Need Android Advice

[Derewd]

Hi all,
I'm currently a Windows Phone user (I have a Blu Win HD LTE), It's really great but the lack of apps is kind of driving me nuts from time to time. Also, the battery is not the greatest. I switched to my windows phone from a Samsung Galaxy S4 which overall wasn't a bad phone, but the bloatware and being stuck on KitKat with samsungs fugly UI really irritated me.
Long story short, im thinking of switching back to Android and was looking at the LGG2. I know it's a few years old but T-Mobile has them for a really good price and from what ive read they are upgradeable to Lollipop. I guess my question is, is this a good jump and are there any LGG2 users who would recommend this phone?

 

[Laura Knotek]

How much are you interested in spending? If you have a price range, that might help other people to help you.

 

[Derewd]

My wife has placed my cap at around 200ish. T-Mobile has the G2 "certified pre-owned" for around 220. Everything else I looked at is either low-mid range with crap specs/missing LTE/ missing 4g/ bad camera/ etc...

 

[Derewd]

SERIOUSLY! 118 Views and NO replys! Not ONE of you people have used an LG G2 and can say either yay or nay???

 

[Golfdriver97]

Calm down a little. It's been 9 hours on a Sunday night, possibly one of the slowest nights for Android Central.

I see your budget of 200, and for that the G2 isn't a bad device to get. However, if you are concerned about bloat, I am not sure how much better that will be.

What other features are you looking for in a device?

 

[dpham00]

G2 is a good choice for the $200 price range. I have seen it new for $150 but might have been a different carrier. I don't think that you will find a better specd phone from a major manufacturer for less right now.

Sent from my Pearly White Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

 

[LeoRex]

I'll second that.. the G2 is a great option. Performance wise, it pretty much wipes the floor with any new mid-range or value priced phone in the same price range. Excellent battery and camera performance, great screen... The only drawback is that since it is a 2 year old phone, you won't get a lot of update support from LG going forward.

But there is a fairly large custom ROM dev community that has been keeping several different versions current... if you are not opposed to that.

 

[Derewd]

I honestly don't know what I want in a phone anymore. After jumping from iphone to windows phone to iphone to android to windows phone and now soon back to android. I find each platform has its pros and cons.
I love the default themes (dialer/messenger app/keyboard/ overall UI aesthetics) of both windows phone and iphone. Lollipop is finally fixing those problems on Android for the most part from what ive seen, but the unremovable bloat and carrier held back updates to android really tends to irritate me. I do however love the openness of Android. As an IT person, I love how android phone are essentially mini PC's.

As far as spec features. I want a very nice camera, high res screen, great battery, minimal bloat, thin and light phone, FFC, NFC, haptic feeback, loud speakerphone, an LED indicator light would be nice.
Features i don't want include a giant screen, around the 5 inch mark is as big as i want to go (i know the g2 is 5'2 but because of the thin bezel its still technically smaller then what i have now. I don't need wireless charging, don't need expansion slots, don't need a stylus, don't want a phone so delicate it has to be carried in a case, don't need gimmicks (air wave, RF sensors, finger print scanners)..... I can't think of anything else at the moment.


I really just feel like the tech in modern smart phones is more then enough to last for about 4 years with the proper updates... but manufacturers and carriers hold back updates and ultimately make people want their phones for about a year at maximum.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Then probably the G2. I think that may be your best option.

 

[vbdwork]

As an IT person...

...you don't have to worry about bloatware or official carrier updates.

 

[Derewd]

I'm assuming you are assuming I plan on rooting the phone or something? LOL
I've tried Cyanogenmod and did not like it. I tried MIUI and liked it but the lack of american support was bad.
Generally.. I plan on sticking with whats on the phone.

 

[vbdwork]

I'm assuming you are assuming I plan on rooting the phone or something? LOL
I've tried Cyanogenmod and did not like it. I tried MIUI and liked it but the lack of american support was bad.
Generally.. I plan on sticking with whats on the phone.

Clean AOSP versions are available for most popular devices, if you want to stay as close as possible to untouched Android. If you don't want to play with custom ROMs, then leave the original OS and disable everything you don't need or use. You don't even have to root the device. What's the problem with bloatware and how much space it takes on a 32GB device? What's the big difference in everyday common tasks use between JellyBean, KitKat and Lollipop?