A Penny For Your Thoughts - LG Marquee

[oskar1995]

Was hoping the kind folk of the LG Marquee forum could over some help to a fellow Androidian (Androidite?) I personally have a Epic 4G Touch that I'm very satisfied with, but my wife is currently in the market for a new phone. She has a Palm Pixi for Sprint and is ready to make the jump to Android. While I'm a fan of my Epic, the overall size poses a problem for my wife. She generally keeps her phone in a wristlet. The Pixi fits with no problems, and the Epic, is just a little too wide and too tall to fit in the wristlet.

I guess my question is this. What are your overall impressions of the Marquee? The NOVA screen seems nice, and the 4" size would fit the necessary dimensions. Thoughts on lag, battery life, crashes, etc?

At this point, the other phone in the running is the Nexus S which is a tad old at this point in time. The iPhone is certainly small enough, but my wife isn't crazy about the phone. A lot of screens are looking bigger these days, so I'm not sure what is on the horizon at the 4" level.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[nosajsam]

Was hoping the kind folk of the LG Marquee forum could over some help to a fellow Androidian (Androidite?) I personally have a Epic 4G Touch that I'm very satisfied with, but my wife is currently in the market for a new phone. She has a Palm Pixi for Sprint and is ready to make the jump to Android. While I'm a fan of my Epic, the overall size poses a problem for my wife. She generally keeps her phone in a wristlet. The Pixi fits with no problems, and the Epic, is just a little too wide and too tall to fit in the wristlet.

I guess my question is this. What are your overall impressions of the Marquee? The NOVA screen seems nice, and the 4" size would fit the necessary dimensions. Thoughts on lag, battery life, crashes, etc?

At this point, the other phone in the running is the Nexus S which is a tad old at this point in time. The iPhone is certainly small enough, but my wife isn't crazy about the phone. A lot of screens are looking bigger these days, so I'm not sure what is on the horizon at the 4" level.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

well, I guess it depends who you ask around here ...from what I've seen most people who actually own the phone seem to like it. I love it. The lag isn't terrible...it really isn't even a lag as much as it just initially isn't buttery smooth (I bought one for my wife & she didn't mind or really even seem to notice but I'm a bit more picky & definitely more tech savoy). Either way, it can be fixed very easily (by installing a different launcher). As far as crashes are concerned, I haven't experienced any. The screen is great & imo so is the size of the phone. I like that it has dual cameras & having a flash is a big plus. The battery life of coarse depends on the user but with a few easy tweaks (shutting off things when not needed/being used) 18-24 hours of battery life is possible. I always keep a charger nearby anyway. I have a Sero plan on Sprint & for me this is a great 3G device that keeps my plan @ $40.00.

 

[Gerbilkit]

I just made the switch from the palm pre. Most of my issues were really things that would have bothered me with any android phone that doesn't have a physical keyboard. (I wanted the epic for better camera/physical keyboard but it's 4G). So my feeling is that I haven't noticed any lag, and for the most part the hardest part has been getting used to how android handles things differently than webOS (sometimes better, sometimes worse). And getting used to that lack of a physical keyboard. The phone is very thin and light, I will give it that. One of my iphone friends was impressed by that.

And battery life is definitely better than it was on my pre. I'm getting ~14 hours with barely any tinkering and fairly decent usage. GPS is off, wifi is always on, autosync is on, etc. Fairly heavy usage downloading apps and changing settings all the time, listening to pandora, etc. I'm sure that with only texting and voice calls battery life would probably be more like 18 hours seeing as it only was draining somewhere between 2-3% per hour when I turned off autosync and left it idle.

 

[maddmatt02]

I have a Sero plan on Sprint & for me this is a great 3G device that keeps my plan @ $40.00.

do you mean $30? I am on a sero plan as well and my epic touch is 40 a month while my moms phone is only 30 because it doesnt require the premium data service like my phone does, I figured the marquee wouldnt have needed that premium data since its not a 4g phone, and seeing as my epic touch has had LoS for quite some time and the wifes phone just got its first LoS today we are thinking of ditching the SGSII and looking into something else, Im looking at the photon but was considering the marquee so i could step back to the $30 monthly, and theres no 4G anywhere around here anyways...

