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T-Mobile G2x Review

Name: T-Mobile G2x Review
Item: T-Mobile G2x
Rating: 8.5
Author: John V.

posted by John V. / Apr 19, 2011, 8:19 AM

Introduction:

Still thriving as the world’s number three handset maker, there is no arguing that LG has a big opportunity in capturing the lucrative smartphone market, but they don’t necessarily have that high-end flagship device to contend with the competition. Sure we’ve seen them more recently making some waves globally thanks to the popularity of the LG Optimus One and its army of variants; however, they’re still missing that quality top shelf device that would cement them as a big time player in the Android sector. Fortunately for T-Mobile, they’re bringing aboard LG’s biggest hit overseas and plopping it directly on their lineup. Re-branded as the T-Mobile G2x, which is Tmo’s variant of the popular LG Optimus 2X, this fitting $200 on-contract Android powered device seemingly might be the device that will characterize LG as a prominent player.

The package contains:

T-Mobile G2x
microUSB cable
Wall Charger
Quick Start Guide
Terms & Conditions

Design:

Thankfully, there isn’t anything too different about the design and style of the G2x over the Optimus 2X – aside for the fact that it’s minutely longer and wider, but more streamlined at 0.40” thick. For some, it might appear as being a little bit unwieldy, which is primarily due to the amount of dead space found below its display, but it’s still nonetheless quite comfortable to hold. In fact, its soft touch back cover not only provides plenty of grip, but it keeps the device looking pristine and new as it handles in easily repelling dirt and debris from sticking on. In addition, the metallic strip with its “with Google” branding in the rear gives the handset a little bit of character. And even though it doesn’t embody something that has a memorable design, it sticks to keeping things simple and clean – which is supplemented by its solid construction.

The T-Mobile G2x is quite comfortable to hold - T-Mobile G2x Review

The T-Mobile G2x is quite comfortable to hold

You can compare the T-Mobile G2x with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Capturing our attention right away, the 4” WVGA (480 x 800) LCD display of the G2x is undoubtedly crisp and beautiful to say the least. There’s plenty of detail, and at the same time, we like its natural looking color production. Furthermore, its great viewing angles and blinding luminance only supplement its luster in being visible under the presence of the gazing sun.

Viewing angles and luminance of the T-Mobile G2x - T-Mobile G2x Review

Viewing angles and luminance of the T-Mobile G2x

Although the amount of space found below the display contributes to its larger size, it helps to reduce any accidental presses with any of its customary capacitive Android buttons because they’re spaced away from the bottom edge.

Looking at the left edge, we find it completely clean and free of buttons, but the right side of the G2x houses its separated volume up and down buttons – which are gladly distinguishable and responsive to the touch.

Left and right sides of the T-Mobile G2x

Appropriately located on the top edge of the phone, we find its 3.5mm headset jack and dedicated power button that’s positioned at a convenient spot towards the edge – plus, it has a solid tactile feel when pressed. Moreover, the handset’s microHDMI port is safely hidden behind a removable plastic flap.

Oppositely, the microphone, speaker, and microUSB port are all placed in succession on the bottom portion of the handset.

The microHDMI port is safely hidden behind a removable plastic flap - T-Mobile G2x Review

The microHDMI port is safely hidden behind a removable plastic flap

Smacked dead center where you notice its subtle bump in the rear, you’ll find its higher than normal 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash fixed on that location. Finally, removing its plastic rear cover is accomplished by yanking it off from the bottom edge – which then gives you access to its 1,500 mAh battery, spring activated microSD card slot, and SIM card slot.

Back

T-Mobile G2x 360-degrees View:

FEATURED VIDEO

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30 Comments

frankied101

Posts: 3; Member since: Dec 08, 2010

its cool but how come it got 10 less review points then the atrix which got a 9.5?

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 8:31 AM 1

Tottenham

Posts: 86; Member since: Jan 05, 2011

My thoughts exactly. Dual core. Great display. Good Camera. And average battery life. The only dis was less than stellar call quality (not terrible, just not great). Why does this only rate a score of 8.5?

