LG G4 Review

**Article: LG G4 Review - A Comprehensive Look at the Smartphone Standout**

### Introduction

Aaron from Zolote recently had the opportunity to review the **LG G4**, a smartphone that has been making waves in the tech world. In this article, we’ll take you through Aaron’s detailed review of the phone, covering its design, specifications, camera performance, display quality, and more. This isn’t just a summary—this is the full transcription of his video, broken down into an easy-to-read format.

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### Design and Build Quality

Aaron begins by discussing the **design** of the LG G4. The phone features a **diamond pattern back**, which has a unique texture that you can feel. While the back is made of plastic (a common material for budget phones), LG also offers it in **leather** and **ceramic** variants, giving users options depending on their preference.

One standout feature of the G4 is its **swappable back panel**. Unlike many modern smartphones where the battery is glued or soldered onto the device, the G4 allows you to unsnap the back and replace it with a different color or material. This adds a personal touch to the phone’s appearance. The phone also comes with a **replaceable 3,000 mAh battery**, which is rare in today’s smartphone market.

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### Hardware Specifications

The LG G4 is a high-end device, as evidenced by its impressive hardware specs. It features a **6-core 1.8 GHz Snapdragon 808 processor**, paired with an **Adreno 418 GPU**, making it capable of handling demanding tasks like gaming and multitasking with ease. The phone also has **3GB of RAM** and **32GB of internal storage**, both of which are more than sufficient for everyday use.

Another notable feature is the inclusion of a **Micro SD card slot**, allowing users to expand their storage capacity—a feature that has become increasingly rare in modern smartphones, especially from brands like Samsung and HTC.

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### Display Quality

The display on the LG G4 is nothing short of excellent. It boasts a **5.5-inch IPS LCD screen** with a resolution of **1440x2560 pixels**, delivering a pixel density of **538 ppi**—one of the highest in its class. While some users prefer AMOLED displays for their vibrant colors and deeper blacks, Aaron personally prefers LCD screens because they don’t strain his eyes as much.

The display is also very close to stock Android, with minimal customization from LG. This means you get a clean and intuitive user experience right out of the box.

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### Software and Customization

Aaron highlights that the G4 runs on **Android 5.1**, which is essentially stock Android with minimal bloatware. The phone’s app drawer and settings are straightforward, making it easy to navigate for both new users and tech-savvy individuals.

One of the standout features Aaron mentions is the **customization options** available for the phone. For example, you can change the color of your folders and tweak other visual elements without feeling overwhelmed by themes or excessive branding. This level of customization makes the phone feel more personal.

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### Camera Performance

The LG G4 boasts a **16-megapixel rear camera**, which Aaron describes as one of the best smartphone cameras he’s ever used. The camera comes with advanced features like **dual-tone flash**, **laser autofocus**, and even **manual controls** for shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and more. This level of control is typically reserved for professional-grade cameras, making the G4 a standout choice for serious photographers.

The phone also supports **raw shooting** and **HDR photography**, allowing users to capture high-quality images with depth and detail. Aaron notes that while the iPhone has long been his favorite camera phone, the LG G4’s performance is “another step up,” setting a new benchmark in smartphone photography.

The front-facing camera isn’t slouching either, with an **8-megapixel sensor** that supports 4K video recording and basic manual controls. While it doesn’t match the rear camera’s capabilities, it’s still more than adequate for selfies and casual videos.

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### Display and Performance

Aaron praises the G4’s display for its vibrant colors and sharpness, which he finds ideal for both photos and videos. The phone also performs exceptionally well, with a fast and responsive interface that handles gaming and multitasking without any lag.

One feature Aaron points out is the **app switcher**, which allows you to clear all apps or organize them into folders based on your preferences. This adds to the phone’s overall usability and makes it feel more tailored to individual needs.

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### Battery Life and Connectivity

The LG G4 comes with a **3,000 mAh battery**, which Aaron notes is swappable—a feature that adds flexibility for users who need extra battery life. LG claims the battery can last up to **19 hours of talk time** or **almost 20 days of 4G standby time**, which Aaron finds impressive.

The phone also supports **Micro SD card expansion** and has a single speaker with decent audio output, though it’s not the most powerful in the market. Despite this, Aaron notes that the speaker is good enough for everyday use.

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### Front Camera and Features

The front-facing camera on the LG G4 is an **8-megapixel sensor**, capable of capturing detailed images and 4K video. While it doesn’t match the rear camera’s capabilities, it’s still a solid option for selfies and casual videos. Aaron also mentions the phone’s ability to shoot in raw format, which is a significant advantage for serious photographers.

The G4 also includes **HDR video recording** and advanced metering options, making it a versatile choice for both still photography and videography.

