Gadgetory

in a landscape where phones are starting to slim down inside and out LG has decided to go the opposite route in the hope that they will provide users a phone that is quite literally everything to everybody this is Josh regard from Android thority what's going on everybody and this is the LG g4 it seems what worked in the last two high-end releases from LG have come together to create this brand new device curves different kinds of backings and a large form factor are all par for the course here the 5.5 inch screen dictates the size of the whole phone along with its handling with the pretty slim bezel all around however it manages to keep pretty narrow especially compared to its predecessor it is a bit taller than the g3 but that is mitigated by a very subtle curve no you won't be getting the same immersive quality that was found to the more acute angle of the G flex 2 but LG claims that even this small curvature will afford the g4 the same benefits of durability 20% more than any other slab smartphone the sides do remain quite thick but there are no buttons to be found on the sides and this is because the LG signature button layout returns and is found right below the larger camera optic package on the back with power button flanked by volume rocker the power button is pretty slim but thankfully it feels just different enough from the other buttons that it's easy to find the right area to press and it all falls squarely where the index finger would lay making for a design choice that continues to make sense and continues to be aesthetically unique what curves may be missing in the front of the phone or best felt on the back and despite its somewhat thicker profile this curve definitely helps with the handling and in the g4 we have one of the best-handling large form factor devices around now I tend to go back and forth with phablets because I prefer to have a good measure of one-handed usage but the g4 manages to really toad that line of comforts thankfully the phone rest nicely in the hand and in the pocket so the hand gymnastics required don't bother as much backings for the g4 will come in a number of different styles obviously the one that I have right here is the titanium finished plastic and as far as the plastic versions go there is a gold and a white ceramic finish available as well and all of them have this very subtle grid pattern on the back that you're seeing in these close-up shots but the story here is of course those leather backings it is definitely the fashion statement that LG is making with the g4 and the leather comes in a slew of colorways these backings might be a point of contention for some because they are actually sourced from cows and vegetable tanned while I don't have a leather backing we did enjoy the time we had with it at the launch event and found that everyone tends to prefer a different color in the leather and what might be LG's biggest design selling point is the fact that these backings are removable yes compared to other flagships today you will be able to use spare batteries and expand the storage with microSD cards underneath those covers the LG g4 is ultimately like a G flex to only its design has been further refined and has a less of your curve though we do wonder if the leather backing was more removed to prevent this release from seeming to incremental even if that were the case though LG's design language remains distinctive and recognizable and that ultimately makes for a very attractive phone all around in the g4 LG ups the ante in the display Department with an even better iteration of their quad HD display this time called the quantum display underneath showing names we still have a 2560 by 1440 resolution IPS display at 5.5 inches pumping up 538 pixels per inch what makes this panel different comes down to science quite literally LG's presentation focused on how actual molecules are being manipulated as it passes through a phosphor layer the result of being an even better color gamut than typical IPS screens can provide but what is probably easier to understand is LG's philosophy on displays this time around in the g4 they are looking to adhere to the DCI standard normally reserved for television and cinema whereas Samsung Super AMOLED displays of the world go past this standard with its overly saturated colors the g4 stays 98% within those parameters to provide the proper experience now without some real knowledge of film standards it is hard to really tell if LG has hit that mark but the difference can be somewhat seen in this comparison shot the Samsung phone is a little more saturated for sure what matters however is that the g4 s display is still powerful and pleasing to the eye blacks are adequately shown colors are definitely very vibrant and all tasks look great on it a couple of small nuances from the g3 return however like a smoothening of the screen elements that can be observed mostly when viewing and scrolling through text perhaps like the g3 it is the sharpness on these types of areas to lower power consumption of course knock on and knock code also returns so double tapping the screen to turn it on or tapping a pattern at any time in order to unlock the device are available big words and scientific language aside the display on the g4 is worthy of a high-end flagship and there certainly have been no complaints here from us it's in performance that LG has taken a bit of an unconventional route we might expect the latest and greatest processing packages to be found in these high-end flagships but that just isn't necessarily the case here on paper it might look like LG took a step back with a snapdragon 808 which is a six core processor backed by three gigabytes of RAM but as manufacturers seem to be getting more these days it's more about optimization rather than just sheer power and with that LG's usually bloated UX man just a truck along with the