Welcome to Android Community’s review of the T-Mobile G2x, T-Mobile’s first dual-core device, LG’s first dual-core device, and back when it when people called its very close relative the Optimus 2x, the first dual-core period. All that doesn’t matter though because there this sassy little lady is, and it’s bumpin. Over the past few days we’ve been putting this phone through some wild tests and real-world use tests, even playing some games on it, and here we’ve got the first big verdict.

Hardware

This phone is long and thin, having a 4-inch screen, one notch smaller than what HTC is quickly claiming as their trademark gigantic 4.3-inch competitor. The display is bright, very bright, coming at you with a LCD IPS screen at 480 x 800 pixel resolution and yes, the touchscreen is both capacitive and very, very sensitive – there’s NEVER a time when you’re going to be tapping over and over again like some of you’ve wondered aloud in the posts leading up to this one.

The entire unit measures in at 4.90 x 2.50 x 0.40 inches (124 x 64 x 10 mm), weighs 5.00 oz (142 g,) and has a camera on the back as well as the front. The front-facing camera weighs in at 1.3 megapixels while the back boasts an 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, image stabilization, smile detection, geo tagging, multishot, and panorama abilities, as well as an LED flash. You can record in 920×1080 (1080p HD) for video on this back camera, and of course you’ll be video chatting the night away with the front.

Volume on this device can be adjusted with the up and down buttons along the right, power button, headphone jack, and HDMI port (with lovely plastic cover,) are along the top. On the left there’s absolutely nothing, and on the bottom there’s a couple of fabulous bigtime speakers and a microUSB port for all of your power charging and data transfer needs. Of course if you’re the kind of person who would rather do this sort of thing via microSD card, you can get at that behind the full-body battery cover on the back.

Also under this battery cover you’ll find the 1500 mAh battery and right between the battery and the camera lens, a location to slip your T-Mobile SIM card. The battery cover is clever in that instead of making it all plastic, (light, but appearing cheap,) or all metal, (looks nice but feels heavy,) LG has mixed the two, adding a single metal strip down the center as a gesture that not only adds some class, it ties it directly to the G-Slate which appears so far to be inextricably brand-tied to the G2x in more ways than one. Best friends forever!

Then there’s the metal band around the entire border of the device, revealing another major speaker at the top of the phone on the front right above the T-Mobile logo. Again, light and powerful. The front of the G2x is covered with curved Gorilla Glass. This adds a layer of elegance to an already classy device, all of these things together making what’s easily one of the nicest feeling Android phones on the market today.

Inside, you’re going to find a fat and awesome Dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core processor, pumping power for all your high-demand apps and wackiness through this phone like its ambrosia. Sidenote: that’d be a great name for a processor, don’t you think? There’s also 8 GB storage, 512 MB RAM, and that microSD slot can handle up to 32GB. As for connections you’ll get Wifi 802.11 b/g/n, EDGE, Dual-band 4G UMTS/HSPA+ (Bands I and IV,) and Quad-band GSM (world phone) 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. Also jam some video and/or games into your television with HDMI and DLNA, and go wild with your accelerometer, compass, and GPS. And use the phone as a wifi hotspot. And a partridge in a pear tree.

Software

What you’re going to get here is a Vanilla Android 2.2 Froyo experience. What that means is that it’s exactly as Google intended it to be inside this phone, few to no modifications other than the addition of a few apps and features, all of them welcome, believe it or not: Need for Speed Shift HD, N.O.V.A (demo,) T-Mobile TV, Zinio (magazine app,) and Qik (video chat.) Qik, if you’ve not used it before, allows you to video chat to other people with Qik, record videos and share them (in a very user-friendly environment,) and send video mail. Simple and well done. Definite competition for Skype (whenever it officially comes out with video chat for Android.)

The couple of games that come with the phone, Need for Speed and N.O.V.A., will blow you away. Need for Speed needs no extra download so you’ll be able to jump right in – it’s a racing game with a fantastic soundtrack that’s so smooth, you’ll basically have a heart attack. For extra fun, play it via HDMI cable, using then your device as the steering wheel and your gigantic television as your display.

For an example of what N.O.V.A. has to offer, check out our peek at the G2x back at CTIA – it’s still just as tight:

[vms 300456b6a5f416209385]

N.O.V.A. is not a brand new game and it doesn’t require a dual-core processor to work, but it sure as heck looks massively impressive on this device, that much you can be sure of. Beyond that, everything is slick. Have a look at how fast everything loads up – no pauses:

[vms f8a370206f111127c0db]

Camera

The cameras on this device, again, are a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat and an 8-megapixel back-facing camera with the ability to record at 1080p.

Front Camera Photo

Front Camera Video

Back Camera Photo

Back Camera Photo in the Dark with Flash

Back Camera Video

You’ll have just noticed that while the front-facing camera’s video and photo capabilities are rather mortifying at 1.3-megapixels, it’s not really meant for much other than live video chat – recording is just a bonus. On the back-facing camera, it’s nothing but excellence. I need say no more. See a few more examples of photos and video back in our bigger G2x 8-Megapixel Photo and 1080p Video Examples post.

Phone and Performance

Calling in and out has seemed to have no issues whatsoever with volume and clarity. The one issue that we’ve seen that MIGHT end up being an issue is that, and this only happened once, but it’s that concerning, a phonecall was dropped at the same moment the device dropped T-Mobile’s 4G signal and moved to 2G. That said, download and upload speeds have seemed alright but have been recorded as not very fantastic. See our extended test back in our G2x Speed Tests Around the City post and see an example right here:

As for further performance, this phone’s been quite amazing when it comes to opening and playing gigantically demanding games and movies, and it’s been nothing but fabulous when it comes to browsing and doing everyday tasks. No complaints here! Have a look at our full G2x Dual-Core Optimized Benchmarks post and check out a couple examples here:

Battery

The battery on this device has been surprisingly excellent. While we’re still having less than favorable results with battery time on the LTE version of 4G phone the HTC ThunderBolt, T-Mobile’s 4G seems to have little to no effect on the battery at all. One full day of medium to high use has seemed to be about the amount of time you’ll be able to use this phone without a need for a charge. That’s impressive when you understand fully what this phone is capable of. When I write this review, the phone has been up with no charge for 15:30 hours with medium to high usage, (see that video up there with the games being flipped in and out? I just did that,) and the battery is still at 45%. I played about 30 minutes of a high def video on the phone as well (Tron Legacy, to be exact, check out the post where you see that example back [here].)

