Initial impressions

[Snareman]

I stopped by the Verizon store today 2h after they opened. They didn't have the phone out yet and the women that helped me, while very nice, had no idea the phone was even launching today. She said I was the second person in there to ask about it. She had to go get it out of the back and it was still only about 30% done loading demo software. She wouldn't really leave it with me since it wasn't tied down so I couldn't stand there for an hour and play with it. She didn't like the back buttons. I educated her on them, how you allegedly get used to them, why they were placed there, how it allowed the bezel to be smaller and on the knock on feature that she'd never heard of.

Initial impressions is that its very light and very thin (compared to my RMHD). The back is an insane fingerprint magnet! Who thought that was even close to a good idea of a finish to put on it?? Stupid stupid stupid. The phone was a little slippery with that smooth shiny back and while I don't think I'd actually have it fall out of my hand, the thought did cross my mind. It definitely doesn't have the somewhat grippy kevlar back that my RMHD has and that I much prefer. A matte plastic would have been FAR better for both looks and feel. I wouldn't say the phone feels cheap, but the shiny plastic back doesn't help matters. I think because its so thin and light it might give some the impression a bit. Certainly not a deal breaker, but I do really hate the back.

Buttons - They are very small on the back. Having not held the ATT version I think I'd prefer the larger buttons. I was able to find them with my index finger without any real problem, but I might like it if they were a little larger. And that power button is quite small.

Size - I was concerned that the phone might seem too large, but in the hand it really doesn't seems perfectly fine. That shiny, slippery, fingerprinted back is just asking for a case to be applied to it even though I'm totally not a case guy. I'll have to see just how minimalist of cases there are, especially since the phone is getting wider. A case is going to add a few mm to each side of it and my RMHD is already struggling to fit in a few of my small cell phone cargo pockets.

Screen - its big, bright and beautiful! Knock-on works well. I didn't have time to play with any of the settings.

And...... if there were Verizon logos on it (I'm sure there were) I didn't even notice them.

I was impressed by the phone overall and think I'll certainly get one and give it a try. I'm interested to see how the battery life is compared to my RMHD.

 

[xgman]

I stopped by too. The demo unit was fried and the display didn't come on. They unboxed another and it was quite nice. Les thick looking than in the pictures.
Compared to my S4, it has a whither balance tone to the display but the S4 is better at an angle. The HTC One display still wins overall in my book. The double tap off thing was a bit hit or miss. If only this phone had the case from the droid. The case looks cheap plasticy around the edges. Still quite nice.

 

[Technified]

I stopped by the Verizon store today 2h after they opened. They didn't have the phone out yet and the women that helped me, while very nice, had no idea the phone was even launching today. She said I was the second person in there to ask about it. She had to go get it out of the back and it was still only about 30% done loading demo software. She wouldn't really leave it with me since it wasn't tied down so I couldn't stand there for an hour and play with it. She didn't like the back buttons. I educated her on them, how you allegedly get used to them, why they were placed there, how it allowed the bezel to be smaller and on the knock on feature that she'd never heard of.

Initial impressions is that its very light and very thin (compared to my RMHD). The back is an insane fingerprint magnet! Who thought that was even close to a good idea of a finish to put on it?? Stupid stupid stupid. The phone was a little slippery with that smooth shiny back and while I don't think I'd actually have it fall out of my hand, the thought did cross my mind. It definitely doesn't have the somewhat grippy kevlar back that my RMHD has and that I much prefer. A matte plastic would have been FAR better for both looks and feel. I wouldn't say the phone feels cheap, but the shiny plastic back doesn't help matters. I think because its so thin and light it might give some the impression a bit. Certainly not a deal breaker, but I do really hate the back.

Buttons - They are very small on the back. Having not held the ATT version I think I'd prefer the larger buttons. I was able to find them with my index finger without any real problem, but I might like it if they were a little larger. And that power button is quite small.

