My experience using both a Nexus 4 and LG Optimus G (a comparison)

[donrhummy]

(I originally posted this on reddit here: My experiences using both a Nexus 4 and an LG Optimus G but wanted to hear everyone's thoughts here too)

I recently used both a Nexus 4 (in a T-Mobile store) and an LG Optimus G (in a Sprint store) within 20 minutes of each other and here's my experiences:

(I used the Nexus 4 first, the LG Optimus G second)

Nexus 4

After reading the reviews I was surprised (and disappointed) to discover there was a fair amount of lag. It was the usual "Android" lag:

• Pinch to zoom in a browser had lag
• Scrolling in Chrome had some lag
• Popping up multi-tasking overlay had lag
• About 20% of the time going back to home screen had some lag
• Taking a picture in the camera app had lag
• Getting the camera controls to popup (and then moving your finger to select one) had lag before they turned blue

None of the lag was showstopping but it did not feel like a next-generation phone as the reviews had indicated. It felt like a Galaxy S3 with ICS.

Photosphere was amazing. Even indoors (in the T-Mobile store) it was able to stitch the image seamlessly (I followed people's suggestions to rotate around the camera lens).

The phone looks amazing and is surprisingly thin (thinner than it looks in the reviews). It feels good in your hand.

In a speedtest (I ran it 4 times) I got between 1.7-2.1mbps down and 1.5-2.2 up, but that's T-Mobile not the phone. (The store claimed they had HSPA+ 42)

LG Optimus G

The fastest phone I have ever used. I was very surprised. I'm including the iPhone 5 in that assessment. There was ZERO lag in anything I did on the phone. Switching home screens, bringing up the app drawer, starting the camera, pinch-to-zoom. NOTHING could stop this phone.

Unfortunately, it's a huge, blocky phone that, while light, doesn't feel comfortable in your hand like the Nexus 4. It felt thinner than the Nexus 4 though I'm not sure if it really was.

Speedtests gave me 700K-1.4mbps down, 650K-900K up. (Sprint claimed there was LTE in the area but only if I took it outside the store)

Camera was not very good. For a phone that has a 13 megapixel camera, I couldn't figure out why the pictures were no better than on the Nexus 4's 8-megpixel. Very disappointing. And the reviews were right that the auto-focus just kept sputtering.

But that speed! I have only used one phone in my life that came close - the iPhone 5. While I'm not a fan of LG's theme on Android (I prefer stock), this phone ran like a next generation phone. I'm still in shock at how fast it was...and confused. Since the Nexus 4 comes from the same hardware and is a combined effort between Google and LG, and is Google's flagship phone, why is the Nexus 4 drastically slower?

Please write with your experiences with these two phones as well, I want to know if these were isolated results.

 

[slowman]

Gosh I don't want a laggy phone. I've read/seen nothing but good as far as lag is concerned. Everything I've seen it's been super snappy and responsive. This was my main issue using Android in the past that always kept me coming back to my iPhone. Hopefully it was just that device in the Tmo store for some reason.

 

[corance]

Yeah I don't see how the same phone with project butter could be slower. must be other factors.

 

[jflexe99]

All the Nexus 4 videos I have seen lately, no lag...buttery smooth.

 

[rclifton]

(I originally posted this on reddit here: My experiences using both a Nexus 4 and an LG Optimus G but wanted to hear everyone's thoughts here too)

I recently used both a Nexus 4 (in a T-Mobile store) and an LG Optimus G (in a Sprint store) within 20 minutes of each other and here's my experiences:

(I used the Nexus 4 first, the LG Optimus G second)

Nexus 4

After reading the reviews I was surprised (and disappointed) to discover there was a fair amount of lag. It was the usual "Android" lag:

• Pinch to zoom in a browser had lag
• Scrolling in Chrome had some lag
• Popping up multi-tasking overlay had lag
• About 20% of the time going back to home screen had some lag
• Taking a picture in the camera app had lag
• Getting the camera controls to popup (and then moving your finger to select one) had lag before they turned blue

None of the lag was showstopping but it did not feel like a next-generation phone as the reviews had indicated. It felt like a Galaxy S3 with ICS.

