LG Optimus G First Impressions (Sprint LS970)

[ImGreen]

I'm looking for people's first impressions as soon as they get the Sprint version of the phone. I'm eagerly awaiting my pre-order to come in. Post the date you get you phone so others can tell if they will get theirs soon too

 

[chipr#AC]

I had a lot of difficulty with activation. (I was transferring ESN from an HTC EVO 4G to the new phone.)

The online activation failed. I got bounced around several times, from tech support to L2 tech support to order support.

The order support person wanted to do an RMA swap, which meant another 3-5 business days without a phone.

I pushed back on the RMA and he tried one more time. It worked, and the phone is up and active.

I'm wondering if others are having activation issues.

 

[ImGreen]

I had a lot of difficulty with activation. (I was transferring ESN from an HTC EVO 4G to the new phone.)

The online activation failed. I got bounced around several times, from tech support to L2 tech support to order support.

The order support person wanted to do an RMA swap, which meant another 3-5 business days without a phone.

I pushed back on the RMA and he tried one more time. It worked, and the phone is up and active.

I'm wondering if others are having activation issues.

I don't have my new phone yet but I have always had issues with activation on Sprint. I tolerate the activation issues ever time I upgrade only because everything else about Sprint suites me well.

That said I have never had anyone offer an RMA so it sounds like what you experienced was a bit worse than anything I've gone through. Depending on where you live part of the issue may be the ongoing network upgrades which muck up the network at times. I have 6 phone lines and 4 lines are smart phones. The smartphones never activate automatically for me. I always have to call *2 to get someone to help me activate the new phone. The feature phones usually do activate automatically but I've had trouble with those too just not every time.

Just out of curiosity how did you cannot the "order support person", what phone number did you call and what menu options did you choose... just curious...

 

[Quis89]

I don't have my new phone yet but I have always had issues with activation on Sprint. I tolerate the activation issues ever time I upgrade only because everything else about Sprint suites me well.

That said I have never had anyone offer an RMA so it sounds like what you experienced was a bit worse than anything I've gone through. Depending on where you live part of the issue may be the ongoing network upgrades which muck up the network at times. I have 6 phone lines and 4 lines are smart phones. The smartphones never activate automatically for me. I always have to call *2 to get someone to help me activate the new phone. The feature phones usually do activate automatically but I've had trouble with those too just not every time.

Just out of curiosity how did you cannot the "order support person", what phone number did you call and what menu options did you choose... just curious...

Going to a corporate store is always easier if you've got one nearby.

Sent from my EVO using Android Central Forums

 

[turtle3#AC]

Got mine this AM.

First, zero activation issues. They scan it and about 30s later it provisioned services and everything worked.

Frame of reference: My previous phones were Original EVO 4G, Samsung Epic 4G Touch (ran it stock for a while, then rooted and I've been on CM10 4.1.2 for a few months).

First impressions: I picked it up in the store before deciding to buy it and was instantly impressed. I wasn't convinced I'd buy it since I love AOSP Android and running CM10 on my E4GT has been excellent. That being said...the OG is FAST. Like super fast. I tried my best to get it to stutter in the store and couldn't. I've only had the phone for 5hrs, but I honestly don't mind their Skin modifications. You can feel that it's a slightly tweaked version of vanilla Android, not a complete UI overhaul. They've left a lot of the menus and options exactly how they are on AOSP. Their stock texting app is 'ok'. I'm not a huge fan of their LG keyboard, so I immediately installed the Android 4.2 Keyboard APK, now I'm happy.

Hardware: Feels well built. I like the weight, not super light, but definitely not heavy. Screen is gorgeous! Super sharp and noticeably better overall compared to the E4GT. I was sold when I saw the screen alone. I shot some pics with the camera and I'm not agreeing with all the people that are "disappointed" in the 13MP model. I think those people don't dig deep enough into the settings to set the camera software up for optimal results. I took some low light images that looked very sharp, better than my E4GT for sure. Maybe I haven't exploited the flaws yet, but I'm satisfied for sure. External speaker is nice and loud, but, it's still a phone speaker. Call quality is fine (I think people that analyze phone quality are the same people that claim to be able to tell the minute differences between fine wines...can you really tell that much difference??? probably not). The notification light is on the front, not the side like ATT. It blinks green for MMS/email/calls and is red for charging (has a nice pulsing appearance to it too).

LTE speed here is excellent (22Mbs down 9Mbs up on one test).

Software: Minimal Sprint bloatware, which is nice. Some of the LG stuff is useful, some not. I like the LG NFC app. They include an NFC tag in the box with the phone. You can put that tag somewhere (say your office desk), then "Code" the phone to recognize that NFC care and instantly apply settings/open apps/URLs/etc. For example, you want your phone on silent and Bluetooth and WiFi turned on when you sit down at your desk. Stick that NFC chip on your desk set your phone on it when you sit down and -boom- all your settings are instantly changed. I hadn't thought of using NFC this way until now and think it's a beautiful implementation of the technology. You can order NFC tags and code as many as you want on your OG.

Overall, I'm very satisfied so far. I was really wanting a Nexus 4, but if an LTE version isn't coming to Sprint, that's a deal breaker for me. This phone is extrememly capable and beautiful. It'll likely get a strong developer following and get AOSP ports very soon if that's important for you (xda has already cracked the bootloader with a teathered solution).

I'm happy to answer any questions...

turtle

 

[evobassfish]

Is google wallet supported? Or pre loaded on the G?

 

[turtle3#AC]

Not currently. Not sure why though.

View attachment 45846

I'm going to try to side-load the APK from xda-dev's and see what happens. EDIT: Nope, didn't work either. Buzzkill.

Couple things I've seen I don't like:

-Green notification light blinks way to slowly. It's like a full 30s delay between each blink. Not sure who came up with that brilliant idea.
-I think the screen off animation is cheesy. I much prefer the "tv-off" style of AOSP. I could take or leave their "closing circle". Meh.

 

[werkx]

@turtle, thanks for the detailed impression. I'm looking to upgrade in a few weeks and was set on the S3, but not so sure now. I wish the S3 Sprint version was a quad-core then I would not have any doubts with the Samsung. I hope to hear more good things from the LG Optimus G.

 

[chipr#AC]

ImGreen - I called whatever number popped up on the screen when the online activation failed. I believe that was a Sprint main phone number, because I got a voice menu with all options. I forgot which I selected, but it wasn't until the second transfer (i.e. third person) that I ended up with "Order Support".