Size - I was concerned that the phone might seem too large, but in the hand it really doesn't seems perfectly fine. That shiny, slippery, fingerprinted back is just asking for a case to be applied to it even though I'm totally not a case guy. I'll have to see just how minimalist of cases there are, especially since the phone is getting wider. A case is going to add a few mm to each side of it and my RMHD is already struggling to fit in a few of my small cell phone cargo pockets.

Screen - its big, bright and beautiful! Knock-on works well. I didn't have time to play with any of the settings.

And...... if there were Verizon logos on it (I'm sure there were) I didn't even notice them.

I was impressed by the phone overall and think I'll certainly get one and give it a try. I'm interested to see how the battery life is compared to my RMHD.

Good read.

Doesn't it crack u up when u have to "school" the reps on the products that they r obviously there to sell? Lmao!

A friend of mine said that the store that I go to didn't put up the demo until about 11:30 this morning. He said there were 4 people there when they first opened up n said the reps were looking like..... Why r these people standing here?

It just boggles the mind lol

SENT FROM MY AMAZING NOTE 2!

 

[Snareman]

Good read.

Doesn't it crack u up when u have to "school" the reps on the products that they r obviously there to sell? Lmao!

A friend of mine said that the store that I go to didn't put up the demo until about 11:30 this morning. He said there were 4 people there when they first opened up n said the reps were looking like..... Why r these people standing here?

It just boggles the mind lol

SENT FROM MY AMAZING NOTE 2!

She told me no one ever shows up got LG launches. Only Samsung and Moto.

 

[Technified]

She told me no one ever shows up got LG launches. Only Samsung and Moto.

Lol! Yea I was a little surprised when he said they were out there. And all of them were looking for the g2.

He said one rep said..... The what? Then the other said u know that phone that comes out today......

He said the rep still looked like..... Huh?

SENT FROM MY AMAZING NOTE 2!

 

[raichur0xx0rz]

Thanks for the impressions. How did you not notice the Verizon logo stuffed in the top right corner? Haha.

The combination of the Logo and the LG Launcher kill the device for me, for now. I love the physical size of the device (smaller footprint than the DNA I'm using) and software buttons. Maybe once it gets some developer support to get rid of some of the clutter in the LG Launcher (mainly the notification bar) then I'll consider it... Sounds like a very solid device otherwise from all the reviews and whatnot.

 

[darkestred]

Guys. Come on. Logos...you're worried about a logo vs functionality of the phone? Just seems to me you'll never be happy with anything if thats your mindset. I just dont understand that logic, thats all.

You don't really notice the logo is actually pretty accurate. It's very tiny.

When i went into the store. I spoke with a lady and she said what phone? The guy next to her was like they came in last night. The LG rep was there yesterday. Another girl was familiar with it. The main girl i was talking to asked how i heard about this phone. The other girl did know a few things about it like knock knock and guest mode.

 

[Bloodthirsty]

I've had this phone for all of about an hour and I can already tell I'll be loving it. Coming from a GNex I was concerned about the UI, the size and bloatware.

For me the coolest thing so far is knock on/off. The UI isn't that far off from stock android from what I'm seeing. I was shocked that it was a little smaller then the DNA and not very much bigger then the GNex. Yeah there is some bloatware on there but that's what you get without a Nexus. So far I'm extremely happy about this phone and the fact that I kept Unlimited data(used my parents line to upgrade).

 

[raichur0xx0rz]

Guys. Come on. Logos...you're worried about a logo vs functionality of the phone? Just seems to me you'll never be happy with anything if thats your mindset. I just dont understand that logic, thats all.

You don't really notice the logo is actually pretty accurate. It's very tiny.

When i went into the store. I spoke with a lady and she said what phone? The guy next to her was like they came in last night. The LG rep was there yesterday. Another girl was familiar with it. The main girl i was talking to asked how i heard about this phone. The other girl did know a few things about it like knock knock and guest mode.

I nearly got kicked out of the store for having something covering the logo on my phone, so Verizon cares about their branding a lot =p

I'm not asking for no logos whatsoever - I'm just not a fan of forced branding like on the Note 2 and the G2. I'm not "worried" about it. The main deal-breaker is LG's horrible skin and how they take up so much of the notification tray. Not saying people shouldn't buy it or that it's a terrible phone because of either of those things. I would just prefer to wait for developer support to start up before picking it up.

