LG Thrill user reviews

[BigCiX]

Any early users who already have the Thrill. Please post and let us know the pro's, con's and bugs about the phone. I hoping to get a phonecall from radioshack tomorrow or saturday!

 

[Gr8Danes]

If your other post is correct, I bet the phones out there would still be running Froyo and wouldn't be a good comparison. (here's hopin')

 

[BigCiX]

If your other post is correct, I bet the phones out there would still be running Froyo and wouldn't be a good comparison. (here's hopin')

yeah but that was just some random guys saying it does come out of the box with 2.3. I have yet to see it anywhere else.

 

[Gr8Danes]

Well, it appears that some people are getting the official version now. They should be able to tell if it has Gingerbread or not.

 

[yoyo1]

Got mine yesterday. Comes with Froyo 2.2.2. Tried to do 'software update' from settings and just does a "looking for update from server" endlessly.

The 3d functions are waaay better than I expected. Keep in mind this is coming from someone who owns a Nintendo 3DS

 

[maerlim]

Just called the Costco by my work. They have it in stock for $29.99 out the door also. Gonna pick it up on my lunch break in a couple hours.

 

[BigCiX]

I'm calling radioshack right after my dental appointment.

 

[illegalblaq]

Just got mine from Radioshack, they only received one in cause I was the only one that pre ordered at there store so you should be good to go when you call jay

 

[cubinthecity]

Got mine from Best Buy today. It was the only one in stock. Lucky me I thought, from leaving my iPhone 4 to go to something new and shiny. The thrill is everything but in my opinion.

Pros: 3D is 10000x better than the EVO 3D
Camera is so-so, not wonderful though


Cons:
Battery life
Battery life
and did I meantion Battery life?
Ive had to charge this thing 3x today and I wasnt even doing anything. Eventually I put Juice Defender Ultimate on it and it didnt help much. Bottom row of home/menu buttons seem unresponsive at times
2.2.2 operating system

Definitely taking this baby back tomorrow.

 

[Gr8Danes]

Got mine from Best Buy today. It was the only one in stock. Lucky me I thought, from leaving my iPhone 4 to go to something new and shiny. The thrill is everything but in my opinion.

Pros: 3D is 10000x better than the EVO 3D
Camera is so-so, not wonderful though


Cons:
Battery life
Battery life
and did I meantion Battery life?
Ive had to charge this thing 3x today and I wasnt even doing anything. Eventually I put Juice Defender Ultimate on it and it didnt help much. Bottom row of home/menu buttons seem unresponsive at times
2.2.2 operating system

Definitely taking this baby back tomorrow.

Only having it for one day isn't really the best way of evaluating the battery life. In that one day, you are using it way more than on an average day of use. You are installing apps, syncing data, playing with all the features, etc. I would give it a few days before sending it back right away. You have 30 days, give it a chance. You may end up liking it.

 

[BigCiX]

After playing with the phone for about two hours, here goes my initial review:


Hardware: Coming from a Samsung Captivate, the Thrill feels like a very solid device. Doesn't have that fine build quality like the iphone but you can tell it's very durable. The back piece has a rubbery feeling for you to grip very well. One thing that the Captivate didn't have. The phone itself is a little heavy and slightly bulky. Nothing dramatic though. I'm not sure what material the screen is but it does seem like a smudge magnet. I currently put my phone is a sunglass bag so that'll help. The tabs that cover the usb/hdmi port for me will take some time getting used to. I'm just used to plugging up the phone without anything in the way. I guess it'll help keep debris out. As for the menu buttons that light up on the bottom. They stay on for about 4 seconds before it turns off. LG also supplied a independent 3D button on the side which opens up their 3D menu.