smoothness and speed that might be a bit surprising in my daily usage of the phone there have been no hiccups or stutters throughout and what little delay I may have experienced came when ABS needed to be reloaded from the recent apps screen but even that pause was pretty negligible so whatever close relationship LG has the Qualcomm definitely seems to obtain off browsing among applications is a breeze even when using the dual window functionality and when gaming intensive games are not hindered by the two core shortage as the Adreno 418 is still able to do its job in the graphics department despite many of the LG elements remaining in this new version of the UX the snappiness of it all almost makes it feel otherwise and it all makes a case that taking great care and optimizing the processor to the needs of the software and vice versa can often be a better recipe for success we already touched on this subject a bit earlier and we're also sure that LG will heavily push these features but the removable battery and expandable storage are this phone's main cornerstones the expandable storage will be most useful for photographers that will take advantage of the raw capture ability of the g4 souped-up camera but most everyone will agree that it's nice to have a buffer for space now it is important for me to mention that this version of the g4 is the Korean Edition and as such as is par for the course here these phones will not connect to LTE networks here in the state so I had to rely on HSPA+ connectivity which was for the most part reliable but some of the testing that I did here in this hardware section will have to wait until I get a stateside version of the phone and it Artest back onto it nonetheless connections on the t-mobile network for HSPA+ were still quite good and phone calls were all pretty good as well and the subtle curve of the phone is felt when holding the phone to one's face it's not quite a banana phone but it sits well to the contours of the cheek and the rear-facing speaker sounds better than before with more body and richness especially in the lower ends and it's also quite loud unfortunately still having it on the rear is a hindrance and finally like I stated already battery life will be further tested in a stateside version of LG's flagship but I can report that in my specific case scenario with this one the g4 did pretty well in my daily usage while on Wi-Fi primarily especially here at the house but also for HSPA connectivity abroad I was able to get about 3 hours of screen on time for a total of about 16 hours of total usage and that's because the standby time on the LG g4 is actually quite great in even a much heavier usage day the one I mentioned where I did a lot of GPS navigation almost an hour's worth to be exact and also a lot of music streaming in my car I still got about three hours of screen on usage even though the total time was back down to maybe about 10 hours nonetheless three hours of screen on time is pretty good and with a good standby time you can really get this phone to go for a whole day with no problems at all and of course you can use a spare as well and you really might want to take advantage of those spare batteries because quick charging capabilities are noticeably absent here I have noticed that the phone charged quicker than normal using higher power current wall adapters like the Motorola quick charger but it is definitely not up to the speed of Qualcomm's 2.0 or even other iterations like oboes vu charger so stay tuned for a follow up review on a US version of the g4 in the coming weeks for even more it might be a game of one-upmanship for LG as it tries to provide more than specifically the Korean brethren Samsung in the camera department but ultimately we might all be winners as LG brings yet another high-quality camera to this year's Android game you can already see it on the back a larger camera package that we've seen on any conventional Android device and this larger sensor comes with the F 1.8 aperture lens and is flanked by a laser autofocus a flash and under it a color spectrum sensor so the g4 has quite a bit going for it physically as a larger sensor will also benefit from an even better optical image stabilization first the front-facing camera though it is a megapixels providing a larger photo than many competitors but also comes with a couple gesture centric features bring up the hand and close it to trigger our countdown or do the gesture twice I take four pictures in succession and then bring down the phone immediately after the shot to automatically review this selfie this might be the more useful feature because we still think that just hitting the shutter button on the selfie cam is just as quick and requires a little bit less effort we still might put the front-facing camera of the g4 as one of the better iterations in Android right now as it has good detail and a wide enough perspective for group shots but now the interface which brings with it a few different modes simple allows for tapping on subjects for quick laser focusing and immediate snapping the auto mode opens up a few more possibilities which are easily seen via the controls and then there's the manual mode it is here that the budding photographer will have a great many tools at its fingertips everything from a histogram for accurate levels to shutter speeds as long as 30 seconds to a full white balance Kelvin gamut are available for tweaking the picture just right and all of the changes will show in the viewfinder so there is little guesswork to be had in this manual mode and even then if you're not happy with the JPEG that comes out you can shoot simultaneously in RAW format which opens up the possibilities even more as the photographer can take the raw capture and prep and mess with every setting available in a program like Lightroom of course the RAW files will be huge so expandable