RIP Optimus 2X

[JimmiG]

Just dropped my O2X this morning, cracking the glass. Poor thing never got to see Jelly Bean running on it since the CyanogenMod team is still struggling to work around all the bugs in the O2X and Tegra2 hardware. What a sad fate for the "World's first dual-core phone".

Now for a replacement - Galaxy S4 is the one everyone's talking about of course, but it's quite expensive and certainly overkill for me - I don't play games, I just browse the web, check facebook etc. but I like to have a snappy phone with a big screen.

There are some good deals on the S3 at the moment. Still a decent phone with a quad-core CPU (in Europe), nice big screen etc. Also there's the Nexus 4, but I really don't feel like getting another LG (even if it's officially a Google Nexus) after the horrible support they provided for the O2X (it didn't get ICS until late 2012 and it was very buggy and slow). Any other suggestions?

 

[s44]

If you're worried about updates the N4 is definitely tops, but I understand your aversion. The US S3 will probably have longer update longevity than the international one, because it's on a Qualcomm platform w/o driver quirks and because it has double the RAM. It's my basic alternate Nexus recommendation -- too bad you can't easily get one in Sweden.

The international S3 *will* get KLP from the manufacturer, though, which is more than we can say for most phones that aren't current flagships. If you're looking more at AOSP ROMs, the best supported newish nice ones besides the US S3 seem to be the One XL and the Xperia T.

 

[JimmiG]

The international S3 *will* get KLP from the manufacturer, though, which is more than we can say for most phones that aren't current flagships.

As long as it gets one more update after JB, that's enough for me I think. The problem with the Optimus 2X was that it was stuck on Gingerbread for almost all of 2012 (including custom ROMs since drivers and sources were unavailable). When it finally got ICS in December, JB had been out for ages and ICS was old news.

After this experience with LG, it feels kind of ironic that the LG phone is now the one most likely to receive timely updates.

The one other advantage of the Nexus 4 would be 2GB vs 1GB of RAM, but the Optimus 2X only had 384MB of usable RAM (512MB minus 128MB allocated for the GPU), so it's still a huge step up.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

Why would you be worried about support for the Nexus 4??

 

[JimmiG]

Why would you be worried about support for the Nexus 4??

Because my previous phone was an LG Optimus 2X. Even though the Nexus 4 is officially a Google branded phone, I'm worried some of the LG suckage will bleed through.

 

[jacktesterson]

Because my previous phone was an LG Optimus 2X. Even though the Nexus 4 is officially a Google branded phone, I'm worried some of the LG suckage will bleed through.

Not going to happen. Google controls the updates.

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

Because my previous phone was an LG Optimus 2X. Even though the Nexus 4 is officially a Google branded phone, I'm worried some of the LG suckage will bleed through.

It's not a Google branded phone, it IS a Google phone.

 

[JimmiG]

It's not a Google branded phone, it IS a Google phone.

Made by LG. Which is the worst manufacturer of Android handsets. Why else is it so similar to the Optimus G?

I can understand that if you never went through the torture of owning the LG Optimus 2X, it's hard to understand the aversion to anything even remotely associated with this company.

Not going to happen. Google controls the updates.

Still, LG made and understand the hardware platform. They could just tell Google - Sorry, but because of an obscure hardware flaw, this new Android 5 feature will not work with the Nexus 4.

 

[poofyhairguy]

it's hard to understand the aversion to anything even remotely associated with this company.

I get that. I mean look at the thermal throttling in the Nexus 4.


I would look at a Sony Xperia Z. Lots of good development for that device. Look up the Free Xperia Project.

 

[jacktesterson]

Made by LG. Which is the worst manufacturer of Android handsets. Why else is it so similar to the Optimus G?

I can understand that if you never went through the torture of owning the LG Optimus 2X, it's hard to understand the aversion to anything even remotely associated with this company.



Still, LG made and understand the hardware platform. They could just tell Google - Sorry, but because of an obscure hardware flaw, this new Android 5 feature will not work with the Nexus 4.

You are making things up dude.

As stated, Google controls this phone completely. Just like the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus contracts with Samsung. LG makes the hardware for Google. Thats it. Software and anything to do with Software is 100% on Google. LG makes the hardware and that's it. They wouldn't tell Google anything about a "hardware flaw" as it was designed for Google's Specs. Marketing, Sales, Software, etc is all Google's.


Even Nexus phones won't be updated forever... but think of it this way. The Google controlled Nexus S received 4.1.2, the only single core phone on the market with 512MB of Ram to get the update. It will not get 4.2 as the O/S has outgrown the hardware. (At least in Google's eyes, Mostly this is due to the headset being at the end of its life)

 

[poofyhairguy]

Even Nexus phones won't be updated forever... but think of it this way. The Google controlled Nexus S received 4.1.2, the only single core phone on the market with 512MB of Ram to get the update. It will not get 4.2 as the O/S has outgrown the hardware. (At least in Google's eyes, Mostly this is due to the headset being at the end of its life)

When did the Nexus One get cut off? ICS?

 

[jacktesterson]

When did the Nexus One get cut off? ICS?

Officially it only got Gingerbread 2.3

This was more to do with limited hardware. (Storage space the main issue, but also the S1 and Adreno 200 were super slow)

This shouldn't happen today, at least this fast. Hardware is now quite a bit ahead of software when it comes to headroom available, if this makes sense.

 

[vshah]

you're being irrational. nexus 4 is the phone to get if you want fast OS updates.