LG G4 First Impressions, AnTuTu Score

Hello gorgeous! Everyone was excited when the LG G3 came out. Now, it’s younger brother G4 has come out to play for one day. And play with it I did.

I didn’t spend enough time with it for a more thorough review, so I just did the next best thing. I took some photos and gave it a quick spin. So without further adieu, here are my first impressions of the LG G4.

First Impressions

Like the G3 that came before it, the G4 features a simple yet beautiful design. The minimalist take built on clean lines and smooth contours give this flagship a sophisticated charm that few can match.

The 5.5 inch IPS Quantum Display has a Quad HD resolution of 2560 x 1440, and a very impressive 534 ppi. It is bright and colorful, and images and text appear crisp and clear. The screen is surrounded by thin bezels on the sides, giving it a slimmer profile. And despite the bigger screen, it is roughly the same size as the Galaxy S6.

The G4 used real leather as its back plate. It even smells leathery, in a good way (yes, I gave it a whiff knowing full well it went through other people’s hands). And the real stitching gives it a nice, elegant touch.

Like the G3, the buttons of the G4 are located on the back. It’s tactile and easy to press. The camera, flash and laser for the auto focus can also be found here.

The G4’s curved back feels really good on the hand, making it is surprisingly easy to hold. The curve also lends much to the phone’s appeal.

As soon as I picked up the G4, I was surprised at how light it was. The build feels sturdy and solid.

Software

The G4 runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with LG’s Optimus UX 4.0 on top. It has the same design and color schemes that debuted with the G3 last year. The use of subdued earthy colors give it a mature feel.

The G4 comes with a 1.8 GHz hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor and 3GB of RAM. The phone is very responsive and snappy. Swiping across home screens and menus, and the animations were buttery smooth.

AnTuTu Score

The LG G4 scored an impressive 45,296 points in AnTuTu. It ranked 3rd an their list, coming in behind the Meizu MX4 and the Galaxy Note 4. On Geekbench 3, it scored 1,037 points in the single core test and 2,939 points in the multi-core test.

As a reminder, be wary of benchmarks. While high scores are an indicator of hardware prowess, it sometimes doesn’t translate to good user experience.

Camera

Much has already been said about the G4’s camera. The smartphone touts a 16 MP camera with a large aperture of f/1.8. It comes with OIS 2.0 and the lightning fast laser auto focus.

I was only able to take a few photos to test out the camera. The image quality, sharpness and auto focus speed were all very impressive. Color saturation looks good. I re-sized some of the shots with no post processing done on the original image.

Parting Thoughts

If you haven’t figured it out, I was very impressed with the LG G4. It is definitely a contender. The leather back cover is gorgeous. The UI is very smooth and responsive. The screen is bright and colorful. And the camera produces great photos. The short time I spent with it was enough to convince me that the race of the flagships has finally begun. And it is going to be tight.

The LG G4 will make its official Philippine debut on May 28, 2015. It will be available for purchase by June. You can pre-order if you like but only until May 31. Those who do will get a free 32GB SD card, a free battery kit, and extended warranty for two years. . For more information, you may visit LGG4theGreat.ph.

 LG G4 key specs:

• 5.5-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum Display (2560 x 1440, 534 ppi)
• 1.8 GHz Hexa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808
• 3GB LPDDR3 RAM
• 32GB of storage (+microSD up to 128GB)
• 16MP main camera with f/1.8 aperture; OIS 2.0; laser auto focus
• 8 megapixels front camera with f/2.0 aperture
• Dual SIM
• 4G; LTE;  HSPA+ 21 Mbps (3G)
• Wifi 802.11ac; Bluetooth 4.1LE; NFC; USB 2.0
• 3,000 mAh removable battery
• Android 5.1 Lollipop
• Dimensions: 148.9 x 76.1 x 6.3-9.8 mm; 155 grams
• Colors for Metallic Finish variant: Shiny Gold, Black Titan and Ceramic White
• Colors for Leather variant: Brown, Black and Red
• Price: PHP 32,990 (leather); PHP 31,990 (metallic) 

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