I am penning a review, after a gap of almost 5 years so I wanted to make my re-entry with a product that I like, I know about so that my fellow MS brothers and sisters can make an informed decision. This is my hands on experience with the phone. Also let me clarify that I am continuing to use an iPhone 5s and tried out the phone for a week. It was lent to me from a buddy who works on a mobile shop here in Bahrain.
The G3, LG’s successor to one of the most interesting android smart phone of 2013, managed to get my attention for 2 reasons alone - the QHD screen and some of the slimmest bezels ever to grace on a smartphone. So it is with much anticipation that I went forward to purchase one. The phone looks phenomenal heads on with the display taking almost all the space upfront. The phone is slim and light according to my experience but as much as the back is made to look like brushed metal it still feels plastic but it in no way takes anything away from the phone. If you have to have a removable back then this look is definitely the way to go.
Switch on the phone and the crisp bright screen comes to life and it is momentarily awesome. I say momentarily because this screen manages to look bright and vibrant because the display brightness is set to 100% automatically when you start with. Dim it to 70% and it’s personally too dim for me to use it viably. I mean you just cant enjoy a screen this beautiful with brightness of 70% For a more comparable example to you my iPhones 40% brightness is equal to the LG’s 70% which by default makes the screen less bright overall. I refuse to put my screen at 100% brightness at all times, maybe this is because I never had to do it before but somehow I am having reservations about putting my screen at maximum brightness at all times. For those who want exact figures - 450 nits in itself says that it isn’t the brightest display out there with phones like HTC one M8, Samsung Galaxy s5 and iPhone 5s putting out 500 - 580 nits! All in all the display just looks dimmer. This won’t be much of a problem unless you compare it to another phone and also keep in mind that 538 pixels per inch makes it a hell if a lot difficult for light to pass through. LG has put in effort to offset this but it works only to an extent.
Watch the inbuilt videos for QHD screen and it will show you just how fantastically crisp this screen is when it comes to watchin videos but in everyday life such content is hard to get hold of. Just such as shame about the brightness.
The rear set buttons are a charm to use and with LG’s excellent knock on feature you realize you don’t need those buttons much.
The phone runs android 4.2.2 out of the box and LG has done a commendable job on keeping it flat and simple. It is usually a fluid affair and the touch response is excellent as expected of a phone in this price range. The sound output is surprisingly loud with its 1 watt mono speaker placed on the lower half of the phone’s behind. Don’t expect the crispness of the M8 but it’s definitely as loud no doubt about that.
I don’t do benchmarks and stuff but based on experience the games play fluidly with hardly any niggle. The inclusion of sd card slot is a nice touch. The security features of the phone is also worth noting with the option available for locking individual apps, knock code and the option for remote wiping of your data in case the phone gets stolen.
The camera needs special mention because the focusing is instantaneous and he pictures look crisp and well detailed. It’s definitely up there with the competition and that’s neither a good thing or a bad thing. You get nothing more but you neither miss anything either. But the 4k video recording is awesome and one of the best one can get from a smartphone. This alone should be a reason for picking up this phone for videography freaks.
Battery life can be said to be above average. It will last you from 7am to around 9pm which considering the screen size and resolution is not a bad thing. My iPhone 5s is much worse than this.
Over all this is one of the best android handsets so far this year and should definitely be on your option list if you are in the market for a flagship phone. The screen brightness is the only issue for me and once you see it in action playing beautifully detailed movies( even if it is at 100% brightness) you will be willing to over look it. Also be aware that the phone does heat up a bit when recording 4K videos or playing high intensity games at full brightness and in such cases the phone automatically dims the brightness or in extreme cases will shut down the app. But in my experience use it responsibly and like me you wouldn’t face a problem. If possible go for the 32GB, 3GB ram model but alas for me this model isnt l launching here in Bahrain. As for my final personal opinion on it - the LG G3 is the only android phone that I have wanted to try out even since I joined the iphone bandwagon and that says a LOT, trust me. I haven’t purchased it yet only because I want to see what iphone 6 brings to the table and I can see myself buying this in a heartbeat if the new iphone features doesn’t manage to impress me. Let me know if you have any further questions . It’s good to be back:)
EDIT: 09/10/2014 - Just wanted to let you guys know that I bit the bullet and got the LG G3 as my primary phone. Had been waiting to see what apple would bring onto the table and after having some extensive hands on time with both the iphone 6 and the iphone 6 plus at the Gitex Electronics fest @ Dubai I came back disappointed. It didnt bring anything new and I guess its finally time to move away from the familiarity and jump ship. And I am glad I did. After holding the 6 plus in my hand it felt wonderful to grasp the G3.
Now onto some more in usage details that I have experienced on using it -
The screen does drain battery more than you think - as in in a brightness setting of 85% you can see it drain in real time as you use it! That being said I have found that keeping the brightness to around 50 - 60% is comfortable to use and is not as dim as I thought it would be.
The battery life scared me initially with the phone literally drinking all its juice as fast as it could whenever I use it. It looked like screen on time would be around 4 yo 4.5 hours max and this wasnt acceptable to me. But over the course of my usage I found out 2 things -
a) The phone barely uses any energy when its in sleep mode. On 8 out of 10 occasions I found the charge percentage to remain the same after 3 to 4 hours of non usage. This is incredible and this standby time goes a long way in making the phone last more.
b) Watching videos on the phone doesn’t drain as much as I expected. My guess is it would go well over 9 hours of running movies continually over a brightness of 60% provided no apps are running in the background.
c) The recharging time is excellent with 20% to full top up coming in at 2 hours gice ir take 15 mins.
Now I am getting around 18 to 20 hours a day of mixed usage comprising of music streaming, a few videos, skype calls, an hour of mixed gaming and a few phone calls and messaging in between. Its DEFINITELY more than what my iphone 5s could handle. Heavy usage of intense gaming and movies at 80% brightness would drain it by afternoon but given the screen clarity, resolution and the fact that it can be easily topped up in a couple of hours is reassuring and I am now very comfortable with the battery life. If possible invest in a couple of wireless charging pads for office and home and battery life will be the least of your concerns.
Though I felt no lag in any of my usage I did change my runtime environment from Dalvik to ART( android run time) purely because its the future and I wanted to see for myself if there was any perceptible change. Its nothing to write home about but the phone is indeed fluid though how much more than in Dalvik is up to individual perception. I have no complaints is how I would sum it up.
I enjoy using its camera A LOT. it gives vivid pictures and the focus is almost instantaneous. All in all a reliable camera that wont let a casual person down.
The selfie hand gesture and’say cheese to click’ feature works exactly as advetised and I confess to using it more times than I thought I would.
I am a moto X fan and was dead certain on getting one but the G3 won me over and I am not regretting it. If you are sitting on the fence about the purchase I suggest you jump the gun and get one( considering you wouldnt want a stylus support in which case you should get the note 4)
Cheerios mates