 

[xgman]

I nearly got kicked out of the store for having something covering the logo on my phone, so Verizon cares about their branding a lot =p

I'm not asking for no logos whatsoever - I'm just not a fan of forced branding like on the Note 2 and the G2. I'm not "worried" about it. The main deal-breaker is LG's horrible skin and how they take up so much of the notification tray. Not saying people shouldn't buy it or that it's a terrible phone because of either of those things. I would just prefer to wait for developer support to start up before picking it up.

I actually noticed very little in the notify tray on the verizon model.

 

[cobra617]

I got one earlier today. The reps didn't know anything about it. I too came from a GNex. I hated my GNex with a passion. I am a BIG OLED fan. But I really like the screen on the G2. My only issues...
I was running my GNex unlocked with CM10.1.2. As Fox Fi doesn't work on this phone, I may miss not having tethering ability. I used tethering sparingly. The most often time I used it was when I would leave work early on Fridays to drive to our beach house. My wife would drive and I would tether my laptop and VPN in to work for the drive down. But this won't be an issue until next summer. By then, who knows, maybe I'll unlock the phone and be running an alternative ROM. I swore that I wouldn't do that this time since constantly updating ROMs on the phone gets old....I said that with my GNex originally too, but I broke down when Verizon was taking FOREVER with updates.

I've made one phone call, I am mildly disappointed with the call quality. It is on par with my GNex. The knock on feature doesn't always work. Sometimes I have to do it twice. But other than that, so far, I love this phone. My 4G connectivity is better and faster than my GNex. Much better in the few spots that I tried. At lunch I got 6Mbps on my GNex and the G2 got over 20. Also, in some areas my GNex would drop back to 3G while my G2 was still on 4G. (I've noticed that my wife's Moto Droid Razr MAXX tends to lock on to 4G better than my GNex as well).

The phone is unbelievably fast. I LOVE the quickness of the screen rotation. With my GNex, I'd wait and wait, with the G2 it is FAST. Typing in landscape is another huge improvement. The GNex has always had issues typiing in landscape mode. I could outype the phone. Not so with the G2. I am really happy so far.

Also, I have to wait on my Steinheil screen protector. I had one on my GNex (ultra Oleophobic) and it is the BEST screen protector I've ever used. Verizon tried selling me a screen protector but I declined. I had bought a set from them when I bought my Gnex and the ones they sold me were horrible. They actually made the screen very blurry. The rep swore up and down that those were the "old" anti-glare protectors and that their new ones aren't like that anymore.

 

[shadowsjc]

been using it on and off since lunchtime. I'm coming from a Droid Bionic so obviously this phone blows it out of the water. The one thing I will say is that the knock on sometimes doesn't work to turn the phone on (i'll have to double tap again in order to wake it). Other than that, it's been great so far.

 

[cobra617]

I forgot to mention one thing that was a bit of a concern for me. The display phone was running that video that all display phones run. When I picked up the G2, it was a bit warm on the back. The HTC One and Galaxy S4 were not. Now, it could have been that the G2 was running that video for a long time and the other phones were not, but it was just an observation I made.
The biggest issue I've had with my now previous GNex was heat. The phone would heat up very quickly. When it became too hot (usually would happen when I was using Nav and TuneIn Radio Pro at the same time) it would stop charging as well as becoming dog slow. Also using Chrome for more than a few minutes caused my GNex to heat up fast and become unusable.

 

[BOSSY TEXAS CHICK]

.....The back is an insane fingerprint magnet! ...... The phone was a little slippery with that smooth shiny back and while I don't think I'd actually have it fall out of my hand.....

