The LG G4: A Review of a Well-Executed Smartphone Experience

LG's latest flagship smartphone, the G4, has received widespread praise from critics and users alike. In this review, we'll delve into the various aspects of the device that make it stand out from its competitors.

One of the standout features of the LG G4 is its sleek and premium design. The phone's build quality is solid, with a durable glass back and a sturdy metal frame. However, there's one notable exception to this - the rear-facing speaker, which is woefully inadequate for an audiophile like myself. Despite this criticism, I found that the phone's overall design did not offend me in any way.

Another area where the G4 excels is its performance. Unlike Samsung's latest flagship, the G4 does not boast its own custom-designed processor. Instead, it relies on off-the-shelf hardware from Qualcomm, which has proven to be more than sufficient for my needs. I never found myself waiting for the phone to catch up or feeling like it was holding me back in any way.

In terms of features, the G4 offers a wide range of options and accessories that enhance its user experience. The phone's home screen is customizable, with a number of pre-installed widgets that provide useful information such as weather forecasts, upcoming birthdays, contact suggestions, and other updates. These widgets are neatly integrated into the device, providing a seamless and intuitive experience for users.

The G4 also boasts an impressive camera system, which has been a major point of contention in recent years. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the phone's rear camera, which features a laser focus mechanism and a built-in color spectrum sensor that enable it to capture stunning images with remarkable accuracy. The front-facing camera is also quite good, as evidenced by this selfie taken during my review - despite the awkward angle and silly face.

Another feature that sets the G4 apart from its competitors is its replaceable battery. This may seem like a minor advantage, but it's actually a significant one for users who want to customize their phone without sacrificing performance or aesthetics. The phone's battery compartment is easily accessible, allowing users to swap out their existing battery for a new one or upgrade to an even larger capacity.

In addition to its impressive features and design, the G4 also offers a range of software enhancements that make it an excellent choice for power users. The device's accessibility options continue to be outstanding, with a number of features that cater to users with disabilities. For example, LG's dual window feature allows for seamless multitasking, while smart settings provide users with more control over their phone's behavior.

One notable omission from the G4 is its lack of a custom-designed processor. While this may seem like a minor issue, it's actually a significant one for enthusiasts who want to experience the latest and greatest in mobile technology. However, I found that the phone's performance was never a problem, and I was able to use it without ever feeling like it was holding me back.

Overall, the LG G4 is a well-executed smartphone experience that offers a wide range of features and options for users. While it may not be perfect - particularly when it comes to its rear-facing speaker - it's an excellent choice for anyone looking for a reliable and feature-rich device.

The author's preference for the phone becomes evident in the following sections:

