LG GW - 2 weeks with the T-Mobile G2

Mobius360

Well-known member
Aug 26, 2010
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I've had my G2 for roughly 2 weeks. Overall I love the phone, but it's not perfect. I had zero intentions of actually buying one when I went to look at them, I left impressed by the screen, the size of the phone for having a 5.2" screen, the speed of the phone, knock knock, the camera and large battery. The rear buttons don't bother me at all, I find on T-Mobiles version it's easy to know where I'm at with them but to be honest with the Window case I don't use the power button much and find it plenty easy to use the volume adjustment in the notification tray or on back. I also don't use knock knock to turn on the phone often because the Window case turns on the phone when opened. I do use it to turn off from time to time, truly a great feature I'm sure we'll see on more phones soon. The response to knock knock has been decent from my experience but as others have said once in awhile you have to do it twice.

For me to make the G2 usable (the way I like) I went back to Nova Launcher Prime & SwiftKey. The stock launcher is actually pretty dang good but you can't hide labels and I just want to be able to do that, my other issue with the stock launcher is not being able to change the icon if you make a folder. That's really it and compared to my very old Galaxy S Epic from back in the day, stock launchers seem to have come a long way. One big bummer is you lose the transparent menu and notification bar with a 3rd party launcher (this can be fixed with root I'd guess). I found myself missing word spelling often with LGs keyboard for some reason but SwiftKey works as good as it always does. The stock keyboard has a lot going on with built in emoji, dedicated # keys and several themes available. It is a nice stock keyboard but SwiftKey and the light theme has a perfect look and feel to go with the G2 UI.

I love the quick memo app (it's much easier to take screen shots vs. the rear buttons), turned off slide aside (Googles way works fine for me by holding home key), haven't tried qslide apps much and haven't tried LGs voice (siri/s-voice) implementation. My only complaint is the notification tray by not being able to minimize brightness and volume sliders, all it needs is to be able to minimize and expand like the qslide apps and it would be perfect (I think Verizons model may do this). Several of the pre-installed apps can be removed (I removed Polaris viewer & dictionary off the top of my head) and on T-Mobiles G2 the extra bloat is very minimal as in all I noticed was a couple T-Mobile apps that you probably want or don't mind them. It's definitely different than the Nexus software which doesn't have anything extra installed although there are a few Google Apps on my Nexus 4 that are not removable like Currents.

I see a lot of gripes about the onscreen buttons and configurations. I'm used to Nexus's setup as well but this setup works fine. I added the quick memo button to mine as I find it very useful. The menu key will be around as long as Samsung is using one let's face it and get over it. I'm just glad there's no wonky HTC bar for a menu button or a 2 button phone.

The camera on this thing is leaps and bounds better than anything else I've used on a phone. It has its version of photosphere thankfully as well.

Overall I love the Nexus line but decided to go here instead. The screen which is the biggest thing we use on our phones is really perfect (bravo LG), 32GB is welcome when a lot of top phones are still giving 16GB and no SD card isn't a deal breaker for me as I've been a Nexus guy, LTE and HSPA+ are fast, the battery life is really great in my experience and the phone performance is everything I hoped the S800 would bring. I feel LG put a great phone out, shiny plastic and all. No android phone is perfect for everybody. LG got my attention with the Nexus 4 and got another sale with the G2. My only hope now is for updates but even if they are few and far between this phone does everything I need and does it well, Jellybean has been great for Android. Hope KitKat comes to the G2, let's do it LG.

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Posted via G2 Android Central App
 
Last edited:
Cool - thanks for posting your thoughts! How do you like the case? It looks cool to me, but I also use my phone at the gym - I'm wondering if I have to remove it from the case to put it in an armband. I have just a back case on my Galaxy S2 so it slips right into the armband.

