Following up on Brian and Anand's podcast conversation, I wonder what this "2.3" should really be called. I assume it's peak frequency at max-rated TDP, and continual use is probably going to be somewhere in 1.2-1.3 range.
Peak frequency is the most important spec in a device like a phone. I think it is really weird in the x86 space how Intel for example will advertise an i5 CPU as "1.3 GHz" even if all-core turbo is 2.3 GHz and the chip never drops below 2 GHz under even heavy load.
What's weirder is Intel's very useless SDP metric. Intel pretends we won't care about peak TDP. Of course we do! We want to know how hot the phone will get under maximum load. But Intel thinks it can get around that by tricking us with "lower" W numbers in the form of SDP.
Any modern processor will throttle down clocks if it is using more power than the device it is installed in can handle so I think SDP is a good idea. It lets you know what kind of device a chip is intended to run in. For example, Anand found the Nexus 10 has an 8 W TDP but the chip quickly throttles to run at a 4 W SDP. If Intel says they have a 5 W sdp part then what they're saying is that it can run in a passive tablet form factor. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6536/arm-vs-x86-the-... None of the other manufacturers of mobile ARM chips list power usage numbers and the don't need to, benchmarks and UX speak for themselves and it is up to the device maker to decide how much cooling is necessary and how to adjust clock speeds to control temperatures. It wouldn't matter to me if a phone's spec sheet said 2 W or 4 W, I only care how fast it is and how long the battery lasts.
More useful than Qualcomm's non-existent spec. Or do you think the Snapdragon 800 can run at 2.3 GHz on all 4 cores and max out the GPU with no thermal limitations?
Highly unlikely but would be awesome if it did. Not too impressed with my Optimus G that throttles its CPU and screen brightness back if you look at it funny.
Unless CPU governor is set to performance, nearly all phones today will run at clock speeds below 1 GHz. I doubt the S800 will hit its 2.3GHz ceiling in everyday use, even in moderately demanding applications.
It would be nice if Qualcomm wasn't so secretive about its products. It wasn't until Motorola announced its X8 platform (a.k.a. enhanced MSM8960T) that we knew Adreno 320 actually was a quad-core part. I mean come on, IT and Nvidia both let us know what their GPU architecture looks like, why can't you, Qualcomm? You're pretty much the leader right now.
Due to their similarity to the Nexus 4, rooting and unlocking was a breeze.
As for ROMs, it depends on the specific model. The AT&T / Canadian / International Optimus Gs have fully operational 4.2.2 AOSP ROMs, the Sprint Optimus G on 4.2.2 AOSP ROMs has a camera bug where it'll only focus the first time the app is launched and remains out of focus until the camera app is force closed and restarted. Scripts to kill / launch the camera app are a common fix for this problem.
Eco Mode (where two of the four cores are disabled) on Optimus Gs tends to only function on the Stock-based ROMs, whereas AOSP-based ROMs have an issue where the minimum CPU frequency is ignored and require 3rd party tools such as Trickster Mod to reduce and lock the minimum frequency to achieve only moderately less battery life than stock ROMs.
LG Mobile USA, like most smartphone OEMs is quick to forget about updates for phones more than four months old. The Optimus G launched in October 2012 with Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 (finalized in July 2012). The Nexus 4 launched in November 2012 with 4.2.
It was only after the launch of the Optimus G Pro on AT&T that owners of the now 5-month-old Optimus G (based on nearly identical hardware) saw an update to 4.1.2. We're still waiting on an official 4.2.2 for the Sprint LGOG which would hopefully hammer out the focus lock issue and give us a stable, feature complete 3rd party ROM.
TL;DR If you want updates, get a Nexus or Google Edition device. If you want silly features and top-of-the-spec-chart hardware they'll abandon in 5 months (and poor XDA developers won't be able to support/reproduce before the phones stop working) get one of these.
Pretty good, actually. With the G pro, I can't say because it's only been released on AT&T and no one seems to care about devs in Korea. All you have to do is search up Optimus G on XDA to see how far it's come. LG isn't so keen on locking down its phones, it has the usual bootloader lock but look how quickly that was undone with FreeGee. LGOG users should feel lucky...
camera is relatively good for mobile. compared to proper cameras its still crap. cpu is fast its abour the best things about this device. its affordable, and it looks good, although the design is daft and uninspired, despite the back buttons which, no, are not a great idea.
