T-Mobile G2x Review: Gingerbread-Infused
by Vivek Gowri on August 3, 2011 2:09 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Tegra 2
- Android 2.3
- LG Optimus 2X
- Android
- G2x
- Mobile
T-Mobile G2x - The Network
One of the major hardware differences between the G2x and the Optimus 2X is the cellular radio. While the O2X uses a Infineon X-Gold XG616, similar to what you can find in the Samsung Galaxy S/Nexus S and the iPhone 4, the G2x uses Qualcomm’s MDM6600 baseband, the whole point of the switch being to support HSDPA 14.4 on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network. At launch, T-Mobile advertised the G2x as a quadband 3G device, with support for HSPA+ over the 1900/850 MHz (AT&T) bands as well as the standard 2100/1700 MHz T-Mobile 3G bands. This, unfortunately, was a blatant error in T-Mobile’s information - after the G2x’s release, it became readily evident that quadband support was only for EDGE/GPRS, not 3G. How an error of this magnitude managed to slip through until the device started shipping (it was advertised with quadband 3G at CES in January) remains unanswered.
But no matter - if you’re on T-Mobile, HSPA+ works, and well. I saw speeds generally in the range of 3.5-6 Mbps downstream and 1.5-3 Mbps upstream. I’m not as obsessive with speed tests as Brian is, so I don’t have enough data points to construct a speed graph like he had, but they’re fairly consistent with results I’ve seen before. T-Mobile’s HSPA+ is faster in Seattle than in Tuscon where Brian is, which is why my numbers are so much higher.
We ran into some issues with cellular stability with the G2x - Brian complained about it before sending me the phone, and I personally experienced a couple of rather disconcerting periods where the G2x would be unable to send or receive cellular data for a span of 5-10 minutes, unless you got impatient and pulled the battery first. It looks like the implementation of the new baseband was rushed, but this is still a pretty significant issue to slip through. It’s something that I haven’t noticed post-Gingerbread, but it’s only been two days since the update released. I wouldn’t say it’s a major problem, but definitely an annoyance. It’s not the only indication that the transformation from Optimus 2X to G2x was a hurried process either, as we’ll see on the software side.
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aegisofrime - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
My Galaxy S II does Sunspider 0.9 in 3423.8ms, if you guys want another data point.Brian Klug - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
Sunspider 0.9, or Sunspider 0.9.1? Methinks the latter ;)-Brian
fixxxer0 - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
My droid x on CM7 rom does the sunspider 0.9 in 3945ms (vs 7014 for stock) for peoples comparison.not overclocked at all (undervolteded though)
yourwhiteshadow - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
if you're going to mod the phone you get, you might as well get the G2x, but otherwise you're better off with the sensation.hopefully we'll see these benchmarks repeated with a stable CM build.
Brian Klug - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
That's actually our plan - to do a CM story and show some performance numbers. I've actually run all the betas and the final stable CM7 builds on the Optimus 2X which we still have kicking around.Honestly from the sound of it, CM7 is much, much more stable than the binary that LG has pushed out to the G2x. I can't speak too much for the G2x version of CM7, but the Optimus 2X CM7 build is flawless.
-Brian
arbarath - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
I own Optimus 2X and I was very excited when I bought it.I am really disappointed after I bought. Sometimes my single core HTC desire performs better than Dual Core Optimus 2X. I have all above mentioned problems. The phone suddenly becomes very slow. The pre dexopt issue also killing. When you want to add a widget u need to wait for 30 sec to bring up the list of widgets.
I tried Cyanogen Nightlies but not stable yet. I get too much of dropped calls with RC1. I will move to cyanogen. I have no hope on LG's software side. Better they could hire some cyanogen group persons to develop their software.
I am not recommending LG Phones to any of my friends.. after all these..
fabarati - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
You should try out Modacos GR2 alpha. It's fluid and smooth and quick and pretty damn stable. But more importantly, it has all the LG software improvements, like a better texting app, better contacts app, 720p mkv playback, LGs camera app.Also, there's a camera app mod that allows 30fps 1080p recording @ 17 mbps and 30 fps 720p @ 10 mbps, greatly increasing video quality. It's also available for CM7.
But yeah, it's a tinkerers phone.
/optimus 2x owner
roguecong - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
i recorded a clip on the "high" setting and it showed as 1080(8)/23 in windows properties - with a lousy 128kbps audio.fabarati - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
There's a camera app mod that allows 30fps 1080p recording @ 17 mbps and 30 fps 720p @ 10 mbps, greatly increasing video quality.The audio is limited by the microphones. Increasing the bit rate won't improve audio, but lowering it won't necessarily worsen it.
Vinas - Wednesday, August 3, 2011 - link
I liked the last half of this review. Still I feel that the benchmarks are not a good indication of performance since these phones are not running the same stuff. For instance the HTC sensation only had about 100MB free with sense 3.0 running. It also has a much better qhd screen, so the resolution is just higher although it keeps up well. Basically I bought the sensation over the g2x. In the end sense 3.0 is pretty awesome and I'm not wanting to switch back anytime soon.