 

[tcaudill01]

do you mean $30? I am on a sero plan as well and my epic touch is 40 a month while my moms phone is only 30 because it doesnt require the premium data service like my phone does, I figured the marquee wouldnt have needed that premium data since its not a 4g phone, and seeing as my epic touch has had LoS for quite some time and the wifes phone just got its first LoS today we are thinking of ditching the SGSII and looking into something else, Im looking at the photon but was considering the marquee so i could step back to the $30 monthly, and theres no 4G anywhere around here anyways...

I have the SERO plan also and you will have to pay the extra $10 for data with this phone. My wife has an epic 4g and her bill went up $20 ($10-data & $10-4G).
I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Samsung Replenish is the only Droid that does not get hit with a data surcharge.

 

[cruiserandmax]

The lag isn't terrible...it really isn't even a lag as much as it just initially isn't buttery smooth (I bought one for my wife & she didn't mind or really even seem to notice but I'm a bit more picky & definitely more tech savoy). Either way, it can be fixed very easily (by installing a different launcher). As far as crashes are concerned, I haven't experienced any. [...] I have a Sero plan on Sprint & for me this is a great 3G device that keeps my plan @ $40.00.

Like you I'm on SERO currently with an Optimus S (which I would call buttery smooth). The reports of lagginess (however subtle) is really the only thing keeping me from trying it out. When you say the launcher can be replaced to speed it up- are they 3rd party launchers? Do you have to root to do that? Is there a close to stock launcher (like what I beleive my Optimus S uses)?

I'd really like the Marquee for all the other reasons you mention. Plus I think it has slightly more main memory space for app storage than my Optimus.

Thanks for your tips!!

 

[cruiserandmax]

do you mean $30? I am on a sero plan as well and my epic touch is 40 a month while my moms phone is only 30 because it doesnt require the premium data service like my phone does.

Nope, any smart phone (all Android phones), beyond the Touch Pro 2 require SERO-Premium ($40/month). And any current 4G smartphone, plus the iPhone 4S, require SERO-Premium + $10/month = $50/month. The Epic Touch 4G should be $50/month. If you are somehow only paying $40/month for your Epic Touch 4G then I would keep as quiet as possible, and not even talk to Sprint about upgrading to another phone because your plan would undoubtedly get "corrected" to $40+$10.

 

[nosajsam]

When you say the launcher can be replaced to speed it up- are they 3rd party launchers? Do you have to root to do that? Is there a close to stock launcher (like what I beleive my Optimus S uses)?

I couldn't find a way to customize the stock launcher on the Marquee to my liking. I downloaded 2 different Launcher apps from the Market (Launcher Pro & ADW Launcher). I liked them both as they both have alot of customization options, but personally I like Launcher Pro a little better. I can't even tell you why. It's just the one I decided on & it works for me. Either way, both work MUCH better & best of all can be fully customized. Absolutely ZERO lag with either of these launchers on my Marquee.

No, your phone will NOT need to be rooted.

Since you have the Optimus S, you can even try them out on that phone.

 

[nosajsam]

do you mean $30? I am on a sero plan as well and my epic touch is 40 a month while my moms phone is only 30 because it doesnt require the premium data service like my phone does, I figured the marquee wouldnt have needed that premium data since its not a 4g phone, and seeing as my epic touch has had LoS for quite some time and the wifes phone just got its first LoS today we are thinking of ditching the SGSII and looking into something else, Im looking at the photon but was considering the marquee so i could step back to the $30 monthly, and theres no 4G anywhere around here anyways...

I have the SERO plan also and you will have to pay the extra $10 for data with this phone. My wife has an epic 4g and her bill went up $20 ($10-data & $10-4G).

Nope, any smart phone (all Android phones), beyond the Touch Pro 2 require SERO-Premium ($40/month). And any current 4G smartphone, plus the iPhone 4S, require SERO-Premium + $10/month = $50/month. The Epic Touch 4G should be $50/month. If you are somehow only paying $40/month for your Epic Touch 4G then I would keep as quiet as possible, and not even talk to Sprint about upgrading to another phone because your plan would undoubtedly get "corrected" to $40+$10.

