The newest super smartphone, LG Optimus G.

[kaerflog]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/28/lg-optimus-g-quad-core-lte/#disqus_thread
That is one sexy beast.
The S4 pro will have people drooling.
Its going to the the in-cell technology similar to the IP5.
I hope LG find a way to bring it over here faster than later.
Yeah yeah, I know the first thing people will say is "Its LG"
Remembered the first Galaxy S, that phone had all kind of problems and Samsung has learned from that.
Can't expect the same company to keep aming the same mistake.

UPDATE: Seeing now what Nokia, Samsung and Apple has to offer before the holiday season, this is by far the most impressive phone to look for.
I don't care what mistake LG made in the past, they can learn from it.
You don't have to look far with Samsung and their original Galaxy S1.
I had more problem with that phone than I ever did with the G2x.
This is an updated and clearer pic of the Optimus G.
This is such a clean and sexy phone and the specs are out of this world.

 

[MrX8503]

specs look good, the phone looks good.

The plastic? looks horrendous.

 

[Aristotelian]

specs look good, the phone looks good.

The plastic? looks horrendous.

The back of the Galaxy Nexus is a kind of plastic that peels/bends in a different way to allow access to the SIM slot or the battery. It felt horrifically cheap at the beginning but then grew on me, as did the feel. I wonder how this will feel in the hand.

 

[Red Storm]

Great looking phone, plastic is a pro (lighter, less likely to break) not a con!

Too bad I already know I'll never see it. Verizon...

 

[Jinny]

looks great but likely not make it to the US market since it is rectangular with rounded edges.

 

[lothar]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/28/lg-optimus-g-quad-core-lte/#disqus_thread
That is one sexy beast.
The S4 pro will have people drooling.
Its going to the the in-cell technology similar to the IP5.
I hope LG find a way to bring it over here faster than later.
Yeah yeah, I know the first thing people will say is "Its LG"
Remembered the first Galaxy S, that phone had all kind of problems and Samsung has learned from that.
Can't expect the same company to keep aming the same mistake.

LG's problem isn't hardware. It's software.
Their skin is worse than TouchWiz and Sense. I'm not sure how it compares with MotoBlur so I won't go there.
LG is almost as bad as Motorola and Sony in updating their Android devices.

I don't mind getting a Sony or LG branded Nexus device. If it's not a Nexus and it's from them, screw that.

 

[Red Storm]

LG's problem isn't hardware. It's software.
Their skin is worse than TouchWiz and Sense. I'm not sure how it compares with MotoBlur so I won't go there.
LG is almost as bad as Motorola and Sony in updating their Android devices.

I don't mind getting a Sony or LG branded Nexus device. If it's not a Nexus and it's from them, screw that.

Yeah, I seriously do not understand why one of these bigger companies won't just do stock Android. I get that they want their own unique identifiers to try and hook customers (and keep them), but considering everyone uses their own skin, sticking with stock Android would achieve the same effect, but with the added bonus of much faster upgrades, better performance, and less money spent on support and development.

 

[Oyeve]

No MSD? Man, I think this is the new era of non-upgradable phones. I will be using my sgs3 forever I guess.

 

[lothar]

It's also good to see LG use their own in-house parts like Samsung does instead of relying on 3rd party manufacturers.

 

[lothar]

Yeah, I seriously do not understand why one of these bigger companies won't just do stock Android. I get that they want their own unique identifiers to try and hook customers (and keep them), but considering everyone uses their own skin, sticking with stock Android would achieve the same effect, but with the added bonus of much faster upgrades, better performance, and less money spent on support and development.

LG did that with the G2X that was released on T-Mobile in April/May of last year.

First they pushed back the ICS update from Q2 to Q3. Then they promptly cancelled it.
The highest end smartphone released(the same month Samsung released the Galaxy S II) on T-Mobile until the HTC Sensation and T-Mobile's Galaxy S II version arrived not getting an official ICS update?
Really?

Having "stock" Android on the G2X didn't help LG in delivering ICS updates.
I remember when the G2X came out. A lot of people on XDA rushed that thing because it featured stock Android and was also announced to have compatible frequency with AT&T's 3G network(which turned out to be false) in the event of a potential merger.

The whole thing with the LG G2X was just a mess.

 

[MrX8503]

If companies use stock android, they just become dumb vendors for the OS and competition will increase amongst their Android manufacturers.

 

[Red Storm]

If companies use stock android, they just become dumb vendors for the OS and competition will increase amongst their Android manufacturers.

But in this case it would be one company using stock Android, so the original intention of differentiating yourself from the rest would still be achieved no?

 

[lothar]

If companies use stock android, they just become dumb vendors for the OS and competition will increase amongst their Android manufacturers.

How does adding skin to Android reduce competition among the Android manufacturers?
I don't know a single person out there that buys an Android device because of TouchWiz, Sense, MotoBlur, or whatever LG's rubberized Android skin is called.

 

[Red Storm]

How does adding skin to Android reduce competition among the Android manufacturers?
I don't know a single person out there that buys an Android device because of TouchWiz, Sense, MotoBlur, or whatever LG's rubberized Android skin is called.

I see it this way. Someone who buys a Touchwiz phone will use it for a good while, and then when they go to buy another phone, they will see the various Android phones with various skins, and likely gravitate towards the Touchwiz (Samsung) ones because they are more familiar with it.

 

[shortylickens]

Great looking phone, plastic is a pro (lighter, less likely to break) not a con!