Wrap-Up

There are some people comparing this phone to the AT&T ATRIX 4G. Don’t do that. It may have a few of the same guts, but this phone is the class. The form factor here is enough to be worth the average $200 a top-tier smartphone these days ought to cost, but surprise! It’s selling for cheaper than that. The media collectors on this device are slick, and the media presenters on this device are double-slick. The screen size is perfect (unless you can’t get enough of the slightly larger 4.3-inch screen that HTC is putting on basically every phone they’re releasing, and the phone feels excellent in the hand and in the pocket.

LG and T-Mobile have more than likely agreed upon a Vanilla flavoring of this Android device’s user interface so that it might pump up to fully modern once Android 2.3 Gingerbread is first available to it. The phone has two of the largest cameras available on the market today. There’s a beautiful metal strip with Google engraved in it. The screen is one of the most responsive yours truly has ever engaged with.

So wait, what’s bad about this phone? Connection speed, field of play, and the flash hole. The hole is on the back of the phone, basically a crater where dust and pocket lint will more than likely be getting caught as one keeps this device cycling through one’s pocket. Field of play is limited by the stripped-down nature of the Android operating system as it exists without a manufacturer-added user interface plopped over it. This limits the phone to advanced users of Android – but what does that mean? It means that utterly new newbs probably wont be able to understand the inherent possibilities jumping around inside this phone, but they’ll still very much enjoy it. Finally, the connection speed – we discussed this in short in the post above, and it is an issue if you plan on downloading apps without Wifi on the regular – if you’re a Wifi lover, you’re golden!

Should you buy this phone?

Of course you should! It’s freaking amazing, and especially if you want to compete with the upcoming power of the G-Slate, you’re going to need the overclockable power of the G2x on your side. It’s a race to the top! Yours truly reviews phones VERY often and uses a single Android at a time for a carry-around. Will the G2x replace the phone I’ve been carrying around for the past couple of weeks? Sure it will!

At least for a couple more weeks, that is.

[device id=398]

174 COMMENTS

  1. I went to tmobile yesterday to check out the sidekick 4g (i believe the sidekick lx was the best phone in terms of form-factor) and they let me play around with the dummy model ( i wanted to check out form-factor so i didnt mind. But after i got bored with it, i asked to see the dummy for this, so she brought the actual device out for me. boy, am i reconsidering. Only thing i feel its missing is a keyboard. 3 days to make up my mind.

    • keyboard or no keyboard is a big deal when considering the sidekick vs this — also sidekick has some really unique insides as well. review for that coming up this week also

  3. This is a great review, very nice. I am really looking forward to this phone in the next month or so. Did anyone test the Wiimote functionality? If that works then it’s a go!

    Oh and how is the GPS? I have a Vibrant right now and am none to happy with the GPS(yes I did all the hardware and software fixes).

      • Is it spot on where your standing? Does it wonder around your location while standing still? and finally when you move 20 feet(no more no less) does it show you moving? This is the standard for Geocaching and I really don’t want to by a separate unit to carry around, and my SGS is a real pain to try and get it to work…. Thanks for any of those that you can answer, especially as GPS is starting to be used in lots of apps.

  5. Very cool review now I know I made an excellant decision in ordering the phone can’t wait to get the phone. My g1 is ready to retire, I’ve brought it back to life a couple of times but well worth the wait with the g2x. Thanks on the review again

  6. RE: your reference to battery life on the Thunderbolt using LTE vs the G2X, which DOESN’T use LTE, you must be careful not to equate the two as you have done by comparing them at all. T-Mobile’s “4G” is not the same as Verizon’s “4G.” They are very different, with LTE being more of an energy killer. That was very irresponsible of you to put to light the two in a comparison when the specifications of the two indicate they aren’t the same at all to be compared.

    • “the LTE version of 4G phone” presupposes the fact that 4G is a term that has many different meanings. If you’ll take a look at the speed tests post for this phone, you’ll see that I and we are VERY clear on how different LTE and T-Mobile’s “4G” can be. Are you trying to excuse the HTC ThunderBolt from its bad battery time because LTE should be draining more, and that’s alright?

  8. So Chris, I saw in your Samsung Galaxy S 4G review’s comments that you haven’t found a smartphone’s flash that you like yet. In the various hands-on for this phone I’ve read, people seem to actually like/be impressed with the flash…any comment on what you think of it vs other phones you’ve tried, for that aspect?

    I’m trying to decide between buying this or keeping my cliq (for use as a phone) and getting the Asus transformer tablet. Can’t afford both–scarcity sucks–and they both have things about them that look awesome.

    I’m a little worried about the data speeds, and I keep hearing differing stories about whether this phone has 14, 21, or 42 mbps network speed compatibility. Usually reliable sites all seem to have differing specs listings, and T-Mobile doesn’t put anything that detailed (or useful) on their website. 🙁

  9. Great review!! One request, can you compare the screens of the G2x and iPhone 4? I know they are both IPS LCD but in the youtube videos the G2x looked slightly better than the iphone 4’s screen despite having a smaller resolution. Throw in a SAMOLED display of the nexus S or Galaxy S phones in there if possible! Thanks

  11. I didn’t see you mention if it works w/ an AT&T SIM at least the 3G. You listed the specs as: “UMTS/HSPA+ (Bands I and IV,)” whereas AT&T works on UMTS II/V (1900/850). I remember reading you would put an AT&T Sim the first day you got the phone but haven’t tracked down if you did and if it works. Great review though!