Best Thing About the Phone: Camera

Finally, let's get into the best thing about the phone. Finally, the camera. Check out this selfie I took. Yeah baby what a great C no sorry while the front-facing camera is actually good and that selfie aside from the stupid face I'm making is a pretty good one it's the rear camera that truly rocks here it's laser focus mechanism and built-in color spectrum sensor enable the GeForce 16 megapixel camera to consistently nail the most important things about cell phone camera pictures focus and white balance giving surprisingly great results in auto mode but throwing in raw shooting and then surprisingly fine manual control for the shutter bugs out there as well.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enphones you know what I love about them I love how they fit perfectly in that handy little pocket in the front of my box or shorts for storage the pleasing vibration sensation from incoming calls is more important than reproduction anyway and furthermore oh sorry just a secondus minus that's not a pocket what that's not a pocket no there's not enough space what do you mean there's not supposed to even be enough space in there to store a phone well maybe you just have a very small problem going on down there hey Corsair delivers real MEC or nothing with their new strafe mechanical keyboard featuring genuine german-made cherrymx key switches click right here to learn more I don't really know where to start with the LG G4 so I guess I'll lead with a drop a like if you want to see me take my electric unicycle review to the next level by adding aerial footage to the selfie stick footage we already have and I think that's all the stalling I can get away with here's the problem I usually sit down to script my review with two or even four pages of notes mostly complaints for a mobile device video Point form today I have half a page which is actually a really good sign for the G4 which I've been using as my daily driver for a little over a week so let's kick off with specs and I'll start with the processor controversy the G4 is a $600 phone off contract so it has the top-of-the-line qualcom Snapdragon 810 CPU right wrong while it's unclear whether the reason was one of cost reduction or one of thermal control LG has opted for a Snapdragon 808 which features the same 4 a53 cores for lower power background tasks but two fewer high performance a57 cores something that in theory damages performance in heavily multi-threaded workloads but based on some fascinating testing done by Android authority may actually not affect real world results that much thanks to the 808's far lesser thermal throttling the rest of this phone is pretty standard Fair though on paper at least adreno 418 GPU 3 gigs of ddr3l memory 32 gigs of internal storage Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the 5.5 in IPS display active noise cancellation for phone calls a 16 megapix rear and 8 megapix self camera a 3,000 mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0 allowing a 60% charge in about half an hour dualband AC Wi-Fi and an FM tuner which I see I got you there the FM tuner is a little unusual these days actually but some folks will appreciate it specifically those with low cap data plans who don't want to use the micro SD expansion slot to hold up to 128 gigs of extra music or anything else and yes that is another one under the removable backing which is available in plastic and leather other options not to mention the of course dbrand skinned one that we have on ours is the aforementioned SD slot contact points for optional Chi wireless charging rear plates and ah that 3,000 milliamp battery is removable something we used to take for granted on the Android side but that Samsung did away with on the Galaxy S6 and as we dig away under the skin of the G4 we can actually find some other things that make it more than just another G3 for starters while the G3 had a 1440p IPS display I criticized it at the time because there were phones with 1080p displays that smoked the G3 in spite of its extra resolution in important use case scenarios like standing Outdoors thanks to their high contrast ratios not this time the G4 screen has gotten some serious upgrades including integrating the touchscreen and LCD panel into a single layer for better color reproduction and utiliz in quantum display technology not to be confused with quantum dot which requires a separate layer and thicker bezel to improve color reproduction with LG quoting 98% DCI coverage increase image brightness substantially and crank contrast to the point where I forgot sometimes that I wasn't using an AMOLED display all of this without affecting battery life and it looks really good I still don't think 1440p is necessary in a handheld but at least besides the extra strain on the GP to power it in games and whatnot there is no drawback now so let's talk day-to-day use ergonomics of the phone are a strong point considering its size I generally have trouble with anything above 5 in if you know what I mean but it seems like I'm not the only one out there who feels like whether it's by Merit of its gently curved shape oh yeah I guess I forgot to mention that the screen is very subtly curved or the positioning of all of the physical buttons so up down and lock on the rear of the phone it's some how less unwieldly for me than most 5 and 1/2 in devices and we probably have to give LG's Optimus ux software layer some of the credit here though some stuff like double touching to wake which really does help with the size has been so well received that others have adopted it and while there's definitely more bloat than even Samsung's latest iteration of touch whz I didn't find any of it particularly objectionable in no particular order I liked the contextual information smart notice widget on the home screen by default it's visible enough to be convenient with weather upcoming birthdays contact suggestions and other updates but not so in your face that it's annoying the clipboard for copy pasting is awesome the accessibility options continue to be outstanding for LG dual window is Handy for multitasking and little touches like smart settings let you customize some behaviors like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth on and off if you want but otherwise completely stay out of the way and you don't have to to look at them at all and additionally most importantly I didn't notice any performance chugging which used to be my primary complaint about these skins so kudos for that and on the subject of Kudos let's get into the best thing about the phone finally the camera check out this selfie I took yeah baby what a great C no sorry while the front-facing camera is actually good and that