Camera/3D: The camera itself is pretty solid. Not as good as other flagship devices but very dueable. From the camera menu you can change numerous setting from focus, image size, screen mode, white balance, color effect timer, shot mode, image quality, auto review, shutter sound, tag location, and storage. On that side menu you have auto focus, macro, continuous and face tracking.
When it comes to video settings you have similar to camera like white balance, color effect, video quality, auto review and storage. You also have a setting for duration and video size (1080p, 720p, vga, qvga, and qcif).
For the 3D part of the camera you pretty much have the same settings as video. One thing i can honestly say is the HTC Evo's sample video that come with the screen seem to have a better picture than the Trills. BUT THE VIDEOS ON THE THRILL ARE EASIER ON THE EYES AND HAVE THAT 3D EFFECT MUCH BETTER. Not saying this because i own this phone but on the EVO it was harder on the eyes. The option to shoot/film in 2D/3D is just a simple touch when the camera is enabled. It does however take about 2-2 1/2 seconds for the camera to open. Nothing crazy though.


Software: What kind i say. Android 2.2.2. Lg's userface is similar to Samsungs Touchwiz 3.0. The bottom dock cannot be modified. I'm already using Go Launcher ex. The phone comes with some bloatware but some of it can be deleted just by longpressing the app itself. Some of the things that i notice that are different from my Samsung Captivate is that in the menu button you don't have the option to choose what you want your phone to search by hitting the search button. It does have an HDMI setting that lets you choose your resolution. It's standard on auto. So far the phone is snappy with zero lag!!!


Call/Speaker: The calls from the speaker sound pretty clear. Calls doesn't sound distorted or anything. Of course this can change depending on the caller from the other side. I've placed calls on the speaker and the speaker is loud and can be heard great. The ringtones are loud and crisp. I have yet to take a call while in a car so.......i'll probably update with more use.


Screen: It's no Super AMOLED but the screen colors tend to look like something from a driod x. Dueable but i've gotten spoiled with Samsung screens. Like I mentioned above. Have a screen cloth cause the screen show smudges.


GPS: The first time i fired up my gps it took about 2 minutes to get my directions. It was trying to find my location. Tried it again and withing 10 seconds my driving directions from my house to vegas was located. I must mention though, i was using my wifi connection (going from 1-2 bars out of 3) and inside my house near my netbook. I'll update when im actually driving.


Battery: One thing i can say about the battery is......well...i haven't had a full charge. I can say that charging the battery is nothing like charging a Samsung Galaxy S phone. It'll take hours for that phone to get a charge. The Thrill seems to charge at a decent time. My battery when i placed it in was already at a low indicator. I ran it down to about 7% before i plugged it up. It's been pluged up for an hour (give or take) and it's currently at 86% charge. So, i'll definetly update this area once i get more use out the the 3D functions. In case you guys are wondering how i get batt percentage...im using batterymider from the market. It's free and has a few options. The percentage is on the notification bar.



My final thoughts: Very very satified coming from a Samsung Captivate. It's gonna take some time to learn a few things (like file manager:astro manager) but i think I manage. Great phone with minor grudges from the software. I don't have any regrets at all!!!



Things i need answered if you guys find it out. When i wanna edit a photo (from a folder on my sd card) it won't open up with gallery like it will from say a DCIM folder. Anyone know of a good photo editor app. That'll let you crop pictures?

 

[cubinthecity]

Only having it for one day isn't really the best way of evaluating the battery life. In that one day, you are using it way more than on an average day of use. You are installing apps, syncing data, playing with all the features, etc. I would give it a few days before sending it back right away. You have 30 days, give it a chance. You may end up liking it.

The thing is im not installing apps at all. Just put my music on it and thats it. Im not a big game player on phones really, so maybe Adroid really isnt for me.

 

[BigCiX]

The thing is im not installing apps at all. Just put my music on it and thats it. Im not a big game player on phones really, so maybe Adroid really isnt for me.

well the mango update is suppose to make window phone much better. Good luck with whatever you decide. Very satisfied on my part with this device.