Give me the google edition then its far better than s4 (please give your patches of alsa to android open source). I hope the battery is improved in Moto X levels (24 hr).
Wow, that's a great article. A real eye-opener. I wonder why this info is not more widely known, especially among those who is interested in a good sound.
Was going to post this, beat me to it. Developer time we'll spent. Or not. This and 1080p feels like another megapixel race which only results in lower quality.
In a hands on video LG showed you can choose what soft button you want and what order they are arranged in. LG has added a ton of software tweaks like Samsung does. If they do a good job and manage to improve the user experience without creating too many problems then this phone seems to have everything. A Google edition or even Nexus version would be even cooler.
The thin bezel is nice, OIS , 24 bit audio are nice too. I don't see anything about SD and wireless charging though.I won't touch any device without microSD and wireless charging is starting to become a must in the high end. Hilarious though to not include microSD and advertise 24bit audio, can't really fit much in 16/32GB... and then if you wanna do 1080p at 60FPS. Hate it when they cripple devices to extort a few extra $, this Apple greed is contagious. It's depressing to have to buy Samsung, they are too big anyway but almost everybody else insists on being morons.
People always say "cloud services" when someone brings up needing more storage. In my world, that means giving up security for one thing and having to pay higher contract charges for another. I have a 300 MB phone contract that is enough for my usual needs. If I start to stream stuff though, I eat through that in a few days. Which means coughing up 5, 10, 20 additional € per month for something that can be solved by adding a 40€ mSD card.
So you're going to stream 9mbps audio and store 1080p60 video on the cloud? Hope you've still got unlimited data... That said, the HiFi features are pretty useless even with tons of internal storage due to size and, more importantly, content availability constraints. That's why Creative Labs had to introduce their Crystallizer technology a decade or so ago - what's the point of HiFi signal chains when your source quality is crap?
Someone needs to come up with a line of cases that plug into the USB port and provide expansion storage. I'd love me a case that threw some extra storage on, if I had a device without a mSD card.
Also, these phones need to give up on USB 2.0 and move to 3.0 for faster charging and data rates.
For that to work, the USB port on this phone would have to support USB OTG which the original Optimus G / Nexus 4 did not.
Technically, they supported it, but they weren't capable of supplying 5V over the appropriate pin. Support for USB OTG was hacked into the Nexus 4 and International Optimus Gs with a combination of a hardware mod for the 5V rail and a kernel hack. Woo.
I know all this...however I'm not sure how two devices that don't support it make the device irrelevant? It iwl be great on the HTC One, Nexus 7, and most likely the LG G2
You don't need USB 3.0 for faster charging (phone charging veered off USB standards quite a while ago anyway), and the flash storage on a phone isn't fast enough to saturate USB 2.0... USB 3.0 is pointless.
Can't remove or replace the battery? You lost my business. I could barely deal with no SD card but not being able to swap batteries is a dealbreaker for me. I swap batteries on my phone several times a week. This means I can effectively fully charge my phone in less than twenty seconds.
Also this means no extended batteries for this phone either. I use them all the time first because I can go a long time with hard use and because it makes my phone more comfortable to use with my big hands.
This shift to non-replaceable batteries is unfortunate. I'm sick of the industry dictating what users actually want. Stop this crap please...
Used to be in the same boat as you but 3000mAh is a ton of juice. Unless the Snap 800 ends up being a battery hog I think the stock situation is very generous.
LG also added panel self refresh which should improve battery life. I'm fine with my Nexus 4 battery but with this phone 2 day battery life would also probably work out. I'd rather have the small size, strength, and build quality of a sealed battery design at that point.
Just buy a GS4 or a Gnote. This device is hardly different other than the S800 vs 600. The S4 has your micro-sd and the removable back, and hell it even comes in a stock edition if you use AT/T or tmobile
I'd like to know this as well. I'm also not very fond of the notification LED on the back of the phone. Putting the phone down on its front could scratch the screen...
Unless you get a case, almost every TPU case out there has just enough of a lip to protect the screen. It's pretty much the second reason why I keep using cases, setting it face down without worry.
Is 1920x1200 confirmed? I have seen this same announcement on several other sites but and they are all stating 1920x1080... Although they might just be assuming. IT does look a bit wider than normal phones to me, but its hard to tell by pics and vids.
LOL... OK, but they did go back and change the table on the front from 1920x1080, so I am taking that as they noticed it was an error and it is not 1920x1200. Bummer.