My Optimus G Pro was the most "slippery lil dickens" of a phone i ever held. Got a "xtremeguard" full body skin (clear) for about 12 bucks and problem of fingerprints and slipperiness iNSTANTLY solved. Dry application, front and back, no bubbles, gives amazing grip, has lasted over 4 months, (not even a trace of an edge lifting), can't even tell its on there...(look closely around the camera lens/flash : )

View attachment 81090

BTC

 

[tx_tuff]

I nearly got kicked out of the store for having something covering the logo on my phone, so Verizon cares about their branding a lot =p

I'm not asking for no logos whatsoever - I'm just not a fan of forced branding like on the Note 2 and the G2. I'm not "worried" about it. The main deal-breaker is LG's horrible skin and how they take up so much of the notification tray. Not saying people shouldn't buy it or that it's a terrible phone because of either of those things. I would just prefer to wait for developer support to start up before picking it up.

The notification tray on the Verizon one doesn't have the brightness and volume bar like the others. Plus you can remove/turn off the Q Slide in notification as well. So all you are left with is the toggles at the top. If you can't live with that you will never be happy.

 

[dplane]

Just checked it out as well in a fairly large and busy corporate store. I love how all employees seem to be totally ignoring the G2 and all folks were clearly being pushed toward the moto Droids. It's always depressing for me (and I'm sure everybody else here) how 99 percent of vzw employees seem to be complete tech nitwits. Its clear they don't hire folks based on their interests.

W regards to the phone: it's a lot nicer looking in person (primarily the back) but yes it's a god awful fingerprint glossy finish.

Screen is beautiful indeed and brighter than my DNA but seemed to have a bit of a blue hue compared to the HTC. I'd actually say the screen on the DNA and One look a tad nicer but that's probably more down to personal preference.

Also played w a Droid MAXX a bit and the feel, screen and smoothness are indeed clearly better than the specs would imply. For a 100 more tho.. Uhm no

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Snareman]

Just checked it out as well in a fairly large and busy corporate store. I love how all employees seem to be totally ignoring the G2 and all folks were clearly being pushed toward the moto Droids. It's always depressing for me (and I'm sure everybody else here) how 99 percent of vzw employees seem to be complete tech nitwits. Its clear they don't hire folks based on their interests.



Posted via Android Central App

Even though I told the woman I was there for the G2 she said "Have you seen the Droid Ultra?" Um, yes, and no thanks.

 

[bmandrews7]

Hello All, I got mine today. I still love it but am reminded of a why I rooted my previous device(gnex) just thought I would throw this out there. You can hide the bloat apps from the app drawer but that does not stop them from getting updates and eating your valuable storage. I find the best way is to go to the app manager in settings and uninstall any updates and then disable the unwanted bloatware apps.

 

[ricardo_r21]

Hello All, I got mine today. I still love it but am reminded of a why I rooted my previous device(gnex) just thought I would throw this out there. You can hide the bloat apps from the app drawer but that does not stop them from getting updates and eating your valuable storage. I find the best way is to go to the app manager in settings and uninstall any updates and then disable the unwanted bloatware apps.

This is probably the first thing I did after playing with the phone for about 10 mins. Most bloatware apps are disabled now which is like if they weren't even there.

I love this phone, I am coming from a GNex and it could immediately see the difference. I used it non-stop (watched videos, netflix, surfed the net, facebook, etc) for about 6/7 hours and battery life was at 10%. It's been on the wireless charger for a good 3/4 hours and it's barely at 85%, I'll try wired charging next time. I love the phone.

I hope there is a root method soon, but it's very worth it even unrooted.

 

[bmandrews7]

This is probably the first thing I did after playing with the phone for about 10 mins. Most bloatware apps are disabled now which is like if they weren't even there.

I love this phone, I am coming from a GNex and it could immediately see the difference. I used it non-stop (watched videos, netflix, surfed the net, facebook, etc) for about 6/7 hours and battery life was at 10%. It's been on the wireless charger for a good 3/4 hours and it's barely at 85%, I'll try wired charging next time. I love the phone.

I hope there is a root method soon, but it's very worth it even unrooted.

dont have any facts to back this but my perception is that is the case for the wireless chargers they are more of slow overnight charging method versus the quicker charger you would see from a wired connection. I was wondering what charger you were using and how the use of it is. Because I plan on getting one just not sure which one at the moment.