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### Final Thoughts

Aaron concludes his review by calling the LG G4 an **exceptional smartphone**, particularly praising its camera performance. He notes that while the phone’s design is slightly reminiscent of the **OnePlus One**, it stands out in terms of overall quality and features. The swappable back panel, high-end specs, and impressive camera make it a strong contender in the Android market.

While Aaron admits he hasn’t tried the phone with its leather or ceramic backs, he’s satisfied with the plastic version and believes it offers great value for users who prioritize photography.

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### Conclusion

The LG G4 is a smartphone that checks all the right boxes—great design, powerful hardware, an outstanding camera, and excellent software integration. While it may not be perfect in every way (Aaron mentions it feels slightly slippery), its strengths make it a standout choice for anyone looking for a high-end Android device.

If you’re considering the LG G4 or want to compare it with other flagships like the **Galaxy S6**, **HTC One M9**, or **iPhone 6s**, be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below. And don’t forget to subscribe for more tech reviews and updates from Aaron at Zolote!

Thanks for reading, and catch you next time!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi everyone Aaron here for zolote and I wanted to show you the LG G4 now I've been using this for about a week I've been carrying it along with my other phone and been using it throughout the day and first impressions are I really like it it's a really nice phone I can't really find too many faults with it but let's first talk about all of the specs cuz this is a pretty high-end phone these days and you can see this is the G4 with this diamond pattern back you can kind of feel it right here but this is plastic they do have it in leather and uh another color ceramic as well so this is just the plastic back I haven't tried any of the others typical LG style now is this power button on the back with the speaker volume buttons right there and then your camera your your dual tone Flash and your laser sensor basically this is a depth finder for your focusing I believe and that's pretty much it on the back now one of the big things with this particular phone is the 16 megapixel camera this is a phenomenal camera and I'll show you that in a little bit but the camera overall is really really good inside we have some serious power we have a six core 1.8 GHz 808 Snapdragon processor pretty highend there we also have an adreno 418 3 gigs of RAM 32 gbytes of internal storage and some pretty rare these days for phones is the back comes off unsnap this and that's how you can change out some of the backs so I guess you could change them later on you've got a replaceable 3,000 mamp battery you also have expandable storage here with a Micro SD card and that's pretty rare these days now that Samsung and some others like HTC have kind of well you can expand the storage but you can't really remove the batteries anymore so let's snap this back in place take a look at the phone itself now the display is really really nice it's 5.5 in it's 1440 by 2560 538 pixels per inch and it's an IPS LCD now some people may not like those as much as AMOLED but I actually like LCD displays a little bit better AMOLED for some reason actually hurt my eyes a little bit but that's just me uh but I really like the colors everything looks really nice and this is pretty close to stock Android LG hasn't done a whole lot here to to basically stray away from that which is a really really good thing now this phone is fully loaded as far as specs go I've got it customized here I haven't really done a whole lot with this but you can see they've done some interesting things here really fast and responsive and the app drawer here we'll go into it uh pretty typical what you'd see on stock Android for the most part now they have this weather widget here which is nice but it's got a little paragraph it will be rainy all day tomorrow so you may want to take an umbrella there's other alerts in here as well you can see there's other things in here different different people's birthdays things like that now I've cleared out my notifications we've got some nice stuff here if we pull down we've got some quick uh quick ways to change brightness uh volume and there we go uh volume and all sorts of different things I really like it I think it's pretty intuitive and then if we go into the settings you've got all sorts of different things and you can see this is running oh we'll go down here software info Android 5.1 so it's pretty nice uh I really like the phone it's really fast and has a little bit different app switcher as well you can just clear all it we'll clear them all out and there you go so it's got a little bit different folders you can change the colors of the folders so if I go in here I can change the color to say this grayish color uh you can just change it up a little bit uh some of their customization so it's really not too much of their theme in your face I really like that and I really like the overall phone now the phone it does remind me a little bit of a OnePlus One and in the way that it looks when you shut it off if you get rid of this LG looks real similar actually uh obviously the the buttons aren't on the back but just the the feel of it is real similar to that uh but it feels built pretty well it doesn't feel Exquisite like I guess uh an HTC1 where you've got a metal or aluminum same with a Galaxy iPhones uh anything these days but that does give you this back snap that back in place that does give you this back and that's okay because it makes up for it in the camera Department this camera is probably the best I've seen on a smartphone and that's saying a lot coming from me uh let me put the HTC in the background here and focus we'll snap the shot here now you can customize this we'll use photos here you can customize this and and I don't know why that popped up I did just install the new photos app so maybe that's why uh you can install this this is incredibly incredibly clear and this is just an auto photo now you can really get into this if you're if you're a photographer and you know what you're talking about with the settings so we've got different aspect ratios HDR that sort of thing no big deal there but