Design
I'm not sure what LG is doing with the G4. There are two options on offer, and I've been testing both. The first is a leather back, and the one that LG is pushing as the 'premium' model, and the latter is the polycarbonate version with a diamond effect.It's attractive enough, and has the same brushed metal effect as last year, but lacks anything like the 'wow' factor LG is going for with the leather option.
Let's start with leather (on a separate note: a dangerous statement for a first date). I'm really disappointed with what LG has done here. It's too thinly stretched over the back of the phone to be considered premium, and when you're fighting against the beauty of the HTC One M9, it's a real misstep.
Leather could have been a good idea, if it had the same feel as an expensive wallet or watch strap. But the thin material used here almost feels plastic, not premium. The Moto X has a leather back option, and I know some people love it, but for many a leather back is a novelty, not a statement of wealth, luxury or quality.
And let's be honest: the leather back is just that, a back. One you can buy and clip on, rather than a part of the phone's design itself.
When it comes to the plastic version, the LG G4 doesn't feel as nice in the hand as the rest of the market's big hitters: the HTC One M9 has a really well-crafted finish, the iPhone 6 a lightweight ceramic feel that begs you to fondle it, and the Galaxy S6 has shown that Samsung's not completely inept when it comes to offering a phone made of metal and glass.
The LG, on the other hand, is all about being lightweight and ergonomic in the hand. The rear cover bulges out a little to curve into the palm, which is designed to make it nicer to hold and allow for a greater battery space (3000mAh, compared to the 2500mAh on offer in the Galaxy S6, for instance).
One of the big features LG is making a big deal of is the fact said battery is removable, which explains the need for a plastic cover (easier to remove and less likely to break than a metal choice).
I'm not sold on the need to have removable battery. I know some people love the safety it brings, the idea that you can carry around a spare, but in reality I'd rather use one of the battery packs I've become accustomed to slinging in my bag - plus they're universal.
Making a battery removable does have the added benefit of letting you change it out if the power pack starts playing up a year and a half into your two year contract, but it comes at the cost of design. There's a reason the S6, One M9, iPhone 6 and Sony Xperia Z3 all look better than the G4, and that's the fact they have unibody chassis.
I'm glad LG has offered this choice just so one of the market's big hitters is doing it, and if you're one of those that think the leather is equally as premium as metal, then this is a great feature to have (the cover also hides the microSD slot too).
But the lack of unibody has minimised the amount of battery space available and made a less attractive phone.
The phone itself is large without being unwieldy. Yes, we've become used to having massive phones in our hands, but where the LG G3 was just on the edge of being too big, this 5.5-inch screened device has been curved and hewn to make it a little less sharp to use in the hand.
Camera Quality
If LG has deliberately gone easy on the CPU side, it hasn’t held back with the camera hardware. This is one of the most technically impressive phone cameras there’s ever been.
The roll-call of awesome is pretty long. First, there’s the sensor. Not only does it have 16 megapixels under its belt, the sensor is 1/2.6 inch in size just like the Samsung Galaxy S6. Heck, it might even be the same Sony IMX240 sensor judging by the results.
Next up is the lens. It’s an f/1.8 lens. This is an incredibly fast lens that’ll take in loads of light compared even to the F/2.2 lens of the HTC One M9. That’s even quicker than the Galaxy S6’s F/1.9 one.
LG sure is going for it.
That’s not the end either. The LG G4 has a laser focusing module on the back, for one. What this does is fire off an IR beam, which is reflected back to the sensor, telling the phone how far away the object in question is. It lets the autofocus jump to that point, before using standard contrast detection focusing to finish the job.
The optical image stabilisation has been improved, too. It’ll handle more judder than the LG G3, and takes on another axis for even better performance.
Bored yet? There’s one more bit to shout about. Next to the flash is something called a colour spectrum sensor. It’s the first of its kind in a phone. This takes a look at the scene and judges what sort of flash shade is needed to avoid your friends’ faces becoming all white and ghostly.
Camera Pictures
Selfie Loverz
LG G4 does battle with the Galaxy S6 right at the top of the smartphone camera game. But where it gets an obvious advantage is the selfie camera. It has an 8-megapixel sensor.
Sure, we’ve this sort of high-res front camera before, and an even more pixel-packed one in the 13MP HTC Desire Eye.
It can produce great selfies, especially as it applies HDR smarts as standard. As usual with an LG phone, there’s also a slider that messes around with your face, smoothing out your wrinkly bits and pores. Just like the main camera, you can get top shots with no fuss.
There’s nothing all that next-gen about the front camera, though, as it can’t use any of the fancy tech you get in the rear camera. No OIS, no flash.
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