First Impressions of LG's G2 Flagship Smartphone

After listening to detailed feedback from savvy and regular smartphone users, LG announced they created a new, slim, powerful phone with the longer battery life people were asking for. During the design phases, LG believed meeting those demands would only come through the use of an impressive chipset, combined with clever engineering to outshine the competition. Eventually, the finalized phone was named the G2, and it was unveiled on August 7, 2013.

Hardware & Thoughtful Engineering

You might've heard already, but there's only one physical button on the G2. That's it. Just one. My first thought was that such a change isn't significant, but when you look at the innards of this phone, you realize it reflects LG's concentrated R&D efforts for the G2. The development story begins with relocation and merging of "commonplace" buttons.  LG was quick to point out the lone button (called the Rear Key) might sound superficial to many, but in fact this one move tied in with other goals they had. Hardware-wise, most of us expect a smartphone power button and volume up/down button to be on the sides, but LG saw this current "norm" as an opportunity for a more ergonomic phone, as well as power-enhancing redesign.

James Fishler, Senior Vice President at LG Electronics USA, took to the stage with visuals to explain how their engineering team was able to extend battery life. One of the solutions was to adopt a "step" design to make use of what's normally dead space. The result is an optimized 3,000 mAh battery and compartment. 

Display

LG engineers were tasked with making the display area as large as possible and without changes to width. An ultra-slim 2.65mm bezel for the G2 was mathematically necessary, and the engineers delivered. The result is 5.2" of full HD, IPS LCD, 1080 x 1920 edge-to-edge display, keeping a width of 2.7" to stay comfortable in the hand.

The visuals shown to us on stage explained it best because all the engineering details dovetail with the fact that there are no side buttons. As for the G2's resolution, Mr. Fishler said buyers really should be looking at subpixels per inch instead of ppi.  The subpixel count of the G2 is 6,220,800, compared to a full HD AMOLED display which can only boast 4,147,200 subpixels.

Camera & Special Features

The camera's built-in image stabilizer is the first of its kind on a 13-megapixel camera. The Rear Key launches the camera (as well as the memo writing feature). It's placed centrally on the backside so anyone can reach it, whether right-handed or left-handed. According to LG, the camera lens is three times stronger than tempered glass because it's made with sapphire crystal.  

Time-saving traits of the G2 were pointed out to us. "Answer Me" is a feature that answers voice calls as soon as the user picks up the handset. "Plug and Pop" is activated by inserting headphones for fast access to headphone-centric apps and interfaces, versus excessive swiping and tapping. 

The "Text Link" feature of the G2 was described as intuitive because it can read certain data automatically, especially things like calendar dates and addresses within emails. We're then able to cross-populate the initial info into other apps with greater ease. In theory, LG says we're saving time and avoiding the hassle of manual input with Text Link.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm an aficionado of the intuitive "virtual assistant apps" genre, thus I would've liked to have seen a mind-blowing demo of Text Link. Perhaps the on-stage presentation had to follow a strict schedule, and because of this, we weren't shown the kind of demo I wanted. 

"Guest Mode" temporarily allows other people such as children or friends to use your phone safely, guarding against accidental changes to settings. If you have more than one app open, "Slide Aside" lets users hide apps off to the side using a three-finger swipe.

As for audio, LG suggested that they replicated sound metrics used in professional recording studios, and the word "Hi-Fi" was used. Perhaps saying Hi-Fi was meant to be nostalgic, or a word revival, redressed for 2013. I haven't heard that word in awhile.

CPU, RAM, 4G and GPS

The new Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor is made by Qualcomm and facilitates speeds of up to 2.3 GHz per core. Supposedly it is a benchmarks beast in part because of the G2's enhanced aSMP (asynchronous Symmetric Multiprocessing) architecture.

People who rely on navigation will be glad to know Qualcomm's IZat Location technology works with both GPS and GLONASS satellites, and can expect faster load times and more accuracy. The G2 comes with 2GB of RAM (LPDDR3 800MHz) and will be sold as 32GB or 16GB models.

Connectivity to 4G LTE Advanced cellular networks was announced, but prices and availability dates were not.

Thoughts so far

When a manufacturer is eager to unveil a device so early, sure, you want to be as enthusiastic, but what happens is it raises many questions with too few answers. Time usually helps, but early on, we collectively wonder if it makes more sense to have a shorter timeframe between announcing and selling.

Getting back to what's tactile, in my opinion, the G2 felt somewhat similar to the Samsung Galaxy S4. Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 seemed rock solid, as usual. The two sample .mp4 videos in the onboard storage were exquisite to view up close, so I think emphasis on the subpixels is justified.

Alex H. Yong writes reviews on popular smartphones, tablets, cloud services, and other tech topics for his blog, TechMania411.net. He is a fan of Android and likes cats, comedy, corn on the cob, and clarity most of all. Originally from the island nation of Singapore, he now calls New York City home.