Overall and Final Verdict
Now that I have covered my experience with the G2 as well as its performance stats, has my opinion of the phone changed from when it came in? Well yes, in both good and bad ways. When the G2 came in I had heard about its good battery life but I was surprised at how well the phone performed as a whole. The Snapdragon 800 processor did extremely well in our benchmarks but most importantly all through the time I tested the G2 I didn’t have any lag issues with the phone. Really the G2 is a great phone, the paired up good performance with a 1080p IPS panel and great battery life. Sadly what makes the phone so unique is also what made me so frustrated with the phone. How could you make sure a great device and make the controls so difficult to use.
Running the G2 on the Verizon Wireless network also had a few benefits. For one with this being a Verizon model the G2 had built in wireless charging, something that I just can’t live without on my phones anymore. But I also had the chance to use the G2 on my trip to Chicago recently as well as a trips to Columbus and Dayton. In all three cities I experienced faster LTE performance at times as Verizon has been testing opening up more LTE capacity in a lot of areas. This is because Verizon is finally taking advantage of the band 4 spectrum. To give you an idea of what to expect, in the Chicago area I was getting 55 down and 14 up with a ping of 55. Going into 2014, we should start to see this more and more, assuming your device supports band 4.
Would I recommend picking up the G2? Well it is a great phone if you can adjust to the new button location. I would recommend getting your hands on one before buying just in case you are like me and just can’t handle the rear mounted buttons.