We must have done something great in a past life, because we managed to get our hands on one of the very few LG G4 units here in the country, a few days before launch. We understand you’re probably as excited as you are, so we’re going to get right to it.
It just so happens we had some of the older-generation G-series here at the office, so we were able to take three of them side-by-side. From left: The Korean version of the LG G2, The LG G3, and the Korean LG G4. The sizes are roughly the same, though each device is visibly larger than the previous iteration. The G4 has the plastic screen protector still installed, and the G3 has a tempered glass protector.
Here are the three devices, in the same order, just flipped over. The size difference is more apparent here, though it’s really not that dramatic when each device is in hand.
A closer look at the back of the G4 reveals the gorgeous leather back, with the stitching going in two lines down the middle. Both the look and feel of the back are unmistakably leather, giving the phone an extremely premium air. The leather is smooth, but not slippery, and hard, with no give. We’ll see how they managed that a little later on.
Here’s the business side of the G4. The screen is clear, sharp, and vibrant. Our camera can’t really do it justice, but it’s a real treat to see. It really got our attention, much as the LG G3’s screen did the first time we saw it. The LG did add their tweaks to the launcher, but if you’ve ever used an LG Android device before, everything should be absolutely familiar.
Here’s the profile of the device. It looks a little thick, but that’ mostly a trick of the eye. The layer of leather on the back case doesn’t add any noticeable thickness to the phone, and it still sits very well in my average-sized hands.
Another look at the stitching on the leather case reveals ti to be quite fine. The seam in the middle is perfectly flush, and even though the stitching seems to be more cosmetic than anything else
Here’s that amazing camera, and laser, which allows for lightning-fast focusing. The button has returned to the same, flat, horizontal deal as on the G2. It rises slightly from the volume rocker, and is very easy to index, should you chose to wake the device up with the button, instead of a knock code. The leather tucks neatly into the space between the camera/keys into the back of the case, so we don’t expect anything to come loose unless you pry a flap of leather out, though we did notice that it leaves the camera a little exposed to things that may scratch it. Pay attention when you set your phone down to avoid optical disaster.
While we could go on and on about the UI, speed (it’s really fast) and all of that, we know one of the reasons people are so interested about this device is the camera, namely manual mode. Here’s the camera app in Manual Mode. You can see the buttons at the bottom, and the control they give the shooter. White Balance, switching to Manual Focus, ISO, Exposure, shutter speed, and “AE-L” which locks the exposure.
You get to do a lot here. ISO goes all the way down to 50, for example, and you can leave the shutter open for a full 30 seconds, if you want to take some really solid low-light photos. You can also shoot in RAW, and a lot of the other fluff from the previous camera apps is gone.
All the guides are there, at the top of the image, so you can see just what’s going on at a glance. Everything here is familiar, so as long as you’re roughly used to shooting in manual, you shouldn’t have too much trouble figuring out where everything is located. Also, check out that screen. (The subject here is my LG G3’s screen)
Manual focus gives you a slider that, well, adjusts focus. I was very happy to find that it wasn’t a gimmick. At the top, I focused on the LG logo at the bottom of my G3’s front face, and the bottom image shows the same, but with focus on the two people in the center of the painting on the screen. The phone was the approximately the same distance from the subject in both shots, and no other setting were changed.
Here’s another shot of the phone in action, in manual mode. The white balance can be adjusted to better approximate the screen on my laptop, though it didn’t quite appear as clear once we took a photo of the photo. It was much closer to real life, in real life. (Sorry, we just re-watched Inception.
The inside of the back case appears to be the same kind of plastic used on the G3’s back case. The leather is stuck on to the back, very thoroughly it seems.
We weren’t able to find any points where the leather was coming off, and despite a little effort, we couldn’t make the leather part with the plastic back. I’m sure a determined attack will do it, but as far as we can tell, it’ll take some hard wear to get it to come off.
We’ll have a review of this amazing phone in the next issue of the magazine, so stay tuned for that! We’ll also be updating you about the launch event on Thursday, where the pricing, packages, and other details will be revealed, so stay tuned!