No indications of pricing, but TheVerge reported it would be available on all four major US carriers. Hoping it also makes it to Canada, as this is the first phone (other than the Xperia Z3 Compact which isn't available on Rogers) that feels/sounds like an upgrade to the LG G2.
Will be interesting to see how the phone compares to the G3 (should be faster/smoother) and the S6. The lack of 2 big cores should help a lot with heating issues, compared to the SD810 SoC.
Quote from http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1526101/lg-g4-the-... "TORONTO, April 28, 2015 /CNW/ - Beginning this June, Canadians can get their hands on the eagerly anticipated LG G4, LG's latest smartphone and the successor to the award-winning LG G3. Globally announced today, the LG G4 will be available this summer through Bell, Rogers, TELUS, Videotron and WIND Mobile."
So, it appears it will be available on every major carrier in Canada and the US.
Will be interesting to see if the removable battery and MicroSD slot remain in the Canadian model(s).
I'll be annoyed if either of those things are removed as this looks like a perfect phone for me, in part, for those specific reasons. I'd even sooner loose the leather than I would the MicroSD slot and removable battery.
Any carrier may do a sale or price reduction at any given time, even at release, but its still was a $650 phone like every other entry level flagship. Even the entry level iPhone 6 is $650. You guys need some work spotting patterns. LOL.
There is no justification for these things costing that much money. You can get a top end 10-11" tablet for that. I mean thats almost surface pro territory. $300-400 seems more reasonable.
IMO the reason they price them that way is so they can use their famous 2yr contract BS and sell it at a "reduced" cost.
It would be rather ironic if LG was forced to pay more for the 808 because it's a newer part and not as available as the 810, despite being slower. The price of being one of the "cool" kids...
It seems like serious camera features are the big deal this year. It's a trend I can get behind. The specs are there, and I'm eager to see some samples(they've ues Colby Brown in their marketing material, so I guess we will see something from him soon)
The phone is still too big, though. G2's size was perfect and I wish they would stick to that.
Do any other manufacturers than Sony make more compact versions of their flagship phones? I'm eagerly awaiting the Z4 Compact, since Z3 Compact had pretty much the same specs as Z3.
I'm right there with ya, this looks nice, I actually dig the leather back and between PSR and the 808 (plus a larger capacity battery) this might achieve some of the best battery results this year... But I don't think I can go that large, currently on a N5 and I wouldn't even mind something a little smaller (like the original Moto X).
I could go for something that size, it's still pretty close to my N5 and it's 5" (G2 having smaller bezels), but all the current flagships being 5.5"-ish is a turn off, big time.
This will be very tough sell. The 808 will turn many away, the leather many others, the design overall is a big step back compared to the G3 and even G2. It would work as a weird alternative bellow flagships but if this is their flagship for the year, it's not good enough. They don't have the Nexus anymore , euro dropping will hurt them so this year might get tough for LG.
The 808 will turn many away in the hard-core spec crowd. It will turn precisely nobody else away, since this phone is targeted towards mainstream consumers. Spec-heads like us are in the overwhelming minority.
Consumers that are clueless will see the number of cores and that's enough to label it as less. Plus the missing cores will be highlighted in any reviews.
You're really overestimating how much mainstream consumers care about cores. Nobody cares except for spec junkies, who again represent a very small portion of potential buyers. Go ahead, ask a random person on the street how many CPU cores their phone has. They won't know or care.
Vast majority of people care more when spending hundreds of dollars. There might be a market or two where people behave like you assume but those are just weird exceptions. Plus the number of cores is one of the few specs they think understand. Like ppl chose GPUs in prebuilt desktops based on amount of RAM.
I get it. You're tech-savvy. So am I. Most people are not. Most people don't "choose GPUs in prebuilt desktops based on amount of RAM." They buy the nice shiny thing that looks good in the store, which was recommended to them by the equally uninformed Best Buy employee. I don't know where you're getting the notion that average consumers care about advanced technical specs, but I assure you that they don't. You clearly spend most of your time with technologically-inclined people. That's great, but it also seems to have left you with a lack of perspective regarding the population at large.
They actually do buy like that, seen it a lot of times lol. The GPU's model number doesn't mean anything and they have no clue what things like screen resolution mean but they know that more RAM is better. Look at Mediatek last year, it made a killing by going 8 cores and forced Qualcomm to follow. The average global consumer makes a bit of an effort even when buying a 100-200$ phone , so even more so when spending 600-1000$ (depending on location). Unless they buy on brand and then Apple is the first choice and Samsung second.
MediaTek with 8x A7 tiny cores... A slightly batty idea, I have no idea what Android apps can take advantage of that many cores. The cheap phones that use these chips are decently fast though.
