LG G4: Be careful while fingering this leather-clad smartie pants Despite some lovely work, LG has been a perennial bridesmaid at the smartphone wedding. LG’s rival giant Samsung has walked off with the only profits being made in the Android business. But this year LG senses a chance to be the bride. LG G4 Android smartphone LG's G4 flagship smartie For 2015, Samsung has made its best …
>n Android land Sony reigns supreme for battery life. Largely because it's much more aggressive about turning down background tasks by default.
Just to clarify: Sony's Stamina Mode is an option with a quick toggle. IIRC, exceptions on an app-by-app basis can be made, but I haven't played with that. I don't need to receive emails the minute they are sent - If I'm expecting something urgent I can toggle the Stamina Mode off. There is also an Ultra Stamina mode, which effectively restarts the phone with only a few core apps and 2G comms only - one for possible emergency use, whilst hill walking perhaps.
I was impressed by the LG G2 - one of the first Snapdragon 800 phones - but was convinced by the decision to give the G3 an overkill screen at the expense of battery life.
Why assume? The results are clearly labelled "AnTuTu benchmark".
If you read the article you would have read the author say: "Samsung's own chipset in the S6 wins out on those rare occasions you need raw speed".
If you want a breakdown of the S6 performance and battery life under best efforts to level the playing field, you could do worse than look here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9146/the-samsung-galaxy-s6-and-s6-edge-review/3
Its got graphs and everything.
And the small difference between Samsung and LG performance matters why, exactly? In what way does a faster phone benefit you, are you using it as a server or compiling code on it?
Some will argue that more speed means entering low power mode faster, but the Samsung has more speed and worse battery life so if that was their goal they failed.
After having a Nexus 4 since launch I bought an LG G4 after thinking hard about the SG6, the M9 and the Z4.
I am really thrilled with the G4. The screen is amazing and the camera stunning. The author didn't mention one of the key points about it having a fully manual mode for shots - ISO, Shutter speed, EV, White Balance, 9 point auto focus or full semi-auto focus or complete manual focus. The opportunities for creating really high quality shots even in challenging conditions is great (combined with F1.8 Apeture!). The optical image stabiliser works superb and the slow mo video is good quality to.
Also charging speed after having a nexus 4 was an eye opener even with the standard charger (haven't tried the quick charge 2 charger yet).
I was anxious about the size after a Nexus 4 but it doesn't feel significantly bigger, in fact in many ways it feels smaller. I also like stock android and this doesn't dilute it too much - it's definitely plenty fast enough. Also compared to the Nexus 4 the GPS and compass are much more accurate - side by side in the car it was quicker to lock and remained much more stable. Even streaming radio on my journey in it didn't drop out once whereas the Nexus 4 had 3 blind spots on the same journey so the radios seem to be much better (LTE is non-existent around here so it wasn't for any lack of that on the Nexus).
The lack of water resistance/water proofing is a shame as I use a phone a lot in difficult conditions so I'm looking for a suitable case and the lack of a fingerprint sensor is a small omission. However these are nice to haves.
Another point that I hadn't seen mentioned, my G4 bought outright from an independent was a brown leather one but came in the standard pack with nice subtle gold back included as well and also came with some pretty reasonable headphones.
I might have some 'purchase justification bias' but I generally don't get too excited by phones as I deal with lots of different ones at work, however so far I am not displeased with this.
For a review from a real photographer see here: http://www.colbybrownphotography.com/gear-review-a-photographers-take-on-the-lg-g4/
At the end he writes this:
"FULL DISCLOSURE
While I partnered with LG to create both images and videos to help promote the global launch of the LG G4, they never asked me or payed me to write this review. These thoughts and opinions are mine and mine alone. Even if you think that I am biased because of our business arrangement, I have provided enough details and high resolution images for you to come to your own conclusions about this device."
His site is an independent site and if you consider it biased it still has a lot of information about the actual facts about the camera and its abilities as well as sample shots to check out. However check out some other sites relating to the photography on this camera - it's better than any compact p&s camera I've had (apart from the lack of optical zoom lens) but I stopped buying compact cameras a few years ago...
The G4 also shoots RAW if required which is useful.
It doesn't matter if he was paid for this or not. It's still not an actual review. Or, to be more precise, all the review is in the teaser.
So the relevant facts are:
no removable battery
no SD card slot
which firmly puts this device into the "fashion" category of devices which look and feel nice, but are of no long lasting use.
@Christian Berger
"So the relevant facts are:
no removable battery
no SD card slot"
Sorry if I misread your comments, but are you on about the G4 still? From the review here;
"Sensing the opportunity, LG has made its own flagship for 2015 much more "Galaxy-like". It retains the removable battery of last year’s G3 and is priced keenly off-contract. You can stuff in a Micro SD card up to 2TB"
Or have I clusterfucked here?
I was given the LG for a company phone, and like you I don't get too excited about phones these days.
I have to agree, the phone is very fast, has a superb camera, and the charging/battery life is the best I've ever had with a smartphone, it lasts 2 days with me (with a LOT of phone call usage).
The phone is too big for my liking though (my fault of course), and the rear buttons do take a while to get used to.
"I found having a Samsung S6 massively more convenient, not just because of the fingerprint unlocking but because of the venerable main button. Double-click that button and the camera is ready in a second or two. And while you can turn the G4 display on and off with a double knock, taking pictures always took much longer."
Doh! RTFM next time i.e. Double tap the volume down button and it takes a picture in under 2 seconds from lock.
I upgraded from my Galaxy S4 (which I liked but had rubbish build quality) to the LG G3 and really like it. The only real problem I have with it is occasional lag in the LG UI and an annoying problem where it occasionally just plain forgets your settings. If LG have indeed improved their UI software then the G4 may well be my next upgrade!
That's fine, Otterbox away. It's fairly easy to add that element to a smartphone, but a lot less simple to remove it if it's built in.
The problem I see it with 'survivable' phones is they can't just be droppable, the spec becomes huge (as has been mentioned on these boards before) with IP ratings etc. You end up with a huge great lump of indestructable mass which is a great product for those that need them, but they don't sell to consumers in any numbers and are easily outdone in performance terms by the mass produced ones too. They're a niche product.
I know what you mean though, I typically clad my new shiney in something to help with knocks and scrapes (initially anyway).
> I found it impossible to tell the phone that it was in my home location. So the feature went untested.
If anyone is interested in location-based settings for an Android phone, see whether Llama [play.google.com] fits the bill. It determines location based on cell tower IDs; you have to teach it which towers belong in which zones. The process of teaching location, and fixing the settings for different times and zones is a bit fiddly, but I've found the app to be quite efficient.
When are phone manufacturers going to realise that the choices we should be offered are far more fundamental than just the specs of the hardware? What about a choice of OS? I'd love to buy a Samsung device, so long as it doesn't have Android. I'm never buying an Android phone no matter how good the hardware is, just like I wouldn't put a nest of vipers down my pants.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