That bezel looks cool, screen resolution is great, battery size is good, amount of storage is good, size of the display is good, SoC is great. I wouldn't mind this being the next Nexus phone for a good price. :D Lugging along with my Galaxy Nexus, which is fine, but limited and getting old. I could live without the replaceable battery. I've lived without an mSD card with the GN as well (though badly, 32GB should help alleviate that issues somewhat).
Specs and features all look good, by I'm just disappointed at their design language. I actually appreciated the square straight industrial look off the optimus G and was hoping their successor would be similar. Maybe the 5.2 inch size and the ergonomics makes it impossible, but the rounded edges and curved back makes it look more like a Samsung phone ... HI I don't mind since we can custom Rom, but hardware design we've stuck with, and I had hoped for something more square, straight, industrial.
I find the Nexus 4 needlessly chunky. I agree that this design doesn't look that good with the rounded corners from the back and strange volume buttons but hopefully they did it for in hand feel and ease of use.
Given the busy electrical environment inside a cellphone, with intermodulation interference coming from the SoC and different radios, I'm not sure I see the point in messing around with 24/192. Especially since its superiority over 16/44.1 in any consumer environment is deeply questionable. I suspect the frequency response is going to be severely limited by the headphone amp anyway.
I agree completely - when I said 'deeply questionable' I was being extremely charitable, 'frankly delusional' is closer to the mark. I doubt even a bat would be able to spot the difference in the output from this phone though.
I appreciate that you feel 16/44 to be as good or better. Hi-fidelity is and has been a big hobby of mine for forty years. I prefer 24/192. My choice. My illusion.
This is another me-too device. I'm sure it will be a good fit for some, people who liked the G and G Pro.
My problems with this device are a static 3000mah battery with no option to extend. I wish they'd start making these phones in 8.9mm and 11mm versions with greatly extended batteries Like 5000mah. Like the Ultramaxx, but slightly bigger.
I wonder why people consider the collaboration between Google and LG a success? For me it was a failure: Nexus 4 was plagued by thermal throttling and also had a big supply issue for several month. Not to mention that in Europe, in retail, the price was far from the 300$: it was almost the same as LG's Optimus G.
Comparing this to Asus Nexus 7, where supply was great and the price close to Google's prices, I would go to someone else than LG next time if I were Google...
It cost 300€ in the Google Play Store the whole time I kept track of the price here in Germany. Taking into account the included taxes, that is normal exchange rate behaviour. Even charitable, when we look at some other examples. Did I miss something?
I really don't like the trend of manufacturers dropping the capacitive buttons (back, home and menu/task). Seems Samsung is my only choice when the time come to replace my LG Optimus LTE II.
No thank you.. LG will never get another dime of my money. I bought the G2X when it was their flagship and they botched that release totally. Their updates for the device never came. For a dual-core device, not having ICS or JB for the device is an insult to the hardware. Now, before people start chiming in with "I've got ICS.. I've got Hackfest" There is NO SINGLE ROM out there for the G2X that has full hardware acceleration AND a working modem. LG (and to a point nVidia) screwed the pooch with this one. Bought myself the SGS4 and haven't looked back.
Focusing some on audio is nice, but 192kHz improves nothing for final playback (unlike audio editing, perhaps). I'm not sure if 24-bit adds much.
Did they improve audio latency? Recently Android started to address audio output latency (but not input), but it requires work from the hardware manufacturer as well: http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/02/22/sonoma-wir...
The top mounted power buttons never made any sense to me, specially as phones grew past 4.3"...
I don't know anyone that can hold a phone in a position comfortable for typing and simultaneously reach a top mounted power button. Maybe that's the point of sticking it up there, but why? It just forces a lot of hand shifting or needless two hand maneuvers. Always been jealous of Samsung's side power buttons...
OTOH, the race to make phones thinner is getting silly. We reached a point of diminishing returns with phones like the One X and SGS3 IMO, any thinner just ends up feeling cheaper and introducing all sorta structural/battery compromises.
So does it turn off if I lay it flat on a table with the screen facing up? I am sure LG is not that stupid! So how does the phone know my finger is pressing the button and not the table or my jeans when it is in my pocket?