Too bad I already know I'll never see it. Verizon...

Less likely to break than what?
Aluminum? I think not.

 

[shortylickens]

How does adding skin to Android reduce competition among the Android manufacturers?
I don't know a single person out there that buys an Android device because of TouchWiz, Sense, MotoBlur, or whatever LG's rubberized Android skin is called.

As good as its getting, I prefer stock Android. My biggest buying points are unfortunately NOT their biggest selling points. I want long battery life and a top quality transceiver, so I can actually hear what the other person is saying or get the supposedly fantastic data speeds offered by my provider. I remember back when Nokia was still king those were always the most important bullet points on an ad for any phone. Nowadays the only people who take battery life seriously are RIM. Everyone else expects me to buy an extra docking station, a smaller charger for carrying around and a dock & special charger for my car. Many of the newer phones I look at dont even have removable batteries, forget swapping out with an extended version or changing when it starts to go bad. You gotta send the bastard back to the factory.
Buy it unlocked from Amazon?
SCREW YOU PAL! No warranty support!

 

[Oyeve]

Less likely to break than what?
Aluminum? I think not.

i think he means better shock absorbtion.

 

[Mopetar]

Impressive specs, for a certainty. Perhaps even a little overkill, but Snapdragon chips have been pretty good in terms of efficiency so I'm not worried about it hurting the battery. The 2 GB of RAM is also pretty impressive. I'm most interested in the battery though, as they mention that it's been improved to last 800 cycles, but I want to know if they've also managed to improve the capacity at all.

Impressive all around, and the physical design is rather nice as well.

 

[shortylickens]

i think he means better shock absorbtion.

Depends more on the physical design than the actual materials, but yes I agree. If the case survives but everything inside breaks then it doesnt matter.

 

[ImDonly1]

LG's problem isn't hardware. It's software.
Their skin is worse than TouchWiz and Sense. I'm not sure how it compares with MotoBlur so I won't go there.
LG is almost as bad as Motorola and Sony in updating their Android devices.

I don't mind getting a Sony or LG branded Nexus device. If it's not a Nexus and it's from them, screw that.

You forgot their questionable build quality. The G2x left a bad impression of LG for lots of people. Also, most of their phones have awesome specs, but poor battery life. By poor I mean, the worst phone of any phone out, like the Nitro HD on ATT.

 

[Red Storm]

Nowadays the only people who take battery life seriously are RIM.

If they actually made phones that were comparable to Android and iOS their battery life would plummet as well.

 

[lothar]

I see it this way. Someone who buys a Touchwiz phone will use it for a good while, and then when they go to buy another phone, they will see the various Android phones with various skins, and likely gravitate towards the Touchwiz (Samsung) ones because they are more familiar with it.

Meh...I see it differently.
Even if Samsung decides to cancel TouchWiz development today and go stock Android or start carrying LG's customized skin, the Galaxy phones will still sell tens of millions of units.
The Galaxy S series isn't selling tens of millions of units today because of TouchWiz.

How many people in public even know what TouchWiz and Sense are?
John Q. Public doesn't know what those things are. It's just like when us geeks here say ICS, Gingerbread, Froyo, and Jellybean here while everyone else in public either uses Android "x.x.x" or don't even know what version of Android that they're running.

That didn't help HTC much...
They had almost the same market share that Samsung had 2 years ago.
Look where they are now? Obviously those people that used Sense then didn't pick it now?

 

[exdeath]

Great looking phone, plastic is a pro (lighter, less likely to break) not a con!

Too bad I already know I'll never see it. Verizon...

Well there is the 1080p 5" HTC supposedly launching next month on Verizon that is basically identical spec and feature wise.

 

[Red Storm]

Meh...I see it differently.
Even if Samsung decides to cancel TouchWiz development today and go stock Android or start carrying LG's customized skin, the Galaxy phones will still sell tens of millions of units.
The Galaxy S series isn't selling tens of millions of units today because of TouchWiz.

How many people in public even know what TouchWiz and Sense are?
John Q. Public doesn't know what those things are. It's just like when us geeks here say ICS, Gingerbread, Froyo, and Jellybean here while everyone else in public either uses Android "x.x.x" or don't even know what version of Android that they're running.

That didn't help HTC much...
They had almost the same market share that Samsung had 2 years ago.
Look where they are now? Obviously those people that used Sense then didn't pick it now?

The Galaxy S3 seems to be doing very, very well in spite of Touchwiz.

Joe Average doesn't need to know what Touchwiz is, but they will recognize the interface and be more likely to choose it for their next purchase (if they were satisfied).

HTC phones were pretty lackluster. I specifically avoided them because of the few models I saw, they were all battery hogs. That reputation kept me away from them.

 

[lothar]

You forgot their questionable build quality. The G2x left a bad impression of LG for lots of people. Also, most of their phones have awesome specs, but poor battery life. By poor I mean, the worst phone of any phone out, like the Nitro HD on ATT.

I think their build quality has improved a bit(I'm talking only based on comparing the LG Spectrum phone I tested to the G2X, not their other handsets), but it's still something to be reckoned with.
TONS of people returned the LG G2X because of screen problems. Different colors on one side of the screen, yellowish tint on one side of the screen in complete darkness, etc... Check XDA for reference.

I know all these things because I was doing research on these things from March-September before I decided to get the International Galaxy S II.
I evaluated almost every highend phone on the market from different carriers and checked both here and XDA frantically for opinions, problems, etc...