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So this weekend I stopped by my local Best Buy and T-Mobile store, just to window shop, and peruse and look at new smartphones.
If you know my history you know I'm a big Android nerd, specifically Nexus phones, but I am currently on an iPhone 7 Plus since Christmastime, mainly due to the great battery life. But really not a fan of iOS, it's ok, but much prefer stock Android #1.
My impressions of the hot new phones;
- Galaxy S8/S8+ = The screen display is amazing yes, but overall feel in the hand did not impress me much. It feels so slippery and fragile, like could easily break. Almost as if holding an egg afraid to drop. Seems like one drop would destroy this phone. Whereas my iPhone 7 Plus, damn I have dropped it without a case by accident several times, and zero damage or problem. And the materials of the S8, for some reason does not give me that super premium feel like other phones, it felt weird, and sort of squishy almost if that makes sense ? And then Touchwiz or whatever they call it, yes it is greatly improved updated and seems a lot nicer now, and I know these were demo phones, but the lag was there absolutely. But again these are floor models running that god awful demo mode, so hard to get a true experience. But overall I left with a feeling with the S8 being nice, but not making me drool as a must have
- LG G6 = Wow super impressed, did not expect to like this one bit, but it was shockingly really good. The size for a 5.7" phone, and in that tough tank type build, was just great. To me the prefect sized smartphone. I like 5.7" screens, but shrunk down like that was just spot on the best. The LG UI seemed sort of like a generic stock Android, or bland lame version of stock Android, which I'm sure a good theme could rectify and make it much nicer. But I still think LG screwed up on the specs. I think they should have waited for the SD835, not for benchmarks, but for the more efficient processor, the 835 is like 40% more efficient over last years SOC, and for marketing it just sounds better on paper saying same hardware as the new Galaxy S8, as opposed to saying running last years hardware. Even though I know performance wise there's very little difference. If I was making the LG G6 I would have waited to release until June, and put in the SD835 with a slightly larger 3,600mAh battery like last year's S7 Edge. Those two differences would make a massive help in the battery life department.
And LG, you guys make the best #1 OLED home theater TV's on the market, the OLED TVs from LG blow away Samsung's and Sony's, so why are they still using the LCD tech in their phones ? I am shocked they haven't brought their OLED TV tech down to their smartphones yet ? It would rival or even trump Samsung's displays. As it is, the G6 screen is meh, not bad, not great.
- Pixel XL = Ahh the white unicorn of smartphones, the ghost that you hear about, but never see. I walked into Best Buy asked about the Pixel XL, the guy was a cool nerd, he laughed, said no, Best Buy stopped selling the XL at the new year. He said feel free to call Verizon about it, they out of stock too still. I did call 10, yes ten different Verizon stores in the Chicago area, everyone of them said nope on the XL in stock, all needed to be special order. But while in Best Buy off in a dark corner, they actually had a Pixel XL on display, turned off, back in some area where the crappy phones are. I have never seen one in real life before, and was really impressed, the build quality looked great, but the design was so inspired by the current iPhone, it was funny, but I was ok with it. I thought the Pixel XL was a very good looking phone, solid build quality, really liked it a lot. The phone was off, and I turned it on, and it tried updating itself. But overall I really liked it a lot. But the screen seemed sort of dim, and not as good as other phones. I asked the salesman if I could buy it on the spot for a deal since it was a demo phone, he said nope, that phone wasn't for sale, said he didn't even know they had it there.
- iPhone 7 Plus = I already currently have this phone. You all know my thoughts on this phone. Great battery life, super smooth zero lag OS. But everything else I do not like. Notifications suck balls on iOS 10. The Phone dialer app blows. iMessage I don't get the hype, it's ok. And zero customization, I mean come on Apple it's 2017, at least let us move the app icons to where ever the heck we want. And give us some basic sort of theme engine in iOS 11 already.
So for me, I am looking to ditch the iPhone, but need a phone that gets at least the same battery life as my 7 Plus, and is also as smooth and lag free.
The phone I would like does not exist. It would be the LG G6 phone, ( really like the shape and overall size and flat screen of the G6 ) but running stock Android Nougat directly updated from Google, but have the latest SD835 in it and a 3,500mAh battery, and the OLED display tech from LG's TVs. That would be my dream phone. And it's not like a super fantasy Star Trek phone, something like that could almost exist.
