LG G2 First Impressions (Look and Feel)

I am sitting here with a newly unboxed LG G2.

- I might add that it arrived a day later than expected, and the mailman came to our house way later than usual. Had I reached a point of rather impatient frustration? Yes!

And by the ring on the door, frustration turned into nothing but excitement and curiosity for the object, I knew was concealed inside the box.

Big Little Blue White Box (finally, I got one right!)

Inside the box was hidden not only a phone of course, but a nice arrangement of wires and accessories.

The lineup:

• The Phone itself, obviously ;-)
• Power adapter
  - you can plug any USB to micro USB cable in, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the one that comes with the phone.
• USB to micro USB data cable
• Little metal G-pin (Micro-USIM ejection tool)
• QuadBeat 2 premium headphones
• Including 3 different sizes of earbuds
• Everybodies absolute favourite reading materials: Quickstart Guide and Warranty

Oh, and another thing; allow me to share my delight for the design of the box! It’s so far my favourite temporary phone-container ever, purely because of how easy it was to open. The box lid is made slightly unsymmetrical, which makes it way easier to open the box. And it also manages to look good.

When opening the box with trembling hands, when you can’t wait to get that damn box open, this kind of design really helps (especially when having long nails).

Ok, it’s only relevant the first time, because well, its your phone, it will never go back to the box, it will be with you, at all times =) And when only needing to be opened once, it needs to be done right the first time around.

Specs

Before we look at all the nice features, let’s take a quick lineup of the specifications.

• Android v4.2.2 (aka Jellybean)
• 5,2” IPS Display, with 1920x1080 resolution (Full HD)
• 2,3 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor
• 2 GB RAM and 16 GB flash storage memory (there is also a 32 GB version)
• 13 MP rear camera with optical image stabilization (Full HD)
• 2.1 MP front camera (Full HD)
• 3000 mAh battery (Wuhuu mails, music, news, games all day long!)
• Dimensions:138,5 x 70,9 x 8,9 mm.
• Weight: 143 g.

Through the reviews I’ll get back to the specs and have a closer look on them.

Ramblings About the Look, the Feel, the... Balance?

So, how does the phone look? My first thoughts on it was that it looked good, nothing special. It’s a simple design, as most other devices nowadays, no goofy stuff to clutter it all up. But when looking closer another term came to mind “well-tailored”. I’s sounds kind of corny and posh when writing it down, however that is the most fitting description I can give.

If we start by taking a look at the front of the LG G2, there has been done some serious trimming at both the sides, top and bottom of the phone, so that as much as possible of the front, is what you’re actually interested in here: the display. And might I add, that it’s a really nice display, and as stated above in the specs, it’s full HD!

The speaker at the top, creates a nice balanced look with the LG-logo at the bottom. And this time they’ve got another thing right, by not doing anything to the right. They’ve placed the camera in the upper left corner, especially with the “face part” of their logo is also to the right. Totally obvious, irrelevant and uninteresting, I know! So sorry for bringing it up. However, it caught my eye, and I think it does a lot for achieving the balanced look.

It’s also really neat without the buttons at the sides of the phone, and feels way better in your hand without those little disturbances. On the left side, however, you have the sim-card tray that obscures the sleekness a tiny  

And now for the more interesting part of the phone, at least look-wise. When flipping the phone over, we find the buttons on the back, just underneath the camera. This will definitely take some time getting used to, but I like the idea, and it looks great. I’m also excited to see how well it works when shooting pictures using the button.

I’ve read how some people don’t really like the material on the back, because it’s plastic, and not aluminum or glass. And true, with the LG G2 there’s no replaceable parts inside that you need to get quick access to, as is most often the argument for choosing plastic. Honestly I don’t care why they've choosen this. I think it looks and feels really nice, the discreet diagonal pattern it has, suits the phone, and maybe it's also here the term "well-tailored" popped up in my mind, it almost looks like a kind of fabric.

The LG G2 is slightly more rounded form than it’s predecessor the LG Optimus G (which has been my daily driver for a couple of months now) that has more “sharp” edges and straight sides.

This doesn’t just go for the general outline of the phone, but also applies to the back of the phone. The weight of the phone also seems to be finely balanced. And this, ladies and gentlemens, makes the LG G2 really nice to hold, and easily change how you hold it - without almost dropping it, even for my small hands. *thumbs up*

Features

The LG G2 comes packed with a nice bunch of exciting new features. I’m especially excited to see how well the huge battery performs, and the Text Link, Plug & Pop and Audio Zoom features work. The concept of having a “Guest Mode”, for when friends, your kid(s) or whomever lends your phone is really great, so I definitely going to check that out soon.

But the one feature that I've really been looking forward to and have had time to try several times a day, is called KnockOn. Instead of picking up the phone and pushing a button, you just tap/knock on the display and the phone awakens from its deep slumber.  

Be careful who you reveal this feature to though. I sat next to a colleague during a large group meeting - apparently he has the mind of a five-year old, when it comes to this kind of stuff, so he spend most of the meeting tapping on the phone… So it’s already proven to be not only convenient, but entertaining too! (Disclaimer: I don’t how many others this will eventually apply to, probably not even actual five-year olds… ;-)

So these were my first impressions on the look and feel of the phone. It'll be interesting to see how it might change over the next couple of weeks.

Wicked Regards

- Nitte von Evil