selfie aside from the stupid face I making is a pretty good one it's the rear camera that truly rocks here it's laser focus mechanism and built-in color spectrum sensor enable the GeForce 16 megapixel camera to consistently nail the most important things about cell phone camera pictures focus and white balance giving surprisingly great results in auto mode but throwing in raw shooting and then surprisingly fine manual control for the shutter bugs out there as well and while I could criticize the camera apps slow startup time uh double touching volume down to launch the camera is good and video recording it just took a picture and video recording is excellent as well the preview window is very fluid and doesn't resize when you switch modes and thanks to three-axis image stabilization it's surprisingly easy to get Rock Solid footage out of it with all the usual modes including Ultra HD at 30fps and slow-mo supported so the conclusion here is pretty simple the G4 does a lot of things right and did nothing to offend me the horrendous rear-facing speaker notwithstanding unlike Samsung and Apple LG doesn't have their own Flagship class mobile processor design so the G4 uses an off-the-shelf debatably not top tier CPU but honestly I felt like phones have been fast enough for a while now and it never felt like an issue to me the whole time I was using the device so congrats LG the G4 wins a recommendation for me as long as its buyers are willing to accept the relatively plasticky build quality that comes with the flexibility of a replaceable battery and on the subject of the replaceable battery some of you are probably wondering what exactly that sexy carbon fiber skin that I have on the back of the phone in all of our b-roll is that my friends is a Precision cut skin from dbrand Skins there are buds over there and man do they ever do a great job of these things you know the funny thing about it is is my first dbrand spot that I ever did I was talking about how how precisely they managed to get the fit so that it really did look like a piece of the phone and remarkably they have actually managed to improve it quite a bit since then as you guys probably noticed in the b-roll you canot see the seam in spite of the fact that that vinyl wrap actually doesn't even go around the edge of the back plate it stops right at the edge of it you just cannot find the seam once you put the phone together so if you guys are interested in check checking out some of the cool stuff they do whether it's for phones tablets they even do laptops game consoles game controllers head over to the link in the video description so check out dbrand.com and uh yeah pick it up they're actually very reasonably priced and they're Canadian companies so of course we love our Canadian Canadian Bros actually didn't realize they were Canadian until sometime into the relationship and I was like oh no way they're in Toronto and it was awkward because I was in Toronto and he was like hey why didn't you visit us I was like yeah so there you go so I guess that's pretty much it guys if you disliked the video bam I think you know what to do but if you liked it then go ahead and slam that like button down below or even consider supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon buying a cool t-shirt like this one or with a direct monthly contribution through the community Forum now that you're done doing all that stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click that little button in the top right corner to check out scrapyard Wars 2 which is finally finished all five parts are up including the stunning conclusion where we discover who wins lonus or Luke a lot of you have probably watched it already but if you haven't do definitely check it outphones you know what I love about them I love how they fit perfectly in that handy little pocket in the front of my box or shorts for storage the pleasing vibration sensation from incoming calls is more important than reproduction anyway and furthermore oh sorry just a secondus minus that's not a pocket what that's not a pocket no there's not enough space what do you mean there's not supposed to even be enough space in there to store a phone well maybe you just have a very small problem going on down there hey Corsair delivers real MEC or nothing with their new strafe mechanical keyboard featuring genuine german-made cherrymx key switches click right here to learn more I don't really know where to start with the LG G4 so I guess I'll lead with a drop a like if you want to see me take my electric unicycle review to the next level by adding aerial footage to the selfie stick footage we already have and I think that's all the stalling I can get away with here's the problem I usually sit down to script my review with two or even four pages of notes mostly complaints for a mobile device video Point form today I have half a page which is actually a really good sign for the G4 which I've been using as my daily driver for a little over a week so let's kick off with specs and I'll start with the processor controversy the G4 is a $600 phone off contract so it has the top-of-the-line qualcom Snapdragon 810 CPU right wrong while it's unclear whether the reason was one of cost reduction or one of thermal control LG has opted for a Snapdragon 808 which features the same 4 a53 cores for lower power background tasks but two fewer high performance a57 cores something that in theory damages performance in heavily multi-threaded workloads but based on some fascinating testing done by Android authority may actually not affect real world results that much thanks to the 808's far lesser thermal throttling the rest of this phone is pretty standard Fair though on paper at least adreno 418 GPU 3 gigs of ddr3l memory 32 gigs of internal storage Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the 5.5 in IPS display active noise cancellation for phone calls a 16 megapix rear and 8 megapix self camera a 3,000 mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0 allowing a 60% charge in about half an hour dualband AC Wi-Fi and an FM tuner which I see I got you there the FM tuner is a little unusual these days actually but some folks will appreciate it specifically those with low cap data plans who don't want to use the micro SD expansion slot to hold up to 128 gigs of extra music or anything else and yes that is another one under the removable backing which is available in plastic and leather other options not to mention the of course dbrand skinned one that we have on ours is the aforementioned SD slot contact points for optional Chi wireless charging rear plates and ah that 3,000 milliamp battery is removable something we used to take for granted on the Android side but that Samsung did