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gregounech - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
2.3GHz here we go...gobaers - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Following up on Brian and Anand's podcast conversation, I wonder what this "2.3" should really be called. I assume it's peak frequency at max-rated TDP, and continual use is probably going to be somewhere in 1.2-1.3 range.Zink - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Peak frequency is the most important spec in a device like a phone. I think it is really weird in the x86 space how Intel for example will advertise an i5 CPU as "1.3 GHz" even if all-core turbo is 2.3 GHz and the chip never drops below 2 GHz under even heavy load.Krysto - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
What's weirder is Intel's very useless SDP metric. Intel pretends we won't care about peak TDP. Of course we do! We want to know how hot the phone will get under maximum load. But Intel thinks it can get around that by tricking us with "lower" W numbers in the form of SDP.Zink - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Any modern processor will throttle down clocks if it is using more power than the device it is installed in can handle so I think SDP is a good idea. It lets you know what kind of device a chip is intended to run in. For example, Anand found the Nexus 10 has an 8 W TDP but the chip quickly throttles to run at a 4 W SDP. If Intel says they have a 5 W sdp part then what they're saying is that it can run in a passive tablet form factor. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6536/arm-vs-x86-the-...None of the other manufacturers of mobile ARM chips list power usage numbers and the don't need to, benchmarks and UX speak for themselves and it is up to the device maker to decide how much cooling is necessary and how to adjust clock speeds to control temperatures. It wouldn't matter to me if a phone's spec sheet said 2 W or 4 W, I only care how fast it is and how long the battery lasts.
FwFred - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
More useful than Qualcomm's non-existent spec. Or do you think the Snapdragon 800 can run at 2.3 GHz on all 4 cores and max out the GPU with no thermal limitations?Pessimism - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
Highly unlikely but would be awesome if it did. Not too impressed with my Optimus G that throttles its CPU and screen brightness back if you look at it funny.tabascosauz - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
Unless CPU governor is set to performance, nearly all phones today will run at clock speeds below 1 GHz. I doubt the S800 will hit its 2.3GHz ceiling in everyday use, even in moderately demanding applications.It would be nice if Qualcomm wasn't so secretive about its products. It wasn't until Motorola announced its X8 platform (a.k.a. enhanced MSM8960T) that we knew Adreno 320 actually was a quad-core part. I mean come on, IT and Nvidia both let us know what their GPU architecture looks like, why can't you, Qualcomm? You're pretty much the leader right now.
BigLan - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Those bezels look unbelievably small - I want to try it in hand to see if it makes the phone easier to handle.The rest of the specs look good - sounds like the camera will be one of the best with ois and the cpu should be one of the fastest too.
How easy have LG been to get a custom rom on in the past (any looked bootloaders?) and how hated is their skin compared to Sense or Touch?
Also, does this have an ir port like the SG4 or HTC One?
perrrrrt - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
It will definitely be supported by many ROMs seeing those specs!Yes it has an IR port.
Mondozai - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
I hope they are as good to the dev community as Sony is. Anyone know anything on this topic, how were they with Optimus G & G Pro?arthur449 - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Due to their similarity to the Nexus 4, rooting and unlocking was a breeze.As for ROMs, it depends on the specific model. The AT&T / Canadian / International Optimus Gs have fully operational 4.2.2 AOSP ROMs, the Sprint Optimus G on 4.2.2 AOSP ROMs has a camera bug where it'll only focus the first time the app is launched and remains out of focus until the camera app is force closed and restarted. Scripts to kill / launch the camera app are a common fix for this problem.
Eco Mode (where two of the four cores are disabled) on Optimus Gs tends to only function on the Stock-based ROMs, whereas AOSP-based ROMs have an issue where the minimum CPU frequency is ignored and require 3rd party tools such as Trickster Mod to reduce and lock the minimum frequency to achieve only moderately less battery life than stock ROMs.
LG Mobile USA, like most smartphone OEMs is quick to forget about updates for phones more than four months old. The Optimus G launched in October 2012 with Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 (finalized in July 2012). The Nexus 4 launched in November 2012 with 4.2.
It was only after the launch of the Optimus G Pro on AT&T that owners of the now 5-month-old Optimus G (based on nearly identical hardware) saw an update to 4.1.2. We're still waiting on an official 4.2.2 for the Sprint LGOG which would hopefully hammer out the focus lock issue and give us a stable, feature complete 3rd party ROM.
