Hugh Jass
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2010
- Messages
- 1,659
- Reaction score
- 121
Ok, so I spent most of my "work day" getting familiar with this phone. I still have a lot to go through but I'm able to draw some conclusions for you folks on the fence either way about getting this phone.
So lets start with the Gripes:
1.) Buttons. Honestly I want to love them, it just makes sense to me and yes it's very ergonomic, but Verizon's alterations simply make the buttons too small, there's not enough of a feel or texture to know which button your finger is on without sliding up and down them to visualize it in your mind. The power button should have been made in a more obvious way, either inset farther in or out, maybe a rubber tab to know "THIS is the center button". I'm sure I'll get used to the very subtle differences but it just simply shouldn't have been messed with from the original design before Verizon got their stupid fingers on it.
2.) Auto-brightness. There seems to be an issue that not just I experience with auto-brightness not working as intended. I was able to overcome this by setting the screen to 99% instead of 100% but again, quality control should have caught this. If you're someone who goes from indoors to outdoors a lot this can be a bit frustrating because it's easy to set the phone at a high brightness and not have to worry about it killing your battery, but the screen is so bright when you're inside it's like looking into a flashlight, which personally I'm okay with because my second biggest concern is how it would compare to my Bionic in outdoor lighting, which I can say is fantastic on the G2. Hopefully this is fixed in the future for those this really bothers though.
3.) Software. I like it honestly, very intuitive... everything except the Qslide which should be removable, it simply takes up too much valuable space in the drop down menu. Screen is plenty big enough to deal with it, but it just makes me ask 'why?'.
4.) GPS. For whatever reason it's indicating it is running constantly in the status bar. Under battery details it lists Google Services as the number two offender consuming 25% of my battery. Need to research this more, I understand some samples here or there but I can't have it running 24hrs.
And really that's it thus far. I've yet to test the camera so that remains to be seen, some of the testers griped at the video autofocus constantly adjusting in pre-release phones during testing, but I have yet to see it so that remains a mystery.
What I like: Everything else. This phone is a powerhouse, I spent the day trying to trip it up, make it show me a weakness. I updated 28 applications and flew through apps, toggled buttons, flipped home screens, piled on running apps, played HD video and games. NOTHING phases this phone. I admit it does warm up under such stress but that's such a small thing I can't even bring myself to list it as a gripe, it just wasn't noticeable enough. I mean remember how the OG Droid would heat up with a slight overclock while playing a game and you'd think to yourself "if the power goes out, at least I can cook an egg!" Nothing even close to that with a Snap 800 under the hood throwing 1080P at your face, it's really amazing how far the tech has come in such a short amount of time. And after all of this as much as I could muster in the last 12 hours, I'm still at 25% battery remaining. My bionic would have been dead, not once, not twice, three times under the same load with tons of hiccups, force closes, and frozen screens along the way. Screen is just beautiful, the double tap to lock/unlock is ingenious, and the software is feature rich and intuitive with plenty of customization. A lot of people complain about the software options included with the overlays these days but it's basically designed to say "Hey, you don't have to root and download a rom, it's all here", and for the most part it is.
Radio strength. Honestly this shocked me as it was my number one concern, I live in a weak service area in the Florida Keys, and I've always had to have Motorola phones because the radio's were too weak in other phones. I have places at work where both my Droid, X2, and Bionic all lost service and the G2 keeps it, even most of the time with 4G. I'm super impressed by this considering everyone knows Motorola is the class leader in this category. Actually I haven't been anywhere on the island yet where I actually lost service. The G2 absolutely SMOKES my girls S4 in service availability, I catch her wondering around the house trying to pick up service and I get it everywhere, 4G even at 6-8mbps. Call quality is also much improved over my previous smartphones, people were clear and loud though I expect older devices age may play into that as well.
Summary: This is the best phone I've ever used. My girlfriend has the S4 and while I do love it, it just doesn't feel as good in my hand as the G2 does, it was far more awkward and made me rethink ever using a huge screen phone. However the shape of the G2 is perfectly contoured, ultra thin bezels make you feel like you're holding a screen, not a phone. It's lightweight yet super solid despite the "plastic-y" complaints you hear on the S4 and such. This phone does not twist, squeak, creak, or anything like that. It's as rigid as can be, much more so than my Bionic and even the girls S4. I look forward to testing the phones camera and see how it performs.