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 8:39 AM 1

johnbarbz

Posts: 6; Member since: May 21, 2012

NIGHTMARE EXPERIENCE!!! 05/20/2012 I've had the T-Mobile g2x for just over 13 months now (5/20/2012). My daughter had the same phone and warned me not to accept the upgrade as it would darken the camera pictures very much making the camera useless. This "upgrade" was in my face everytime i looked at my phone. After spending many hours on the phone (to no avail), trying to get the upgrade offer removed, I phoned customer care some 3 months later. The t-mobile tech assured me that the upgrade was fixed and talked me into accepting the upgrade just prior to April FOOLS Day! Sure enough the upgrade fouled up my camera and it is of little use now. After several more hours on the phone ...T-Mobile agreed to replace the phone with the galaxy model; but I had to wait until the middle of March 2012 (contract anniversary), in order to get the replacement for "nearly to nothing" with a $158.00 additional discount. T-mobile assured me he would post the discount and entire matter on my account so there would be no problem. Standing in front of the T-Mobile outlet mall and Just got off the phone with T-Mobile; .... They are not honoring the agreement! I understand T-Mobile no longer offers this phone...removed intirely from their stores with a life of roughly 15 Months. .

posted on May 21, 2012, 9:59 AM 0

johnbarbz

Posts: 6; Member since: May 21, 2012

And they call themselves "Customer Care" What a JOKE! Needs to be Customer I DON'T CARE!!!

posted on May 21, 2012, 10:03 AM 0

rub unregistered

please compare this phone to the Driod Incredible 2. They both are 4 inch displays! I am going to buy either of these two phones and need to know

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 8:47 AM 0

JoJoCal19 unregistered

Just the fact that it's running vanilla Android should give it at least a 9.5.

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 9:12 AM 1

green2u unregistered

Check out Phone Arena's comparison to see possibly why there's a point difference between the G2X and the Atrix:http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/T-Mobile-G2x,Motorola-ATRIX-4G/phones/5272,4982. I noticed: *Atrix is smaller and lighter, and still sports a 4 inch screen. *Atrix has a higher pixel resolution display. *Atrix has a larger battery. *Atrix is also revolutionary (though it still needs work) in its lapdock capabilities. G2x does have higher rear/front-facing cameras and video resolution and isn't burdened by Motoblur or an ATThrottle contract (until T-Mo and ATT merge, that is).

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 9:50 AM 1

Brad unregistered

The article incorrectly states at the end that it doesn't support T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, when it fact it does.

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 9:55 AM 0

remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

this is an HSPA+ 14.4mb/s phone. PA even mentioned that in the internet part of the article... and then said it wasnt an HSPA+ phone. WTH?? OK, PA, u need to explain to us how a phone that got high marks in EVERYTHING but call quality (only average, not subpar or great) and battery (average) only manages an 8.5. Is it because it lacks an apple logo??? I've been playing with the phone for a week now, and id give it a 9 to 9.5. +for vanilla android + uber smooth experience + for slick design (looks great in person) + for better than normal looking LCD display + for super high horsepower but still gets good gas mileage. + best web experience so far + eats flash content for breakfast in fact.. i havent found any negatives about it. the only thing you could say is that it has average call quality, and you give it an 8.5. What are you judging it against to justify the score? The only phone in Tmo's lineup that even comes close to it in horsepower and quality is the GalaxyS 4g/Vibrant. It sure as heck smashes your loverly iphone4 to bits in speed, responciveness, and over all abilities. And like you said, it plays full flash content effortlessly. So why the 8.5???

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 10:30 AM 2

Jose unregistered

Why in the world you would want Incredible 2 ? This phone features the 1st Tegra 2 Dual Core chip-set running 2 processors at 1GHZ each. Its cross-platform gaming is taking names. Do your homework and check the benchmarks for this phone. Only thing beating it will be LG THRILL ( packing the OMAP4 Chip-set ) and the Galaxy S II ( Exynos chip-set ) Dual Core is the feature ( for now ) IMO i will go with this phone over anything on the market right now. Careful tho with the Galaxy S II, rumor has it Samsung cant produce enough Exynos chip-sets so most of them will come out with Tegra 2 on release. PLUS this phone is getting Gingerbread in a couple of months. DOOOO IT!

