Buket Tech: LG G4 - First Impressions

You could only imagine my emotions after getting my LG G3, 2 months down the line LG release the G4. As would any tech fundy, you want the best and the latest that is out there on the market, not to say the G3 is bad but knowing there is a newer one out there just annoys me a tad bit. Anyway, LG invited me to the local launch of the LG G4 at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga, like all their events, theres an element of class to it. From the venue, to the presentations and the of course the product.

It was the first time I was going to get to see the phone in metal but before I could get my  hands on it, LG's GM for Marketing, Thomas van der Linde gave us an insight into the thought process that went into creating the G4 before Eric, LG's Mobile Product Manager took us through a video presentation of the features and design of the G4. 

One thing I've come to realised about LG is their dedication of perfecting something. Having the tech isn't enough till they know they have made it to the best possible level at that time and that's exactly what makes the LG G4 one step ahead of its competitors. During his talk, Thomas said that the LG G4 has the best camera on the market at the moment, with a F1.8 lens making pictures taken in low light brighter, even faster reacting laser focus and a choice of 3 modes for the user, with manual mode mimicking settings that of a DSLR. It's the first time I've seen a camera phone that offers such, giving you the opportunity to manipulate various settings before shooting the ideal picture that is captured on its 16 megapixel camera. The phone also gives the user access to the raw image file, which is another first.

Also worthy to note is the image stabilizer on the G4 which has a 2 degree offset which gives the phone a quicker response time to stabilize when taking pictures. LG have taken note the important of selfies and upgraded its front facing camera on the G4 to an 8 megapixel lens and like the G3 has the hand gesture trigger function but now with a slight twist. The single fist takes 1 snaps, opening and clasping your hand twice triggers the phone to take 4 consecutive photos. Everyone knows you don't take the perfect selfie in a single shot so this is the perfect way to work around that. 

The screen continues to marvel with an IPS Quantum Display in Quad High Definition, it really enhances the pictures and gives true representation of the pictures taken. It's the first Quad HD display to employ Advanced in-cell touch (AIT) technology, which combines the LCD and touch sensor into a single layer to provide better colour reproduction and touch sensitivity. This new display is calibrated for DCI (Digital Cineman Initiatives) standards for colour expression, championed by top Hollywood studios. Watching Videos in 4K is also great on the LG G4's display and gives you a true colour representation of what you're viewing.

Moving on to the design, although it looks very much like the G3 the G4 is a bit different with a the phone having a slight curvature to it. LG believe this is where the market is heading, with curved phones a thing of the future, it might not be as drastic as the G Flex but it is visible to the naked eye. They claim this minimises the risk of damage by 20% if the handset were to fall. 

The phone comes with both an aluminium diamond cut bad which feels very comfortable in your hand. The diamond cut provides better grip but the phone also comes with an interchangeable leather back. It was confirmed that this is 100% genuine leather that is hand stitched. It's a nice touch by the manufacturer and really adds to that premium product feel to the phone. When asked if these added to the price, it was noted that LG chose to absorb these things in offering the consumer a premium product at an acceptable price. No price for the phone has been released as yet but they said its in the region of R430 and R499 a month on contract which is about the same I'm paying for my G3! So you can only imagine my frustration now!

Overall, the phone looks like the market leader for now and I'm not just saying that because I own a LG. Every aspect on the phone from the screen, to the processor and the camera is unmatched by any devices currently on the market, not even that one with the beveled screen that serves no purpose. I'm looking forward to get on to test in the near future and then I can give you a more in depth review of it.  

Bucket Tech: LG G3 - Review

Even the box is fancy

When people are due for an upgrade for their smart phone, natural instincts will direct them to the internet to read reviews on the latest gadgets that's thrown out their by the various brands. Most reviews are long and filled with technical mumbo jumbo that you don't understand but boast to your friends anyway because it makes your phone sound cool. A few weeks ago I was given the LG G3 to review but I'm putting a twist to this one, instead of regurgitating what everyone else is writing about, I'm going to take a leaf from the brand's marketing slogan for the phone "simple is the new smart" and give you a simplified, first hand experience with the phone and how it will affect your life on a daily basis.

