If you had access to a time-travelling DeLorean and for some reason made the bizarre choice to go back only a couple of years, you'd be presented with a very different LG presence in the mobile space compared to what's going on today. LG is, of course, a long-standing name in the electronics business and something of a powerhouse when it comes to home appliances and the like, but a few years ago it wasn't doing so well in the mobile market.
LG had been making moves in the mobile industry for quite some time, just like Samsung, but while its fellow Korean rival was making waves and millions of sales, LG ended up wallowing around on the edges with little consumer interest in its devices. Samsung and Apple still dominated the space. For LG, phone after phone flopped.
LG's massive successes in other areas, like TVs, meant it still had enough clout and cash to keep throwing money at the problem though.
Part of the issue was that the firm didn't take a global enough approach. It would launch a new device in Asia, and then it would take forever to make it across to other markets, stifling sales. By the time a new LG phone landed on foreign shores, it was often not such a new phone, with technology onboard that had been rapidly superceded by rivals that were faster out the gate with new offerings.
Then things changed. LG launched the LG G2 at an event in New York, and rolled it out globally. What's more, it was packing a plethora of hot new tech to tantalise consumers. Sure, it didn't topple its rivals, but it did fairly well. And crucially it caught Google's attention, which led to a partnership and both the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 being developed by LG, gaining it a lot more consumer attention for its own devices.
The LG G3 followed, and landed at a time when Samsung's Galaxy S5 floundered, allowing it to take the crown for best smartphone of 2014. That leads us to now, and meant that when the LG G4 launched earlier this year there was a hotbed of rabid anticipation for the next model. Does the LG G4 live up to the hype? Let's take a look...
LG G4 Review: Design
The LG G3 was one of the most successful handsets of 2014. It was the first with a QHD display and boasted some of the thinnest bezels ever seen on a handset. For this reason and more it was very popular with users; I personally know several iPhone loyalists who jumped ship to pick up this phone, so the impact the G3 had on the space cannot be understated. It was a BIG deal.
LG hasn’t really done anything too drastic to the design. There are changes but they’re rather conservative. The buttons are still on the back of the device, the bezels are still uber slim, and the only real change is that the handset appears to have grown something of a forehead, though this is no bad thing. It still handles exceptionally well for a handset with a 5.5in display.
The chassis of the G4 is ever so slightly curved as well; it’s not G Flex-curved, but there is a slight arch to its construction which LG says makes talking on it that little bit easier. To be honest, I didn’t even notice it until someone in the office pointed it out… still, it’s a nice subtle feature that is clearly intended to make the end-user’s experience of using the G4 that little bit better.
The big deal re: design on this handset isn’t the front of the device, however, as all the action –– so to speak –– takes place round back. LG has come up with a bunch of very fetching leather back panels that can be switched around, owing to the G4’s removable back panel, or, if you prefer, one of the slightly duller, tacky-looking plastic setups.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering: YES, the battery can be removed and, YES, it DOES take SD-cards.
The bog standard plastic back panel, the one we got on our review unit, is pretty rubbish, not really all that much to look at. However, the leather setups, as you can see below, really are very cool. I know Samsung has already done something similar with its Note range, but I don’t care. I think LG has done a much better job tying the leather panel into the handset’s overall aesthetics. It sure as hell won’t be to everybody’s tastes, but that’s why LG made the back removable –– to give you picky beggars a choice.
The plastic back panels are available in the following colours: Metallic Gray, Ceramic White and Shiny Gold, while the leather setups come in the following: Black, Brown, Red, Sky Blue, Beige and, last but not least, Yellow
LG G4 Review: Display
HTC could learn a lot from LG, especially with respect to display technology. The LG G4 uses a QHD panel just like its predecessor, but rather than simply sticking with what came before –– a la HTC –– LG has actually made some very impressive improvements to the LG G4’s QHD panel.
The screen is incredible, as QHD panels usually are. But compared to last year’s model this 2560 x 1440 resolution (538ppi) setup still impresses, as LG has improved colour quality, performance in direct sunlight and, generally speaking, just tightened everything up quite a bit. You can tell this is a second-generation QHD panel, it smacks of second-generation improvements; small things you might not notice at first like its improved performance in direct sunlight, for instance, but things you will almost certainly appreciate when comparing to last year’s model.