Photosphere was amazing. Even indoors (in the T-Mobile store) it was able to stitch the image seamlessly (I followed people's suggestions to rotate around the camera lens).

The phone looks amazing and is surprisingly thin (thinner than it looks in the reviews). It feels good in your hand.

In a speedtest (I ran it 4 times) I got between 1.7-2.1mbps down and 1.5-2.2 up, but that's T-Mobile not the phone. (The store claimed they had HSPA+ 42)

LG Optimus G

The fastest phone I have ever used. I was very surprised. I'm including the iPhone 5 in that assessment. There was ZERO lag in anything I did on the phone. Switching home screens, bringing up the app drawer, starting the camera, pinch-to-zoom. NOTHING could stop this phone.

Unfortunately, it's a huge, blocky phone that, while light, doesn't feel comfortable in your hand like the Nexus 4. It felt thinner than the Nexus 4 though I'm not sure if it really was.

Speedtests gave me 700K-1.4mbps down, 650K-900K up. (Sprint claimed there was LTE in the area but only if I took it outside the store)

Camera was not very good. For a phone that has a 13 megapixel camera, I couldn't figure out why the pictures were no better than on the Nexus 4's 8-megpixel. Very disappointing. And the reviews were right that the auto-focus just kept sputtering.

But that speed! I have only used one phone in my life that came close - the iPhone 5. While I'm not a fan of LG's theme on Android (I prefer stock), this phone ran like a next generation phone. I'm still in shock at how fast it was...and confused. Since the Nexus 4 comes from the same hardware and is a combined effort between Google and LG, and is Google's flagship phone, why is the Nexus 4 drastically slower?

Please write with your experiences with these two phones as well, I want to know if these were isolated results.

I've never used nor even seen the Optimus G, but I will try and get to a sprint store to see if they have a display unit (the local AT&T store doesn't). With the exception of the "multi-tasking overlay" I tried everything that you mentioned and have zero lag. It is smoother than even my old Galaxy Nexus which was very smooth after the Jellybean update. I will post a video later showing how smooth it is, do you have anything in particular that seems to really lag yours as I haven't been able to get any lag on mine at all unless I try and scroll in Chrome while a page is still loading which I don't consider "lag".

By the way when you say "multi-tasking overlay", are you referring to the popup you get when hitting the multi-tasking button?

 

[cinek]

don't have any lag on my phone, when I first got it, I got a system update, maybe they haven't updated theirs yet and were running the pre-release software

 

[jdk2]

I've never used nor even seen the Optimus G, but I will try and get to a sprint store to see if they have a display unit (the local AT&T store doesn't). With the exception of the "multi-tasking overlay" I tried everything that you mentioned and have zero lag. It is smoother than even my old Galaxy Nexus which was very smooth after the Jellybean update. I will post a video later showing how smooth it is, do you have anything in particular that seems to really lag yours as I haven't been able to get any lag on mine at all unless I try and scroll in Chrome while a page is still loading which I don't consider "lag".

By the way when you say "multi-tasking overlay", are you referring to the popup you get when hitting the multi-tasking button?

I'll echo your lag statements. I can't find any in Chrome or getting back to the home screen. Any phone that's sitting idle in a store will have issues after having all sorts of people doing things to it that would bring a cray supercomputer to its knees.

This phone performs faster and better than any phone I've ever owned. And it's contract free. If enough people make the switch, maybe VZW will come to its senses.

 

[Mugler Infusion]

Those displays in the store get handled a lot more than you do to your phone, I want to hear reviews on lag in a month from now.

 

[Kaenon]

The Nexus 4 is the least laggy android phone I've ever used.
iPhone 5 and Nexus 4 are on par.

 

[Exergy]

I used a N4 in a tmobile store the other day and I couldn?t do anything to make it lag, and I tried. Plus store phones are treated so badly you really can't use that as an indication.

 

[Saiga]

You went to a carrier store and played with the phones for 20 minutes and then formed an opinion of them? That's not nearly enough time to get to know a device. Not to mention you have no idea what those display units have been through.