Looks

Having attended the launch and seeing what the phone was capable of, I was pretty excited to get this phone for reviewing purposes. Playing with it for 30 minutes is one thing but having it a part of your daily routine makes a big difference and that is where the true test comes in. Lets start of with the cosmetics, the phone definitely looks the part, with its brushed aluminium finish available in various colours, 5.5" LCD screen and no buttons on the front make the phone sleek and sexy in appearance. The main power button and volume buttons are quote oddly located on the back of the phone, LG says it makes them more accessible when using the phone with one hand...yeah, didn't really do it for me. There are also flap covers available for the phone with a first of its kind round cut out for a display interface. I highly recommend the cover as I found the phone if dropped, can scratch easily.

Quad HD display is phenomenal

Display

Undoubtly one of the main talking points about the LG G3 is its screen, I kid you not when I say this, it will leave you speechless. It's the first phone to use Quad HD technology, what is Quad HD? Well precisely what the name says, four times HD. The screen has pixel density of 538ppi, which basically means the quality of the images view are true-to-life. LG is setting the standard with this one for future brands to follow and I'm glad they're settled for a 5,5" screen. It seems the norm size but it keeps the phones physical size to a respectable level and you won't feel like you're carrying around a phablet. Of course there is a catch to this phenomenal screen, with the clarity and brightness being so high, it uses a massive amount of battery life. Just over 30% to be exact!

Picture taken at night, on Auto mode with low light

Camera

With many of our current smart phones, the camera's are good but not great. The guys at LG took this into consideration when deciding on the camera that came with the G3. In the end what they've created is nothing short of magical, a 13 megapixel camera with optical image stabilizer and laser focus which translates to the end user take almost perfect pictures all the time, every time, anytime, anywhere and in any lighting conditions. Laser focus enables the phone to focus on the object in milli seconds, allowing the user to snap almost real time pictures, therefore not missing a second of the action. Couple this with the optical image stabilizer and blurred pictures are a thing of the past. There are occasions it does take a while to focus but when I say a while, its still way faster than any phone out there. It also has dual flashes which make pictures much more clearer and adds more detail to whats being captured. 

Taking selfies with help from Chia of the Socialite

Selfies Made Easy

The front camera is pretty decent at 2.1 megapixels, the clarity difference is very noticeable but one of the key features of it has to be the selfie detection. We live in an era where taking a selfie is becoming as important as breathing for some and with one having to press a button to capture it, it often moves the phone and you end up taking 50 selfies before chosing one to post to instagram. With the LG G3, it has a built in gesture control to activate the camera. It's quite neat to use as I demonstrated with many during the time in which I had the phone, simply activate the front facing camera, get everyone in the frame, open your palm and make sure it is visible in the screen, when ready to take a picture, clench your first to capture. It will give you a 3 second countdown and capture the perfect selfie every time. This will save you plenty of time in the future and make you look less of a nana. 

Smart Notice

Operating System

The make or break thing for me on a phone is the OS, Android has flooded the market with the various brands but many of them choose not to customise it too much which leaves me and others feeling that there is just too much to the thing. Not saying that it's bad, some people do feel like they want to be operating the Starship Enterprise when using their smart phone but for others, they just want something simple to operate, hence they keep going back to Apple. LG however have taken the step to customise Android's KitKat v4.4.2 to their phone. Simplifying the OS to the devices needs and cutting out all the other junk that you would find on a standard Android device. It makes the device much more user friendly to operate for everyone. I guess that's what they meant by "simple is the new smart" because at the end of the day, your cellphones primary use is to make and receive phone calls, well and now to receive whatsapp messages. 

Google Now tracking my where abouts

Google Intergration

Being Android, the phone is fully Google functional, what I found pretty cool was the voice activated Google search, by use of a trigger sentence "Okay Google", it will open up the search menu, awaiting your search instruction. So you can search for something on the internet without having to type anything! Google has integrated itself well and the phone also comes with Google Now, which pretty much is like a PA for you, or a creepy stalker that tracks your every move. No really it does, it will gather that the place you stayed at over night is home, and track your daily travel routes, notifying you if there are any delays on the route. It even tracks your location to bring you precise weather reports of the area you're in! The phone has access to Google's play store which has thousands of applications to chose from, besides the social media apps, one can find almost anything that they might find interesting. LG also have a store of their own but that is mainly for applications realted to the phone. 

