My not so thrill review about G2x

[LunchBB]

Probably many of you won't agree with me as this is the G2x subforum.

Other than the phone is slick looking and light weight, fast response, I don't see much I like about this phone.

Compared to the MyTouch 4G I have, G2x is so... vanilla. I switched from Nexus One to MT4G feeling like a kid at a candy store. Now back to vanilla Android, it's just boring. HTC Sense makes the phone much more fun to use.

No notification indicator... that could be a deal breaker for me. I won't even know if the phone is charging or running low in battery. So if the phone is dead, I won't even know it.

I really like the HTC headphone with the Play/Stop/Answer/HangUp button together with the Previous Track and Next Track button. With those, the MT4G is a real personal portable music player. I plugged the head phone to G2x and only the Play/Pause button works.

I might return the phone back to store tmrw.

 

[Member196159]

Probably many of you won't agree with me as this is the G2x subforum.

Other than the phone is slick looking and light weight, fast response, I don't see much I like about this phone.

Compared to the MyTouch 4G I have, G2x is so... vanilla. I switched from Nexus One to MT4G feeling like a kid at a candy store. Now back to vanilla Android, it's just boring. HTC Sense makes the phone much more fun to use.

No notification indicator... that could be a deal breaker for me. I won't even know if the phone is charging or running low in battery. So if the phone is dead, I won't even know it.

I really like the HTC headphone with the Play/Stop/Answer/HangUp button together with the Previous Track and Next Track button. With those, the MT4G is a real personal portable music player. I plugged the head phone to G2x and only the Play/Pause button works.

I might return the phone back to store tmrw.

My friend is a Samsung Galaxy converter. While he loves how fast the phone is, he still has issues with it.

The "calender sucks," "why can't I swipe to the right on the contact list to make a phone call and left to send a text," "why is this like that," "why is that like this?"

My question is, why don't you guys get get apps and/or widgets from the market?

The way I see it:

It's Speed (Stock) vs Convenience (Custom UI).

The difference is, you can add convenience to your stock (with apps), but you can't add speed with the custom UI.

 

[LunchBB]

I think the speed factor here is the dual core phone but not the stock android. My Nexus One is vanilla android but slow.

And, you can get everything from Market. The HTC calendar, email, contact, and the dialer are so much better than the stock android (IMO). You can't just get those from the Market.

 

[Member196159]

I think the speed factor here is the dual core phone but not the stock android. My Nexus One is vanilla android but slow.

Oh definitely. The number one attraction for this phone is the fact that it is dual core. I didn't mean to take away from it, having said that all my friends have had worse slow downs that I have had with my Nexus One. All of them had MotoBlur, Sense or TouchWiz.

Naturally memory plays a part in this, which is why IMO (for now) 512MB is enough.

And, you can get everything from Market. The HTC calendar, email, contact, and the dialer are so much better than the stock android (IMO). You can't just get those from the Market.

Some people prefer one over the other and while you can't get the full Sense/MotorBlur/TouchWiz experience, you can add many different things to it.

None of them have perfected the Calender, Email, Contacts or the Dialer and there are much better things on the market created by people that put all of those things to shame. You just have to find it and it may even exceed your needs.

I dunno, just my 2 cents.

 

[batman25]

There are only a couple of things that I want from sense, the clock widget and the music player. Those are not enough to keep me from fast updates. So I will always get a phone with stock android.

 

[JSchu22]

I'm not going to put put down one's personal opinions but I think the Sense versions of dialer, contacts, and calendar are not better at all. Especially the contacts app (I can't stand the rounded corners).

The quickness of this phone is impressive and could be reason alone for some to love it.

 

[kcs7272]

Probably many of you won't agree with me as this is the G2x subforum.

Other than the phone is slick looking and light weight, fast response, I don't see much I like about this phone.

Compared to the MyTouch 4G I have, G2x is so... vanilla. I switched from Nexus One to MT4G feeling like a kid at a candy store. Now back to vanilla Android, it's just boring. HTC Sense makes the phone much more fun to use.

No notification indicator... that could be a deal breaker for me. I won't even know if the phone is charging or running low in battery. So if the phone is dead, I won't even know it.

