LG has been at the fringe of the Indian smartphone sector for a few years now. But ever since the Nexus 5 got good traction in India last year, the company has been hard selling its smartphones in the market. It has found some success with new mid-range devices as well as flagships like the G2. Now, the company is bringing its latest flagship into India, the LG G4 within a couple of months of its global launch. I have been using the phone for a month now and here are my thoughts.
The LG G4 is one of the most stylish Android smartphones ever. I literally fell in love with the design as soon as I saw the leather finish back panel. I have a weakness for leather and this was perfect. The phone also has a slight curve— not as much as on the G Flex 2—that makes it feel more natural while making calls. Everything about the design feels premium, including the keys on the back which has a great soft metal finish.
What is good?
This phone is one of the best flagships you can buy at the moment and that means it has a lot going for it. For me, one of the best features of the phone is its unique design and LG has not pulled any punches why this was on the drawing board. From the leather back to the soft curve, this phone has everything that will make it stand apart in a crowd, any crowd.
The phone has a stunning QHD display, which is almost becoming a standard now with top-end devices. The display works well even under the bring sun and I have a feeling the curve works to its advantage in this case. Powered by the Qualcomm MSM8992 Snapdragon 808, the phone is really smooth. The month that I used the phone I don’t remember it lagging or crashing even once. Multitasking is as smooth as it can be. The phone has a Note 4-like split screen option that works seamlessly making it much more productive.
The best feature of the phone however is the camera, which is among the best in Android phones. It is not as good as the Note 4 or the OnePlus One in my books, but it is close, very close. The camera is really fast and responsive. The focus is super-fast and you can play around with the depth of field too. There is also a full manual mode where you can set every single parameter and take some stunning images. The video quality is also great, but you can’t really change the quality from the Full HD default.
The software is not much different from stock Android. But some of the tweaks, like the LG smartcards—a bit like a voice-less Siri—are very good. From weather to battery life, the app keeps giving you great tips.
What is not that good?
The phone suffers from heating issues which also ends up affecting the battery. It has almost become a given with Qualcomm phones that there is going to be some heating with certain tasks, like browsing and downloading of apps. The contact app and dialer don’t have a great design. There also seem to be other issues. For instance, towards the end of the month there were instances where I would have an incoming call with the ring, but no option of picking up the call.
Since I got to use this phone for longer than most other review devices, I also got to see issues that might not usually creep up in a week-long review. One of these was the fact that with regular use the leather back does tend to wear out sooner that a plastic back. Also, an oil stain will stay on.
Verdict: The LG G4 is without doubt one of the best flagship smartphones in the market. For the premium price point you are getting a very stylish and unique design plus form factor, superb performance and a great camera. I am sure this mix will be enough for a lot of people who are scouting for high end phones. Overall, this phone is a good buy.
SPECIFICATIONS
Display: 5.5-inch IPS LCD display
Processor: Qualcomm Dual-core 1.82 GHz Cortex-A57 & quad-core 1.44 GHz
Operating system: Android 5.1 Lollipop
Memory & storage: 3 GB RAM, 32 GB storage expandable up to 128 GB
Camera: 16 MP (rear); 8 MP front camera
Battery: 3000 mAh battery
Estimated street price: Rs 51,000