      • Chris,
        Someone asked about the screens. What is the diff between the Samsung AMOLED vs the screen on this one. Are they comparable in resolution, color, etc. The S4G is really pretty!
        Thanks

      • Chris,
        Someone asked about the screens. What is the diff between the Samsung AMOLED vs the screen on this one. Are they comparable in resolution, color, etc. The S4G is really pretty!
        Thanks

      • Well I wouldn’t buy this phone for one because it does not ome with headphones or a SD card……and I have two questions for, one, when was the last high end HTC android phone that was a dissapointment?? Second what would make you say that. And don’t say 1 gig for apps that’s how much I have for my apps only on my galaxy s and I got tons of apps.

      • Well I wouldn’t buy this phone for one because it does not ome with headphones or a SD card……and I have two questions for, one, when was the last high end HTC android phone that was a dissapointment?? Second what would make you say that. And don’t say 1 gig for apps that’s how much I have for my apps only on my galaxy s and I got tons of apps.

  17. You mention briefly that the gap that’s there for the flash. Now is that something that can be cleaned? Does it open up when you open the back cover or if you have something getting stuck there, its going to be a problem?

    And LED Notification light is missing right? Is there at least a charging light?

    • No charging light – you’ll have to rely on the on-screen battery image to show you that you’ve got it plugged in correctly. And the gap is more like a hole the same size as the flash light – you can clean it out by popping off the back cover as it’s just a hole in that piece.

    • No charging light – you’ll have to rely on the on-screen battery image to show you that you’ve got it plugged in correctly. And the gap is more like a hole the same size as the flash light – you can clean it out by popping off the back cover as it’s just a hole in that piece.

  18. Gotta say, I cannot wait for this phone! It meets pretty much all the hardware specs I want from a smartphone. I am not jumping on the WP7 train until they come out with a Nokia one and I have a 32GB Zune HD to pass the time. I can’t wait to rub this in the faces of the snobs at school who flaunt their wimpy Galaxy S phones >:)

  19. Wow this phone looks fast. Gaming and video watching on this phone looks awesome. Of course that’s because of the Dual-Core processor. I think this phone is going to be great. One app that I would get on this phone would be the DISH Remote Access app. I have been using this app for a long time on my Galaxy S and I love it. This app allows me to stream live TV and recorded shows from my 922 SlingLoaded receiver anywhere that I have service. As a customer and employee of DISH Network, I have had a lot of time to play around with this app and it is pretty cool on my current phone, so I can imagine this on the new G2X.

  22. Does it do WiFi calling? I know the Vibrant didn’t until the Froyo update, and this phone comes with Froyo, so the question remains: WiFi Calling or no?

  23. I wanted to say thankyou to T mobile for coming out with such a great phone. I had alot of phones from the i phone to my touch slide, to the samsong vibrant, and this is the best phone i ever had. I think this phone moves very smooth from the GPS to watching TV or going on facebook. IT Takes great pictures. I give this phone an A OVER ALL.

  24. Will I be able to upgrade (free of cost, with no hardware change) to Android 2.3 when it is made compatible with this device?

  26. How is the hdmi output? And is there any functionality that uses it? Could I watch a movie on the hdmi while receiving a phone call or texting? Also, what is the max resolution of the hdmi output?

    Great review! Thanks!

  27. Yeah i got this phone and I have had quite a few problems with it! I’m coming from the Nexus One and let me tell you if you currently have the Nexus One and are considering upgrading to this thing !!!!!!DON’T!!!!!!
    wait for the next dual core phone! hopefully the HTC Sensation will come to T-Mobile. This thing has screen bleed [the back light comes through the edges on the darkest screens] and I have had odd problems with the unlock screen, also for some reason i can’t get nova the game! just wont let me purchase it at all! and the gameloft web sight doesn’t recognize this fucking thing! I’m a gamer so this is a major let down! I made the decision to get this phone and now i regret it! Should you buy this phone? Sure if you have money to burn or have something like the G1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • I have a vibrant and I wood my nexus one for it and I regret that nexus one best android probely ever made that’s why I’m waiting for the HTC sensation to come to tmobile. HTC website has the sensation on there and has T-Mobile next to it just letting you know

    • I have a vibrant and I wood my nexus one for it and I regret that nexus one best android probely ever made that’s why I’m waiting for the HTC sensation to come to tmobile. HTC website has the sensation on there and has T-Mobile next to it just letting you know

    • I came to g2x from a nexus one which i had for a year. N1 is great but had seriouse issues thatmade me switch: the toch screen lacking 2 finger functions, and the limited internal storage that forces u to send apps to sd which leads to a huge lagg when u do that. Seriously i think the g2x is the best phone ever made speacially when cm7 will come out.

  28. Is the speed for internet and downloading really that bad? Meaning it doesn’t get 4g speeds like its supposed to? And can anyone confirm that it will drop calls when switching to 2g? Also is their a way to switch between 4g and 3g? Meaning turn 4g off and 3g on. I currently have the sanding fascinate on verizon and want this phone. Its sold out at all the t mobile stores. Radioshack has one left and their holding it for me to puck up tomorrow. Should I stay on verizon and get the thunderbolt(which has horrible battery life and not dual processor.) Or should I get the gx2? Some people have said to just stay with my fascinate and wait but I want 4g now lol. So which one should I get between the gx2 and thunderbolt? Look forward to your replies.
    thanks

    • I just switched from the G2 which I liked, to this G2x. I am not thrilled. The g2x does have a better camera, but is slower and does lock up. I also drops calls. I think I would get the thunderbolt, but I have the luxury of car charging and charging at my desk often.