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 10:32 AM 0

rub unregistered

i would get the Incredible 2 because it is still pretty fast, and about the same size screen. Some people actually prefer the HTC Sense over stock Andriod. that's why the incredible 2 and the GX2 are similar enough to have to consider both

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 11:56 AM 0

Thump3rDX17

Posts: 2160; Member since: May 10, 2010

this is actually the only android phone available that i'd take over my Droid 2 and that's pretty high praise from me. the only thing i'd do is get a case on day one because i think the back is kind of ugly.

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 12:24 PM 0

Kjayhawk

Posts: 294; Member since: Oct 07, 2010

The problem is, its sound. It shouldn't get knocked down to 8.5. 9 would make more sense

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 12:27 PM 0

jadbox1 unregistered

wtf 8.5 at least cnet gave it 4 stars 8.7 total. The atrix is a pos compared to this i have used both

posted on Apr 19, 2011, 8:07 PM 0

Eingild

Posts: 203; Member since: Apr 19, 2011

Man, I love this guy. Watching his video reviews is such a joy. I hope this guy reviews all the upcoming handsets this year.

posted on Apr 20, 2011, 7:11 AM 0

thatboyjay unregistered

I don't understand how this phone got rated lower than the Evo 4G, Droid X, Atrix, and even Nexus One! I have the Nexus One but the Nexus one doesn't even have 720p HD recording! Not even a front camera, duo core processing or 4G. What's going on with this 8.5 rating? I was thinking maybe a 9.6 since the Droid X, Atrix and Evo 4G got all 9.5's. This is crazy. I bet the iPhone 5 will get a 10 from PA. Watch. This site lost credibility to me.

posted on Apr 20, 2011, 8:14 PM 0

aztaxia12295

Posts: 272; Member since: Nov 22, 2009

u kiddin? bc of average calling quality, you take off 1.5 pts? cmon...

posted on May 05, 2011, 8:33 PM 0

IOS5 unregistered

PA I'm Ifan, but this phone it's Fablous and fast g2x not optimus 2x! It's even better than SGS2. Stock Android 2.2, no lag, no skin that make the phone slow and laggy like samsung. I understand that motorola and HTC the best, but unfortunately it's faster than Atrix and more smoother with 720p, 1080p better than Atrix 720p the IPS LCD display with 480x800 pixel vs 540x960 still looks way better than QHD on Atrix. Overall this phone it least PA rate 9 out 10!

posted on May 16, 2011, 6:44 AM 1

joshanth

Posts: 5; Member since: Aug 10, 2010

i too am shocked it got an 8.5 rating. overall, this may be the best android phone on the market right now. because of its call quality is not the only reason it got an 8.5. im also shocked it doesn't have HSPA+ support so im guessing that had a lot to do with the rating as well. just my opinion.. (..he also said the 1080p recording quality was a but choppy..) [im nit-picking but im trying to find a reason it got an 8.5 lol].

posted on May 25, 2011, 11:44 AM 0

xenover

Posts: 174; Member since: May 27, 2011

o2x review con - Average camera quality g2x review pro - 1080p video recording and Shoots detailed & colorful photos it's the same device with different software -.- what are you doing PA ?

posted on Aug 02, 2011, 3:56 PM 0

gironlj

Posts: 1; Member since: Nov 23, 2011

Bottom line, it is an unreliable device, an untrustworthy and defective phone that can become a potential life threatening, if an emergency event occurs and a phone call or text that could prevent it cannot be performed due to a malfunctioning phone. I purchased my first G2X on April 20th, the first day it came out. Unfortunately, I am on my third device, YES, my third (3) device since then. Less that 6 months or a little over that and I had to exchange it due to its unreliability. It's a great phone when it works but most of the time does not. It freezes up, power off on its own without noticing until you need to use it and also crashes very often. I have been for hours with customer service trying to fine a solution. However, they only send another refurbished model every time I spend an hour or so on the phone and ask for a supervisor. Moreover, T-Mobile Customer service wants me to pay almost full price for a phone if I want a different model. That is totally unfair, I think I have tried hard enough to work with the G2X that I deserve an exchange of a comparable or better phone from another of a different manufacturer at the same price I pay for a G2X replacement (processing fee). It is NOT worth the effort to buy one. I am very sad, it supposed to be a great device and I waited for it but it turned out not to be as great. Even T-Mobile recognizes that as they are discounting it entirely and offering it for free.