away with on the Galaxy S6 and as we dig away under the skin of the G4 we can actually find some other things that make it more than just another G3 for starters while the G3 had a 1440p IPS display I criticized it at the time because there were phones with 1080p displays that smoked the G3 in spite of its extra resolution in important use case scenarios like standing Outdoors thanks to their high contrast ratios not this time the G4 screen has gotten some serious upgrades including integrating the touchscreen and LCD panel into a single layer for better color reproduction and utiliz in quantum display technology not to be confused with quantum dot which requires a separate layer and thicker bezel to improve color reproduction with LG quoting 98% DCI coverage increase image brightness substantially and crank contrast to the point where I forgot sometimes that I wasn't using an AMOLED display all of this without affecting battery life and it looks really good I still don't think 1440p is necessary in a handheld but at least besides the extra strain on the GP to power it in games and whatnot there is no drawback now so let's talk day-to-day use ergonomics of the phone are a strong point considering its size I generally have trouble with anything above 5 in if you know what I mean but it seems like I'm not the only one out there who feels like whether it's by Merit of its gently curved shape oh yeah I guess I forgot to mention that the screen is very subtly curved or the positioning of all of the physical buttons so up down and lock on the rear of the phone it's some how less unwieldly for me than most 5 and 1/2 in devices and we probably have to give LG's Optimus ux software layer some of the credit here though some stuff like double touching to wake which really does help with the size has been so well received that others have adopted it and while there's definitely more bloat than even Samsung's latest iteration of touch whz I didn't find any of it particularly objectionable in no particular order I liked the contextual information smart notice widget on the home screen by default it's visible enough to be convenient with weather upcoming birthdays contact suggestions and other updates but not so in your face that it's annoying the clipboard for copy pasting is awesome the accessibility options continue to be outstanding for LG dual window is Handy for multitasking and little touches like smart settings let you customize some behaviors like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth on and off if you want but otherwise completely stay out of the way and you don't have to to look at them at all and additionally most importantly I didn't notice any performance chugging which used to be my primary complaint about these skins so kudos for that and on the subject of Kudos let's get into the best thing about the phone finally the camera check out this selfie I took yeah baby what a great C no sorry while the front-facing camera is actually good and that selfie aside from the stupid face I making is a pretty good one it's the rear camera that truly rocks here it's laser focus mechanism and built-in color spectrum sensor enable the GeForce 16 megapixel camera to consistently nail the most important things about cell phone camera pictures focus and white balance giving surprisingly great results in auto mode but throwing in raw shooting and then surprisingly fine manual control for the shutter bugs out there as well and while I could criticize the camera apps slow startup time uh double touching volume down to launch the camera is good and video recording it just took a picture and video recording is excellent as well the preview window is very fluid and doesn't resize when you switch modes and thanks to three-axis image stabilization it's surprisingly easy to get Rock Solid footage out of it with all the usual modes including Ultra HD at 30fps and slow-mo supported so the conclusion here is pretty simple the G4 does a lot of things right and did nothing to offend me the horrendous rear-facing speaker notwithstanding unlike Samsung and Apple LG doesn't have their own Flagship class mobile processor design so the G4 uses an off-the-shelf debatably not top tier CPU but honestly I felt like phones have been fast enough for a while now and it never felt like an issue to me the whole time I was using the device so congrats LG the G4 wins a recommendation for me as long as its buyers are willing to accept the relatively plasticky build quality that comes with the flexibility of a replaceable battery and on the subject of the replaceable battery some of you are probably wondering what exactly that sexy carbon fiber skin that I have on the back of the phone in all of our b-roll is that my friends is a Precision cut skin from dbrand Skins there are buds over there and man do they ever do a great job of these things you know the funny thing about it is is my first dbrand spot that I ever did I was talking about how how precisely they managed to get the fit so that it really did look like a piece of the phone and remarkably they have actually managed to improve it quite a bit since then as you guys probably noticed in the b-roll you canot see the seam in spite of the fact that that vinyl wrap actually doesn't even go around the edge of the back plate it stops right at the edge of it you just cannot find the seam once you put the phone together so if you guys are interested in check checking out some of the cool stuff they do whether it's for phones tablets they even do laptops game consoles game controllers head over to the link in the video description so check out dbrand.com and uh yeah pick it up they're actually very reasonably priced and they're Canadian companies so of course we love our Canadian Canadian Bros actually didn't realize they were Canadian until sometime into the relationship and I was like oh no way they're in Toronto and it was awkward because I was in Toronto and he was like hey why didn't you visit us I was like yeah so there you go so I guess that's pretty much it guys if you disliked the video bam I think you know what to do but if you liked it then go ahead and slam that like button down below or even consider supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon buying a cool t-shirt like this one or with a direct monthly contribution through the community Forum now that you're done doing all that stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click that little button in the top right corner to check out scrapyard Wars 2 which is finally finished all five parts are up including the stunning conclusion where we discover who wins lonus or Luke a lot of you have probably watched it already but if you haven't do definitely check it out\n"