Accessories

As mentioned before, the phone will have LG covers available for it, LG have also released a wireless charging mat for the G3, the downside to it is that is has to be plugged in to charge, so I don't really see the point. With Nokia's it worked as a portable battery pack. The main accessory for the G3 would have to be it's watch, what makes it different and miles apart from its competitors devices is that you can use it on any android device and is not limited to LG products. The watch also makes use of Googles voice activated menu which makes usability effortless. 

Verdict

While there may be some flaws with the phone, such as build quality and battery life, there is no phone out there at the moment that is perfect but I'd like to say that this one is almost near perfect. Most of the features and key aspects of the phone is revolutionary which is basically setting standards for others to follow. Add to that the good looks and simplified Android user interface LG have modified and you really do have a winning phone. The only other phone that came come close to this is the Oneplus Plus but with limited stock and only available to purchase via invite, LG is sure to have that part of the market sorted. Many times I get asked the question on which is the best phone on the market and I always tell people that the answer is based on user preference because we were flooded with similar devices but at long last there is a device that stands out from the rest of the crowd and while LG might not be very popular with the main crowd, they sure do have a great product out.

Specifications

Processor: Quad-core 2.5GHz Krait 400

Memory: 16gig onboard with 2 gigs of RAM

Screen: 5.5" Quad HD LCD, 16 million colours, 1440 x 2560 resolution

Camera: Back - 13 megapixel with optical image stabiliser & laser autofocus, Front - 2.1 megapixel

Battery life: Talk time - 19 hours, Standby - 565 hours

Some pics taken with the phone

Bucket Tech: LG G3 - First Impressions

Last week I was invited to the Durban leg of the official lauch for the LG G3 mobile phone. The venue, one of Durban's finest 5 star hotels, the Osyter Box. With such an extravagent venue, one would be inclined to think that the device that was due to be launched was equally elegant and fancy and we were not disappointed! After the brief meet and greet with the folk from LG and formalities it was onto the business, what is so special about this phone?

Taking off from the success of the previous models, the G2 and G Flex, the G3 embodies most of those those qualities that made the previous devices so great but with a lot more added to make it probably the best phone on the market right now. I know, that is a pretty bold statement to make but after taking everything into consideration, and seeing what it can do, I can't see any other competitor in the market right now to rival it. 

Simplicity

The tag line for the phone "Simple is the new smart", which may appeal to the the average Android user. You see many of the brands that use the Android OS on their devices tend to make the user interface a bit too expansive, with various menus, side menus, drop down menus, flick menus, widget menus, god knows what menus but with the LG it's much less complicated and cluttered. Everything you need is easily accessible and in front of you, with LG's smart notice it displays various updates and calendar events at different times of the day, it also incoperates Google Now which tracks your various activities during the day and is like your PA. 

The Screen

The screen has become one of the most key features of the mobile device of recent as many manufacturers opting to do away with the keyboard for the touch screen option. It offers the user a bigger display to use and more freedom for applications. On the G3, it is the first phone to have a Quad HD LCD display, technology that is just new to televions are now on this phone! Thats 4 x HD = 2,560 x 1,440 at 538ppi. The clarity and picture definition on the 5.5" screen is incredible, seeing is really believing with this one. 

The Camera

The phone comes with a 13 megapixel rear camera with OIS+ and a 2.1 megapixel front facing camera. Though the stand out feature of the primary camera is the focus speed, it has auto laser focus which enables the camera to focus and capture almost instantly. It takes 0.278 seconds to focus and then snap, thus eliminating blurred, out of focus pics. Also with the dual flash it makes the pictures much brighter and clearer. The front facing camera is nothing special but also has a cool feature to it. We are living in the selfie generation at the moment so knowing this, LG have devised a way for the user to taake a self with just hand gestures. Open palm to signal to take the picture and then close it to snap. 

Verdict

That just some of the key aspects that make this phone great, obviously just playing around with it for a few minutes won't tell me much about the phone but we will be getting a test unit soon to put it through its paces and see if it lives up to their hype. Other note worthy things about the phone is it's wireless charging capabilities and a key security feature being the new knock code unlocking method. The phone is available in various colours and has a custom made cover to suite. Look out for the full review later on this year.