    • I just switched from the G2 which I liked, to this G2x. I am not thrilled. The g2x does have a better camera, but is slower and does lock up. I also drops calls. I think I would get the thunderbolt, but I have the luxury of car charging and charging at my desk often.

  29. You mentioned having 45% battery life after 15:30 hours of medium to heavy usage. Yesterday was my first full day using this phone and my usage was light to medium; after 12 hours, my battery was DEAD. My wife’s also died around this time. We turned off things like bluetooth, wifi, and gps when we weren’t using them. Is it possible we both got a bad batch of batteries, or are we just doing something completely wrong?

    • His coverage from tmobile could be better which is making his phone not search for a signal as much as your phone. if you have 4g on and your on 3g the phone is searching for 4g and that wastes the battery.

    • His coverage from tmobile could be better which is making his phone not search for a signal as much as your phone. if you have 4g on and your on 3g the phone is searching for 4g and that wastes the battery.

  32. I have returned 3, and made the manager at the store open 6 more. I then went to another store, which they only had 1 in stock, so I had the manager open that as well. All 10 devices had varying degress of backlight bleed. Some were minimal, but others were visible even when not in a well lit room.

    The first one I took home had the bleed really bad, I noticed it before hitting forums and review sites. It also rebooted 3 times an hour for the first day, which is what started me trolling the internet about it.

    The 2nd one I took home with me had a brown stripe across the bottom of the screen when viewing web pages, or anything on white. It also would not lock GPS unless I was on WIFI. Not all that I tried were having that GPS issue, just the 2nd one.

    The 3rd I just opened and went back to the store when I saw the bleed on the boot up screen, i didn’t even bother loading the phone all the way.

    Some of the 10 bunk devices I looked at had bleeds so bad it looked like a giant x across the screen. Some had it dipping all the way past the middle of the screen, leaving more than 1/3 of the screen with a glowing light. One had the bleed on every edge so bad you could see it in the TMobile store with all the lights on. When the manager saw this one she flipped out about having sold 50 + of these to customers…. She knew what she would be in for in the coming weeks.

    The phone has potential because of the hardware, and the vanilla android. But I had to go ahead and get a refund until I hear some sort of response from LG or Tmobile that this issue is going to be fixed. Otherwise it looks like another super long wait for a quality Vanilla Android phone… such a shame.

    I just can’t shake this nexus one!

    • I’ve been watching what the hell went wrong with LG’s phone department…they used to be ahead of Samsung until 2003, now in terms of quality, they are way way behind.  The screen problem you mentioned probably happened during the manufacturing process – as you can imagine, they are made by the cheapest vendors from China, Vietnam, and Thailand…they really screwed up with G2X…its a phone with a good promise, but failed miserably in Quality Control…

  34. I just got this phone and the front face camera won’t work with TANGO…anybody can confirm it doesn’t work with Tango? Or teach me how to switch to front face camera while using Tango if it does work with it please?TKS!

  35. I’ve had quite a few problems with this phone. 1 is the battery life really really stinks. 15 hours and still going. Who do you think you’re fooling. Almost every review I have read says the battery life is really bad and I also say that. It works good sometimes and sometimes not worth a darn, but when it does work right it is the best phone I’ve owned except for the battery life.

    • I just did an early upgrade to the G2x from a blackberry after observing all my friends enjoy the I-Phone, I was initially impressed with all of the features however the first day it just shut off and I had to take the battery out to get it to reboot…later that happened again, I called to tmobile csr and was told to take it back since I was having issues so soon. Upon taking it into the store the salesperson offered to switch out the battery first and stated if that did not work to bring it back(within 14 days of purchase) My neighbor is a Computer Geek by profession, he look at it for me added some apps to save the battery life etc. I charged it completely after the initial decharge and today is day 6 it died twice today with a full charged battery. I plan to exchange it out tomorrow, because it’s having the same problem with a new battery, not sure! I like all that it’s suppose to do, however not what I am reading and what mine phone is doing……

  36. I have had two of these phones in one week and both phones have given me trouble. By trouble I mean constantly rebootng itself, choppy coverage, garbled speech, no service in my home as well as not eing able to use qik or tango or skype for video chat. The phone is extremely fast but compared to all of the other problems that is just not enough. The battery life also sucks. Is anyone else having these issues?

    • I am having the same issues. T mobile has said it is having connectivity problems. They are aware of the rebooting issues as well. An update to fix the problems is supposedly on the way. The issues are supposedly limited to Phoenix, Az and specifically with Simons Nokia towers. The battery life problem seems to have taken care of itself. Left it charge overnight 4 days in a row and wala. Rep from t mobile suggest(and it worked) to switch to 2g mode when not using internet. Solved texting and telephone problems.

    • I am having the same issues. T mobile has said it is having connectivity problems. They are aware of the rebooting issues as well. An update to fix the problems is supposedly on the way. The issues are supposedly limited to Phoenix, Az and specifically with Simons Nokia towers. The battery life problem seems to have taken care of itself. Left it charge overnight 4 days in a row and wala. Rep from t mobile suggest(and it worked) to switch to 2g mode when not using internet. Solved texting and telephone problems.

      •  why should you have to toggle 2g for reception? tmobile fails on this. by all the reviews, this is only one of the big issues for this phone despite all the hype and other awesome stuff under the hood. i’m going back to the G2- reliable, proven, and fast.

    • Same here, this is my second phone.  My first one would freeze 5 times a day.  The second one only freezes about once a month but it reboots it self from time to time.  Wish it had a flashing noticication signal.  I hope they get these things fixed soon.  Not a bad phone, but not as great as some people here claim it to be.

  37. i got this phone the day it came out…its an amazing phone. its super fast, great battery life (using juice defender ultimate) and its just great to have. of course i dont get 4G coverage everywhere…but when i do…its super beast. this phone is easily one of the best android phones they have right now in the market. the only problem is, is that it reboots itself, but lg announced that they should be coming out with an update soon. And also, if you can get android 2.3 gingerbread on this bad boy, its your lg g2x will crap on all the other android phones out there. altogether this phone is amazing, with some minor issues…but then again, what phones dont have issues?