Final note, there is something else that bothered me though, and it doesn't have to do with the phone, it's the damn wall charger. What the hell were they thinking? it sticks straight out so far it wants to fall out of the socket with the cord plugged in. I just can't imagine why they designed it that way instead of the normal plug where it comes out to one side or the bottom. My socket is behind my bed and because the charger sticks 5" from the wall I had to rearrange my room just to plug in...:blink:
So lets start with the Gripes:
1.) Buttons. Honestly I want to love them, it just makes sense to me and yes it's very ergonomic, but Verizon's alterations simply make the buttons too small, there's not enough of a feel or texture to know which button your finger is on without sliding up and down them to visualize it in your mind. The power button should have been made in a more obvious way, either inset farther in or out, maybe a rubber tab to know "THIS is the center button". I'm sure I'll get used to the very subtle differences but it just simply shouldn't have been messed with from the original design before Verizon got their stupid fingers on it.
2.) Auto-brightness. There seems to be an issue that not just I experience with auto-brightness not working as intended. I was able to overcome this by setting the screen to 99% instead of 100% but again, quality control should have caught this. If you're someone who goes from indoors to outdoors a lot this can be a bit frustrating because it's easy to set the phone at a high brightness and not have to worry about it killing your battery, but the screen is so bright when you're inside it's like looking into a flashlight, which personally I'm okay with because my second biggest concern is how it would compare to my Bionic in outdoor lighting, which I can say is fantastic on the G2. Hopefully this is fixed in the future for those this really bothers though.
3.) Software. I like it honestly, very intuitive... everything except the Qslide which should be removable, it simply takes up too much valuable space in the drop down menu. Screen is plenty big enough to deal with it, but it just makes me ask 'why?'.
4.) GPS. For whatever reason it's indicating it is running constantly in the status bar. Under battery details it lists Google Services as the number two offender consuming 25% of my battery. Need to research this more, I understand some samples here or there but I can't have it running 24hrs.
And really that's it thus far. I've yet to test the camera so that remains to be seen, some of the testers griped at the video autofocus constantly adjusting in pre-release phones during testing, but I have yet to see it so that remains a mystery.
What I like: Everything else. This phone is a powerhouse, I spent the day trying to trip it up, make it show me a weakness. I updated 28 applications and flew through apps, toggled buttons, flipped home screens, piled on running apps, played HD video and games. NOTHING phases this phone. I admit it does warm up under such stress but that's such a small thing I can't even bring myself to list it as a gripe, it just wasn't noticeable enough. I mean remember how the OG Droid would heat up with a slight overclock while playing a game and you'd think to yourself "if the power goes out, at least I can cook an egg!" Nothing even close to that with a Snap 800 under the hood throwing 1080P at your face, it's really amazing how far the tech has come in such a short amount of time. And after all of this as much as I could muster in the last 12 hours, I'm still at 25% battery remaining. My bionic would have been dead, not once, not twice, three times under the same load with tons of hiccups, force closes, and frozen screens along the way. Screen is just beautiful, the double tap to lock/unlock is ingenious, and the software is feature rich and intuitive with plenty of customization. A lot of people complain about the software options included with the overlays these days but it's basically designed to say "Hey, you don't have to root and download a rom, it's all here", and for the most part it is.
Radio strength. Honestly this shocked me as it was my number one concern, I live in a weak service area in the Florida Keys, and I've always had to have Motorola phones because the radio's were too weak in other phones. I have places at work where both my Droid, X2, and Bionic all lost service and the G2 keeps it, even most of the time with 4G. I'm super impressed by this considering everyone knows Motorola is the class leader in this category. Actually I haven't been anywhere on the island yet where I actually lost service. The G2 absolutely SMOKES my girls S4 in service availability, I catch her wondering around the house trying to pick up service and I get it everywhere, 4G even at 6-8mbps. Call quality is also much improved over my previous smartphones, people were clear and loud though I expect older devices age may play into that as well.
Summary: This is the best phone I've ever used. My girlfriend has the S4 and while I do love it, it just doesn't feel as good in my hand as the G2 does, it was far more awkward and made me rethink ever using a huge screen phone. However the shape of the G2 is perfectly contoured, ultra thin bezels make you feel like you're holding a screen, not a phone. It's lightweight yet super solid despite the "plastic-y" complaints you hear on the S4 and such. This phone does not twist, squeak, creak, or anything like that. It's as rigid as can be, much more so than my Bionic and even the girls S4. I look forward to testing the phones camera and see how it performs.
Final note, there is something else that bothered me though, and it doesn't have to do with the phone, it's the damn wall charger. What the hell were they thinking? it sticks straight out so far it wants to fall out of the socket with the cord plugged in. I just can't imagine why they designed it that way instead of the normal plug where it comes out to one side or the bottom. My socket is behind my bed and because the charger sticks 5" from the wall I had to rearrange my room just to plug in...:blink:
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