The G4 uses a IPS Quantum Display and N-Type Liquid Crystals, which, granted, sounds like something out of an Asimov novella. But this is not just marketing guff, dreamt up by some intern fresh out of marketing school. No –– this stuff is why the G4’s display is perhaps one of the best QHD panels on market right now, with 25% improved brightness over its predecessor and 98% of the DCI colour gamut present and accounted for.
And if none of that makes sense, well, just take our word for it when we say the LG G4’s display is BONKERS good. Seeing is believing, though, and we’d strongly recommend checking one out in store to see just how good it actually is in real life.
The handset itself is pretty big by 2013 standards. But nowadays its 149 x 76 x 9.8mm chassis doesn’t feel too out of place, though it is quite a bit larger than Samsung’s Galaxy S6. Still, this is a sort of phablet device, depending on your definition, so size should not be an issue to anyone interested in this sort of device –– most Android handsets are in the 5.5in-6in range these days, anyways.
LG G4 Review: Software –– A Look At The Best New Bits
Android overlays are, at the best of times, overkill. Often they look rubbish, are packed with useless bloatware and do little in the way to add anything useful to the mix (i.e. nothing you can’t get using a third-party application of your choosing). Things aren’t as bad as they used to be, however, as more and more OEMs woke up to the fact that most consumers would prefer a nice, stock Android UX.
Now EVEN Better With Android Marshmallow Update
The latest update to the Android operating system offers a number of features designed to enhance the user experience, such as:
Permissions have been simplified with greater control of the information applications can access, not only at the installation stage but any time
Silent feature for sound and vibrate mode as well as a Do Not Disturb mode to block all sounds or only alarms and notifications
Doze Mode which shuts down background processing of certain apps when the phone is not in use, to significantly prolong battery life
"By working closely with Google, LG has been able to bring Android 6.0 to the G4 ahead of any of our competitors," said Chris Yie, vice president and head of marketing communications for LG Mobile Communications Company. "While speed alone isn't an indicator of great service, it does go a long way toward giving consumers the confidence that LG is committed to its existing customers first."
Samsung has stripped down TouchWiz to its bare bones, Motorola has switched to stock and HTC, who’s Sense UX is one of the more polished setups, has ensured everything is so well optimised using its overlay isn’t actually all that problematic. Sony’s needs A LOT of work and LG’s, like TouchWiz, has improved quite a bit in recent times.
In terms of how it looks, well, I guess it is fairly inoffensive. LG has attempted to jazz many of its elements with Google’s Material Design to varying effect. The iconography and fonts are nice and clear, infinitely preferable to Sony’s now archaic-looking overlay. It also features a bunch of me-too applications that track steps, health and the like –– everybody’s into health these days, you see.
I really do like the Knock on feature (whereby you double tap the display to wake the phone) and the built in IR Blaster, which is simple to use and extremely easy to set up. I had everything connected to it in my flat in under five minutes and working inside the QRemote application, bar Apple TV which, for obvious reasons, did not want to work.
Other useful features inside the new LG software include the ability to have multiple applications open on the home screen, just as you can on Samsung gizmos. This is a very useful feature but one I seldom use. Still, it is definitely worth mention because I know a lot of people really like this feature inside TouchWiz. The Gallery application has been revamped also and is now one of the best gallery solutions I’ve used on Android. It’s simple, easy to navigate and, most importantly, has excellent, well sign posted sharing options.
LG G2 To Receive Android 5.1.1 Lollipop: Means LG G3 & LG G4 Will Do Too!
In recent months there's been a bit of confusion over which of LG's devices will get the new version of Android Lollipop and when - there was a lot of talk about how LG had "no plans" just because certain carrier networks hadn't heard anything from LG on the subject, when asked by customers. Well now there's evidence that the LG G4 will indeed be getting Lollipop fairly soon!
It's pretty well established in the mobile space that you can get a good idea of which devices will be updated by a manufacturer depending on what's the lowest-level or oldest model pegged to receive the new software. While there are still no specific details about the LG G3 and LG G4, word has now emerged that the aging LG G2 will be updated to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop in the next two months. The news comes via AndroidPit.de and its anonymous source said to be an insider at LG's software development arm in Korea.
So that means it's fairly safe to assume that the LG G4 and LG G3 will be getting the same software update in the same time frame; September at the latest, but possibly earlier as they're newer models.
LG G4 Review: Specs & Hardware
Like the best of your friends, the LG G4 comes to the party armed to the teeth and ready for action with a wide array of updates, tweaks and refinements to core specs and hardware, though the most notable update of all is the camera –– more on that later though.