  38. sooo ive had this phone since it came out… i love it.. just that i found a wire i THOUGHT could fit the hdmI and it turned off my phone, smelledl burn and now the battey wont charge… 

  39. Nice phone, very fast but is having problems with freezing, rebooting, not conecting at 4G speed. I hope they will come with a fix soon. I foud somthing interesting….is switching very fast from 2G to 4G with big drop on speed and never show 3G connection. I have an old Sony-Ericsson on T-Mobil prepaid plan an connecting to the internet at 1.3 M to 1.8M all the time…. Is T-Mobil throttling on new unlimited data plan(2G max) or is software/hardware problem?

  40. This review is completely BS. Either the writer is biased or he’s getting paid big bucks to write this in favor of LG.
    The battery life on mine was 10 hours MAX with medium usage, even when turning off wifi, GPS and setting the lowest screen brightness. I ended up returning my device to T-Mobile.
    I am deeply disappointed on how this review was conducted. I will no longer come to this website for Android information.

    • oh too bad, I will miss the only guy who thinks he has sole proprietorship of opinion, What the heck do you honestly do for ten hours you can’t plug in your phone…let me guess black ops in Afghanistan.

  41. I have had mine for a few days and I will put it this way: If the phone had a bathing suit area, I would be heavily inclined to touch in there. It’s fast, has amazing features, movies are very smooth, games are quick and I could go on forever. Battery life is decent for me. I charge mine for about 6 hours while I sleep, and it lasts me with heavy usage, 10 – 12 hours. On standby, it lasted about 23 hours. I only had GPS, bluetooth and sync enabled on it during the stanby time, along with a live wallpaper. Keep in mind that Live wallpapers can take up some life juice, so if you plan on being out for a long period of time without a charger, swap to a basic wallpaper.

    My only gripe about it are the bulk apps that I don’t use. EAgames, for example… I am not a gamer, but this feature would be great for someone who is. It’s got great graphics but I don’t play NOVA, and it doesn’t have an option to make NOVA go away forever. It also starts up when the phone does, so that’s kind of a pain, again, when I don’t use it.

    It downloads apps pretty fast, produces wifi which can be secured, or you can tether via USB. The video chat is pretty decent and IM is great. All of my emails come to it as well, which is a LOT of email. I had to find a store across town and GPS took me there, the quickest way and I avoided freeway traffic and construction.

    Like I said, I will touch it in it’s bathing suit area once LG and android incorporate this bathing suit area feature. 😉

  42. The battery life sucks bigtime!!!
    with 100% charge, it last hardly for 8-10 hours with the phone being on standby for the whole time, no GPS, no Wifi, lowest level of brightness.
    was playing angry birds and the battery drained out in 2 hours! The sound quality of the speakers is miserable. These are some very important features of any phone! I am very disappointed with this device…:(

  43. The battery life sucks bigtime!!!
    with 100% charge, it last hardly for 8-10 hours with the phone being on standby for the whole time, no GPS, no Wifi, lowest level of brightness.
    was playing angry birds and the battery drained out in 2 hours! The sound quality of the speakers is miserable. These are some very important features of any phone! I am very disappointed with this device…:(

  44. I have had my G2x for several weeks now and I am very
    optimistic that once a fix is released, that this will be one of the
    best phones (if not the best) phone currently in the market. I am
    overall happy with it, but frustrated that the issues have not been
    addressed my LG nor T-mobile.
     
    I spend lots of time monitoring forums and websites for updates and try to piece information
    together from multiple sites. In order to ease some of the burden, I
    have started a G2x Reference Guide which is just a quick summary page of important links. This is just my first pass of the page, but I hope to grow this on a regular basis with help from the community. Please check it out and let me know what you  think so far.
     
    http://heatware.net/cell-phones/lg-t-mobile-g2x-reference-guide/                       
                                
                            
                            
                            
                            
                        
                   

  45. I have had my G2x for several weeks now and I am very
    optimistic that once a fix is released, that this will be one of the
    best phones (if not the best) phone currently in the market. I am
    overall happy with it, but frustrated that the issues have not been
    addressed my LG nor T-mobile.
     
    I spend lots of time monitoring forums and websites for updates and try to piece information
    together from multiple sites. In order to ease some of the burden, I
    have started a G2x Reference Guide which is just a quick summary page of important links. This is just my first pass of the page, but I hope to grow this on a regular basis with help from the community. Please check it out and let me know what you  think so far.
     
    http://heatware.net/cell-phones/lg-t-mobile-g2x-reference-guide/                       
                                
                            
                            
                            
                            
                        
                   

  47. Just to update…since tango fixed the front face camera problem with the gx2, I have not had a problem with this phone.I really like it! It does not freeze, calls are great, everything is good and fast.I guess it depends on the device…

  49. VERY dissappointed in this phone. I am already on my third one, and they all have the same problems.
    Poor battery life, problems between bluetooth and my Sync systems in 3 cars, occassionally reboots itself, the screen will not come out of hibernation, freezing, doesnt always ring during incoming calls.
    Tmobile refuses to replace the phone with a different model, so every time going forward something happens, I will be back at the store getting a replacement. I will see how long it takes before they breakdown and give me a different model.

    • i had the 3g slide from tmobile,….  exchanged it 4 times because it would not send pic mail  i actually am getting the g2x in its place because i argued w the supervisor, if u pay your bill everymonth and our a loyal customer, they will send a diff device after 3 or 4 replacements….  now im kind of upset to hear the problems you are having w the g2x

    • i had the 3g slide from tmobile,….  exchanged it 4 times because it would not send pic mail  i actually am getting the g2x in its place because i argued w the supervisor, if u pay your bill everymonth and our a loyal customer, they will send a diff device after 3 or 4 replacements….  now im kind of upset to hear the problems you are having w the g2x

    • 3 phones of the same modle returned in a 90 day period will qualify you for a new modle,, although i have the samsung galaxy and was told ,my replacement will be the g2x and after reading this has the same probs as my galaxy! so wth!!!

