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Bending limits, The LG G4 review.

viridis
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Now, its very easy to overlook the latest offering from second  Korean electronics giant. Partly because they chose to release the latest incarnation of the G series at roughly the same time the world was drooling over the curves of the first Korean electronics giants offering, this alone is why i myself don't own a LG G4. bottom line is, if LG released the G4 at a different time, i would hands down own one. the seamless curve of the display, the very premium feeling real leather back panel, the exceptional 2K quantum dot display and pound for pound the best camera on android, makes the G4 a very serious contender in a year that has seen giants such as HTC and Sony stumble over themselves.

Lets take a look at it a bit closer.

 

 

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that's your box,

 

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that's a bloody gorgeous 5.5" curved panel filling the box.

 

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and that's the spare back cover found in boxes with leather units.

 

as you turn on the G4, you obviously get the typical Android start up, filling in details for your Google account as well as LG's additions, much the same as 99% of droid units out there.

once set up you are met with LG's OS skinning of android 5, and its as material as you can get, the whole theme is based on simple but effective shapes, all icons are hard squares, as are folders, the menus and outlines of just about everything is all made up of hard contrasting lines, and it looks amazingly unique amongst a market of double acts.

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the settings offer some unique features such as control over soft keys, and LG smart features for accessories.

 

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Power

the CPU of the phone handles all tasks with ease, this surprised me to be honest, i was waiting for the difference between the snapdragons to show, but it never did. animations and transitions between windows was constant, loading of apps was very quick and opening of large video files proved no issue at all, it would seem LG's gamble on going for the smaller 2015 SOC definitely paid off.

 

battery life

having had a few days to mess around and play with the phone, i'm actually quite impressed with battery performance, i have been getting screen on times of 4.5hrs+ consistently, now i know that i don't have loads of stuff syncing in the background but as ever, most of my online activity is done via mobiles nowadays so the phone was working most of that time. in the age of 2k displays and multi core CPU's, i think people need to realise, not every phone will boast &2 days battery& in fact im willing to bet that saying goes out the window when that  company ships 2k.

 

Screen.

and what a screen it is too, crisp, vibrant and solid, its truly a magnificent display. i had to double check the panel wasn't LED as the colours were popping out the display so much. using the same quantum dot tech as Sony's displays the quality did not surprise me too much, but the laser like contrast and complete vividness really impressed me. and its so, so bright, much brighter than the s6 panel (though id never admit it to the wife, you understand)   

 

Sound

As always with LGs, the sound is top notch, really clear audio can be found as standard and the phone has ample tweaks to the quality of the sound coming out of it. there's very little distortion at maximum volume and headphones output a nice rich acoustic experience. Another positive is the quality of the bundled headphones, think less tinny plastic and more corded premium beats like sound.

much like most droid phones, the music player offers the usual layout but in the LG style, there are groupings for tracks, albums, artists, genre as well as playlists, folders and favorites. It also has connection settings for your cloud based audio should you wish to connect remotely to your stored tracks.

 

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Camera

it's good, it's really really good, pound for pound it's the best droid camera on sale right now, and that's fact. there's so many options for taking shots, that many users will get lost within pro mode and instead opt for the very capable auto mode. all of camera2 api inclusions are present, offering such delights as shutter speed, Raw, manual focus, auto focal tracking, you get the picture. the only negative thing i can really say about the camera, is that compression of jpegs is quite brutal, and a lot of detail is lost in compression, giving an almost watercolour effect in some cases. that aside though, it is a very capable shooter and if you work with RAW, there is nothing available that's better at giving you quick access to the format in stock with this much detail.

 

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Conclusion

i came close, like really, really close to owning one of these myself. i took time to play with and weigh up each phone in great detail before choosing. In the end we all know which one i went for, and i know i made the right choice. However, if i truly, honestly and openly considered price into the equation, then the G4 would be mine, it would also be the number 1 phone of the year.

It can be hard being second best, it really can but when you come in second place, and your product is HALF the price of the competitor, with some extra features (micro SD, battery) and has more direct control within its features, then second best is as good as first place with distinction.

The G4, lives up to the hype, and then some..

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Cleoriff
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What an absolutely stunning review. Great to read, easy to understand and complete with pictures which are so necessary as they add the all important finishing touches to an awesome piece of work.

I never profess to know much about the technical aspects of mobiles but either I must be getting better, or you are making it easier. I do know if you were impressed by the camera on the G4 it must be good

Well done @viridis Another outstanding review. Thank you

    

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MI5
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Again a superb review which beats many of the professional tech sites out there.
I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

Currently using:
Pixel 7a (O2 & Lyca), One Plus 6 (Sfr), iPhone 12 Pro Max (Vodafone)
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Toby
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An amazing effort @viridis, a fantastic addition to the community.

 

The G4 is on fire!

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jonsie
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Great review and certainly a phone to consider  if you want everything the big boys have at half the cost.

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Anonymous
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Superb review......well done

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Anonymous
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Excellent & very well written @viridis you have me drooling over that leather back cover & the OS on the phone
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Anonymous
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I love the leather cover, very stylish.
Good to know that the battery life is great!
Excellent review @viridis! Thanks for the effort!


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Chris_K
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Y'know... My Note 3 is on its last legs and after a review like this, a sidestep upgrade to the LG G4 could be on the cards.

 

I'll see what happens in September first though - lots of device rumours out there 😉


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viridis
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What, like the xperia z5 on 2-9 at 16:30 CET?

TBH @Chris_K at the price range of G4, nothing in September will be close to matching it's value

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