Elton
 
I had a question regarding the T-Mobile version of this phone, but I believe you answered it in your review. Specs are a bit harder to find for T-Mobile's version when it comes to the technology side. I was wondering if it did both LTE and HSPA+ since it's not stated on the T-Mobile site, but you said they were both fast, which answers my question. I've been a CDMA guy ever since I had my first phone, so I'm not used to GSM at all. I was thinking of switching services and was weighing my options between buying the Verizon or T-Mobile version outright, seeing as how Verizon is now unlocked but I believe only has capabilities for T-Mobile's HSPA+ network and not LTE. I'm trying to hold off for the Nexus 5 announcement to see what the hype is, but this phone is very tempting especially when seeing it in person. I think when it comes down to it, I'll be buying the T-Mobile version outright and maybe try out the Solevei network.
 
I had a question regarding the T-Mobile version of this phone, but I believe you answered it in your review. Specs are a bit harder to find for T-Mobile's version when it comes to the technology side. I was wondering if it did both LTE and HSPA+ since it's not stated on the T-Mobile site, but you said they were both fast, which answers my question. I've been a CDMA guy ever since I had my first phone, so I'm not used to GSM at all. I was thinking of switching services and was weighing my options between buying the Verizon or T-Mobile version outright, seeing as how Verizon is now unlocked but I believe only has capabilities for T-Mobile's HSPA+ network and not LTE. I'm trying to hold off for the Nexus 5 announcement to see what the hype is, but this phone is very tempting especially when seeing it in person. I think when it comes down to it, I'll be buying the T-Mobile version outright and maybe try out the Solevei network.

I have the Tmo version of the G2 and I can honestly say I get good speeds living in New Jersey. Most of the time I'm on LTE and when I'm not in a area with LTE it switches to HSPA+, of course you can choose what you want to use between them in the settings. The highest I got around my house is 32mb down 10mb up and it stays at a good 15 to 17mb download speed consistantly. I think I read somewhere about the phone having better radios to grab a signal better.
 
Cool - thanks for posting your thoughts! How do you like the case? It looks cool to me, but I also use my phone at the gym - I'm wondering if I have to remove it from the case to put it in an armband. I have just a back case on my Galaxy S2 so it slips right into the armband.

Elton

The Window case is done very good. It's small, protects the front screen and turns on and off the phone for you automatically. There are functions in the window for time, answering the phone, music player and weather / messages info. You would have to download music to your phone to use the built in music player, unfortunately it doesn't let you use Google Music or Pandora in this window case view.

Posted via G2 Android Central App
 
I had a question regarding the T-Mobile version of this phone, but I believe you answered it in your review. Specs are a bit harder to find for T-Mobile's version when it comes to the technology side. I was wondering if it did both LTE and HSPA+ since it's not stated on the T-Mobile site, but you said they were both fast, which answers my question. I've been a CDMA guy ever since I had my first phone, so I'm not used to GSM at all. I was thinking of switching services and was weighing my options between buying the Verizon or T-Mobile version outright, seeing as how Verizon is now unlocked but I believe only has capabilities for T-Mobile's HSPA+ network and not LTE. I'm trying to hold off for the Nexus 5 announcement to see what the hype is, but this phone is very tempting especially when seeing it in person. I think when it comes down to it, I'll be buying the T-Mobile version outright and maybe try out the Solevei network.

Yes when on LTE the icon clearly says 4G LTE, when on HSPA+ it shows just 4G.

Posted via G2 Android Central App
 
The Window case is done very good. It's small, protects the front screen and turns on and off the phone for you automatically. There are functions in the window for time, answering the phone, music player and weather / messages info. You would have to download music to your phone to use the built in music player, unfortunately it doesn't let you use Google Music or Pandora in this window case view.

Posted via G2 Android Central App

Cool! Do these widgets only work if your phone doesn't require a lock key? I have to have a PIN for EAS support at work, but does that mean I can't use those widgets? Or do you not use a PIN?

Thanks,

Elton
 
Yes they work, you really only have the music player which would actually turn something on, sadly most of my downloaded music is through Google music which the LG player doesn't see, the other options are different clock faces and one with weather info. You get a little icon that shows missed text messages as well. I'm not sure how answering the phone works with a pin set. I use the pattern method and seem to be able to answer a call or end one just fine.
 

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