As part of an ongoing buying guide for confused shoppers this holiday season, I’ll be summing-up the best of the latest handsets. Knowing which handset to buy this year means selecting from a number of excellent devices, this is what this guide is for. It’s here to break down the basics and help you make your decision. In future posts I’ll be focussing on One Plus One,
Today, I'm looking at the LG G3.
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QHD screen
LG led the line with its QHD screen technology, with many questioning the necessity of incorporating into a smartphone. But months after the G3 arrived, we’ve seen other manufacturers like Motorola and Samsung follow suit. Expect more do so as the 2015 smartphone cycle begins to rear its head.
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The LG G3 has a 1440 x 2560 LCD display with a 534 pixel density, making it one of the best displays on the market. Videos, browsing, gaming and pretty much any activity is supremely enhanced on the LG G3. As Forbes’ Ian Morris explained:
“In practice the screen really is amazing. There’s a clarity to it that really startling, and it goes well beyond the spec alone. It does make using the phone a really great experience, and it also makes it hard to go back to phones with lower resolutions. I’ve found browsing the web to especially benefit from the high resolution, and the phone is powerful enough to make scaling content slick and responsive too.”
Lasfer focus camera
The LG G3’s lasfer-focus equipped 13MP camera is one of the best on the market. The G3’s laser focus can rapidly focus shots and take quick pictures, it’s also excellent in low-light conditions.
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Andrew Hoyle over at CNET explained the benefits of the G3’s laser focus in his Galaxy S5 comparison: “LG reckons that the laser-assisted focus allows the G3 to focus and take pictures much faster than other phones. It certainly focused extremely quickly on this bus as it went past me near St Paul's Cathedral. The S5 was also able to focus quickly, although the slight motion blur means the bus's edges are a little less crisp.”
Hoyle continued “In my low-light still-life tests, both cameras offered mixed results. Although the S5's image had slightly richer colours and more even exposure, it suffered a lot from image noise, which is particularly noticeable on the green background. The G3 kept image noise to a minimum, which also helped keep fine details sharp when zoomed in.”
The G3’s slimmed down, more mature, interface is a big improvement on the G2’s garish childlike UI. The G2, whilst a good phone, took some flack for the interface, which was way behind its rivals at the time.
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LG has taken that criticism onboard and built a UI that is more in-line with the a premium product. There’s less noise on the screen and notifications menu has been slimmed down to the basics. Colours, too, have shifted from bright and luminous to soft pastel hues.
There’s also an interactive guide to help navigate new users around the device. Videos and notifications will pop-up with advice on how to best use your G3. The content of the articles changes the longer you use your device - so you’ll be given ever more advanced tips from day 1 to day 51.
Sleek design
Whilst the G3 doesn’t have the premium all-metal design of the HTC One M8, it certainly looks and feel like it does. The rear casing is painted to look like metal and LG has created a film that takes away the plastic feel to it. Whilst imitation is never as satisfying as the real thing, it comes pretty damn close.
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The benefit of this is that the rear casing is removable, so you almost get the best of both worlds. I’m a big fan of removable covers and in the case of the G3, it means you’ll be able to swap out your battery and insert an SD card. Two features often forgotten with modern smartphones.
LG has also opted to put the volume and power buttons on the back of the device, too. You’ll quickly acclimatise to the new positioning and realise how ergonomic it is to turn the device on with your index finger whilst it lays flat in your palm.
Wireless charging
If you’re not familiar with wireless charging, then it’s time to get onboard. The technology is by far one of the most underrated and underused features on the limited range of smartphones it’s available on. The LG G3 is one of those models. Fortunately it’s available right out of the box and it’s based on the Qi standard.
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In a recent post, Forbes’ Ewan Spence explained why wireless charging (and the Qi standard) is one of his most sought after features when buying a new handset.
“From portable bluetooth speakers and smartwatches, to a range of Android and Windows Phone powered smartphones and tablets, wireless charging is now part of my checklist of ‘things to have on a new device’. It’s not yet at the deal-breaker status, but if I have the choice of two equally capable products, the one with Qi charging is going to be the one that wins out.
“Why? Because it simply is magical. Just put your hardware down and when you need it, pick it up and it’s fully charged. If you want to know what to look for that says ‘cutting edge’, then look for Qi.”
Cons
The G3 suffers from battery life problems. Whilst the 3000mAh battery is superb, the QHD screen is a huge drain on power and can quickly reduce resources - even at modest brightness. You will still get a solid day out of the LG G3, but considering that most other top-end handsets are now pushing the two day mark, the G3 feels slightly behind the curve.
