Monday, February 7, 2011

Why I will skip LG's Optimus 2X and wait for HTC/Motorola

If you follow me on twitter or often visit MobileBoard you probably know, how much I was excited about new LG-NVIDIA 'superphone'. On the paper it is a clear win for every Android enthisiast - latest hardware, including dual-core Tegra2, 8MP camera + 1080p, IPS dispaly and more.
But thanks to early reviews (especially by Engadget), I've decided firstly to wait for MWC and see what the next year in smartphone market will look like



Why?



1. The software

The LG's UI isn't as polished as others, more the reviewers found many times unresponsiveness, force-closes, and overall system unstability. Maybe it's because it's still not finall version, but the point is, that they are still working on Android 2.2.1 Froyo, and they had enough time to get things working. How long will it take for LG to get 2.3 working properly? Or even 2.4?

2. RAM

Optimus 2X includes 512MB of RAM. It should be enough for daily operations, but in my opinion isn't enough for 'superphone' which it wants to be. My guess is that in next year the 1GB will become a standard among high end devices. The LG's O2X has 128MB of it's RAM dedicated to GPU, so the 'real' user available RAM is 384MB: the 174MB are always in use by system resources (in current software), so the user accesible RAM is around 220MB. Still better than SGS, but not enough for 'superphone'.


3. The company

LG was for me always connected with low-end segment - the O2X is their first shot into highest Android league, and the debuts are rarely perfect - the early reviews showed it's surely isn't. While I don't like Motorola for locking their devices, I believe they know how to make good devices. HTC is well known for quality of their products. Other point is, that the LG as smartphone company didn't got as many fans as HTC did, and the dev's community is much stronger for Taiwaneese manufacturer.



I'm still a student, and I can't afford myself to change the device which costs arond 500 Euro every 4 months, so I need to know, that the smartphone which I'm going to buy doesn't have strong disadvantages, for this amount of money I must feel that I'm buying the best smartphone around, which LG O2X definetly doesn't feel like, with the Atrix and new HTC's in the horizon. The LG Optimus 2X surely is a good device, but many factors shown after first reviews are making it less attractive, than it was in early news.

5 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I've the same think, with more,
    1. the resolution of the screen
    2. the capacitive button (android 3 is without buttons)
    3. no NFC (good or not...)
    4. LED Flash
    5. 8Gb internal memory

    for information, the Korean version have 16gb and Xeon Flash

    In December/Junary I was very impatient for this phone, but more the time past, more I want more. (And more I can wait, I'm a smartphone reab.)
    I still wait Android 2.4 in April, peraps a good Google Phone (better than a Nexus S isn't difficult)

    thx for your opinion

    ReplyDelete
  2. I understand your concern but i would not make up my mind based on Engadgets review! They are CLEARLY biased to all Apples products (just check out their review of Verizon iPhone which get 9/10 with plus points like "It's the iPhone 4"). Other more serious reviewers like the one from Anandtech says it's a very good device, but of course not perfect.

    As for buggy software: Thats what XDA is for :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. @nicocoooo

    I also think that the 800x480 resoulution will be soon replaced with qHD, the lack of LED is also good point.


    @Patrick

    Maybe Engadget isn't the most objective site, but many other confirmed the low quality of software, and the latest review by Engadget was like "just enough" for me.

    I'm worried, that the community support at XDA for O2X might not be the best one, if it was HTC device I would be sure (they are very popular out there).



    Thank's guys for your comments ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. @piter1225

    i'm very :s about the LG and Android in general, materials evoluve rapidly, I thing, 1 year 1/2 and a major update come.
    The LG Optimus 2x can be a good phone during 1 year 1/2 and more?
    I don't know...

    The real problem is the Android Update in general, is this phone, during 1 year 1/2, have Android Updates...
    XDA and other resolve the problem (very good).
    But... the real question is:
    Is an other productor release quickly after my bought an other phone more good?
    And, now, I thing MWC tell me more.

    The LG Optimus 2x in't a perfect phone... Like all in the market and all they come (rumor for sample), but... for wait the perfect phone? is not good?

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Look at previous years MWC - the Desire was presented there, and it was launched in early April, not so long, if consider, that the O2X will be available in some countries in mid-march.

    We don't know details about SGS2 or Desire2, but both are said to be running dual-core CPUs, there is also Motorola Atrix to be launched - all phones are at the same level of price, pretty similar specs, although every of the new devices will be in some way better than O2X.

    I think it's wise to wait, and see what happenes on a market, unless you can afford yourself to change phones very often :P

    ReplyDelete