I've been using a brand new Optimus G since it came out. A bit longer than a trip to a carrier store. I really like it. I think it is a great phone, one of the best Android devices out there right now and I love the landscape home screens. My only complaint with the Optimus G is I don't like how it feels in the hand.

With that said, after weeks of using the Optimus G. It isn't any faster or smoother than the Nexus 4. In my experience -and i have both of these phones in front of me right now and have compared them side by side an awful lot - any way. The bloat on the G can cause occasional lag, just like chrome on the Nexus 4 can cause lag. In my opinion. There really isn't a clear fastest phone between those two. They both run pretty much equally well. The Nexus might be a tad less laggy just because it doesn't come loaded down with so much crap, but that doesn't mean I think the G is a slouch. Either way, both are awesome and I think its cool that LG is stepping their game up. Also, I find it ironic that Verizon doesn't get either one of them, but did get the train wreck that was the Intuition. Lol


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[jroc]

This could be anything....

Bad phone, animations turned all the way up on the Nexus 4, lots of stuff going on in the background/multi tasking, etc. Some phones I try out I see ppl installed apps on them, some are left alone. It could be anything..

It would be nice if every phone on display was a perfect phone, unused but thats not the case. Sadly....if a display phone has issues it can effect purchases. Then maybe the Optimus G is just a smoother phone, who knows...I think its safe to say tho that most new high end Android phones should have similar performance, feel.

 

[cpolism]

If I chose my phones based off how display units perform, I'd have an old school flip phone. Nothing against the OP, but you can't compare display units to each other. People abuse those things, download all types of crap on them, and they just go through the ringer. The only way to truly test them, is to have a clean new phone in real world use. Still good to see the real devices in hand, but don't base your decision off of what you saw.

 

[Ziptied]

I'm glad that in 20 minutes and so much smartphone journalistic and reviews you have posted on the net that you were able to formulate wild and totally untrue "opinions" with your "experience". Go away troll.

 

[Tinmania]

This thread is kind of ridiculous. Played with a phone in a store? Wtf?



Mike

 

[fredwardnelson]

(I originally posted this on reddit here: My experiences using both a Nexus 4 and an LG Optimus G but wanted to hear everyone's thoughts here too)

I recently used both a Nexus 4 (in a T-Mobile store) and an LG Optimus G (in a Sprint store) within 20 minutes of each other and here's my experiences:

(I used the Nexus 4 first, the LG Optimus G second)

Nexus 4

After reading the reviews I was surprised (and disappointed) to discover there was a fair amount of lag. It was the usual "Android" lag:

• Pinch to zoom in a browser had lag
• Scrolling in Chrome had some lag
• Popping up multi-tasking overlay had lag
• About 20% of the time going back to home screen had some lag
• Taking a picture in the camera app had lag
• Getting the camera controls to popup (and then moving your finger to select one) had lag before they turned blue

None of the lag was showstopping but it did not feel like a next-generation phone as the reviews had indicated. It felt like a Galaxy S3 with ICS.

Photosphere was amazing. Even indoors (in the T-Mobile store) it was able to stitch the image seamlessly (I followed people's suggestions to rotate around the camera lens).

The phone looks amazing and is surprisingly thin (thinner than it looks in the reviews). It feels good in your hand.

In a speedtest (I ran it 4 times) I got between 1.7-2.1mbps down and 1.5-2.2 up, but that's T-Mobile not the phone. (The store claimed they had HSPA+ 42)

LG Optimus G

The fastest phone I have ever used. I was very surprised. I'm including the iPhone 5 in that assessment. There was ZERO lag in anything I did on the phone. Switching home screens, bringing up the app drawer, starting the camera, pinch-to-zoom. NOTHING could stop this phone.

Unfortunately, it's a huge, blocky phone that, while light, doesn't feel comfortable in your hand like the Nexus 4. It felt thinner than the Nexus 4 though I'm not sure if it really was.