  50. VERY dissappointed in this phone. I am already on my third one, and they all have the same problems.
    Poor battery life, problems between bluetooth and my Sync systems in 3 cars, occassionally reboots itself, the screen will not come out of hibernation, freezing, doesnt always ring during incoming calls.
    Tmobile refuses to replace the phone with a different model, so every time going forward something happens, I will be back at the store getting a replacement. I will see how long it takes before they breakdown and give me a different model.

  51. Up until midnight yesterday it was free too.  I got online last night at 11:50 to check and see what the prices were on phones…saw this one and had it in my shopping cart before midnight.  I went to check out and the browser crashed, I reloaded the page and got the order placed at 11:59, was going to grab one for my wife and went back to the page at midnight and it was up to 150 bucks.  So I said screw it, at least I’m getting one 🙂

      • Thanks Archit!  I did end up grabbing another one 🙂  These phones aren’t bad at all.  I’m not too thrilled with t-mobile’s network, but overall the phone works great.

    • Hello, I’ve been watching the progress of Samsung and LG into Android market since they jumped on board…and the problem you are experiencing has nothing to do with the hardware of LG G2X.  They had tonnes of problems like that in Korea when it was introduced there – it has got to do with the bios software, and incompatibility of Android OS (its the inherent glitch in Android – it also happens in HTC, and Samsung Galaxy S & S2 as well).  There is a reason why people prefer iPhone for user experience.  

  52. Extremely disappointed with this phone and its service. I must charge my phone at “least” twice a day in order to maintain normal service. Im not use to carry my charger to work or make certain my car charger is always available. Continuously, and a number of times, I have had to remove the back of my phone and take the battery out and place it back in the phone; because it goes blank for long periods of time making the phone inoperable for the moment. It always shuts itself down and back on without any assistance.  Im not into gaming and surfing, just want to make and recieve calls, text and check my emails.

    If I were to have a “true” emergency and needed phone service I would be SOL!. I could never depend on this phone or its service as I have with my previous IPhone and AT&T service. The only complaint I had with AT&T was my outrages bill. Apparently you get what you pay for . . . . . .  AT&T will you forgive me?

    • bs. Having been a AT&T member for 6 years I can tell you unequivocally that my now 2 y.o. old T-Mobile service is outstanding. As T-Mobile rate have dropped they text me to notify of new lower service prices. I now pay 99.98 for 2 lines and FULL service. Thats a $60.00 per month savings on original rate that I never asked for. ATT wont do that! Hey, what about the fantastic capability to use the unlock featured to travel internationally with same phone (sorry ATT) and pay rock bottom international sim rates for unlimited service for 29.00 per month and call back to the U.S at 1.5 cents per minute? My battery time in normal usage is way better than my wife’s iphone and I am on the phone at least 6 solid back to back hours on internal phone conference on speakerphone each day. This G2x is competing ‘battery wise’ with my BlackBerry. I charge the phone – maybe once a day. Mostly every other day…

      • i bet it isnt like that anymore or you were exagerating your usage. did you post this 2 days after you got the phone?

    • Wow same issues im having and i looked ive only had the phone 6.5 weeks. im so dissappointed. my iphone 4 3gs is better and works without any service if im in a wifi zone. im going back to using that and sucking it up when i am not near wifi. man t-mobil is the worst company ive ever dealt with.i switched cuz i couldnt afford verizon anymore. bummer you get what you paid for no doubt.

  53. Worst Phone I Ever Had and T Mobil Loyalty and Customer Service Department is Just as bad  they sent me an update that was unrelated to my problems with the phone,I was told that The Phone is mine and although I’m still paying for the upgrade,tough luck,this is my second G2X same problems the phone LG (life Good) and TMOBIL Service is a JOKE…everyone ought send The G2X back to T MOBIL and maybe they’ll get the message and Fire everyone in Quality Control!

  54. Battery cover has a glass piece that protects the camera. Its glass and yes it broke. I have the protection plan and they said over 100 dollars to replace the phone. I told them i just need a battery cover. They said tough luck. Whole phone or nothing. I guess i will replace it when they come out on line. Protect the glass or else.

  55. Battery cover has a glass piece that protects the camera. Its glass and yes it broke. I have the protection plan and they said over 100 dollars to replace the phone. I told them i just need a battery cover. They said tough luck. Whole phone or nothing. I guess i will replace it when they come out on line. Protect the glass or else.

  56. Great review.
    Q. After unblocking will it be able to use wifi calling feature with t-mobile SIM?
     OR upgrading to Gingerbread 2.3.3 & rooting how will be the wifi calling app/feature?

  58. Absolutely HATE 2.3 on the g2x! 2.2 had an awesome camera and when I updated my phone to 2.3 the camera was completely replaced by a low quality version absent of the manual brightness feature that I loved with 2.2…you could take great pictures and video in low light without flash…now your options are incandescent, cloudy, etc…all of which are dark and orange. HATE HATE HATE 2.3! By the way the pictures shown above definitely not taken after 2.3 update!

  59. this phone stinks, ive had it 2 months and it shut down and will not turn back on. battery lasts 4-6 hours at best so i charge it twice a day unlike my iphone i used2-3 days before i charged it. it has quircks and idiosyncracy’s that make it a cheap imitation and a huge frustration. id suggest not wasting the money and the 4g doesnt work nearly as well as just connecting to wifi. over all i dont even rate it a one. sorry i bought this phone. there is a reason t mobile is giving them away because nobody with brains would buy it.