TL;DR If you want updates, get a Nexus or Google Edition device. If you want silly features and top-of-the-spec-chart hardware they'll abandon in 5 months (and poor XDA developers won't be able to support/reproduce before the phones stop working) get one of these.
tabascosauz - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
Pretty good, actually. With the G pro, I can't say because it's only been released on AT&T and no one seems to care about devs in Korea. All you have to do is search up Optimus G on XDA to see how far it's come. LG isn't so keen on locking down its phones, it has the usual bootloader lock but look how quickly that was undone with FreeGee. LGOG users should feel lucky...rolfen - Monday, May 11, 2015 - link
it makes thr phone harder to handle, as your fingers would inadvertedly trigger touch events if you're not holding it carefully.rolfen - Monday, May 11, 2015 - link
camera is relatively good for mobile. compared to proper cameras its still crap. cpu is fast its abour the best things about this device. its affordable, and it looks good, although the design is daft and uninspired, despite the back buttons which, no, are not a great idea.mmrezaie - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Give me the google edition then its far better than s4 (please give your patches of alsa to android open source). I hope the battery is improved in Moto X levels (24 hr).mgns - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Don't they have to? ALSA is GPL and they are distributing it.A5 - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
ALSA is licensed under the GPL, so theoretically the source will be available somewhere. No idea if it will be incorporated into AOSP, though.DavidW617 - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
I'm sorry to burst your bubble about 24bit audio but you may want to read this: http://xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.htmlp1esk - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Wow, that's a great article. A real eye-opener. I wonder why this info is not more widely known, especially among those who is interested in a good sound.ThortonBe - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Thanks for sharing that article. Anandtech is pretty good, but audio seems to be a weak-point from a staff standpoint.DesktopMan - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Was going to post this, beat me to it. Developer time we'll spent. Or not. This and 1080p feels like another megapixel race which only results in lower quality.CoryS - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Is that really a soft menu button?Zink - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
In a hands on video LG showed you can choose what soft button you want and what order they are arranged in. LG has added a ton of software tweaks like Samsung does. If they do a good job and manage to improve the user experience without creating too many problems then this phone seems to have everything. A Google edition or even Nexus version would be even cooler.CoryS - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
yeh, but none of those options let you remove the menu button, or add a multitasking button.quiksilvr - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Please PLEASE make a Google Play Edition of this...ISwearImCool - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Please PLEASE base the 2013 nexus 4 off of this...retrospooty - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Looks perfect. Unless some bad reviews come out, this is my next phone. Love the rear volume, small bezels and 3000ma battery.jjj - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
The thin bezel is nice, OIS , 24 bit audio are nice too.I don't see anything about SD and wireless charging though.I won't touch any device without microSD and wireless charging is starting to become a must in the high end.
Hilarious though to not include microSD and advertise 24bit audio, can't really fit much in 16/32GB... and then if you wanna do 1080p at 60FPS. Hate it when they cripple devices to extort a few extra $, this Apple greed is contagious.
It's depressing to have to buy Samsung, they are too big anyway but almost everybody else insists on being morons.
retrospooty - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
I am not sure about wireless charging, but it definitely has SD. This thing looks sweet! I cant wait to get my hands on it.arthur449 - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
LG Mobile USA on Google+ confirmed a minute ago that the G2 does NOT have a MicroSD slot.fteoath64 - Saturday, August 17, 2013 - link
No Sd slot. No Sale. Pity. Moronic omission that almost cost HTC its future and could still do ...thesavvymage - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
no sd, the back is sealedMondozai - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Do you need more than 32 gigabyte? With cloud services?Red herring. Replacable battery is more important.
Death666Angel - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
People always say "cloud services" when someone brings up needing more storage. In my world, that means giving up security for one thing and having to pay higher contract charges for another. I have a 300 MB phone contract that is enough for my usual needs. If I start to stream stuff though, I eat through that in a few days. Which means coughing up 5, 10, 20 additional € per month for something that can be solved by adding a 40€ mSD card.retrospooty - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
This has SD. It wasn't specifically mentioned on the Anandtech article, but it does have it on the official spec list from LG.thesavvymage - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
LG USA has confirmed there is NO micro-sdcrashinghero - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
So you're going to stream 9mbps audio and store 1080p60 video on the cloud? Hope you've still got unlimited data... That said, the HiFi features are pretty useless even with tons of internal storage due to size and, more importantly, content availability constraints. That's why Creative Labs had to introduce their Crystallizer technology a decade or so ago - what's the point of HiFi signal chains when your source quality is crap?lmcd - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Someone needs to come up with a line of cases that plug into the USB port and provide expansion storage. I'd love me a case that threw some extra storage on, if I had a device without a mSD card.Also, these phones need to give up on USB 2.0 and move to 3.0 for faster charging and data rates.