if we go up to here we can go to manual and now we've got all sorts of controls so we've got uh white balance and focusing and ice and whatever you want or ISO so we can change this up and down can change the iso we can have it do it itself if we want uh shutter speed it's it's really pretty complex as far as what you can do with it for a smartphone and you've even got I thought I could bring that up but You' even got uh some metering as well so it's really nice we can shoot in raw as well so a raw jpeg anyway and we can do some really nice things with it so this is a about as good as it gets with a smartphone I think as far as a camera right now uh the competition really needs to catch up to the camera on this phone which is saying something since uh I've pretty much liked the iPhone camera up until this point and the Galaxy's pretty close but as far as accuracy and quick shots and getting good shots every time the iPhone I found was the best uh this is this is another step up so everyone has to kind of come up to this phone's level as far as that goes now now the front face camera actually is an 8 megapixel camera as well uh let's see if we can spin it around here uh we'll get back there we go you can see the camera and some lights above me but it's an 8 megapixel camera right here so that's pretty impressive as well so really really nice and if you don't want manual mode of course you can go back to Auto you can even go to simple and just snap a picture and you get everything out of the way so it's really up to you what you want to do as far as the video recording goes we have 4K video recording so you've even got all sorts of crazy options as well uh we could turn on or turn off our rule of thirds grid uh really really nice it's it's just a great phone as far as that goes now I can't truly talk to battery life right now I can tell you what LG claims which they claim 19 hours of talk time does have that swappable battery that's 3,000 milliamp hours it also has 19 hours of 3G talk time 4G standby time uh is 19 days or almost 20 days so it's got a huge battery and if you need more battery you can swap it out it'll easily get you through a day now I don't have you can see right now I actually don't have a SIM card in it and I don't have my SIM card adapter so I've been using it on Wi-Fi regularly all throughout the day and it works great super fast it never really lags never had any issues it plays games fast uh the speaker is okay they just have this one speaker here and kind of these grills here I thought maybe maybe some sound was coming out of but it really uh isn't anything phenomenal but it's not bad it's not going to really compete with this phone uh as far as the speakers go but it's pretty good and it's above or the same as most others so not really an issue there uh however everything else on it is just really good it's a great overall phone and that's saying a lot I really don't think LG has been there yet until this point so I think this is definitely worth checking out and at least uh going to your local store and checking it out and seeing what you think like I said it is plastic uh it may be a lot better with the leather back but I think he'll be pretty happy especially if you're interested in a in a really good camera and that's your main use for it I think LG really really nailed it and it is a little slippery as you can see there so I think they really nailed it it's really a great phone but let me know what you think in the comments below uh there's so many different devices out there now that are good uh including the HTC1 although the camera's not as good on Android uh you've got the Galaxy S6 of course the S6 Edge the notes and iPhones and even some Windows phones if you're looking at some cameras so let me know what you think in the comments below if you haven't subscribed already please subscribe as always thanks for watching this is Aaron I'll see you next timehi everyone Aaron here for zolote and I wanted to show you the LG G4 now I've been using this for about a week I've been carrying it along with my other phone and been using it throughout the day and first impressions are I really like it it's a really nice phone I can't really find too many faults with it but let's first talk about all of the specs cuz this is a pretty high-end phone these days and you can see this is the G4 with this diamond pattern back you can kind of feel it right here but this is plastic they do have it in leather and uh another color ceramic as well so this is just the plastic back I haven't tried any of the others typical LG style now is this power button on the back with the speaker volume buttons right there and then your camera your your dual tone Flash and your laser sensor basically this is a depth finder for your focusing I believe and that's pretty much it on the back now one of the big things with this particular phone is the 16 megapixel camera this is a phenomenal camera and I'll show you that in a little bit but the camera overall is really really good inside we have some serious power we have a six core 1.8 GHz 808 Snapdragon processor pretty highend there we also have an adreno 418 3 gigs of RAM 32 gbytes of internal storage and some pretty rare these days for phones is the back comes off unsnap this and that's how you can change out some of the backs so I guess you could change them later on you've got a replaceable 3,000 mamp battery you also have expandable storage here with a Micro SD card and that's pretty rare these days now that Samsung and some others like HTC have kind of well you can expand the storage but you can't really remove the batteries anymore so let's snap this back in place take a look at the phone itself now the display is really really nice it's 5.5 in it's 1440 by 2560 538 pixels per inch and it's an IPS LCD now some people may not like those as much as AMOLED but I actually like LCD displays a little bit better AMOLED for some reason actually hurt my eyes a little bit but that's just me uh but I really like the colors everything looks really nice and this is pretty close to stock Android LG hasn't done a whole lot here to to basically stray away from that which is a really really good thing now this phone is fully loaded as far as specs go I've got it customized here I haven't really done a whole lot with this but you can see they've done some interesting things here really fast and responsive and the app drawer here we'll go into