HTC A8181 G2 Vision Google Android Unlocked Phone with 5MP Camera, Music Player, QWERTY Keyboard and Wi-Fi - Unlocked Phone - US Warranty - Titanium

I came to amazon looking for a good android phone with a keyboard and I came across THIS.the G2.When I get a new phone I do a ton of research first. I read and watch reviews I look up the specs read articles and comparisons and this then that.I came across the G2 which was released in 2010. (I ordered this phone in 2012 by the way). I was drawn to it due to it's clean appearance, and it's keyboard. I INSIST ON HAVING A FULL QWERTY KEYBOARD ON MY MOBILE DEVICE.After viewing some comparisons to other phones like the iphone 4 and the sidekick 4g I decided to try it out as i could get one unlocked for around 200$ which is such a value.It arrived in the mail soon and I AM NOT DISAPPOINTED IN THE SLIGHTEST......APPEARANCE.....-FIRST of all the phone is aesthetically LOVELY.- It has a clean metallic look to it. the front has a very attractive metal border with that scratchy-metal texture that looks GREAT and a trackpad with a chrome-y finish- the screen is just the right size about as big as it can be for the the size of the phone.-It's a bit thick because of the QWERTYboard but I am ok with that and it looks good when the keyboard is slid out or put away.-The back of it has a metal battery cover with that scratchy texture to it and it looks GREAT. It is removed by sliding a small switch; not too difficult to remove yet stays in place unlike many other phones......BUILD QUALITY......-The phone has some weight to it and feels sturdy. I have not dropped it yet and that is because I have trained my mind to prevent me from dropping phones over the years. I did get a nice-looking snap on cover for it and a screen protector just in case.-The keyboard is attached to the phone with what HTC calls a "Z-hinge". It consists of three appropriately shaped metal pieces that hold the two halves of the phone together in a way that looks like a Z when viewed from the side.-The hinges are made of metal so good luck breaking them they look and feel SOLID yet they do not cause the phone to snap harshly on itself when the keyboard comes out.-The phone is made of quality materials through and through from the metallic pieces on the front to the textured metal battery cover- just feels great to look at and hold in your hand.-regular size headphone jack and mini usb as well as a micro SD slot next to the battery do their job.....KEYBOARD+BUTTONS.....-I mentioned earlier that I INSIST on having a QWERTYboard on my phone.-Though this phone does NOT HAVE THE BEST KEYBOARD on a phone...- IT IS THE BEST ANDROID PHONE WITH A KEYBOARD THAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED.-The keyboard has all of your letters of the alphabet with enter,delete, space, comma, period, as well as an...-"@" and a ".com" keys which are very useful.-each key has alternate forms which are achieved by the shift and alt keys.-the keyboard on this is capable of accomplishing just about any typing task that your computer keyboard can accomplish EXCEPT....-It does NOT HAVE NUMBER KEYS, instead it has alt-forms of the top row of keys so if you want to type numbers you have to hit alt first then use the top row of keys. It's a bit of a let down but acceptable as a sacrifice in order to keep the keyboard and its buttons just the right size and I dont type numbers that often anyhow.-There are also three shortcut keys which can be configured to open whatever app or menu that you choose as well as...-a search key which can be pressed at the same time as any other key to run even more configurable shortcuts (like the sidekick).-if you are to embrace this system of keyboard shortcut commands you can get around your phone incredibly fast. Much faster than you would be able to by tapping through menus on your touch screen which this phone also has.-It has a sleep button at the top right. It works.-It has a volume rocker on the left. Also works.-camera button on the lower right side. It is made of the same metal as the battery cover and the border on the front of the phone. It also works but I feel like i have to hold it down for too long for it to activate. Very minor gripe.-trackpad can be pressed down to make selections and you can slide your finger on it to navigate through menus. I use it mostly when correcting typing errors.-if you chose to; by using a combination of the keyboard shortcuts and the track pad; this phone can be operated just as effectively and even faster than if you used the touch screen alone . But it is ideal to take advantage of all of its inputs if you want to maximize your effectiveness and efficiency in navigating through your phone..... Touchscreen .....-3.7 inches. The touch screen is certainly large enough for me and probably as big as it can be on a phone of this size.-It is responsive yet not overly sensitive if you have oily hands like I do. I have tried other touchscreens that were too sensitive and the oil from my fingers would cause issues when using the touchscreen. This phone does not have that issue. I AM VERY PLEASED WITH THIS PHONE'S TOUCHSCREEN.-It has multi-touch and pinch-to -zoom and they are VERY RESPONSIVE.-It has Swype pre-installed which is in my opinion the best way to type on a touchscreen and it is very smart. seems to always know what i meant to type and the rare typing errors are usually my fault for not yet having mastered the sliding technique.-The touchscreen is implemented full and well. You can totally get everything done without having to slide out your keyboard such as messaging browsing calls and apps just as well as any non-keyboard smartphone.- the keyboard shines when you are trying to write lengthy emails with correct grammar or while writing a paper while on the bus while doing research at the same time on the browser.- you must experience using your phone with keyboard commands + a touchscreen to understand how fast, effective, and efficiently you can get important things done on your phone which is why I INSIST ON HAVING A KEYBOARD ON MY PHONE FOR THE THIRD TIME!!..... CAMERA+MIC+SPEAKER ......-5 megapixels is more than enough for a phone. Images look great; detailed, in focus, bright colors. PLEASED-720p HD video quality is surprisingly good. Videos looks clean, detailed, smooth, sound quality is also good. great for enhancing and sharing memories and uploading to youtube.-The pre-installed camera app is basic. Not many features but if u need a more robust camera app you can just download one from the play store.-Mic gets clean sound. People will understand you over the phone and videos will have sound quality to match the video quality.-Speaker is good for a phone more than loud enough. The alarm wakes me at low volume you will be able to hear your phone ring if its nearby. Music sounds okay on it if you want to show a song to your friend or watch a video without headphones....... SOFTWARE......- THIS PHONE IS FAST. Apps load instantly and run smoothly with no lag. I have had it for over a month now and it has not frozen or crashed EVER even when multitasking.- Browsing is FAST and SMOOTH. Pages load quickly and pinch-to-zoom is super-responsive pages WILL NOT lag- if you are on a page that is messy, heavy, and not optimized for performance you MAY experience minimal lag.-Downloads are FAST-Videos stream instantly and play smoothly-compatible with just about every app such as netflix, youtube, sketchbook, office apps and etc.-THIS phone can run just about any game from the app store including games with 3d graphics with NO LAG. G-bike and Dragon Slayer are two examples of games with heavy 3D visuals that run smooth on this phone.-Emulators run smooth as well. YOU CAN TURN THIS PHONE INTO A NES SNES GBA OR N64 by installing FREE EMULATORS from the google play store HOW NUTS IS THAT??!-YOU CAN ASSIGN KEYS FROM THE KEYBOARD TO FUNCTION AS INPUT FOR THE EMULATOR!!!-I found the performance on this phone to be SUPERB in every way. You will not be disappointed.- Almost forgot to mention the MP3 player.... YEA ITS GREAT TOO.-Oh and the phone+phone book is also perfect and responsive syncs with your facebooks and twitters and googles.-Lack of a front-facing camera is a slight let down.... BATTERY.....-The battery that this phone ships with satisfies.-it is always advisable to allow the battery to charge fully before turning it on for the first time though many people will not be able to do that.-On a full charge this phone can last more than 4 days sleeping.-with regular usage which includes browsing music messages and phone calls I easily get 2 sometimes 3 days of battery life but I allow my battery to drain fully before i charge it.-Note that to conserve battery I only turn on GPS or wifi when I am about to use them and the screen is set to automatic brightness.......CLOSING.....-Despite this phone coming out in 2010 it STILL competes with phones from this year and in some cases even defeats them.-Runs android 2.3.4 which is a fantastic OS and UI. If u root this phone u can upgrade the OS further but that is probably not necessary.-This device excels everywhere from its build quality, to its features, to its implementation of software.-This phone can help you get important tasks done on the go.-This is a very productive, versatile, efficient, carefully designed device that has ALOT to offer and you will have a hard time replacing it.-If u like gaming on the go THIS PHONE DELIVERS!!!!-Great keyboard-Fast smooth performance-PREEEETTY--You will have a hard time finding a better deal for a badass android smartphone like this one.-very few flaws. No front cam. No Number keys... that's it-BEST PHONE I'VE EVER OWNED!!!