CoryS - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
I backed this for 12 bucks or so...should ship soon. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyfei/mini-m...arthur449 - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
For that to work, the USB port on this phone would have to support USB OTG which the original Optimus G / Nexus 4 did not.Technically, they supported it, but they weren't capable of supplying 5V over the appropriate pin. Support for USB OTG was hacked into the Nexus 4 and International Optimus Gs with a combination of a hardware mod for the 5V rail and a kernel hack. Woo.
CoryS - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
I know all this...however I'm not sure how two devices that don't support it make the device irrelevant? It iwl be great on the HTC One, Nexus 7, and most likely the LG G2Impulses - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
You don't need USB 3.0 for faster charging (phone charging veered off USB standards quite a while ago anyway), and the flash storage on a phone isn't fast enough to saturate USB 2.0... USB 3.0 is pointless.Geraldo8022 - Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - link
I use Patriot Gauntlet, Wifi. works simply and easily.jmunjr - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Can't remove or replace the battery? You lost my business. I could barely deal with no SD card but not being able to swap batteries is a dealbreaker for me. I swap batteries on my phone several times a week. This means I can effectively fully charge my phone in less than twenty seconds.Also this means no extended batteries for this phone either. I use them all the time first because I can go a long time with hard use and because it makes my phone more comfortable to use with my big hands.
This shift to non-replaceable batteries is unfortunate. I'm sick of the industry dictating what users actually want. Stop this crap please...
THX - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Used to be in the same boat as you but 3000mAh is a ton of juice. Unless the Snap 800 ends up being a battery hog I think the stock situation is very generous.Zink - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
LG also added panel self refresh which should improve battery life. I'm fine with my Nexus 4 battery but with this phone 2 day battery life would also probably work out. I'd rather have the small size, strength, and build quality of a sealed battery design at that point.thesavvymage - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Just buy a GS4 or a Gnote. This device is hardly different other than the S800 vs 600. The S4 has your micro-sd and the removable back, and hell it even comes in a stock edition if you use AT/T or tmobileOrtanon - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
Friends don't let friends buy the Note. http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-E980-optimus-g...Ram21 - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Does the power button get depressed when it is sitting on its back? Interesting choice to put the volume rocker there as well.mgl888 - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
I'd like to know this as well.I'm also not very fond of the notification LED on the back of the phone. Putting the phone down on its front could scratch the screen...
CoryS - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
In videos It seems to have one on the front tooImpulses - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
Unless you get a case, almost every TPU case out there has just enough of a lip to protect the screen. It's pretty much the second reason why I keep using cases, setting it face down without worry.retrospooty - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Is 1920x1200 confirmed? I have seen this same announcement on several other sites but and they are all stating 1920x1080... Although they might just be assuming. IT does look a bit wider than normal phones to me, but its hard to tell by pics and vids.madmilk - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Optimus G and Nexus 4 used 1280x768 when everyone else used 1280x720, so maybe.victorson - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Brian, where did you get that 1200 x 1980 pixel resolution? LG lists this as 1080p everywhere.retrospooty - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
crap... Looks like they corrected it. It is 1920x1080. Oh well, still a great phone.nicmonson - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Not in both places! In one place they say 1080 and in another place, they say 1200!retrospooty - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
LOL... OK, but they did go back and change the table on the front from 1920x1080, so I am taking that as they noticed it was an error and it is not 1920x1200. Bummer.Death666Angel - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
That bezel looks cool, screen resolution is great, battery size is good, amount of storage is good, size of the display is good, SoC is great. I wouldn't mind this being the next Nexus phone for a good price. :D Lugging along with my Galaxy Nexus, which is fine, but limited and getting old. I could live without the replaceable battery. I've lived without an mSD card with the GN as well (though badly, 32GB should help alleviate that issues somewhat).SniperWulf - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Mmmmm... Nexus 5??gnx - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Specs and features all look good, by I'm just disappointed at their design language. I actually appreciated the square straight industrial look off the optimus G and was hoping their successor would be similar. Maybe the 5.2 inch size and the ergonomics makes it impossible, but the rounded edges and curved back makes it look more like a Samsung phone ... HI I don't mind since we can custom Rom, but hardware design we've stuck with, and I had hoped for something more square, straight, industrial.Zink - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