it uh pretty typical what you'd see on stock Android for the most part now they have this weather widget here which is nice but it's got a little paragraph it will be rainy all day tomorrow so you may want to take an umbrella there's other alerts in here as well you can see there's other things in here different different people's birthdays things like that now I've cleared out my notifications we've got some nice stuff here if we pull down we've got some quick uh quick ways to change brightness uh volume and there we go uh volume and all sorts of different things I really like it I think it's pretty intuitive and then if we go into the settings you've got all sorts of different things and you can see this is running oh we'll go down here software info Android 5.1 so it's pretty nice uh I really like the phone it's really fast and has a little bit different app switcher as well you can just clear all it we'll clear them all out and there you go so it's got a little bit different folders you can change the colors of the folders so if I go in here I can change the color to say this grayish color uh you can just change it up a little bit uh some of their customization so it's really not too much of their theme in your face I really like that and I really like the overall phone now the phone it does remind me a little bit of a OnePlus One and in the way that it looks when you shut it off if you get rid of this LG looks real similar actually uh obviously the the buttons aren't on the back but just the the feel of it is real similar to that uh but it feels built pretty well it doesn't feel Exquisite like I guess uh an HTC1 where you've got a metal or aluminum same with a Galaxy iPhones uh anything these days but that does give you this back snap that back in place that does give you this back and that's okay because it makes up for it in the camera Department this camera is probably the best I've seen on a smartphone and that's saying a lot coming from me uh let me put the HTC in the background here and focus we'll snap the shot here now you can customize this we'll use photos here you can customize this and and I don't know why that popped up I did just install the new photos app so maybe that's why uh you can install this this is incredibly incredibly clear and this is just an auto photo now you can really get into this if you're if you're a photographer and you know what you're talking about with the settings so we've got different aspect ratios HDR that sort of thing no big deal there but if we go up to here we can go to manual and now we've got all sorts of controls so we've got uh white balance and focusing and ice and whatever you want or ISO so we can change this up and down can change the iso we can have it do it itself if we want uh shutter speed it's it's really pretty complex as far as what you can do with it for a smartphone and you've even got I thought I could bring that up but You' even got uh some metering as well so it's really nice we can shoot in raw as well so a raw jpeg anyway and we can do some really nice things with it so this is a about as good as it gets with a smartphone I think as far as a camera right now uh the competition really needs to catch up to the camera on this phone which is saying something since uh I've pretty much liked the iPhone camera up until this point and the Galaxy's pretty close but as far as accuracy and quick shots and getting good shots every time the iPhone I found was the best uh this is this is another step up so everyone has to kind of come up to this phone's level as far as that goes now now the front face camera actually is an 8 megapixel camera as well uh let's see if we can spin it around here uh we'll get back there we go you can see the camera and some lights above me but it's an 8 megapixel camera right here so that's pretty impressive as well so really really nice and if you don't want manual mode of course you can go back to Auto you can even go to simple and just snap a picture and you get everything out of the way so it's really up to you what you want to do as far as the video recording goes we have 4K video recording so you've even got all sorts of crazy options as well uh we could turn on or turn off our rule of thirds grid uh really really nice it's it's just a great phone as far as that goes now I can't truly talk to battery life right now I can tell you what LG claims which they claim 19 hours of talk time does have that swappable battery that's 3,000 milliamp hours it also has 19 hours of 3G talk time 4G standby time uh is 19 days or almost 20 days so it's got a huge battery and if you need more battery you can swap it out it'll easily get you through a day now I don't have you can see right now I actually don't have a SIM card in it and I don't have my SIM card adapter so I've been using it on Wi-Fi regularly all throughout the day and it works great super fast it never really lags never had any issues it plays games fast uh the speaker is okay they just have this one speaker here and kind of these grills here I thought maybe maybe some sound was coming out of but it really uh isn't anything phenomenal but it's not bad it's not going to really compete with this phone uh as far as the speakers go but it's pretty good and it's above or the same as most others so not really an issue there uh however everything else on it is just really good it's a great overall phone and that's saying a lot I really don't think LG has been there yet until this point so I think this is definitely worth checking out and at least uh going to your local store and checking it out and seeing what you think like I said it is plastic uh it may be a lot better with the leather back but I think he'll be pretty happy especially if you're interested in a in a really good camera and that's your main use for it I think LG really really nailed it and it is a little slippery as you can see there so I think they really nailed it it's really a great phone but let me know what you think in the comments below uh there's so many different devices out there now that are good uh including the HTC1 although the camera's not as good on Android uh you've got the Galaxy S6 of course the S6 Edge the notes and iPhones and even some Windows phones if you're looking at some cameras so let me know what you think in the comments below if you haven't subscribed already please subscribe as always thanks for watching this is Aaron I'll see you next time\n"