Gadgetory

even if it wasn't the best kept secret LG's flagship is finally here and we can definitely say that we are excited with what we see hey it's Josh with regard from Android Authority what's going on everybody and this is your first hands-on with the LG g3 now obviously the hero of this device is right on the front which is the 5.5 inch display that has 2560 by 1440 resolution making it a 2k or quad HD display but before we get to that let's take a look at the general design LG's signature button layout returns once again as the volume rockers and the power burner on the back now this is pretty much the main reason why the sights happened to be so thin and if you're not really that used to the back button layouts from the LG g2 then it will take a little bit of time to get used to but on the g3 they do feel even better with a much meteor feel and they're a little more pronounced as well you will notice one other thing on the back as there's another little area that has appeared next to the camera this is the auto focus laser which we will talk about more later but aside from that to the entire backing which is removable in this international version of the phone is made not necessarily of a metallic material but it is a hybrid of sorts where the polycarbonate has been given a brushed finish to make it feel a lot sturdier than the glossy plastic of the LG g2 it almost has a matted feel but it's more brush - the best way we can put it is as brushed plastic and it is a great upgrade from the original no matter how you slice it 5.5 inches in the screen does make for a large device and that's the reason why the ultra-thin bezels are really the main draw here aside from the resolution of the screen after having a move away from the glossy plastic the feel is great in the hand and that curved allows it to rest comfortably you will be able to do more on this phone with one hand than you can with most other devices out there of this size and that is a feat that LG can be very proud of all right so let's jump into that display which is the defining feature of the g3 and of course it is the beautiful 5.5 inch display that has a resolution of 2560 by 1440 resulting in a massive pixel density of about 534 PPI now there was a claim that the human eye is unable to see pixel densities of over 300 PPI as was being presented at least in the launch event but apparently that is not the case in lg wants to prove that by providing a massive pixel density in this screen granted this may not be the first quad HD display on the market as the Opel find seven kind of beat LG to the punch but everyone is still waiting for it so LG has a feather in their cap now as being the first company to provide a widely available 2k or quad HD display and as expected it is as handsome as you would want it to be as it brings great brightness viewing angles and of course crisp and clear texts and images as far as performance goes the LG g3 keeps up with the current trends as it packs the best processing package currently available with the qualcomm snapdragon 801 processor now looking at the performance aspect of every other flagship with this processing package is a good indication of what you could expect out of the g3 despite that higher resolution display we don't expect any slowdown in this particular device and in the little time that I had with it I did not experience that on the hardware front you will be able to expand the built-in memory with microSD cards of up to 128 gigabytes so storage shouldn't be a problem and the full range of connectivity options are available here including NFC and 4G LTE in all applicable markets the LG g3 also packs a large 3000 milliamp hour battery which was removable and replaceable in this international version of the g3 that I was using and in my short time with it I would not be able to tell you what the battery life is obviously but it will be interesting to see how much of a drain that quad HD display may cause hopefully the power saving features found in the GUI will definitely help it let us stand the test of time we move over to the camera which is an experience that we're very excited to see and to put through its paces as it pretty much is similar to what you would get with the G pro 2 but does have some extras first of all in the app you will find that there's 13 megapixel rear shooter is backed by a very nice app application that has been somewhat revamped in order to give you a more simplistic outlook simplicity is what LG is going for here on the camera differently shows it as you should be able to just touch and shoot and be able to get pictures going with really no trouble at all and this is made possible with some additions like OAS Plus which we already saw in the G pro 2 and we did say that it was quite a good performer now let's go ahead and talk about that Hardware side where there's a laser as now found near the camera that helps with quick and accurate autofocus now essentially it uses a technology that you would find in DSLR cameras these days where a laser is bounced off of the objects that it is supposed to be focusing upon and it will be able to find the point easier now this should play its part at the very least in making the g3 a much better autofocus er than the very slow g2 before it but overall you do get some good shots with vibrant colors and these are some samples that I was able to get off of the camera of the g3 off of the phone rather and you'll be able to see that the quality is actually quite good but we're gonna put through its full paces and give a full camera shootout once the time comes one interesting feature that was actually really fun to use was in the front-facing camera which is a 2.1 megapixel shooter @f 2.0 aperture which provides better low-light performance obviously to improve your selfie game now speaking of that selfie game basically that feature I'm talking about is when you bring your hand up and the camera detects that you'll see a box that is detected is at that point that you can just create a fist and it will count down at that point once it detects that in order to take the selfie for you so you don't have to use the on-screen buttons or even the down volume button on the back in order to take that picture and finally the g3 runs Android 4.4.2 with LG's GUI interface right on top which has received an overhaul from previous iterations now which is something that you're probably going to be very excited about because it looks like LG is moving towards a more flatter more minimalistic look overall trying to scale things back a little bit it also moves away from the bright and colorful nature of the previous iterations of the Optimus UI as it was called before it's not as cluttered as before thank goodness as when you'd bring down the notification drop-down you'll find that LG has adopted the circle motif as well and you find it in that quick setting at the top you would be able to have quite a few notifications here now because all of those toggles are not taking up all of the space the software is still as packed with features as ever as a lot of useful additions have been added on top of returning applications like the multitasker where you can use two applications at once and of course the NOC code which was originally introduced in the g pro 2 now some new additions are all called smart something as being able to provide a concierge like service is really what this one is trying to do one is like the smart cleaning what recommends an installation of apps that you may not have used in a while and also there is a new smart keyboard that allows for much more customization than other keyboards available including adjusting the height to what suits you the best and as far as circles go there is the quick circle case that LG is making for the g3 which I was able to take a look at and you will see a hands-on video of it a little bit later but let's put it this way it is a nice smart cover for the LG g3 that has its own unique style and function and it is pretty fun to use especially when you use the camera through that little circle at the top and so there you have it for this first look at the LG g3 what excites us the most about this phone is the fact that at a 5.5 inch 2k display you will still be able to use the phone quite easily in one hand and that is just a feat of design especially with that thin bezel all around and the fact that there is a great 13 megapixel óas plus camera on the back that should provide some great shots especially with some laser focusing that really speeds up the process so keep it tuned to Android Authority for all of the best coverage of the LG g3 and stay tuned because I have a lot of comparison videos coming up some quick looks against the current flagship devices available so keep it tuned here and remember we are your source for all things Android