LG G3 Smartphone – Design, Connectivity and Camera Review
The G3 is an Android-based smartphone from South Korean electronics company LG. It is the continuation of one of the best received phones of last year, the LG G2.
Design
The G3 is just 8.9mm thick (the G2 was 9.1mm), though due to its 146mm x 75mm flat size, it’s still one of the largest phones, and most of this volume It is due to its huge 5.5-inch screen. Where the manufacturer has done an excellent job is keeping the display frame as small as possible. The smartphone is not much bigger than its rivals. It’s slightly wider than the Sony Xperia Z2 (5.2-inch screen) and the HTC One M8 (5-inch screen) but surprisingly not as tall as either of them, all thanks to those little bezels (and the lack of front speakers, which we’ll cover in a later review).
Although the 5.5-inch screen provides an incredibly large area to interact with, it is reaching the size limit where users can comfortably reach the entire screen with one hand, and the top third of the screen is particularly difficult to reach. even with a reasonably large hand. Despite this problem, LG has thought about the problem and installed software features to help. We take a detailed look at the software in a later review.
The phone weighs a competitive 149g, gaining just 6g over its predecessor.
A welcome design change is the introduction of a brushed metal frame around the perimeter that separates the front and back of the phone. The back cover is removable again and is now a metallic skin plastic with a scratch resistant brushed finish. It doesn’t feel as premium as the HTC M8 or Xperia Z2, but it’s a step up from the Galaxy S5, while still managing to retain access to the battery. Everything in the G3 strikes a good middle ground between its three rivals in smartphone offerings.
As first seen on the G2, LG has stuck with the placement of the physical buttons on the back of the phone, next to the camera lens. While this seems like an odd location at first, it’s actually comfortable to use and soon makes a lot of sense, as well as offering the benefit of not having awkward side or top buttons that can be accidentally pressed.
It should be noted that unlike the Xperia Z2 and Samsung G5, the G3 is neither waterproof nor dustproof. LG says it didn’t want to add size or weight to get this feature. If the absence of an IP (Ingress Protection) rating on this smartphone is a deciding factor, only the end user can decide.
Connectivity
Connectivity on the G3 is solid with 4G LTE-Advanced, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, NFC, and infrared. The phone comes with a nice infrared application that allows you to control home entertainment systems.
Unfortunately, the LG has USB 2 because, according to the manufacturer, the standard USB 3 port is larger and makes the production of a slim smartphone much more difficult. It should be noted that the Galaxy S5 has a USB 3 port.
LG G3 camera
Camera technology in smartphones has increased a lot in the last three years and this phone is no exception. The resolution of the main camera is 13 megapixels (according to the G2), although with a number of improvements such as a dual-LED flash, 4K resolution video recording and a new smartphone function, laser autofocus. This function fires a cone-shaped beam to focus in just 276 ms. In testing, it works really well and certainly feels at least as fast as the Galaxy S5’s 0.3s autofocus speed.
The G3 also includes optical image stabilization to help keep images blur-free, while a feature called “tap and shoot” eliminates unnecessary buttons to release the screen and show the actual shot being taken. The camera can be quickly launched by holding down the volume down button, a useful shortcut.
Having the ability to refocus images after shooting is something that is becoming a popular feature on a top-tier smartphone. While HTC has the most technically advanced solution in its Duo Camera technology, the LG G3 uses something called “magic approach”. Here you need to zoom in on an object and then take a series of shots. After this, you can tap anywhere or use a slider to select where you want the focus to be before saving the photo. It works reasonably well, but requires a bit more effort than rival systems. We think it’s something of a novelty due to the amount of shots required and it’s probably one of those features, at LG at least, that will rarely be used in practice.
The front camera (now called ‘selfie camera’ by LG) is a 2 megapixel unit that can record videos in Full HD. Some improvements have been made to the camera’s specs to allow for better low-light shots. The size of the image sensor has been increased and the lens f-stop reduced to f2.0, allowing more light to enter the sensor and therefore getting better photos in low light conditions. It also comes with gesture control so you can raise your hand in front of the phone and make a fist to start a three-second countdown before taking the photo. Voice commands can also be used to activate cameras.