Okay, I'll go over a couple of things I did like first, so as to not be a total negative. The back of this phone (where the battery and sim goes) is very easy to open thanks to a little slide button that pops it off, and the sim and battery are both very easy to install and remove. Umm... okay, I think that's it on the positives. On the negative side, if you are buying this just for the QWERTY keypad, don't expect to hit a shift or up arrow to then be able to use the characters on the tops of the keys. Instead there is a button that puts you onto a separate character screen that you have to use. Sort of defeats the purpose. Also, not many ring tones come with it, and if you want to download more, or check your account balance, this phone seems to make that really difficult. All of the other phones I've had (including the SII I'm using now instead of this one) do that just fine - so it's not the type of account. Also, I found that locking the phone would sometimes lock it, and sometimes shut it down completely, and I couldn't tell when I was doing which. I had a hard time with just about everything. So when the display started flashing black on one side and wouldn't stop until I shut it off, I just gave up and returned the darn thing. I think I can see why HTC is going out of business. <<sigh>> Bye-bye QWERTY keyboards...

Lets first discuss the pro's:- Works with Straight Talk - Tmobile Sim Card Service- Which on that network gives 3.5 G service of up to 8 Mbps speed- Phone can be easily rooted, but it starts off as Gingerbread 2.3.4- Phone can have the Andromadus Rom which includes Cyanogen Mod and the latest Jelly Bean (Works Perfectly)- Phone can have installed the clockworkmod (Touch version or non touch version).- Phone runs at around 1 Ghz but can be over clocked at 1.8 Ghz, but I wouldn't clock it that high. *Has only 1 processor, extremely fast*- Phone accepts 32 Gb SD Card (Class 10) and can have the SD Booster Application installed that will use caching capabilities.- $150 is a good overall price for this type of phoneNow the cons/negatives:- Phones backing is easily scratchable, especially if you put your phone in with your key pocket.- Phone will sometimes shut off by itself without touching anything (Even its Rom or unrom)- Phone sometimes freezes up through out the use.- The keyboard opens, but it opens upward then downward by small plastic hinges- The lighting on the keyboard sometimes turns on and sometimes doesn't.- Phone has only an internal of around 1.5 to 2 Gb. Most of the internal GB of the remaining 2 Gb is taking up in partitioning and even having a Rom won't solve that.- Was unsuccessful to get link2SD partitioning to work on the external SD Card (It stated your phone doesn't support this or your phone is not rooted, even if it is rooted).- Sim Card sometimes acts oddly with newly rom'd phones.Overall, the phone was exactly what I was looking for and works to my standards. In my overall opinion, the phone is worth every penny. This old phone still out beats manyof the $400 - $600 dollars phones that are on the market. Grab these phones as quickly as you can before they are all gone.