I really like the HTC headphone with the Play/Stop/Answer/HangUp button together with the Previous Track and Next Track button. With those, the MT4G is a real personal portable music player. I plugged the head phone to G2x and only the Play/Pause button works.

I might return the phone back to store tmrw.

To each his own, and good luck on what ever device you choose. IMHO besides the speed of the G2X vanilla Android is the big draw for me and many others.

Everyone raves about Sense but I feel it is not that great and it is a "heavy" skin. I will take vanilla Android with quicker updates. Also when we get Gingerbread this June I will be in heaven.

I had Gingerbread on my Nexus S and has many improvements in functionality and form.

 

[mrvirginia]

To each his own, and good luck on what ever device you choose. IMHO besides the speed of the G2X vanilla Android is the big draw for me and many others.

Everyone raves about Sense but I feel it is not that great and it is a "heavy" skin. I will take vanilla Android with quicker updates. Also when we get Gingerbread this June I will be in heaven.

I had Gingerbread on my Nexus S and has many improvements in functionality and form.

in one of the wirefly reviews they said that 2.3 was promised a month after launch, so by the end of May it should be 2.3

 

[pantlesspenguin]

I actually agree w/ the OP. I came from a MT4G & have yet to be wow'd. I wish I could have media room from the MT. Also, what the heck is up w/ this stock browser?? Why doesn't it auto-wrap when you zoom? I can't even find that option in the settings, unless I missed it. My device seems to be very unresponsive, but I have the screen protector that it came w/ still on. Was that not meant to be a screen protector? Should I take that off? Regardless, sometimes when I hit the power button, the lock screen doesn't come on. I hit it again, nothing. I hit it again, nothing. Then finally it starts catching up to all the hits & the screen flashes for a bit.

Do I just have a defective device? Should I exchange it?

 

[stryder06]

I recall that the reason why it was shipped with a vanilla version of Android OS is because they are suppose to be updating it to 2.3 "very soon after launch". Now how soon is soon? Ya got me, but that was the reason for the UI being shipped as is.

 

[The_Source41]

I have enjoyed almost all of my time with this phone since I bought it yesterday. It's fast I like vanilla and being able to change it all I want but I am still returning it today... Every 30 minutes or so I loose 4g data and go straight to edge. Even with my Vibrant I almost never lost 3g where I live so that is something I can't deal with. I might get a replacement or I will stick with my vibrant till the sensation gets here and take a look at both again.

 

[LunchBB]

I have a full charge last night before I got to bed. Woke up at 7am and the phone battery is completely drained to dead. I'm returning the phone today for sure.

 

[LunchBB]

in one of the wirefly reviews they said that 2.3 was promised a month after launch, so by the end of May it should be 2.3

Don't hold your breath on the OS update. Carriers are always slow to update. Nexus One, google's son, only upgrade to 2.3 until recently. If Tmo is going to update all vanilla android to 2.3 first, they should have get it on the G2 first before G2x.

Having vanailla android doesn't guarantee a first OS update.

 

[LunchBB]

I'm not going to put put down one's personal opinions but I think the Sense versions of dialer, contacts, and calendar are not better at all. Especially the contacts app (I can't stand the rounded corners).

The quickness of this phone is impressive and could be reason alone for some to love it.

We all have our preferences, like/dislike. We should be happy to have choice. Unless iphone users, they have no choice. They can only go with whatever Steve Jobs think they should have.

 

[batman25]

I have enjoyed almost all of my time with this phone since I bought it yesterday. It's fast I like vanilla and being able to change it all I want but I am still returning it today... Every 30 minutes or so I loose 4g data and go straight to edge. Even with my Vibrant I almost never lost 3g where I live so that is something I can't deal with. I might get a replacement or I will stick with my vibrant till the sensation gets here and take a look at both again.

I've been wondering about this it goes straight from 4g to 2g. No option to even turn 4g off.

 

[LunchBB]

Also, what the heck is up w/ this stock browser?? Why doesn't it auto-wrap when you zoom? I can't even find that option in the settings, unless I missed it. My device seems to be very unresponsive, but I have the screen protector that it came w/ still on. Was that not meant to be a screen protector? Should I take that off? Regardless, sometimes when I hit the power button, the lock screen doesn't come on. I hit it again, nothing. I hit it again, nothing. Then finally it starts catching up to all the hits & the screen flashes for a bit.

