Home Gaming LG G4 is a leather-clad powerhouse

LG G4 is a leather-clad powerhouse

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LG-G4.jpg

There was so much right with the LG G3 last year. It was unbelievably powerful, rocked a stunning QHD display and generally was a treat to use with its intelligent physical design. The biggest problem with the Android device was its relatively disappointing battery life – with the high-resolution display sucking the life out of the G3 well before the sun had reached the other end of the horizon. It’s also just one of the problems the G4 is addressing.

The LG G4 retains a lot of the G3’s DNA. It’s still got a 5.5-inch, 2560 x 1440 pixel QHD display, with similar dimensions making it difficult to tell the two flagships apart if you look at them face first. The G4 does feature a slight curve to it, settling in-between the G3 and LG Flex 2. It’s nowhere near as drastic as the Flex, but LG have said that the curve will help keep the phone safer if you happen to drop it.

The panel for the display has been swapped out with what LG is calling a “Quantum IPS” panel, which ticks all the right marketing boxes. It’s said to improve colour accuracy, with 25% more brightness and 50% better contrast when compared to the G3. That brightness also doesn’t come with a price – the new panel is said to improve power efficiency by 11%, which isn’t a whole lot for a phone that could really use it.

The biggest, and most striking, difference has to be the leather backs that the premium versions of the G4 will ship with. LG says each coloured, leather back takes around three months to produce, giving your G4 a much more luxurious finish than the ugly, ordinary plastic backs. Expect to play a little more for them though, as that extensive process is unlikely to be a small fare jump.

Elsewhere the G4 features a slightly improved 16-megapixel camera, which ships with enhanced image stabilization, the same laser focus from the G3 and a new colour spectrum sensor to improve shots in low light. That joins a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage and 3,000mAh removable battery all wrapped up and bundled to go – with the option to expand storage via a MicroSD slot.

But is it enough to compete with the incredibly diverse, expanding Android space that 2015 has introduced? I’m not too sure, and it seems like LG went the same route as HTC with the G4. It sounds more like a small, incremental update rather than an upgrade akin to, say, the Galaxy S5 and S6. Although I’ll reserve judgment until I actually get to test the device out, with LG beginning shipping in June later this year.

Last Updated: April 29, 2015

54 Comments

  1. you had me at “leather clad”

    now, will this be another R600/month phone on the market, or will it cost something a little more realistic?

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      April 29, 2015 at 09:44

      If they want to make a hit, they should lower the price significantly.

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        April 29, 2015 at 09:47

        lower every phones price significantly.
        im due an upgrade in a month, but contracts are costing double what they were 2 years ago.

        tempted to just move to airtime only contract and keep my Nokia…

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          April 29, 2015 at 09:51

          Exactly what I did. Contract is R29 a month. I almost never phone people and I’m almost always near Wi-Fi for Whatsapp

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 09:54

            ForeverSP?

            At least you Whatsapp me, so you’ve got that going for you 😛

          • Hammersteyn

            April 29, 2015 at 09:57

            XD

          • Hammersteyn

            April 29, 2015 at 10:13

            Majestic…

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 10:42

            #InsideJoke

            (NOT THAT KIND OF INSIDE!!!)

          • Hammersteyn

            April 29, 2015 at 10:55

            LOL!

        • Admiral Chief

          April 29, 2015 at 09:55

          Same here man, my contract is R100 for 100minutes, 100sms and 1GB data, and R300 for the handset. I’ll keep the R100pm and maybe later get a phone through FNB or something. (only thing that sucks is I have no 4G)

          Reply

          • Lord Chaos

            April 29, 2015 at 09:55

            What package is this?
            I have to upgrade now.

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 09:58

            It is with CellC, but I’m not happy with the data speeds in my area

          • Lord Chaos

            April 29, 2015 at 09:59

            Damn, need something like that but with Vodacom

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 10:01

            VodaScum is moer duur.

            Have you tried Telkom? The deals are good, but not sure about the coverage

          • Lord Chaos

            April 29, 2015 at 10:03

            I have their LTE modem for internet. Not bad, but certainly not good either.

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 10:07

            I had a look on CellC’s site now, that contract I have is no longer listed. So I’ll get them to take me on month-to-month, since I’m happy with the contract as such

          • Matthew Holliday

            April 29, 2015 at 11:11

            LTE modems confuse me.
            a place i house sat had one with uncapped, got like 1.1mb/s download, but tried gaming on it, the packet loss was just insane. 600ms ping and 75% packet loss, unusable.

