainly are interesting features, even usefulat times, and yet there's also a number of features that mostly go intothe gimmick category, and worse yet – some that show promise, butare poorly implemented.

To start off, perhaps the only feature that has really grown on me isthe Quick Remote, made possible thanks to an IR blaster at the top ofthe G2. It has a seriously mind-numbing amount of pre-installedinstruction sets, covering a vast majority of existing electronicslike TVs, DVDs, Air conditioners, projectors and set-top boxes,making the set-up phase a delight. Of course, I quickly found that anumber of brands aren't on that list, but luckily – your G2 canactually learn from an existing remote by running a quick set-upprocess. It's a relatively simple procedure, and it means that LG'sphone has control over the massive array of consumer tech, grantedthat you have a working remote. All in all, I've actually ended up with a numberof pre-sets for home/friends' TV sets and even a few restaurants andcoffee houses, and I actively use them.

Also appreciated is the 'floating call' functionality, which doesn'tabruptly end whatever you're doing whenever a call gets patchedthrough, but instead shows a little notification box with the option to pick up the call or not. This is alife-saver, and literally at that, specifically if you play games or simply dislike theidea of being interrupted in the middle of something without yourconsent.

Wireless storage and Quick Memos are yet another two features that Ifound useful on occasion. There are no caveats with the former – itworks as advertized, allowing you to access your phone's storagewirelessly, granted you're on the same network. The latter is a bitmore cryptic until you try it – it basically takes a snapshot ofwhatever it is you're seeing on your screen right now and lets youwrite on top.

The G2 also comes with some built-in LG apps, like Life Square, LGBackup and Smartworld. None of these are massively interesting, butthey deserve a mention. Starting with Life Square, it's probably themost interesting of the trio – it basically creates a diary ofsorts automatically, noting down pictures you've taken and uploaded,Facebook and Twitter status updates you've posted, texts and calls you've made, calendar entries and even voice memos. If not themost organized and visually-pleasing feature, it does give me asnapshot of what I've done on a given day, and this has actually helped me a few times. LG Backup is a prettystandard back-up tool, though it does offer perks like phone-to-phonetransfer of messages, memos, calendar events and more. Last anddeservedly least, is Smartworld – LG's own app store. This one isshockingly empty, with little of value to be found within. Stick tothe Play Store, folks!

Another promising, but ultimately poorly implemented and criticallyobscure feature is OSP, or On Screen Phone. You basically install asmall piece of LG software on your PC, and voilà! You can now see andcontrol your phone from your computer, wired or not. Sounds great onpaper, but the frame rate is so disastrously low that even navigatingthrough the UI is frustrating. Gaming is simply out of the question.

And OSP isn't alone. For example, Slide Aside was toutedby LG as a productivity-enhancer, yet it's anything but. At its core,Slide Aside simply allows you to save up to 3 running apps by swipingleft with three fingers. These can be evoked back, again withthree fingers. See where this is going? Let's pretend thathaving to use three fingers is not a big deal, since if you actuallywant to be productive, you'll be using both hands anyway. Be that asit may, I seriously can't seem to understand why you would use Slide Aside over Android's built-in multitasking feature – the G2 has enoughmemory for Android to not get too overzealous with its habit ofkilling off background apps and you can store as many as you want, instead of just three. And I already touched on QSlide – I'venever once have thought of accessing apps via the notificationpanel, and I don't think I ever will.

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Days 38-43

As my last entry has showcased, LG has really gone down the Samsungpath, with an extremely feature-filled custom software. I myself modmy devices, so I appreciated the extra functionality (stock Androidis annoyingly constrained for my taste nowadays), though this may notnecessary be the case for others, and they should consider how muchof an impact this will have on their experience with the G2. For what it's worth, LG has tried its best to keep you firmly within its own territory, attempting to provide passable solutions for the average smartphone user's needs, like the aforementioned LG Backup app, but also a File Manager, a Notebook, Dictionaries and Translator apps (latter one is handy in 'Voice Mode', but a disaster in 'Scan Mode'), a pre-installed Video Editor, and even a digital phone assistant called Voice Mate, though that one is woefully unaware of anything and is of barely any use, so I stuck with Google Now instead.

Overall, and as objectively as I can tell, LG's software is now pretty much on par with TouchWiz, so I guess the South Koreanunderdog has much to be proud of.

Day 44

Thisis my last day with the LG G2, and if you've gotten to this part,you're a real trooper – I'm aware this was anything but short.

Despitethe numerous quibbles I've had with the G2, I ultimately enjoyed fiddling with the new LG flagship, if only because it's different from what I'm used to. I remember when I first took the LG G2 out of the office, and people would ask me whether I'd recommend it, and I would say that yes, it is likely one of the very best packages on the market right now, at least as far as the Android realm goes. This hasn't changed, despite the drawbacks and disappointments in the G2.

The latest products out from LG have led me to believe that the company has really stepped its game up. Whether this trend is to survive the harsh reality of the mobile space, however, remains to be seen.

Wrap up