LG officially announces the LG G4
Gadgets May 1, 2015 Jason Dayrit 0
After months of speculation, leaks, and teasers, LG Electronics finally shows off the latest in a pedigree of great smartphones. The LG G4 shows off the best the company offers in terms of improvements, but still keeps it familiar.
The last of the big brand smartphones has been given the official release treatment, and the LG G4 was recently announced in six big cities: New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Istanbul, and its hometown of Seoul. The flagship device has a few design elements that that show off how the company is willing to adopt bold strokes in its products, both in aesthetics and with what’s inside.
The G4 features full grain leather variants in six colors. And when LG says it is full grain, it’s the genuine article. No faux leather here. To further stress the point, impressive stitching is added that runs along the middle of the back panel, adding a subtle touch of class. Worry not, however, as LG also offers the G4 in metallic gray and shiny gold variants for those who don’t really want nor need the leather touch. The display, as evidenced by leaked photos, is slightly curved to reportedly give the phone added durability against face-down drops. The Slim Arc display, as LG calls it, gives the smartphone a more comfortable and secure grip and would hopefully make the 5.5 QHD IPS Quantum Display easier to use especially for people with small hands.
New to the G4 is the Quantum Display, which offers 20% more color reproduction, 50% more contrast, and 25% improved brightness. The G4’s display has been calibrated to Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) standards for color reproduction, which is used by top Hollywood studios. Watching HD movies on the G4, or just looking though photos taken by the device will be a joy for sure.
When it comes to specs, the LG G4 does not disappoint. The device uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset as opposed to the rumored 810. For the CPU, LG crams a total of six cores for the G4: a dual-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A57 and a quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53. An Adreno 418 GPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB on board memory, a 3,000mAh battery, and a microSD card slot (up to 128GB) rounds out the need-to-know figures for the G4.
The LG G3 broke new ground in smartphone cameras with its laser auto focus technology, allowing users to quickly focus on their subject and take shots with great clarity. While the tech is still present in the G4, a few improvements have been added: an f/1.8 aperture lens, the addition of manual mode, and the addition of a Color Spectrum Sensor.
The new lens on the G4’s 16MP rear camera allows for 80% more light to reach the sensor, resulting in better snaps in low-light environments and is complemented with new OIS 2.0 technology – which expands the range of stabilization to two degrees on the X and Y axes and adds a Z axis to the mix. Combined with the laser auto focus, taking quick shots at night or indoors will be a breeze for the G4.
With the inclusion of a manual mode, smartphone photographers can now tinker and adjust shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and exposure compensation to a great degree. The G3 did not have any sort of manual adjustment to its camera interface, opting to have preset buttons depending on lighting conditions. While that helped a lot, the G4’s manual mode more than make up for a smartphone photographer’s desire for greater control and interpretation of their chosen subject.
LG’s Color Spectrum Sensor (CSS) is a smartphone first. The tech allows for near-accurate color reproduction by reading precise RGB values from ambient light and reflected infrared light from objects. The big words mean that the G4’s camera not just senses light bouncing off from objects, but also refines how much color is seen on the screen. This would hopefully address the slight washing on shots from its predecessor. Combined with the Quantum Display, photos taken from the G4 have the possibility of being frame-worthy right off the bat. The device also allows users to save their pictures in RAW format for post production editing with no detail loss.
The G4 started its global roll out last April 29 in Korea and LG has promised to announce local availability and prices as soon as possible.
Key Specs:
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 808 Processor
- Display: 5.5-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum Display (2560 x 1440, 538ppi)
- Memory: 32GB eMMC ROM, 3GB LPDDR3 RAM / microSD slot
- Camera: Rear 16MP with F1.8 Aperture / OIS 2.0 / Front 8MP with F2.0 Aperture
- Battery: 3,000mAh (removable)
- Operating System: Android 5.1 Lollipop
- Size: 148.9 x 76.1 x 6.3 – 9.8 mm
- Weight: 155g
- Network: 4G / LTE / HSPA+ 21 Mbps (3G)
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 4.1LE / NFC / USB 2.0
- Colors: (Ceramic) Metallic Gray / Ceramic White / Shiny Gold / (Genuine Leather) Black / Brown / Red / Sky
- Blue / Beige / Yellow
- Other: Manual Mode / Gesture Interval Shot / Quick Shot
Jason Dayrit
Jason is a gadget junkie, a gear head, and an aspiring Internet Supervillain. He is also the EIC of twenty8two.com.
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