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 11:31

            The traffic is shaped differently on 3G/LTE

        • Ranting Raptor

          April 29, 2015 at 10:32

          That’s what I did and took a Vodafone Smart 4 Power.

          Not sorry at all.

          Reply

        • Mossel

          April 29, 2015 at 10:37

          Do it man. I cancelled my contract, still rolling with my iPhone 4s. Although the screen is small, the phone is still perfect. An I spend about R200pm on airtime and data.

          Reply

          • Matthew Holliday

            April 29, 2015 at 10:48

            very tempted.
            if phone prices are convincing me to stick with a nokia, something is very wrong.

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 10:54

            What Nokia have you got?

          • Matthew Holliday

            April 29, 2015 at 11:08

            lumia 925.
            great phone, but not a great smartphone.

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 11:31

            I got my wife the Lumia 835 (I think) Great phone as well, but VERY lacking in the app department (crazy good battery though)

          • Matthew Holliday

            April 29, 2015 at 12:05

            battery started off good, 2 days was easy peasy, but im down to a day and a bit now, and thats with the minimal amount i use it.

            mostly i use a tablet when im away from my pc, so i dont use my phone all that much.

    • Hammersteyn

      April 29, 2015 at 09:45

      ^This

      Reply

    • Ranting Raptor

      April 29, 2015 at 10:31

      We don’t need to know your weird bedroom habbits Mr Grey

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        April 29, 2015 at 10:39

        pretty sure i totally stole this from someone here.

        Reply

        • Ranting Raptor

          April 29, 2015 at 10:50

          BOOM!

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn

            April 29, 2015 at 10:58

            Thing is, even Mr. Grey can probably just afford all that.

    • Mossel

      April 29, 2015 at 10:37

      There’s hardly any flagship phone for less than R600pm. The iPhone 6 and Galaxy S6 are both in the R700pm range.

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        April 29, 2015 at 10:40

        my point exactly.
        flagship phones were going for R300-400pm 2 years ago

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          April 29, 2015 at 10:43

          Exactly, I got this ‘ere ‘flagship’ almost 2 years ago @ R400pm

          Reply

          • Mossel

            April 29, 2015 at 10:45

            Same here. My phone was R450pm.

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 10:53

            You paid too much, you got an apple, sies

          • Mossel

            April 29, 2015 at 10:55

            lol my apple is still as smooth as on day one!

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 10:57

            Is that what she said?

            XDXDXDXDXD

          • Mossel

            April 29, 2015 at 10:58

            LOOOOL!!! I was waiting for someone to throw that in there!

          • Hammersteyn

            April 29, 2015 at 10:59

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 11:01

            Is that the standard boot image?

          • Hammersteyn

            April 29, 2015 at 11:04

            About two minutes after the warranty expires.

          • Admiral Chief

            April 29, 2015 at 11:30

            I see

      • Craig Lotter

        April 29, 2015 at 10:43

        Well, there is a reason that they’re referred to as flagship phones. Not everyone is meant to be able to afford them 🙂

        Reply

        • Mossel

          April 29, 2015 at 10:45

          I was able to afford a flagship phone in 2012. Now it is just ridiculous! I’d rather spend that money elsewhere. It’s financial suicide to buy such an expensive phone.

          Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        April 29, 2015 at 11:00

        Titanic was a flagship, just saying

        Reply

        • Mossel

          April 29, 2015 at 11:01

          There aren’t any icebergs nearby! I think we’re safe.

          Reply

      • Gavin Mannion

        April 29, 2015 at 11:42

        My iPhone 6 64Gb is in the very low R600 mark.. and that’s with free calls etc

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          April 29, 2015 at 11:46

          What is the package?

          Reply

          • Gavin Mannion

            April 29, 2015 at 12:55

            errrrr MTN something :).. I’m not good at remembering things like this
            Very few minutes available and low data but I don’t care as I use Afrihost mobile for data

          • Mossel

            April 29, 2015 at 13:26

            See so you still need to buy more data, thus it adds up to over R700pm. My old contract was R450pm and that was it.

        • Mossel

          April 29, 2015 at 11:51

          Yeah what package is this? I was looking around the other day and it was only the 16GB editions that were in that range.

          Reply

  2. Lord Chaos

    April 29, 2015 at 09:49

    Should get a few of these for PETA

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      April 29, 2015 at 09:55

      LOOOL

      Reply

  3. FoxOneZA

    April 29, 2015 at 10:58

    That phone is thick by today’s standards O_O

    Reply

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