LG has finally unveiled the successor
of its highly successful flagship smartphone – the LG G3 in a special event in
London. And just like what the leaks and rumours before had mentioned, the
phone brings a number of improvements in the areas of imaging, display and
audio.
The phone is built around a 5.5-inch
True HD IPS LCD screen with QHD resolution (2560x1440 pixels) which equates to
a pixel density of 534ppi. The phone’s internals include a Snapdragon 801
chipset with a 2.5GHz quad-core Krait processor, 2GB-3GB of RAM, 16GB to 32GB
of on-board storage which can be expanded up to 128GB using a microSD card.
In terms of external features and
design, the G3 has the look and feel of its predecessor, especially when you
focus on the rear physical buttons (volume buttons and power/lock button) and
the ultra-thin bezel display. And just like the G2, the smartphone still uses
plastic – specifically polycarbonate in its construction.
However, LG has upped the ante by
using a special coating on the back to give it a finish similar to metal, which
according to LG is scratch resistant and to a certain extent fingerprint
resistant. The back cover is also removable which allows users to access and
replace the 3000mAh battery as well as swap the cover for a special case to
enable wireless charging.
In the imaging department, the G3
comes equipped with a 13MP rear camera with dual-LED flash and optical image
stabilization. There’s also a special laser beside the camera that helps the
phone to measure distance between the subject and the sensor and helps in
speeding up the autofocus. There’s also a 2MP front-facing camera that has a
brighter lens than the rear snapper and offers consumers with viewing angles up
to 77 degrees (perfect for selfies).
LG has also added a 1W speaker at the
back with a special boost mode that
gives the speaker an extra 0.5W of power for improved sound quality.
Meanwhile, in the software
department, the G3 comes with Android 4.4.2 out of the box with LG’s redesigned
Optimus UI on top. There’s also a new software feature similar to Google Now
called Smart Notice which offers
relevant information to users based on usage. And just like other LG devices,
the G3 will offer the company’s numerous software enhancements including
KnockCode and KnockOn features.
The LG G3 will be available in South
Korea next week, and will trickle down to other markets in the coming weeks,
with Europe having it next in June. There’s no pricing details yet for the
phone, but we should expect the phone to sell at a similar price point as the
LG G2 last year.