  60. Well enough was enough. Despite the cost, I decided to go with another provider. So I chose Sprint with the new iPhone 4S. And immediately all my concerns that had with T-Mobile as my service provider, and the G2X phone has disappeared . I’m completely satisfied with my plan and its affordablity. What more can I ask for? Or complain about? Good luck to those of you who have been bambuzeled into thinking that TMobile rocks!! Like one of the commenters stated, it may have just been my service provider that would not allow me to enjoy the services I should have received with the use of the G2X. None the less “goodbye”! Oh yeah by the way I’m selling the phone to “Gazelle.com”. To recoupe “some” of the monies spent. Lol!

    • I’m thinking of doing the same. How has your experience with Sprint been? Any suggestions? I am ridiculously done with this G2X that now all I can think of is an iPhone. All my friends that have them laugh at me when I taking the battery out of my phone to reset it. How has your iPhone compared?

    • I’m thinking of doing the same. How has your experience with Sprint been? Any suggestions? I am ridiculously done with this G2X that now all I can think of is an iPhone. All my friends that have them laugh at me when I taking the battery out of my phone to reset it. How has your iPhone compared?

  61. A tasteful strip of brushed aluminum displaying a machined “with
    Google” logo runs down the length of the back, inline with the camera
    pod which hosts an 8 megapixel sensor and a large autofocus lens behind a
    glass window, along with a single LED flash. Sandwiched between the
    front glass and battery cover, you’ll find a silver / faux-gunmetal rim
    that traces the entire perimeter of the device.

  63. The phone works ok but has issues. Battery life was my biggest complaint but overall, it compares to similar phones. Web browser can crash when switching between 4g and wifi. Takes a phone reset to clear. Auto updates crash the phone a lot. There are so many little issues i can’t cover them all but when it works, the phone is awesome. When it doesn’t, it gets annoying. Most crashes require a phone reset but every once in a while the battery needs to be pulled to reset.

    • this phone sucks, i have to charge the battery twice a day like others on here.  It is a pain to hang up a call sometimes because the screen disappears, and I know about the change the top button to hang up calls, i tried it and did not like it at all, it either does not hang up or  the screen never disappears, so in turn down goes battery SOB . It freezes and even though I have a good app killer it still can’t stop the apps from starting, even with it on insanity mode  POS phone I would have never gotten if I had researched a little bit. and furthermore T-mobile is completely crap,  they need to learn how to get out the correct billing information the first time, and in some cases at least the second time.  WTF.  thanks for letting me vent a little.  other than that the phone plays angry birds pretty well.  Thanks  Anon 

  64. I am so happy with this phone.  I looked at a lot of others, and I have to admit that I felt snobby about wanting the iPhone just because.  BUT – when I actually physically put the G2X next to a friend’s  iPhone, I was shocked at how much better the G2X really is – bigger screen, better resolution.  It’s a very sleek and elegant phone and I feel great about my purchase.

    • Go with an iPhone. This G2X has been the worst phone ever. When it works the way it is supposed to, yes it has all the bells and whistles. But to give you a clear picture of what you will be experiencing, this is it. Do you have a PC or Mac computer? If you have ever converted to Mac from PC, you’ll understand the problems, viruses associated with PC. This phone operates as the worst “brand new” PC out there. Not that Macs are w/o problems, they are just minor and extremely few compared to PC’s. I have to remove the battery “daily” to reset this stupid device. It freezes up, slows down and all the other horrible things that are being said about it-ditto! If you don’t buy what I am saying, no problem, experience them for yourself. Just remember this tip, when you are on an app and someone tries to call through…your phone will freeze up allowing you to do nothing until you open it up and remove the frickin battery. I’ve already traded my phone in once and a tmobile rep just told me, “Well, that’s the way those phones are, it’s not going to be any different if you exchange the phone again.” Enough said…

    • Go with an iPhone. This G2X has been the worst phone ever. When it works the way it is supposed to, yes it has all the bells and whistles. But to give you a clear picture of what you will be experiencing, this is it. Do you have a PC or Mac computer? If you have ever converted to Mac from PC, you’ll understand the problems, viruses associated with PC. This phone operates as the worst “brand new” PC out there. Not that Macs are w/o problems, they are just minor and extremely few compared to PC’s. I have to remove the battery “daily” to reset this stupid device. It freezes up, slows down and all the other horrible things that are being said about it-ditto! If you don’t buy what I am saying, no problem, experience them for yourself. Just remember this tip, when you are on an app and someone tries to call through…your phone will freeze up allowing you to do nothing until you open it up and remove the frickin battery. I’ve already traded my phone in once and a tmobile rep just told me, “Well, that’s the way those phones are, it’s not going to be any different if you exchange the phone again.” Enough said…

  65. THE PHONE  JUST LOOKS SO NICE! THATS Y I WANT IT! THIS IS TMOBILES BEST MODELS BUT WORST PHONE I GUESS…..I JUST WISH THEYD FIX IT! I LOVE THE BODY AND THE SHAPE OF THE PHONE!

  66. This is without a doubt the worst phone I have ever had. I bought it because it was supposedly the fastest, hottest thing t-Mobile had at the time. There were so many problems I could write a book, but here are just a few of the highlights (or lowlights) –
    -The wifi worked whenever it was in the mood. Often the only way to get it to reconnect was to reboot, which was incredibly slow.
    -the phone wouldn’t ring quite often when someone was calling, almost half the time. What’s the point of having a cell phone if you can’t respond? My wife was always annoyed that I couldn’t be reached and I really don’t blame her.
    -there were numerous automatic reboots for seemingly no reason and often at the worst possible time.
    – one day I got a message saying “congratulations, a new operating system is available”. It said the update would take 10 minutes so I accepted and hit the OK button. 4 hours later it was still not done and everything was totally hosed so I took the phone to the T-Mobile dealer where I purchased it. They tried everything and couldn’t make to go again, the phone was completely a goner. They offered to send me a new phone the next day (for some reason they weren’t allowed to get me a new one from their stock on the store).
    I started thinking that I’m just going to get another crappy phone and have to incur shipping costs for a problem that was caused by someone else. I told them I’d have to think about it and walked down to the the Apple store and had a new 4s up and running in about 20 minutes. I don’t think that Apple is without flaws, but the biggest difference I noticed immediately was that everything just worked the way it was supposed to and was so much easier to do most anything. And my phone actually rings when I get a call – what a concept! The apps are also much more reliable. Android has a ton of app- also many, many really stupid ones- but they are not screened like the apps for Apple products and have been known to carry viruses that are eventually caught and removed, but only after causing damage to too many users. I’m not at all saying that the iPhone is the only way to go, but that the G2X is to be avoided at all costs.

