[G4 General] lwbanerjee:
I was kindly sent a unit to review by LG along with the LG bluetooth Infinim Headset. There are many reasonably objective reviews out there that cover the specs and overall performance/value in comparison to other phones (such as youtube’s fantastic MKBHD). What I would like to do I share my experience with this phone after 6 weeks and how it affected me.

I was previously using an Nexus 5 (incidentally also made by LG, based on the G2). It had everything I thought wanted in a phone; a large, high res, well saturated screen, it was blazing fast and it looks great too. I would always have a little smile to myself whenever someone said ‘wow, what phone is that?’. So despite reading/watching reviews of every noteworthy smartphone released, I thought, 'why would I ever want to change my phone again?’ (Other than the occasional screen-size envy of larger phones, but that’s not something everyone wants anyway). Then the G4 came along.

You see the biggest flaw of the Nexus 5 was it’s weak camera, but then that was never an issue for me. Even considering the often lauded iPhone and flagship Samsung cameras, owning a very portable compact mirrorless camera with near DSLR picture quality, I thought that considering the camera on a phone really was pointless. Nevertheless, on paper the G4’s specs caught my attention. Aside from the usual latest silicon found on the latest flagships, and personal taste for larger screens, it was the camera that intrigued me. A 1.8F aperture lens capable of shooting RAW. Could this really be the replacement for both my phone and camera I wondered?

After having the privilege of testing one for 6 weeks the simple answer is yes. A quick visit to the trylgg4.co.uk website will show what I’m talking about. While of course it doesn’t not completely stand up to a dedicated camera with interchangeable lenses. With its beautiful, perfectly saturated 1440p screen it sports an unmatched viewfinder, and I can immediately decide with confidence that I got the shot I was looking for. In terms of overall picture quality it beats very other phone out there hands down. The wide angle and ability to take shoot in a 16:9 ratio is absolutely perfect for landscape shots. The wide aperture combined with great sharpness makes for unrivalled depth of field (that thing that makes photos look ‘professional’). It also makes for killer low light performance, beating even my NEX-F3. For those who like to fiddle with every setting being able to so easily manually adjust exposure compensation, ISO and shutter speed it in such a simple, intuitive user interface (incidentally made even easier on such a big beautiful screen) is again unmatched in ANY optical device with this kind of portability.

Consider my own real world experience. I do not speak as a professional photographer by any means but I am particularly fussy about getting quality shots on holidays and capturing great moments out with my friends. I also do a lot of travelling, and I recently went to Iceland. This involved a lot of long, arduous hikes, especially where the most beautiful shots can taken from. I can tell you that the last thing anyone wants is a giant DSLR swinging around one's neck for hours on end, or to think that it might get damaged or dropped when scrambling over steep and dangerous terrain or to take it out in the pouring rain. Now this is where a more compact alternative might come into play, but then one is already going to be taking a knock with regards to PQ, not to mention that the smaller systems inevitably become more tedious to use in the settings department. When continually, day after day, whipping one’s camera out in those awkward/ dangerous positions (where often the best shots can be found), there becomes a temptation to just use the point and shoot feature, and in the end all that money you spent for all those features, and all the effort of lugging something less than ideally portable around just becomes pointless. And this is where the G4 really won me over. Despite it’s easy to use and flexible manual settings, almost every time it did just as good a job, if not better, as my dedicated camera when I simply used the automatic settings. Autofocus was always fast and rarely struggled to fix and white balance was consistent and accurate. By the end of my trip I was asking myself, ‘why even bother with a dedicated camera?’. I will be shortly putting my NEX for sale on eBay.

On a side note I would say it’s super wide angle front camera is probably better that many rear cameras on other phones (inc. the n5) and has now converted me to selfies (shock horror!). Also to note are that it’s 4k videos are of stunning quality, and that is something that is only offered by the latest high end dedicated camera systems. I never ever bothered to take videos before, I can't stop now.

I stress that I am not suggesting this any sort of replacement at all for a fully equipped DSLR, but when it does such a good job against a dedicated portable system, for both my needs and I’m sure for those of many others, I can confidently say that owning this phone will really make one question the need for a separate camera. I am suddenly whipping it out of my pocket every time I see anything interesting that might make a good shot without being put off thinking that I don’t have the gear on me to do it justice. I am taking selfies constantly (that’s probably a bad thing), and I use every excuse to show of the beautiful pictures I’ve taken displayed on that glorious screen.

As regards everything else about the phone I really don’t have any complaints. The phone performs well in all areas such a performance, reception/connectivity, call quality, etc. Perhaps there is the occasional stutter but nothing a quick app clear won’t fix. Now I would call myself a moderate to even heavy user, and I have found the battery always last comfortably until he end of the day (16hrs off charge). It’s worth mentioning that while I was in Iceland and shooting 4k video ALL the time with the screen brightness on max in the midday sun, it’s possible to burn through the battery in half a day. However this is why the ever more disappearing feature of the removable battery makes the G4 such a unique article. When you are out taking photos and shooting video all day, having your phone tethered to a portable battery pack simply won’t do, and what good is quick charge if there is nowhere to charge the phone! But with the G4, simply switch off the phone, whack in a fresh cell and in one minute you’re back at 100%. The same goes for removable storage too. Even a 128gb iPhone 6 or GS6 couldn’t have stored all the 4k video I shot in one week. Other backing everything up somewhere everyday, which often is not possible on such trips, removable storage is the ONLY viable solution. Another reason that makes the G4 so unique.

The only other things that I can think worth mentioning is how quickly you get used to the buttons on the back, and that the tapered edge design really feels nice in the hand and makes it easy to hold despite the phone being on the larger side. LG’s UI skin is not far off the stock experience and coming from a nexus device I had no trouble at all adjusting, and actually welcomed some of the added features, like being able to edit the quick settings menu. The external design is a personal matter of taste, but I like it. It’s smart, modern and discreet. In fact more people have said ‘wow, what phone is that?’ in 6 weeks of the G4 than the N5 in 6 months. The real difference is that now they say, ‘did you really shoot that with your phone?!’.

In short, for me, the G4 truly has changed the way I see and use my phone.