Oh don't be stupid. The best selling phone in the world has TWO cores, and that doesn't seem to have hurt Apple any. Probably because if I asked every single one of my non-tech friends how many cores are in their iPhone they wouldn't even understand the question.
You even admit then when you start throwing in your idiotic "buying on brand". So basically your argument is "people really care about cores --- except when they don't, which I will call 'buying on brand'"? Maybe LG is more interested in selling to this 'buying on brand' population because they represent 99% of potential customers?
As for Mediatek, since Mediatek does not sell to consumers, your argument is meaningless; it's like claiming that Windows Phone will do great because Azure is so awesome. Azure may well be awesome, but 99% of people buying a Windows Phone have no idea what it is, and it doesn't affect their purchase in the slightest.
Tech junkies aren't worried about the "number of cores" either. They're worried about both real performance (single AND multi-threaded performance and battery life) , and perceived performance (UI responsiveness and overall feel).
Marketing is not the issue EITHER. We have been through this before, how low Apple marketing spend is compared to their competitors. The issue is offering features of value to customers.
You wouldn't think this is rocket science, but read the comments in this thread (and every other phone thread) and it soon becomes apparent that there is a HUGE pool of people who are utterly unwilling to accept this basic fact, even after 8 years of iPhone evidence (and maybe 7 years or so of iPod evidence before that).
Wait how is this so? I'm actively staying far far away from any device using the 810 with 5.0. If anything it's a plus.
And people saying less cores=less performance are..well shortsighted. The iPhone doesn't have 8 cores and still runs fine. The moto x 2013 didn't have a the same number of cores as the s5 but still ran better. It's not all about the number of cores. Anyone should be aware of that. It's about design and optimization. The s6 has the exynos and still deals with lag issues.
Whoa, you might be talking about galaxy s4, moto x first gen could not come close to galaxy s5. S4 pro in moto x is weaker than s4 almost equivalent to the soc used in nexus 4. Galaxy s5 was far more powerful.
The LG G3 uses a Snapdragon 801 SoC with an Adreno 330 GPU that just barely managed to push 1440p.
The LG G4 uses a Snapdragon 808 SoC with an Adreno 418 GPU. There shouldn't be any issues wiht the 1440p screen. It's actually nice to see an OEM keep the resolution the same across generations, but increase the GPU power to work better with that resolution.
I doubt the 418 is so crazy much faster - Qualcomm promised20% and I bet that's optimistic. It will be fine, though, I guess the raw shading power won't be much more bit the GPU will be better at handling more pixels in less demanding tasks (more ROP power). And that is fine - not great in games, but for me - the last time my phone did run a game is over 2.years ago and that wasn't even a 3d game...
I doubt the 418 is so crazy much faster - Qualcomm promised20% and I bet that's optimistic. It will be fine, though, I guess the raw shading power won't be much more bit the GPU will be better at handling more pixels in less demanding tasks (more ROP power). And that is fine - not great in games, but for me - the last time my phone did run a game is over 2.years ago and that wasn't even a 3d game...
The 808 performs better than the 810 because of the overheating\throttling issues. Plus the G4 (while not scoring as high) finishes benchmark tests faster then HTC and S6. Samsung chip is a beast though. The 810 is a huge let down.
I think some people will prefer the 808. There really is little use for the 4x A57's anyways. The only real downside is the lower spec GPU. Also, you can get it without the leather, so that's a non-issue.
Anyone that might prefer the 808, should also know enough to not buy now and wait for much faster SoCs soon. Anyway 808 is less and will be seen as such by the vast majority. And i'm not counting on it being able to throttle a lot less than SD810 either. There should be some other features missing, like HVEC hardware encode.
Samsung could sell the 7420 to others so that one could be available first in more phones. SD620 and 618 would be faster single core in theory and those should arrive this year for the mid-range. Mediatek might have it's rumored dual A72 (2+4+4) this year but likely early next year. And you can bet that Qualcomm will do all it can to rush SD820 and maybe have it earlier than expected ,their sales are troubled and they need the new chips fast since nobody is happy with the current crop. It's May in a few days so late this year is not that far away. I certainly wouldn't consider buying SD810/808 at this time in a high end device.
Define "vast majority" in your view. I live in a world where most people don't know even the most rudimentary information regarding the SOC that powers their phone, let alone who made it or how many CPU cores it has.
I'm not disagreeing with you regarding the capabilities of the processor, mind you. I just think you need a reality check to understand the extent to which average people outside of your circle actually care.
Your view of how much consumers know and care might be distorted by your location. And do remember that a phone like this is not 200$ , in many markets even carrier subs are more like on T-Mo than VZW or ATT. So it's a much bigger purchase while the number of cores is one of the most visible spec. In the US clueless ppl will likely go Apple, some Samsung and be done with it.
