G2: Good, Bad and Ugly

[Gary Friderichsohn]

I need to upgrade bad. Using an original EVO4g. sprint has no lte at my area. I will buy either a G2, Note 3, HTC One Max or Sony Homie. I can live w/o battery removal as I have juice packs, but I want as much storage as I can get. whoever satisfies that gets my money. And I already have a Patriot Gauntlet, but it's another brick to pack. Incidentally the Gaunlet is on sale at newegg right now.

 

[accesschristopher]

Battery life #1 - and I mean actual on screen time. This 2.5 hours on nexus sucks..
Camera - hope it is 2 times better then nexus 4, I have to take 5 pics to get one decent photo.. I always have friends use their phone.. Which sucks..

 

[Ryandroid86]

What happens when your phone dies and all your music and pictures go with it. A lot of people don't know about or don't want to use cloud storage. I don't see myself using cloud storage either so a sd card is my top choice. I'd rather back it up on my pc than pay for cloud storage.

Sent from my SPH-L300 using AC Forums mobile app

You do know that you can still print photos too... There is no sure way of anything. Your computer could die too. And technically... a server could fail too. Its technology. Dont put all your eggs in one basket... Especially a phone/or SD card

 

[Rule9]

Yeah... because not having enough storage is such a non-issue.

Totally missing the point or are you just twisting my words? I never said it was a non issue. Nor do I think one feature is enough to write off half a dozen others. Both are extreme ends of the spectrum

 

[jfoofoo]

I can't seems to find any information on this. I think the snapdragon 800 has a lower power always on voice command build in, is LG G2 using this feature much like the Moto x?

 

[josearmz10789]

What happens when you computer dies, and all your music and pictures go with it?

What happens when you gotta pay your bills instead of the cloud. Ever think about that. Or what happens when uou out in the jungle with no signal and you need some valuable information that's stored in the cloud.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Aquila]

What happens when you gotta pay your bills instead of the cloud. Ever think about that. Or what happens when uou out in the jungle with no signal and you need some valuable information that's stored in the cloud.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using AC Forums mobile app

Most of the cloud services referenced are free and you're incredibly unlikely to have a lifesaving photo or song, but if you do have such information, and will be going to the jungle, being proactive with what you pin to your device might be wise. And/or, since you'll be away from electricity and therefore would want to not be dependent on electronics...

 

[bryantest]

UGLY: Cheap looking plastic in the back. For a flagship phone, it deserved better *SMH*

 

[JHBThree]

Why? Because that is how it is? Hey, if manufacturers want to give us devices with more storage then a sd card won't matter to me one bit. From the looks of the G2 they are taking away the card and giving us the same storage options. No thank you.

Citing one specific manufacturer over the quality of sd card issue isn't helping your case either.

It isn't just one manufacturer. Its the largest android manufacturer and one that has committed itself to including SD cards. And it isn't just an 'issue', its handsets destroying SD cards because of Samsung's implementation. It was a huge issue on the S3 and is an issue on the S4 as well.

There's no point in including SD cards if your phone is just going to eat the card and your data within 6 months of having the device.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Haalcyon]

It isn't just one manufacturer. Its the largest android manufacturer and one that has committed itself to including SD cards. And it isn't just an 'issue', its handsets destroying SD cards because of Samsung's implementation. It was a huge issue on the S3 and is an issue on the S4 as well.

There's no point in including SD cards if your phone is just going to eat the card and your data within 6 months of having the device.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

I'll have to see if this here Samsung tablet and my S4 "eat" their micro SD cards within 6 months of having the devices. I wonder what the cards taste like to them.

Sent from my Note 8.0 LTE

 

[Scott7217]

Non removable battery. Again.. This is simple an adjustment of our lifestyles. With so many options now available to charge up from home to auto or buying into a juice pack or other portable pack this is becoming less of an issue.

I would be curious to hear what power users (who rely heavily on their smartphones far away from an electrical outlet) use in terms of removable batteries and juice packs. For example, when the staff at Android Central is out reporting on a major event (like Google I/O, CTIA, MWC, or CES), do they use their smartphones a lot? Do they run out of power in the middle of the day? If so, do they simply insert a new battery (if they're using a phone with a removable battery), do they hook up a juice pack, or both?

I'd like to think that everyone at Android Central is using a Nexus 4 to cover events. If not, an LG G2 would be nice, too, once it goes on the market.

 

[Aquila]

I'll have to see if this here Samsung tablet and my S4 "eat" their micro SD cards within 6 months of having the devices. I wonder what the cards taste like to them.

Sent from my Note 8.0 LTE

Yummy! Apparently

 

[Scott7217]

It's sad that apparently the only OEM left that's willing to offer SD support is Samsung. But, I guess their the only one big enough to do what they want and not kowtow to Google's wishes.

Well, Sony offers removable storage on the Xperia Z and Z Ultra. So Samsung is not alone.

