Review: LG G4
Telus this week set me up with LG’s new flagship phone. The G4 is out to compete with the Samsung Galaxy’s and the iPhone 6’s of the world. On paper it has the goods to compete with those phones:
- 6 Core Processor
- Android 5.1 Lollipop
- 5.5-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum Display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440
- 32GB internal storage, microSD card expandability up to 2TB
- 3GB RAM
- 16MP rear camera
- 8MP front camera
- LTE / HSPA+
- WiFi 802.11ac
- Bluetooth 4.1LE
- NFC
- USB 2.0
From a design perspective, it looks similar to previous G phones form LG. It still has the rear mounted power and volume buttons. But something that is new is the removable back case. It’s made of leather that looks like it will survive a couple of years in your pocket. If for some reason that doesn’t do much for you, there is a plastic back case. There’s a headphone jack on the bottom, but beyond that this phone is very minimalistic in nature. It feels solid in your hand and is easy to hold. When it comes to the screen, it is sharp and clear with excellent color purity. The only area that I wasn’t impressed was when I used the G4 in bright light. It was basically unusable in those conditions. The G4 is incredibly quick. Nothing that I threw at it bogged it down. Credit the 6 core processor under the hood. Also, having 3GB of RAM likely helps as well. Speaking of quick, Telus gave me a phone that was the fastest phone on their network that I have ever tested. I scored 53.23 Mbps downstream and 29.76 Mbps upstream. If Telus serves up a few more phones that are this fast, their competition will have something to worry about.
From a software perspective, LG has done a good job of implementing elements from Material Design, and has made Lollipop’s idiosyncrasies bearable. There are a ton of apps installed and your mileage may vary as to whether they would be useful to you. But one thing that I did note is that this phone came with SureTap Wallet to enable mobile payments. Another thing that I noted was Smart Settings where you can trigger apps or events when you do something. For example, you can set it up to have Spotify to open every time you plug in a pair of headphones. That might come in handy for some users.
Now onto the camera. I’ve had autofocus issues with previous LG flagship phones. The G4 does continue this tradition but it’s annoyance level is minimal. But I am getting ahead of myself. First let me show you what I managed to get out at Pearson Airport in Toronto. Click to see each image in full resolution:
The pictures are very good. But I did note that the autofocus issues that I had in previous LG flagship phones was there at much lower levels than previous LG efforts. But once you recognized that it was present and framed the pictures so that you can get the image that you want the way you want it, you could get fast moving pictures such as planes landing without an issue. One thing that I did like was the camera app. It is outstanding as it gives advanced photographers all sorts of control that you typically don’t see in a phone. Another cool feature: Double tapping the volume down button on the phone’s rear opens the app and takes a photo. That’s handy if you need to grab a quick picture.
When it comes to video, the G4 supports 4K video at 30fps. I wasn’t that ambitious with this video which you can set to 1080p and full screen:
The video quality is great if I may say so myself.
Battery life is exceptional. You can easily get a day and a half out of the battery without trying too hard. If you use some of the power saving features, you should be able to get two days. That was impressive.
So, what does LGs latest flagship phone go for? From Telus, it’s $200 on a two year term or $700 outright. If you’re in the market for an Android phone with the latest Android OS as well as a very different design that works, this has to be on your list to look at. It’s quick, expandable, and has a pretty good camera even with the issues with autofocus that I found (which I hope go away with a software update). Check it out at your local Telus store.
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