Speedtests gave me 700K-1.4mbps down, 650K-900K up. (Sprint claimed there was LTE in the area but only if I took it outside the store)

Camera was not very good. For a phone that has a 13 megapixel camera, I couldn't figure out why the pictures were no better than on the Nexus 4's 8-megpixel. Very disappointing. And the reviews were right that the auto-focus just kept sputtering.

But that speed! I have only used one phone in my life that came close - the iPhone 5. While I'm not a fan of LG's theme on Android (I prefer stock), this phone ran like a next generation phone. I'm still in shock at how fast it was...and confused. Since the Nexus 4 comes from the same hardware and is a combined effort between Google and LG, and is Google's flagship phone, why is the Nexus 4 drastically slower?

Please write with your experiences with these two phones as well, I want to know if these were isolated results.

Troll

 

[sinistar25]

Nexus 4 laggy? Watch lockergnomes you tube "nexus 4 review", I thought he was going to have a heart attack being too excited lol.

 

[Dr0me]

(I originally posted this on reddit here: My experiences using both a Nexus 4 and an LG Optimus G but wanted to hear everyone's thoughts here too)

I recently used both a Nexus 4 (in a T-Mobile store) and an LG Optimus G (in a Sprint store) within 20 minutes of each other and here's my experiences:

(I used the Nexus 4 first, the LG Optimus G second)

Nexus 4

After reading the reviews I was surprised (and disappointed) to discover there was a fair amount of lag. It was the usual "Android" lag:

• Pinch to zoom in a browser had lag
• Scrolling in Chrome had some lag
• Popping up multi-tasking overlay had lag
• About 20% of the time going back to home screen had some lag
• Taking a picture in the camera app had lag
• Getting the camera controls to popup (and then moving your finger to select one) had lag before they turned blue

None of the lag was showstopping but it did not feel like a next-generation phone as the reviews had indicated. It felt like a Galaxy S3 with ICS.

Photosphere was amazing. Even indoors (in the T-Mobile store) it was able to stitch the image seamlessly (I followed people's suggestions to rotate around the camera lens).

The phone looks amazing and is surprisingly thin (thinner than it looks in the reviews). It feels good in your hand.

In a speedtest (I ran it 4 times) I got between 1.7-2.1mbps down and 1.5-2.2 up, but that's T-Mobile not the phone. (The store claimed they had HSPA+ 42)

LG Optimus G

The fastest phone I have ever used. I was very surprised. I'm including the iPhone 5 in that assessment. There was ZERO lag in anything I did on the phone. Switching home screens, bringing up the app drawer, starting the camera, pinch-to-zoom. NOTHING could stop this phone.

Unfortunately, it's a huge, blocky phone that, while light, doesn't feel comfortable in your hand like the Nexus 4. It felt thinner than the Nexus 4 though I'm not sure if it really was.

Speedtests gave me 700K-1.4mbps down, 650K-900K up. (Sprint claimed there was LTE in the area but only if I took it outside the store)

Camera was not very good. For a phone that has a 13 megapixel camera, I couldn't figure out why the pictures were no better than on the Nexus 4's 8-megpixel. Very disappointing. And the reviews were right that the auto-focus just kept sputtering.

But that speed! I have only used one phone in my life that came close - the iPhone 5. While I'm not a fan of LG's theme on Android (I prefer stock), this phone ran like a next generation phone. I'm still in shock at how fast it was...and confused. Since the Nexus 4 comes from the same hardware and is a combined effort between Google and LG, and is Google's flagship phone, why is the Nexus 4 drastically slower?

Please write with your experiences with these two phones as well, I want to know if these were isolated results.

what a bunch of balderdash. N4 here. zero lag in entire OS.

 

[James Cortez]

Being a long time iPhone user (have had an iPhone since they first came out 5 years ago), the N4 feels and acts faster than even the iPhone 5. I have had no lag at all using the N4. The other thing I would like to point out is the lack of LTE. At first I thought this would be a deal breaker, but even without LTE chrome loads pages faster on HSPA+ than my iPhone 5 does on LTE. I am in love with the N4 and will probably never go back to an iPhone.

 

[runningman3433]

quick questions - does optimus g have 4.2?

in my samsung galaxy nexus, it seems to run 4.2 just a little slower than 4.1.