Inside you’ll find Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808 chipset, the cousin of the now, largely more prominent Snapdragon 810. Like the 810, the 808 is a 64-bit chipset and it is insanely powerful. These parts of reviews always feel a bit like overkill these days, as 99.9% of high-end phones are rocking truly phenomenal processing power and masses –– 3GB of RAM, in this instance –– of memory. The end result of all this, as you’d imagine, is a very similar experience across a variety of not very similar handsets.
To me, the Galaxy S6 broke new ground with respect to smoothness and general UX performance, surpassing anything Android-based I’d tested before. The LG G4 isn’t far behind though; it is a marked improvement on last year’s model and everything feels better as a result. I did run into some lag during the first few hours of usage but whatever caused this seemed to disappear pretty much straight away because it was smooth sailing from there on out.
The handset I tested shipped with 32GB eMMC ROM and can handle SD cards up to 128GB, a HUGE USP in today’s Android market now that Samsung has finally ditched removable batteries and SD-card support from its Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 EDGE handsets.
Basically, if you're in the market for a top of the line handset, but don’t want either the Samsung Galaxy S6 or Samsung Galaxy S6 EDGE, then you’d be hard pressed to find a better Android setup than the LG G4. It has everything you could want and a whole heap more besides. Take note, HTC. THIS is what the HTC One M9 should have been like.
LG G4 To Get Unlocked Bootloader
Well this is an interesting development. According to reports LG will allow users to unlock the bootloader on its handsets, starting with the LG G4.
The word comes via an official post on LG's "LG Developer" website, where the firm revealed the European LG G4 will be the first model to support the unlocks, this is model H815. So if you own that particular device and want to unlock it, you can go to the page and follow the instructions. That said, you should make sure you know what you're doing as unlocking it does void the warranty.
"We value your opinion. We have heard your opinions from the open developer community. Starting in 2015, LG will allow customers to unlock the bootloader for certain releases of LG smartphones," reads LG's statement.
"This will allow you to participate in Android development using LG hardware. Please be advised that this feature is intended for developers only. Therefore, we strongly recommend not to unlock the bootloader unless you fully understand what you are doing."
As well as allowing developers to directly create and test apps on LG's hardware, the bootloader unlock also means users can Root the phone and install custom version of Android, for example, getting a stock experience if desired.
LG wants to be numero uno of the mobile space when it comes to cameras. The company has invested untold millions into its imaging technology in a bid to surpass Apple and Samsung as the biggest name in mobile camera performance and nowhere is this more obvious than on the LG G4. The camera is AMAZING, perhaps even the best point and shoot setup we’ve used all year, including the iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S6.
It’s a 16-megapixel sensor paired with f/1.8 fast aperture lens and it shoots pretty incredible stuff, even in less than expert hands. Even the front-facing shooter is an impressive 8MP, indicating once again LG’s desire to be the last word when it comes to mobile phone cameras.
The key here though, is the f/1.8 fast aperture lens which lets in a lot more light than many of the G4’s competitors. This results in better shots in low-light as well as more detailed shots in normal lighting. The G4 does have a bit of a nasty habit of over-processing stuff, however, which is more noticeable when you pull images from the phone to your PC, but only the most hardcore of photographers are going to notice this, so do not be too alarmed –– it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Speaking of pros, the LG G4 camera does something rather special: in Auto mode, you’re given access to every conceivable control from manual focus, to shutter speed, to ISO to aperture value, which, providing you know what you're doing, allows for some seriously impressive shots. And if that wasn’t enough, you can even use DNG raw file format for some serious fun inside Photoshop. No other handset on market really does anything quite like this and, once again, we can see why LG has included it –– it wants to dethrone Apple as the go-to camera phone for professional photographers, and the only way it is going to do that is to give photography buffs what they want: CONTROL!
LG G4 Review: Battery
Battery performance is a funny thing to test, as it is so subject to user habits. But battery life is a big deal, always has been, always will be. Thing is –– the LG G3 wasn’t all that great, and a lot of this had to do with its QHD panel. Has the company made any improvements this time around, or are we looking at the same issues this time around too? Great display, rubbish battery life?
Samsung set the bar exceptionally high with the Galaxy S6; it used a gorgeous QHD panel but via some form of black magic or voodoo managed to improve battery life by a HUGE margin over 2014’s Galaxy S5 –– it’s also worth noting it did this while using a relatively teeny battery. As I said: witchcraft.