If you know my history you know I'm a big Android nerd, specifically Nexus phones, but I am currently on an iPhone 7 Plus since Christmastime, mainly due to the great battery life. But really not a fan of iOS, it's ok, but much prefer stock Android #1.
My impressions of the hot new phones;
- Galaxy S8/S8+ = The screen display is amazing yes, but overall feel in the hand did not impress me much. It feels so slippery and fragile, like could easily break. Almost as if holding an egg afraid to drop. Seems like one drop would destroy this phone. Whereas my iPhone 7 Plus, damn I have dropped it without a case by accident several times, and zero damage or problem. And the materials of the S8, for some reason does not give me that super premium feel like other phones, it felt weird, and sort of squishy almost if that makes sense ? And then Touchwiz or whatever they call it, yes it is greatly improved updated and seems a lot nicer now, and I know these were demo phones, but the lag was there absolutely. But again these are floor models running that god awful demo mode, so hard to get a true experience. But overall I left with a feeling with the S8 being nice, but not making me drool as a must have
- LG G6 = Wow super impressed, did not expect to like this one bit, but it was shockingly really good. The size for a 5.7" phone, and in that tough tank type build, was just great. To me the prefect sized smartphone. I like 5.7" screens, but shrunk down like that was just spot on the best. The LG UI seemed sort of like a generic stock Android, or bland lame version of stock Android, which I'm sure a good theme could rectify and make it much nicer. But I still think LG screwed up on the specs. I think they should have waited for the SD835, not for benchmarks, but for the more efficient processor, the 835 is like 40% more efficient over last years SOC, and for marketing it just sounds better on paper saying same hardware as the new Galaxy S8, as opposed to saying running last years hardware. Even though I know performance wise there's very little difference. If I was making the LG G6 I would have waited to release until June, and put in the SD835 with a slightly larger 3,600mAh battery like last year's S7 Edge. Those two differences would make a massive help in the battery life department.
And LG, you guys make the best #1 OLED home theater TV's on the market, the OLED TVs from LG blow away Samsung's and Sony's, so why are they still using the LCD tech in their phones ? I am shocked they haven't brought their OLED TV tech down to their smartphones yet ? It would rival or even trump Samsung's displays. As it is, the G6 screen is meh, not bad, not great.
- Pixel XL = Ahh the white unicorn of smartphones, the ghost that you hear about, but never see. I walked into Best Buy asked about the Pixel XL, the guy was a cool nerd, he laughed, said no, Best Buy stopped selling the XL at the new year. He said feel free to call Verizon about it, they out of stock too still. I did call 10, yes ten different Verizon stores in the Chicago area, everyone of them said nope on the XL in stock, all needed to be special order. But while in Best Buy off in a dark corner, they actually had a Pixel XL on display, turned off, back in some area where the crappy phones are. I have never seen one in real life before, and was really impressed, the build quality looked great, but the design was so inspired by the current iPhone, it was funny, but I was ok with it. I thought the Pixel XL was a very good looking phone, solid build quality, really liked it a lot. The phone was off, and I turned it on, and it tried updating itself. But overall I really liked it a lot. But the screen seemed sort of dim, and not as good as other phones. I asked the salesman if I could buy it on the spot for a deal since it was a demo phone, he said nope, that phone wasn't for sale, said he didn't even know they had it there.
- iPhone 7 Plus = I already currently have this phone. You all know my thoughts on this phone. Great battery life, super smooth zero lag OS. But everything else I do not like. Notifications suck balls on iOS 10. The Phone dialer app blows. iMessage I don't get the hype, it's ok. And zero customization, I mean come on Apple it's 2017, at least let us move the app icons to where ever the heck we want. And give us some basic sort of theme engine in iOS 11 already.
So for me, I am looking to ditch the iPhone, but need a phone that gets at least the same battery life as my 7 Plus, and is also as smooth and lag free.
The phone I would like does not exist. It would be the LG G6 phone, ( really like the shape and overall size and flat screen of the G6 ) but running stock Android Nougat directly updated from Google, but have the latest SD835 in it and a 3,500mAh battery, and the OLED display tech from LG's TVs. That would be my dream phone. And it's not like a super fantasy Star Trek phone, something like that could almost exist.