  67. Chris, 
    I enjoyed reading your review and everyone’s comments. Now that some months have passed, what would you add to your review of the G2X?

    I am considering buying the G2X – this will be my first smart phone purchase ever. It seems to have everything I’m looking for at the right price. I will mostly use it for work. What’s your opinion of the voice-to-text capability, and voice-dialing using bluetooth? Also, since I’ve never texted, am I making a mistake thinking that Swype will be easier for  me than a physical keyboard. What phone with a keyboard would be comparable to G2X? A 4.0+ screen is mandatory.

    Should I be concerned about the backlight bleed problem (what is that?), I’ve read about here? Freezing, re-booting, bad batteries, etc? 

    I’ve never had T-Mobile service either, only Sprint and AT&T. I’ve been told the phone is discontinued, so where can I buy it?

    Thanks for your help and suggestions!

  68. This is the worst phone that I have ever had in my LIFE!!!!!! It freezes crashes and is slow… I switched from sprint but now I am going back…T-Mobile is not willing to help in any way… Terrible Costumer Service… So who Ever is thinking about this phone or T-MOBILE DON’T

  69. My wife and I have had the G2X for 6 months and experienced many of the problem already stated in everyone’s posts.  We recently got in touch with an experienced technical supervisor at T-Mobile who talked us through how to maintain the device to get the best results.  By following her instructions we’ve had none of the problems previously experienced. 

  71. lost my status bar(the one that shows the wi-fi, network, if I got an e-mail notification or a text notification, signal and battery life)  and I can not get it back.  help please?  GX2 cell phone.
    Thanks
    T

  72. LG replaced my phone twice. the phone, when it works, is great. really good features. the phone freezes up all of the time. i have to remove the battery to turn it off.

    DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE. I wish tmobile offered the iphone. i would buy that phone.

  73. This phone is horrible.. Freezes up all the time. When I called t-mobile and told them about the problem they said they are not able to do anything for me!!!!!!

  74. How do I erase my G2X  unwanted photos. When I erase photos the pictures show up again when I turn my ohnw off then on in the morning please help.

  75. My T-Mobile G2X had been a decent phone at first, until it started to crash. The crashes occurred at inopportune moments and at a rate of about 4 times daily. After the 2.3.4 Gingerbread update, the phone no longer crashed or froze up. However, I am no longer able to complete calls in 4G (only 2G works, wifi or not) without experiencing high, pitched squealing sounds on receiving end of call, ie; no one can hear or understand me over the phone. Further, after the update, I am completely unable to update existing or download new applications to the phone. There are 30 something app updates pending and I can neither download all at once, one at a time or auto download. I’m unsure if Android software updates can be downloaded. I would imagine not, but no new android updates are available to my knowledge.

  76. Go ahead and buy this phone. Has lots to offer. You won’t be disappointed. One of the better phones on the market today. Very smooth and quite responsive. Intuitive, attractive and easy to operate, and it is very fast! T-Mobile scores big with this one.

  77. worst phone ever. i have to restart the phone daily so it doesn’t lag, or get stuck on a screen. i don’t get to use any of the android technology i’m suppose to be able to use. and when i it is slow, lagging, or frozen. everyday i have to deal with this. expensive piece of garbage. i just text and use it for calls. you can do that with any phone in my opinion. Tmobile should do a recall and exchange this phone!!

  78. How much did they pay you to do this review? After the first couple of weeks, the honeymoon phase was over and I was ready to throw this phone out of the window. Crashes and freezes a couple of times a week and it takes so freaking long to turn on. I have small hands and this phone is top heavy because of the camera. So if I’m holding it from the bottom and swyping or texting with one hand, it never fails to topple out of my hands. The camera would be amazing if the flash wasn’t so bright. It turns everyone yellow and blinds you. I can only take good pictures if it’s already a bright day and I can turn the flash off. I can’t tell you how much the G2x frustrates me. I’ve had an iphone and blackberry, and the G2x was my first android and probably will be my last.

  79. I’d like to add this in the hopes that somebody sees it if they’re thinking of buying a G2x secondhand. I bought one with a broken wifi chip and I don’t regret it at all. The data drops sometimes, but speeds are great and generally reliable. Call quality never fails to impress. Performance blows me away, coming from the Sidekick 4g. FYI, I’m running Paranoid Android Jelly Bean on it with hardware acceleration enabled across the board and here’s the kicker… when I got the phone, the owner mentioned he dropped the battery in water once and yes, it is a fatty. However, I still pull down a good 9 to 10 hours of HEAVY use. I’m talking 3d MMORPGs, Flash video, web browsing with the music player going, lots of calling… Very easy to root. Overall, if you’re not scared to dip your toes into the nerd ocean that is the rooting world, this phone will not disappoint. From ICS onward, there are a few bugs, but the performance enhancements in Jelly Bean are just too good to pass up. If you don’t mind Gingerbread, however, LG and NVidia’s drivers are still usable rather than reverse-engineered hackfests, so the performance and features in CM7 and other custom GB roms is just great. I’m just a stickler for the latest Android iteration I can get my hands on.

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