Revolution wrong choice?

[blaket81]

Hi everyone, got my revolution a couple days ago. It's my first smartphone and to me works fine (except for battery life). However, everytime i see a review on this phone or see it compared to comparable phones (4G or not) it doesn't seem to do as well because of this or that. I saw one thing where it said the 4G on it is not as fast as another phone, or the blacks on the display aren't as good, etc. Did i make the wrong choice here, i have some time where i can bring it back still.

I chose this phone because: i am new to android and don't know what to look for, had a large screen, i wanted candy bar (not slider), it was the cheapest 4G that wasn't a slider, the other one i was looking at was incredible 2, i would have only been saving 50 bucks and it wasn't 4G.

Taking all this into account and the fact that i'm a smartphone and android noob, should i really worry about this? I'd rather not go through the hassle of returning the phone unless it was recommended by someone (or several people) that know more about this stuff than me.

Thank you, and sorry for this being so long!

 

[eghill1125]

You are the only one who will be able to decide if the Revolution is what you want it to be. That being said, I have the Revolution now and I have not had any problems with mine at all. I have had an android phone now for a few years and this one is really smooth and has plenty of speed for my uses. I think you should give it a little time before your return window closes and get used to it. Remember to use it like you would want to use it everyday. I have seen a lot of people get caught up in numbers and bells and whistles of phones without really looking at the every day uses. There are always going to be phones coming that can do more, but is it always needed??

Good luck on your decision...

 

[1of7627]

Have to pretty much echo what eghill1125 says. I bought my Revo on release day and it's been fine. Yes, the display isn't as good as the Charge. Yes, it doesn't have a dual core processor like the Bionic. Yes, it's had average reviews. But, it does everything I need and hasn't been problematic. I have it pretty well sorted out with the 3rd party apps I used before on other phones and am satisfied. The extended battery took care of my one significant gripe, so I'm still good to go. - MarkC

 

[blaket81]

Thank you for your replies guys, i think i may just stick with this. I can get the extended battery for battery life. One upside is this is the 3rd LG phone i've owned in a row so i am surrounded by chargers that all work. Since it's the first smartphone i've owned i have nothing to compare it to (ignorance is bliss), so all the stuff other people are mentioning are better on other phones, i wouldn't notice them anyway. The other phone i almost switched to was HTC thunderbolt, seems to be an all around better phone, but no netflix, and no HDMI out like revo has, it'll be pretty cool if i can play games from the phone on my tv.

 

[sx4dude2013]

I looked at the revo but decided to go with the Bionic. LOVE the bionic

 

[mineolasmitty]

I first had the Thunderbolt but had so much trouble with it that I traded it for the Revo. I have been well satisfied with it and have had it a couple of months.

 

[Deleted User]

I got a Revo due to a VERY good salesman, and have regretted it ever since. I got it to replace my original Moto Droid, which worked (rooted running Gingerbread via Cyanogen), but it was really showing its age not having enough RAM to run more than one app at a time.

I took it with me on a vacation, and had the problems with battery life that I have heard from everyone else. Battery died after a couple of hours. I got the phone replaced when I came home, and still wasn't happy with the battery life. I feel that a battery should last at least 8 hours, that being a normal work day, and mine barely hit 7. I bought an extended battery, and am managing to get about one day's use out of it, but I still think it is underperforming. I did not pay top dollar for a phone that promises so much yet delivers so little.

Heck, I am not even using the 4G capabilities yet, as this is not yet available in my area.

Also, as we all know this can't be rooted once it's been updated. Bad.

I am seriously thinking about going in tonight and seeing what it would cost me to trade this for a Bionic. I miss my lil ol Droid.

 

[pawdog]

Battery life complaints are common in the smartphone world. To think you are going to get all day battery leaving everything going all the time is just not realistic. Turn off the data connection when you are not using it will solve your problem.

I think these reviewers think LG should not be in the smartphone equation and make ridiculous statements in the reviews. Before you make a decision based on other people's opinions go to these other forms you will see numerous complaints and problems mirroring those found in Revolution forums.

 

[jj2me]

Toggle off 4G if it's not in your area (Settings --> Wireless & networks --> Mobile networks --> System select --> Network mode = CDMA only [instead of LTE/CDMA], then reboot).

Turn off GPS if you're not using it (easiest to toggle if you put the Power Control widget on one of your home screens--which is also handy for toggling brightness, bluetooth, and wi-fi).

I think those two are among the bigger battery drains.

I definitely get a full day using the extended battery.

The biggest Revo shortcoming for me is the small amount of usable RAM (yet it's still more than the Samsung Droid Charge's). But I don't see anyone else complaining about this. When I'm down to about 60 MB free, I experience lag, until I force the Revo to free up its additional freeable RAM using an aftermarket app (Superbox). I would think the Android OS could be tuned better so that this freeable RAM gets freed up sooner, to avoid getting to that lag state. My next phone will have more than 512 MB of RAM. My big hitter services are Maps, Weather, and Market, typically around 10-25 MB each. I once set up and then quickly deleted four non-Gmail accounts, because then the Email service used 50 MB of RAM, which caused full time lag.

