Genesis Review

[grayman]

After considering the Merge, Mesmerize and Genesis for my new phone, I decided on the Genesis, mostly on the quality of the keyboard.

Since my purchase, I have been very pleased with the Genesis.

Pros
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I absolutely love the physical keyboard. It is fantastic - soft and responsive, with large keys and a great layout. The shortcut keys are very useful, especially the ".com" key, which saves a lot of typing. I can't say that I've really used the directional pad at all, so it seems like it might have been a bit of a waste, especially with the interior touchscreen.

Call quality and volume has been great, including speakerphone.

The camera takes surprisingly good photos and the flash works well for low light situations.

Photo sharing is simple, with a pop-up for email, messaging, and various social networking sites.

Email set-up was a breeze, including a Microsoft Exchange account.

Battery life has been far superior than the 2.5 hours stated by LG and US Cellular. I generally get about 8-9 hours before I need a charge, which seems to put the Genesis in line with many other Android phones and suits my needs fine.

Music and video playback is good, from both the SD card and apps.

Full Market access and side-loading for Amazon and other sources.

Cons
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The camera can be a bit laggy between pressing the button and a picture being snapped. Hasn't been an issue for me, but anyone trying to take pictures of kids or anything else that moves quickly might have an issue.

The SD card is under the battery. This means that if I want to access it directly or swap out a card, I have to pull the battery and shut down the phone. The launch time for the phone isn't bad, but it's still a pain to have to go through that every time I want to swap a card.

The physical volume keys are poorly placed when the phone is flipped open. For example, when I was watching a video on the internal screen, it was almost impossible to adjust the volume using the physical controls. A minor annoyance, but still an annoyance.

Opening the phone during a phone call that is on speaker shuts off the speaker for some reason, and it can be a bit of a pain to scramble to turn it back on during a call.

Because the Genesis is a USC exclusive, it doesn't seem like there's much of a community to create roms or work on rooting. I am pleased with the standard experience, but this might be a consideration for anyone looking to root the Genesis.

Overall

Overall, I really like the Genesis and would recommend it to anyone looking for a smartphone on USC, especially if you want a physical keyboard.

If I didn't cover something about the phone and you are curious about a particular feature, please feel free to ask.
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[davenpj]

would u recommend this over the merge sience u played with it i am stuck between genesis and merge and 7 pro do u know which would be a better choice and i have desire now and i text alot and downlaod about 20 games is gaming a good thing on the phone

 

[grayman]

I had a very limited experience with the Merge (basically, I played around with it in a USC store for about 5-10 minutes). Overall, the Merge seemed like a solid phone, but I did not care for the keyboard very much. I found the keyboard on the Genesis to be easier to type on, but that is just my personal preference. I would recommend that you try both phones in the store and see which keyboard you prefer. You might like the Merge better.

My other hesitation with the Merge was the 800 mhz processor, versus the 1 Ghz processor in the Genesis. In my mind, neither of these phones is cutting edge, so I went with the faster processor so I am not already another half step behind. It's possible that it won't make any difference, but I just felt better with the 1 Ghz.

Another consideration for both of these phones (especially the Genesis) is that they are only available for USC. That means there is probably not much of a community working on roms for either phone. It also means that an official update to Gingerbread is probably not going to be a priority, if it ever happens at all. If that is something you are concerned about, you might want to consider the Mesmerize. If you are certain that you want a physical keyboard (probably one of the top two factors in my decision) then the Merge and Genesis are your best choices.

Again, try out both keyboards in the store and see which feels better in your hand and on your fingers. I usually try typing "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs" because it uses every letter of the alphabet, so you are going to get a pretty good idea if any of the keys are placed awkwardly.

As for gaming on the Genesis, I have not had any problems. No hiccups or issues with games not running properly. As screens go, the front screen is a good size, though I usually use my tablet for gaming since there's more room and the onscreen controls are less of an issue. If you are comfortable with using onscreen touch controls for gaming, the Genesis should be fine. This is another area where the processor speed difference might come into play. I am not saying the Merge isn't good for gaming, but generally a faster processor is going to be able to handle gaming more smoothly.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[glaff]

Stay away from the HTC 7. Notm what I needed.

 

[phonegeek1998]

how much app memory is there?
do you still like it?
hows battery ?

 

[grayman]

I think there is about 500 mb of storage available for apps, but the phone comes with a microSD card that allows you to increase storage. I have loaded quite a few apps and have not had a problem with space.

My battery life is usually around 10 hours, but I'm not a heavy user during the day. I will send and receive texts, make a few calls and maybe check email or the web during my lunch hour. When I use it more, the battery goes a lot quicker. This isn't an issue for me generally because I am usually near a charger, but if I forget to throw it on the charger before I am going out or something, it can be a problem. Obviously, when I am low on battery, I use all of the normal android tricks (no live wallpaper, no GPS, no wifi, etc.) and that helps quite a bit. Also keep in mind that you can always pop into any US Cellular and do a battery swap for free whenever they are open.

I still really like the Genesis and think it is a great phone.

If you are looking for a phone that is going to get upgraded to Gingerbread or Ice Cream Sandwich, the Genesis is probably not for you because of its relatively small user base.