I find the Nexus 4 needlessly chunky. I agree that this design doesn't look that good with the rounded corners from the back and strange volume buttons but hopefully they did it for in hand feel and ease of use.Gunbuster - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
I see LG has completed studies at the Samsung greasy plastic university.charleski - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Given the busy electrical environment inside a cellphone, with intermodulation interference coming from the SoC and different radios, I'm not sure I see the point in messing around with 24/192. Especially since its superiority over 16/44.1 in any consumer environment is deeply questionable. I suspect the frequency response is going to be severely limited by the headphone amp anyway.DesktopMan - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Actually 16/44.1 is superior for playback in any hardware. Check the article linked elsewhere in the comments.charleski - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
I agree completely - when I said 'deeply questionable' I was being extremely charitable, 'frankly delusional' is closer to the mark. I doubt even a bat would be able to spot the difference in the output from this phone though.Geraldo8022 - Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - link
I appreciate that you feel 16/44 to be as good or better. Hi-fidelity is and has been a big hobby of mine for forty years. I prefer 24/192. My choice. My illusion.flyingpants1 - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
This is another me-too device. I'm sure it will be a good fit for some, people who liked the G and G Pro.My problems with this device are a static 3000mah battery with no option to extend. I wish they'd start making these phones in 8.9mm and 11mm versions with greatly extended batteries Like 5000mah. Like the Ultramaxx, but slightly bigger.
Mugur - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
I wonder why people consider the collaboration between Google and LG a success? For me it was a failure: Nexus 4 was plagued by thermal throttling and also had a big supply issue for several month. Not to mention that in Europe, in retail, the price was far from the 300$: it was almost the same as LG's Optimus G.Comparing this to Asus Nexus 7, where supply was great and the price close to Google's prices, I would go to someone else than LG next time if I were Google...
Death666Angel - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
It cost 300€ in the Google Play Store the whole time I kept track of the price here in Germany. Taking into account the included taxes, that is normal exchange rate behaviour. Even charitable, when we look at some other examples. Did I miss something?akyp - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
I really don't like the trend of manufacturers dropping the capacitive buttons (back, home and menu/task). Seems Samsung is my only choice when the time come to replace my LG Optimus LTE II.Impulses - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
HTC only dropped one! (which is even more puzzling)SpaceRanger - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
No thank you.. LG will never get another dime of my money. I bought the G2X when it was their flagship and they botched that release totally. Their updates for the device never came. For a dual-core device, not having ICS or JB for the device is an insult to the hardware. Now, before people start chiming in with "I've got ICS.. I've got Hackfest" There is NO SINGLE ROM out there for the G2X that has full hardware acceleration AND a working modem. LG (and to a point nVidia) screwed the pooch with this one. Bought myself the SGS4 and haven't looked back.Gunbuster - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Tell me about it. I had a LG Mytouch Q and it was the most abysmal phone I have ever owned.Impulses - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
A lot of the early Tegra 2 phones got left behind in the cold with Gingerbread, see Atrix etc. NV probably shared as much of the blame as anyone...sheh - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Focusing some on audio is nice, but 192kHz improves nothing for final playback (unlike audio editing, perhaps). I'm not sure if 24-bit adds much.Did they improve audio latency? Recently Android started to address audio output latency (but not input), but it requires work from the hardware manufacturer as well:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/02/22/sonoma-wir...
That's one area where iOS still has an advantage.
Impulses - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
The top mounted power buttons never made any sense to me, specially as phones grew past 4.3"...I don't know anyone that can hold a phone in a position comfortable for typing and simultaneously reach a top mounted power button. Maybe that's the point of sticking it up there, but why? It just forces a lot of hand shifting or needless two hand maneuvers. Always been jealous of Samsung's side power buttons...
OTOH, the race to make phones thinner is getting silly. We reached a point of diminishing returns with phones like the One X and SGS3 IMO, any thinner just ends up feeling cheaper and introducing all sorta structural/battery compromises.
_fyi_ - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
So does it turn off if I lay it flat on a table with the screen facing up? I am sure LG is not that stupid! So how does the phone know my finger is pressing the button and not the table or my jeans when it is in my pocket?flyingpants1 - Sunday, August 11, 2013 - link
There is no such thing as 2 days of battery life in a phone. What you meant is more than 4-5 hours of actual usage.