Living with the LG G2 pt 2

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Here is the deal, ever since the LG G2 was presented to the public back in September I was convinced this handset was going to rule all. 

The feature set looked good, display nailed on to be a sure fire winner, great camera OIS (image stabilization) - so did all this come in one of the smallest bezels ever for a 5+ incher ?!

Well - almost and its by a very narrow margin too.

What lets it down ?! LG UI has let the handset down, by adding way too much guff to its skin the handset does get a very small amount of lag, simply opening the settings menu with nothing else open causes just a slight delay. Compared to the Sony Z1 its noticeable. Samsung have suffered the same fate with TouchWiz which is one of the worst examples of over engineering in Android we have seen. LG unfortunately have gone the same way, its a massive let down for a handset which behind all the Quick Menus etc is a great phone. 

If LG made a Google Edition of the G2 (as well as the Nexus 5) then this phone would be the goto phone for all Android fans. 

So that aside whats the big issue here, apart from lag....well there are way too many features nobody would use, the only two I enjoyed was being able to make certain apps "Windows" yes I did just say that. You can turn email, pictures, email and the stock browser into smaller windows you can give transparency to, re-size and move them round the screen - handy little addition that. There is also a text tool which will enable you to sent live pictures or drawings but the recipient needs to be on the LG server too to see what you are doing (The Ts & Cs for this service means that LG can see all your texts too hummm) but we could see where LG was going with the idea. However its all the white re-styled menus, the re worked texting which causes lag when you open it. The camera is way way way too slow to open and take a shot from. 

Taking of the camera just like the Sony Z1 the best full auto is NOT at the highest resolution, its a slightly lower res that sits at wide screen properly. So if you want the full 13mp then you need to open up and camera and set the highest mega pixel. The video we shot at 1080p 60fps was great though, we will post that up at the end of the review next week, again slow reaction performance. Auto focus was slow too. The OIS system works a treat though, exactly what I was hoping for after seeing the LG released. 

Camera doesnt have much protection

As we mentioned before, without a case on this handset the rear button and camera will get scratched or broken real quickly, massive design flaw here, the camera should have sat back or in a different location with a raised area protecting it. The picture on the right shows that off well enough.

The camera will also get finger prints all over it so its worth taking a soft cloth to wipe away any finger smudges you may will put on it. Its been placed without thought of the issues it may create, silly really.

Some samples from both the LG G2 and Z1 are here

Certainly Samsung could learn a thing or two from LG, the battery is very good and much better than the S4, also then HTC One and Sonys Z1. The handset on then whole is fast until you start doing anything LGed, but the battery doesnt seam to drain. After one charge I managed to get 22hrs with 4 hours screen time, didnt really use it to the point of being a heavy user but it did stand up well, again this will be updated futher into the test we go.

Expect to get finger prints all over that camera

The screen is lush, very nice indeed, it does have a slight sheen to it giving it a metallic look I guess at weird angles.Its bright and the balance is good, didnt feel like it was fantastic in the out doors, just like the other LG handsets Ive used in the past, including the N4 and 4X HD.

Thats all for now - check back soon for more updates !

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