I haven't given our final thoughts on the long term test of the LG G2, which we started to review a while back.
Since the last time we looked at the LG G2, the Nexus 5 was released which we reviewed, and that's why we have struggled to finish the LG G2 review because we had see how that stood up against its cousin. The conclusion IHAG came to there was that the G2 is a better phone for many reasons, have a read of what we found here. When the Nexus 5 was released we compared camera samples, which some struggled to guess which was which despite the difference in quality.
So to update fully, despite all the UI problems we initially found on the G2, we can come to love it. It really is one of the best Android phones on the market today, if not THE best. Having used the phone daily for over a month now, the love is still growing.
Having tried to find faults with the display of which we couldn't find any, its perfect, and over long term we have started to see the difference between that and its Samsung, HTC and Sony counterparts. The colour balance is great.
Battery often returns 6hrs screen time, plenty of Twitter, Google+, Email and phone called thrown in, on what we would consider a large amount of usage.
One very nice feature in the contacts list is you can call the default number by pressing the phone icon, many other android OEMs force you to open the contact then choose a number. LG have made it simple to dial out quickly.
The UI does have some smart features, yes there are loads I have hidden, removed or disabled, but the good few I use all the time are brilliant. Quick Memo which you can access by flicking the home icon diagonal right and upwards - meaning you can screen grab and add notes real fast.
I love the way we can make note screens, address book, the phone dial-er, browser, into mini screens which you can move round ala "windows", brilliant for those times when you need to see more than one screen - such as pass information between screens or copy a phone number from a PDF or such. It really is a great user experience. However you have to weed out the good features from the chuff, of which there is plenty. You can hide the apps you don't want to see, and thankfully you can uninstall alot of the LG stuff you don't need as well, so you can keep bloat down to a minimum.
One feature I did like though was the emergency app called Safety Care, which you can get the phone to notify you if the phone goes out side of a designated area, or if a call is unanswered the phone will report a location of the handset, or when a phone has been left in standby for a long time again it can notify you of its location. Seriously good feature. If you call 999 or 911 the phone can auto report your location too, while you or the phone user calls emergency services.
As I have said many times about the G2, stick a case on it, those plastics wont last long bouncing around, plus protect that rear button. LG G2 SPIGEN Slim Armor is a superb option.The only gripe(s) I have about the handset is the location of the camera, it really didn't need to be so close to the volume up button. If my finger doesn't hit it once, its 100s of times a day, which could be very annoying but you do get better at finding the buttons over time.
Camera could be a little better, hopefully that will be addressed, low light is ok but outside its just a 'class' standard. Focus takes an age, something we have seen in the N5 too.
Having looked at three of the best Androids on the market right now in recent weeks, the G2 is the best. Call quality, Audio output via high bit rate, awesome screen thrown in with superb battery life, really gives this a premium package. Plus LG are relevant again by making a top notch phone.
If LG can deliver on updates and stop the bad habits of old then maybe just maybe, they could knock Samsung off their perch, and become King of Korea...wouldn't that be something !?
Note: the Snapgragon Battery Guru also works on the LG G2, giving exception stand by performance.