The LG G4 uses a 3000 mAh removable battery and, thanks to an update, it now supports Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 2.0 as well, meaning you can charge it from flat to around 80% in 30 minutes or less –– such a good feature. Actual battery performance is pretty damn respectable too, though not quite as good as the Galaxy S6 –– but, then again, not much else is.
During my two weeks with the LG G4 it never let me down, never once was I out late and realised it had died. It can do, at a push, 1.5 days with medium usage. Ramp things up to heavy, however, and you can, if you really try, run the battery down in a single day. If you are a heavy user, therefore, it is almost certainly worth topping up the handset around 4PM if you know you’re going out in the evening.
How does it compare to other handsets? Well, if I had to rank it in order of the handsets I’ve tested during the past 12 months, I’d say it is better than the Nexus 6 and HTC One M9 but not quite as good as the iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S6. Again, though, this is a BIG improvement on what came before, as last year’s G3, while impressive, was pretty pants when it came to battery life.
LG G4 Review: Verdict
LG has once again hit the ball out of the park. The LG G4 isn’t just a decent update to an already very good phone, it is now vastly improved with vastly superior imaging capabilities, improved battery performance and a beautifully refined display, which illustrates profoundly just why QHD, power hog that it is, is very much here to stay in flagship Android handsets. Once you’ve used a display this good you could never go back to a 1080p setup, it just wouldn’t feel right, which makes me all the more sad because now I have to go back to my iPhone 6 Plus…
I wasn’t too interested in this device prior to its launch, nor was I all that interested when it came through the mail to my flat. But now, after a couple of week’s worth of testing, I am completely besotted with this thing and love pretty much everything about it –– all that’s missing is a leather back panel, get me one of them and you’d have a zealot on your hands.
So who is the LG G4 for? Simple: anybody and everybody. If you’re bored of Apple, get this phone. If you’re bored of Samsung and don’t want either the Note 4 or the Galaxy S6, get this phone. Long standing HTC user that’s now grossly depressed about the HTC One M9? GET THIS PHONE.
It might not be the loudest and jazziest thing in the world but it is a solid handset that does everything you’d expect and a whole lot more. Pick one up and use it for a week or two and you’ll know what I’m talking about. This handset, like its predecessor, is one of the best Android phones money can buy right now.
LG has just announced a new variant on the LG G4, dubbed the LG G4c, which is pitched as a “competitively priced” model that shares “many of the same high-end user experience features” as the regular G4.
The LG G4c is a bit smaller than the regular LG G4, although not enough to call it a “mini” variant as it’s only half-an-inch smaller with a 5in display. LG describes it as being “more compact”, which is probably what the “c” stands for. While LG insists it has the LG G4’s “premium styling” it’s worth pointing out that the back panel options only include the metallic plastic grey, white, or gold. Leather seems to be reserved exclusively for the higher price tag LG G4. Apart from that though, it’s looking very similar in terms of shape and visual style.
Being a lower-cost device, the specs have taken an expected and unavoidable hit. The primary camera is an 8MP setup instead of the LG G4’s 16MP shooter, while the front-facer is 5MP. It’ll still feature LG’s gesture controls like Knock On, Knock Code, Gesture Shot, and Glance View.
Inside, the processor is a 1.2GHz quad-core setup with 1GB of RAM. There’s 8GB of onboard storage and microSD support for expansion via cards and a 2,540mAh removable battery cell. Naturally this handset runs Android Lollipop 5.0 with LG UX 4.0 on top.
Lastly, the display is not too shabby as it’s an IPS LCD with a 720p HD resolution at a whisker shy of 300ppi (294ppi to be precise); so basically the same as the iPhone for the last few generations prior to the iPhone 6.
Carphone Warehouse is now selling the LG G4c for £229 SIM-free.
LG G4 S Mid-Ranger On The Way
Word has reached our ears that LG is prepping an LG G4 S handset as a mid-range variant of its LG G4. According to information and pictures published by Russian web source Hi-Tech.Mail.Ru, the LG G4 S will be a slightly smaller version of the LG G4, but largely identical in terms of overall design. It will have a 1080p 5.2in display, an 8MP primary camera with LG's laser autofocus features and LED flash, and an unidentified 1.5GHz octa-core processor.
From the images we can see the phone will have the plastic bodywork options available, but there's no word on the leather backing seen on the higher-end LG G4. Our guess would be it will not be an available option to keep the mid-range price and ensure the LG G4 remains unique. So far there is no word on pricing or a release date for the LG G4 S.