Do I just have a defective device? Should I exchange it?

I like the stock browser comes with MT4G. You can zoom out all the way to switch to another browser window. Very Palm PRE like.

The sheet of plastic is not a screen protector. You can remove it. =)

I have a few incidents like you described, no response with all my taps. All of a sudden, everything pops up as it trying to catch up.

 

[pantlesspenguin]

I'm going to do a factory reset tonight. And I'll tak off the shet of plastic . If I still have issues I'll return it tomorrow. Actually I may anyway because of all the stuff I'm missing from my MT4G. We'll see.

 

[wmm]

Also, what the heck is up w/ this stock browser?? Why doesn't it auto-wrap when you zoom?

I'm assuming you're talking about the pinch/stretch zooming, as opposed to double-tap zooming; the double-tap zooming should (and does, in my experience) reformat the text immediately. This was a deliberate design decision. It allows you to zoom to the size you want in several steps without spending a lot of time reformatting the text every time you tweak it in or out; once you have it zoomed to the level you want, a double-tap on the text reformats it to that size window. (A second double-tap zooms back out, as expected.)

 

[mrvirginia]

Don't hold your breath on the OS update. Carriers are always slow to update. Nexus One, google's son, only upgrade to 2.3 until recently. If Tmo is going to update all vanilla android to 2.3 first, they should have get it on the G2 first before G2x.

Having vanailla android doesn't guarantee a first OS update.

the update info came straight from LG if i remember correctly. so it's not one of those empty promises

 

[mrvirginia]

in reply to those having issues, do you guys not check the phone out in store before buying? i could never just buy a phone from reading reviews and what others say, even if there was nothing negative to be said. i'm very indecisive though so maybe that's just me

 

[LunchBB]

In real life, there is only so much you can check the phone in store. Most store has a dummy plastic phone so you can play with.

Google learned his lesson on Nexus One, that you can only order the phone online. Can't touch or play with it before purchase. So for Nexus S, they have it in Bestbuy.

 

[mrvirginia]

In real life, there is only so much you can check the phone in store. Most store has a dummy plastic phone so you can play with.

Google learned his lesson on Nexus One, that you can only order the phone online. Can't touch or play with it before purchase. So for Nexus S, they have it in Bestbuy.

every store has at least one that's a retail model... it just might not be on display. or the employee (likely manager or mod) might not be there at the time who carries it. but there is one, just gotta ask sometimes

 

[pantlesspenguin]

I'm assuming you're talking about the pinch/stretch zooming, as opposed to double-tap zooming; the double-tap zooming should (and does, in my experience) reformat the text immediately. This was a deliberate design decision. It allows you to zoom to the size you want in several steps without spending a lot of time reformatting the text every time you tweak it in or out; once you have it zoomed to the level you want, a double-tap on the text reformats it to that size window. (A second double-tap zooms back out, as expected.)

Thanks for the tip. You're right. But, it seems on every page I go to I have to zoom in. On the MT4G it automatically opens at a fairly readable level. If I have to make minor adjustments by pinching, the text automatically wraps. I guess that's just a personal preference.

in reply to those having issues, do you guys not check the phone out in store before buying? i could never just buy a phone from reading reviews and what others say, even if there was nothing negative to be said. i'm very indecisive though so maybe that's just me

As LunchBB said, there's only so much you can check out in the store. I played w/ my stores model. I checked out the ease of going in & out of apps & I made sure the GPS got a fast lock. I had already pretty much decided to buy the phone anyway when I walked in the store. It wasn't til I got home & started to do my normal functions on it that I realized it wasn't quite right.

 

[wmm]

Thanks for the tip. You're right. But, it seems on every page I go to I have to zoom in. On the MT4G it automatically opens at a fairly readable level. If I have to make minor adjustments by pinching, the text automatically wraps. I guess that's just a personal preference.

Have you unchecked the "Open pages in overview" setting? That, combined with the "Default zoom" and "Text size" settings, should let you customize the initial view of the page to a pretty good extent.

 

[colnago]

I've been wondering about this it goes straight from 4g to 2g. No option to even turn 4g off.

The G2x has an option to "Use only 2G Networks", under the "Mobile Network Settings"...that is if you want to hard set the phone to use "Edge only".