Having said that, LG makes a good phone. Good voice quality, good reception, steady data. That 1.5 GB user-available phone storage is so generous, that I've never bothered to move anything to SD, and yet still have available half of the storage, even though I've downloaded about 100 apps.

 

[wat]

I had two Samsun Droid Charges. Voice quality was unbelievably bad. Crackles, pops, disconnects. Horrible. Finally accepted an offer from Verizon to trade it for a Revolution. Screen not as vivid but otherwise it does everything the Charge did and the voice quality is fantastic.

 

[Sandroidfan]

If you can wait a little more, this looks like good sequel to Revolution.

LG LU6200 Poses With 4.5″ 720p HD Screen and LTE, Revolution 2 Anyone? - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog

 

[Deleted User]

I am seeing lots of tips here on maximizing phone battery life: turning off 4G, turning off GPS, getting extended battery, etc. I have done all of this, but since I can't root (I do not feel confident in the process to downgrade the phone) I can't get rid of all the bloatware either.

The point I am trying to make here is that you shouldn't have to DO all this stuff to your phone to make it work for a standard work day. Is it too much to ask that a phone, out of the box, should work for 8-10 hours doing what it is advertised to be able to do, without major tweaks? This is why I do not recommend this phone to anyone.

 

[audiohavoc]

Mine seems to do fine on the battery. In solid 4G coverage I get about 12 hours of moderate/light use. I have seen the phone go over 15.5 hours unplugged with light use and still have about 15 percent battery life left over.

 

[pawdog]

I am seeing lots of tips here on maximizing phone battery life: turning off 4G, turning off GPS, getting extended battery, etc. I have done all of this, but since I can't root (I do not feel confident in the process to downgrade the phone) I can't get rid of all the bloatware either.

The point I am trying to make here is that you shouldn't have to DO all this stuff to your phone to make it work for a standard work day. Is it too much to ask that a phone, out of the box, should work for 8-10 hours doing what it is advertised to be able to do, without major tweaks? This is why I do not recommend this phone to anyone.

Which large screen phone can handle this scenario you describe. Where turning off data when not in use gets me 10-12 hours some days. I don't consider that a major tweek.

This may mean that the Revo has something wrong in the implementation of the 4G-3G radio system I don't know, but it seems the biggest downfall of this phone has a very easy fix.

 

[pirahna]

Which large screen phone can handle this scenario you describe. Where turning off data when not in use gets me 10-12 hours some days. I don't consider that a major tweek.

This may mean that the Revo has something wrong in the implementation of the 4G-3G radio system I don't know, but it seems the biggest downfall of this phone has a very easy fix.

People that need to receive emails for work do not have this option.

 

[pawdog]

If your job keeps you from both wifi and electric power and also expects you to read a constant flow of email on a phone. You had better choose a different type of phone. Perhaps a blackberry.

 

[VoidedSaint]

if you get any type of android phone, doesnt matter what kind, your going to experience horrible battery life, its safe to say HTC has the worst battery life of all the android phones, i have seen samsung batteries hold up like it aint nothing, moto is decent, but i have no clue about LG.

if LG got into the android game earlier with highend devices, things might be different, they could have tested out tweaks and errors before sending out the supposidly flagship device so, instead they pushed it out and now is having a hard time getting into the game. hopefully a better LG phone is on the way with more developer support.

 

[sandystorm]

if you get any type of android phone, doesnt matter what kind, your going to experience horrible battery life, its safe to say HTC has the worst battery life of all the android phones, i have seen samsung batteries hold up like it aint nothing, moto is decent, but i have no clue about LG.

if LG got into the android game earlier with highend devices, things might be different, they could have tested out tweaks and errors before sending out the supposidly flagship device so, instead they pushed it out and now is having a hard time getting into the game. hopefully a better LG phone is on the way with more developer support.

They keep pushing them all out to early without good testing. They held back the Bionic for months and then release it with problems, WTF is wrong? Do the phone right the first time..

 

[VoidedSaint]

They keep pushing them all out to early without good testing. They held back the Bionic for months and then release it with problems, WTF is wrong? Do the phone right the first time..

i whole heartedly agree, but its also bad because every 6months our phones are outdated its just getting aggravating, that no matter what you do these phones are just going to become obsolete within a few months

the only hope you really have is a nexus phone

 

[1of7627]

The point I am trying to make here is that you shouldn't have to DO all this stuff to your phone to make it work for a standard work day. Is it too much to ask that a phone, out of the box, should work for 8-10 hours doing what it is advertised to be able to do, without major tweaks? This is why I do not recommend this phone to anyone.

I agree that battery life is a sore point for most smartphones, but mine will go 8-10 hours on the standard battery and 16 with the extended battery. The owner reviews on Verizon's web site for this phone are actually pretty good, better than most of the other similar models that were introduced before or after it. And, I show people mine, tell them how I use it and recommend it all the time. - MarkC