posted on Nov 23, 2011, 10:15 AM 1

johnbarbz

Posts: 6; Member since: May 21, 2012

posted on May 21, 2012, 9:58 AM 0

kshell1

Posts: 1143; Member since: Oct 05, 2011

hmmmm apparently the 2nd rollout of the 2.3.3 back in december for this device fixed the so called issues this device has. ive had mine for 3 days and it runs absolutely great since its stock its argueably faster than my sgs2 was (im risking my life by saying that) on antutu i got 68fps constantly. when i get it rooted ill use tegrak to oc the gpu and cpu the unleash the monster lol

posted on Feb 10, 2012, 7:28 AM 0

cellphonator

Posts: 298; Member since: Oct 29, 2011

3 days? I'm not sure it's enough to judge any phone. I like this phone and I would love hear more about how they fixed it.

posted on Feb 12, 2012, 9:10 AM 0

kshell1

Posts: 1143; Member since: Oct 05, 2011

after a few more days of testing i can say that it works great its fast but its RAM gets bogged down quickly but can easily be fixed with a decent task killer

posted on Feb 13, 2012, 10:21 AM 0

HateMyG2X

Posts: 1; Member since: Feb 12, 2012

Here is feedback from an 8 month user of G2X. I have had a cell phone over 17 years and this one is a dog. Don't buy this HORRIBLE phone. I was initially excited about it as it claims to do everything in the world, sadly it does not deliver. It is possible I got a bad unit, but all I know is it does not work well or reliably and I would not buy another. I've had this phone for 8 months and had nothing but problems since the very first week. I told the salesman I need a very reliable phone as I am in the car a lot and as a Realtor I live and die by the phone. I feel like I was given the shaft with a rotten phone. 1.The battery only lasts about 3-4 hours even after overnight charge. I recharge all day just to have service. 2. It shuts off at random times by itself.Sometimes it restarts by itself, but sometimes not. I figure it out if the phone has not rung in an hour that it must be off again. 3.It often gets super hot and uncomfortable to hold. 4. 3-4 times a week I must take apart the phone to remove the battery for a "hard reset/reboot". 5. This is my third battery. When I went back to Tmobile in the first week they said I must have a bad battery, so they replaced it, with no improvement. I replaced it again still with no improvement. 6.Half the time when I send emails from the phone they go to Drafts or the Outbox and never actually go to the recipiant. This is a BIG problem, as I use my phone for work. Even if you refresh the mailbox the emails remain unsent. 7.Some of the websites I use are not compatible with this phone. I cannot acces the MLS. 8. The screen freezes up a couple of times a day. 9.The battery shows 100% and a few minutes later its dropped to 20-30% with no useage. 10. Often it drops calls or has ZERO bars and I'm not even moving.Drops calls or shows No Service randomly even in the city. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE, IT IS GARBAGE!! My old Motorola Razor phone was more reliable than this piece of junk.

posted on Feb 12, 2012, 11:33 AM 0

kshell1

Posts: 1143; Member since: Oct 05, 2011

i have a G2X and i havent had any problems at all out of mine.

posted on Feb 14, 2012, 7:30 AM 0

johnbarbz

Posts: 6; Member since: May 21, 2012

posted on May 21, 2012, 9:43 AM 0

johnbarbz

Posts: 6; Member since: May 21, 2012

HMMM I find that T-Mobile has already removed the Samsung G2X from all of their offers. The shortest life a phone has had with T-Mobile (as I understand it)