 

[Gr8Danes]

The thing is im not installing apps at all. Just put my music on it and thats it. Im not a big game player on phones really, so maybe Adroid really isnt for me.

Don't take this offensively, but did you really give it a chance? I think it's hard to really decide if something is right for you if you have only had it for a few hours. There is so much more to Android than what you have used it for so far. I originally came from Blackberry, and it took a few days to get used to all that Android offered. But after those days, there is no way I would go back. I love the ability to customize anything and everything about my phone. Something that is very difficult to do with other OS's. If it's not what your looking for, to each their own, and good luck finding what you are seeking.

 

[maerlim]

JayC, the bottom dock can be changed similar to how the captivate's can. Go to the app drawer, hit menu then manage app. Then touch and hold the app you want on the bottom dock until you can move it then simply move it to the position on the dock you want.

 

[geekincognito]

well the mango update is suppose to make window phone much better. Good luck with whatever you decide. Very satisfied on my part with this device.

I put the Mango beta on my wife's phone. It is a very nice OS. Everything is integrated very nicely.

 

[cubinthecity]

Sp I woke up this morning after having it on the charger all night just to see that it hasnt even charged at all. Something is definitely wrong with the unit I have.

 

[Kelmar]

Stickied for the time being.

 

[Mr. Ed]

Sp I woke up this morning after having it on the charger all night just to see that it hasnt even charged at all. Something is definitely wrong with the unit I have.

Are you using the stock cable...I noticed a few of my cables don't fit properly due to the design of the port.

Using the stock cable Mine is fully charged from 30% in about an hour- 1/ 1/2 hours...

I am however not using the stock wall charger...I used my samsung wall piece and an external battery charger piece and achieved those charging times.

Charging via PC seems to take forever.

Though there are many that don't believe in it, I am going to try calibrating the battery and see if that helps. There is proof online that over time this technique "could" damage lithium ion batteries so to each their own...I have been doing it for 3 years with no ill effects

(it's the simple charge till 100%, turn off phone and uplug it, charge till 100%, take off charger, wait 3 minutes, charge again, repeat until the time to charge is pretty much nothing)


I don't yet have a working custom recovery, so if anyone finds something there let me know. Using the Optimus V recovery was a no go. Trying to reboot into recovery and bootloader do absolutely nothing.

 

[Gr8Danes]

Sp I woke up this morning after having it on the charger all night just to see that it hasnt even charged at all. Something is definitely wrong with the unit I have.

You didn't by chance have it plugged into the computer to charge did you?

Edit:......should have refreshed my browser, you beat me to it.

 

[rdrakea]

Can someone confirm the build number and software version from your Thrill 4G that you purchased from a retail store?

 

[BigCiX]

Can someone confirm the build number and software version from your Thrill 4G that you purchased from a retail store?

FRG836

August 10, 2011 was the last software version

 

[maerlim]

Definitely use the included cable to charge it. I have a charger with thin pre-arrached wires that did a horrible job of charging the phone. This charger will also not charge my work blackberry, but it did charge my captivate. I since switched to the charger that came with the phone and that will charge both.

 

[thrill]

I'm coming from an iPhone ...been exploring and playing asphault 6 for like 3 hours and hardly a dent in battery..think some of u having battery issue??????? Need to exchange yours but this phone is pretty awesome the touch screen responds better than iPhone and the 3d stuff makes it a toy your kids can play with like a nintendo3ds. No complaints as of yet...24 hours and phone is enjoyable2 play with!

 

[BigCiX]

I'm coming from an iPhone ...been exploring and playing asphault 6 for like 3 hours and hardly a dent in battery..think some of u having battery issue??????? Need to exchange yours but this phone is pretty awesome the touch screen responds better than iPhone and the 3d stuff makes it a toy your kids can play with like a nintendo3ds. No complaints as of yet...24 hours and phone is enjoyable2 play with!

Welcome to the darkside. Androids are in my opinion way better then iOS. The Thrill is a very good device. Congratulations!