Also, if Google was really against micro SD, they wouldn't have let Samsung sell a Galaxy S4 Google Play edition phone right on the Play store. I doubt Google would sell any device on its own website that was counter to its own philosophy. In fact, they showcased it at the last Google I/O conference (with no mention of the HTC One GPe). If micro SD was such a problem, Google could have asked Samsung to remove the slot. If Samsung refused, Google could simply present the HTC One as the sole Google Play edition phone. Of course, neither of those scenarios happened.

While the LG G2 doesn't have a micro SD card slot right now, we can't rule out any future carrier exclusives. For example, I could easily see an AT&T-branded LG G2 with a micro SD card slot. If you're on any other network except AT&T, you'd be out of luck. That's just how it is in the mobile phone business.

 

[Aquila]

Also, if Google was really against micro SD, they wouldn't have let Samsung sell a Galaxy S4 Google Play edition

Google is not banning micro SD cards, they are just not supporting them. There's a pretty huge difference there. If Samsung takes Google's code and modifies it, no one cares. They're allowed to do that, it's open source and diversity is encouraged. The debate is really about the trade off between effort to include and sales generated or lost by the inclusion or exclusion that one feature. If at the end of the day .01% of the population makes their purchase decision on that one feature alone...

 

[Farish]

Anybody thought that if this is going to be reskinned as a Nexus 5 that LG decided to follow Google's guidelines in order to save on manufacturing costs?

 

[Aquila]

Anybody thought that if this is going to be reskinned as a Nexus 5 that LG decided to follow Google's guidelines in order to save on manufacturing costs?

The thought occurred, yes. With the Optimus G there were multiple versions, some included it and others didn't. If I remember correctly, the AT&T version was the only one with a micro SD card in the US. The on screen buttons, with the ability to customize which buttons are where also might have been built as easily convertible framework for the same re-purposing. Obviously the less iterations of a single device an OEM can make, the cheaper the expenses, though there probably does exist a slight reward for multiple versions giving consumers a choice between your products, rather than an all eggs in one basket type of thing.

 

[Prinny Mask]

What happens when you gotta pay your bills instead of the cloud. Ever think about that. Or what happens when uou out in the jungle with no signal and you need some valuable information that's stored in the cloud.

Like Nothing has said, most of the cloud services are free. If you combined all the free cloud storage you're given, there's a large chance you wouldn't even have to pay for extra storage. Oh, and look at that; if you do need more, you can get an extra 85 GB from Google for $5 a month. That's one less trip to McDonald's every month. I get more storage. Google gets money. Everyone wins! Well...not McDonald's, but I win. And, if you were paying for the cloud, isn't that a bill too?


If I was out in the jungle, I'd at least know what I was getting into before I actually set out. That's like going out on a vacation to another country that you've never been to before and doing absolutely no research on where you're going. You don't always need the answers for everything though. There's still the old-fashioned way of trial and error. If this berry is poisonous, I know not to eat it next time. If I'm lost and looking for some sort of village, and I've traveled 500 miles west and haven't run into a village, I'm probably going the wrong way. Let's face it though, sometimes you're just screwed, and you're going to get mauled by a platypus in the jungle; no valuable information could have prevented that. It's alright for me though, because the jungle is my home. I am a leopard.

 

[Aquila]

It's alright for me though, because the jungle is my home. I am a leopard.

+1

Also, I would venture forth with the argument that maybe cutting one trip to Mc Donald's out of one's month is more beneficial to them than it is detrimental...

 

[GadgetGator]

I've never understood why phones don't have 128gb/256gb/512gb options. With HD Digital Copies of movies being 4GB+ each, it just makes sense. When your carrier limits your data usage, it makes even more sense. It just seems asinine to force users into streaming content when data is restricted so much and LTE coverage could not support everyone streaming their content.

"The Cloud" is not a storage solution, its an ease of access solution.

The reason phones have not had that much storage is technological and cost based. You can have that much storage on a computer simply because there is more power and space provided. But once you shrink things down to the size of your hand, options become much more limited. You can fill up a phone with RAM chips, but then where do you put everything else? How does a battery fit in there?

A mobile computing device, by it's very nature is one of compromises. That doesn't mean that innovation cannot improve options with time, but it's a slow evolution. That being said, I've been a big proponent of memory options for a long time. And I HATE exclusitivity deals that make 64gb options limited to one carrier or one country. That's just BS. Android is all about freedom and flexibility, and these exclusive deals run counter to that.

 

[Dreamliner330]

The reason phones have not had that much storage is technological and cost based. You can have that much storage on a computer simply because there is more power and space provided. But once you shrink things down to the size of your hand, options become much more limited. You can fill up a phone with RAM chips, but then where do you put everything else? How does a battery fit in there?

A mobile computing device, by it's very nature is one of compromises. That doesn't mean that innovation cannot improve options with time, but it's a slow evolution. That being said, I've been a big proponent of memory options for a long time. And I HATE exclusitivity deals that make 64gb options limited to one carrier or one country. That's just BS. Android is all about freedom and flexibility, and these exclusive deals run counter to that.

My 5 year old iPod stores 160GB. iPhones have 64GB, iPads have 128.

A 64GB MicroSD card is smaller than my fingernail.

Technology is not a limiting factor.