storage makes a lot of sense in that case white balance is a very important aspect of this camera as the IR backed color spectrum sensor works to analyze the entire scene and get accurate color reproduction and the very act of taking pictures is still a breeze here because of the laser guided autofocus indeed using this camera neither the auto or simple modes brings one of the easiest picture-taking experiences available and the resulting pictures do happen to be quite great and good - even better lighting the 16 megapixel photos are really pleasing especially with the low aperture lending to nice depth of field perspectives for close or far focus when zooming in one can find that a noise reduction is still at work here as the grain is smooth out this de tracks just a little bit from the overall sharpness of the image but doesn't do so to a large degree this is better seen in lower light situations where the camera also seemingly opts to have slower shutter speed instead of just higher iso making clear shots a bit tougher to capture because you have to keep a steady as possible and then lower light prominent light sources are a bit blown out but again not to a terrible degree we give the g4 high marks for having a great camera interface and a fast picture taking experience its photos are ultimately quite great but fall just short of being the top and best in Android today because it still has a bit of smudgy post-processing going on make no mistake about it however the g4 camera is definitely one of the best companions a user can have in the pocket and finally in software we focus on the speed of the LG UX but there are a few new additions in the g4 mainly the calendar app has been updated to use just about any captured area of the phone as reminders on dates it takes away from having to fill in a lot of information but those who prefer high organization might still opt for those textual elements and the gallery has been given categories for easy looking back at one's memory so it is generally better organized overall as well LG's continued relationship with Google it's easily seen here in the g4 with chrome being the default browser and integrations with Google Drive baked in not to mention a free 100 gigabytes of drive for two years but the UX largely looks the way it did in the G flex 2 with new lollipop stud elements and plenty of features all around dual window adds to multitasking and then there are plenty of contextual features included in the smart notice widgets now there are more reasons for the widget to tell you pieces of information as it will give you suggestions not only for current weather conditions but also warn the user of when applications in the background are continuously draining battery these suggestions aren't bad per se but they might not be quite as useful as LG thinks they would be for everyone qslide apps also return so if you do need to have a floating window for things like a dialer or a calculator the line of applications will add extra girth to the notification drop-down and finally there is the smart bulletin which is a second screen to the far left that brings information from a number of sources including LG health and plenty of tips for better usage of the phone it's a better way of showing these features than have been before but thankfully it can also be turned off in the settings the LG UX offers a lot without getting too far into the users face which has been a gradual but is a very welcome change still its snappiness because of the optimization with the Snapdragon way is definitely felt here so the LG g4 just continues this trend of very fast Android iterations for 2015 the LG g4 will come in at the premium price for a flagship on carriers and as we have been told it will be the same price unlocked as the LG g3 was when it was first released obviously the main competitors in the space include Samsung and HTC who have released their flagship devices earlier this year it's been a great year so far with flagships in 2015 with every phone bringing different offerings to the table and the del G g4 is trying to bring the most the great camera experience is backed by yet another speedy iteration of Android in a body that remains recognizable and attractive due to LG's signature design language if what are missing in other flagships kept you from buying them the g4 just might be the phone that you're looking for it isn't a big leap from the previous versions of the G but then again plenty of this year's releases haven't been either but if you want something unique the g4 is among the best choices you have today with expansion options only sweetening the deal and if you had any doubt that LG was falling behind in the competition the g4 is surely an example that they haven't lost their touch as always thank you very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review of the LG g4 where fans over the phone it still brings a unique design language with a pretty great camera experience and everything underneath just happens to be pretty good as well if you're looking for a phone that is not only large but also has all of the features that you feel are missing from the current flagships then this might be the phone that you've been waiting for we are going to do a follow-up review with a US version hopefully leather-clad in order to give you an even better look at the battery life and even more features of it based upon a stateside version of the phone so make sure you stay tuned for that and for even more videos on the LG g4 especially all of my comparisons with Samsung and HTC in the market as well and keep it tuned here for all of that and even more jabba some likes on our video subscribe to our channel if you haven't already check out even more content from my colleagues in android and remember to head on over to android authority comm because we are your source for all things Android