+1

The Marquee is definitely $40.00 w/ a Sero plan.

 

[tcaudill01]

The reports of lagginess (however subtle) is really the only thing keeping me from trying it out. When you say the launcher can be replaced to speed it up- are they 3rd party launchers? Do you have to root to do that? Is there a close to stock launcher (like what I beleive my Optimus S uses)?

I use DXhome with a customized theme and it works really well with no lagginess.It also doesn't require root to work. Here is a pic of my homescreen.

I've had a few people ask so thought I had better clarify something. The time & weather widget is not the default one in DXhome. The default one only has locations for china.
The one shown on my home screen is an app called "BITS Widget". It allows you to create your own custom widgets. I used the one from DXhome as a model to create the one shown.

 

[cruiserandmax]

I use DXhome with a customized theme and it works really well with no lagginess.It also doesn't require root to work. Here is a pic of my homescreen.

Nice! Thanks for the tip... I'm pretty much sold, now I just want to find the best off contract price for this phone. Currently it looks like around $265 for new ones off eBay. So close....

 

[dishe]

BTW- the Samsung Transform ULTRA just launched today on Sprint.

Its cheaper than the Marquee, and lower resolution (in both camera and display), but otherwise a very solid performer, and much smoother out of the box.

Worth at least a look if you are still on the fence about this decision.

 

[cruiserandmax]

Another good tip! Thanks I will definitely have a look at the Samsung before buying anything.

 

[tcaudill01]

My family's personal experience with the transform has not been very good. My stepson recieved his toward the end of July and he is now on his third one. He has experienced one device completely dying and the other ones external speaker stopped. All of these are stock devices as he doesn't like messing with things.
I didn't see the second device he had, but the first and last one are not what I would describe as smooth.
As for the Ultra version, I have no direct experience with it. From looking at the specs, I would assume that the faster processor would smooth things out some.

 

[KydDynoMyte]

I got my wife the Marquee 2 weeks ago & I got the Transform Ultra yesterday. She now wants the Transform Ultra. The Transform Ultra does get a little over double benchmark scores, but the Marquee doesn't feel half as fast. The Marquee is a little slower opening the same apps, but you don't really notice unless you do a side by side comparison. We like both phones, but we both prefer physical keyboards. If you want a better screen & camera I'd say go for the Marquee. If you want a physical keyboard go for the Transform Ultra. (both on $40 SERO-P)

 

[dishe]

My family's personal experience with the transform has not been very good. My stepson recieved his toward the end of July and he is now on his third one. He has experienced one device completely dying and the other ones external speaker stopped.

Yes, the Transform was a notoriously bad user experience device. Apples and Oranges, the Ultra was just released. And it appears that Samsung is atoning for its sins of the past.

As for the Ultra version, I have no direct experience with it. From looking at the specs, I would assume that the faster processor would smooth things out some.

Quite a bit. Its significantly faster than the flagship 4 phones from not even a year ago. Check this out for the full scoop:
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TLBztgdj1o&feature=share[/YT]

If you want a better screen & camera I'd say go for the Marquee.)

Yes, the one thing that still has me on the fence in my decision is the camera quality of the Marquee. I'm currently coming from an Optimus S, which has a pretty subpar camera. I shoot with a DSLR for work, but there are plenty of times that I was out with my kids and needed to take shots from my phone due to lack of anything else around. One of my incentives to upgrade was that I would like a better camera. Sadly, Ultra seems to have about the same quality as the Optimus, aside from the addition of the front facing option.

But coming from such a smooth and fluid UI, its hard for me to ignore how nice the experience is on the Ultra, and to get over the notion that the Marquee feels like a step backwards.

I guess what it ultimately comes down to (at least for me), is what is more important: higher end specs or a smoother user experience?

 

[farfromuman]

I am debating weather to keep this phone or not, the signal is consistently about 10dBm lower than my Optimus S. Sprint is not the best performer here so sitting around -110dBm all day is not a good thing for the battery file.