Its not that the a57 cores work for more than a few minutes in m9 either way. But i think gflex 2 is better performing than m9. Anyways with the increase in resolution, weaker gpu and plastic instead of metal I think g4 will be even behind m9. Its not that the less cores in g4, gave it a more powerful gpu or higher clocked cores. At best it will match note 4, at worst even the quad core kraits on its last leg will beat it.
If you needed even more proof the Snapdragon 810 has thermal / power issues, that would be it. Flagship smartphone model using a lower tier cpu instead. (That said I suspect this is quite a reasonable choice, because neither the A57 cpu cores nor the Adreno 430 could really clock anywhere close to where they should for more than a few seconds in the S810. The S808, having both half the A57 cores and half (?) the shader units in the gpu, should not have the huge throttling issues and hence could end up with nearly the same performance in practice I suspect.)
Many hope for that kind of logic to work but the early benchmarks are not encouraging and in SD810 or 808 usually the bulk of the load is on a single core so i am not counting on 808 performing significantly better. Power consumption might be better.
Single thread the performance should just be mostly the same indeed. I'm not saying the 808 will end up faster but just be nearly as fast in practice - hence choosing it instead of the S810 makes technical sense (it should be cheaper after all). Of course, for marketing it's bad (only 6 and not 8 cores!). Compared to what Samsung offers in the S6 this isn't all that great, and compared to the old S801 it's probably not much of an improvement neither, but I'd say it's the best offer (in the higher end space) qualcomm has right now.
You could be right, these two may end up similar. On paper the 805 should actually indeed be somewhat better at least on the gpu side (not sure how exactly the adreno 420 and 418 compare but the 805 has nearly twice the memory bandwidth). It is possible though the 808 has an edge in the power efficiency (these wide memory interfaces don't come for free neither, especially in near-idle situations). I'll reserve judgement on this until I've seen some real numbers though.
LG G3 uses a Snapdragon 801 SoC (Adreno 330 GPU), not an 805 (Adreno 420 GPU). Moving up to the 808 SoC (Adreno 418 GPU) should provide a nice graphics boost compared to the G3.
As a hardcore techie and power user I think I actually prefer the 808... or really any CPU.. that uses less battery than the 810. I want battery life more than a tiny bit extra performance. Unless you play hardcore games on the phone do you really think the extra performance will even matter?
I seriously wish companies would release a slightly thicker version of their flagship phones that included oversized batteries (2+ days constant use operation) and water/dust proofing. Those two features are among my top interests with a phone. I never want to charge my phone all day and I don't want to worry about a little spill bricking my phone.
But the one key feature from the G2 that makes it my favorite phone I've owned is tap on/off and knock code. Are they carried through to the G4? If so I will almost definitely be upgrading to the G4 later this year when my upgrade comes due as the rest of the specs look quite good.
Yeah, I have one for my Note 4, and basically it is impossible to run it out of battery, even if I let my kids play games all day, and I am messing with it all day, it still rarely goes below 50%!
I actually view the 808 as a positive given the results we've seen from the 810... And I dig the leather backs, they're just an option anyway. I'd actually take a leather back over a metal one tho. /shrug
Not necessarily a tough sell. As a spec-head, I can understand their reasoning for dropping down to the 808 to favor more stable performance rather than trying to find a way to deal with the overheating issues on the 810. Better GPU with the same screen size & HD resolution will definitely make sure the graphics can keep up with the additional processing power. Yes, they focused on the camera quality, which definitely opens up the market for those looking to have a good quality camera with their phone, but for your average user, all they care about is if the phone can do what they want it to do without slowing down or freezing up. I'm hoping the UX 4.0 allows you to control the use of cores like the original Optimus did, but it's not a dealbreaker. Now, for the average consumer, the G4 would be one of the best options. There are people who are looking for alternative options from Samsung & iPhone. I will be getting this phone when it's available in about a month or so. As far as the leather design, it's not the only option for the backing, so there's no real reason why that specific feature would turn away buyers. You have the option for the more conventional styles for backing with a few color/style options.
Compared to the Exynos 7420 and the SD 810, I don't believe the SD 808 will be any slower in real life usage. A lot of these reviews focuses on benchmarks, which for most people out there means nothing. Most applications is unlikely to use more than dual core in the beginning, so Octo core is really just a marketing gimmick. I doubt most users will experience any slow downs, unless there is some software issues or any unknown issues with the hardware itself. I do hope to see a better battery life, but I am sold on the G4 for now. Looking forward to it when it becomes available.
Sure.. and if they used SD810 you'd probably complain that it will be a very tough sell because the phone is too power hungry under sustained load on 4 cores.
Have you heard anything about the Omnivision 21 and 24MP stacked sensors arriving soon? Curious how they'll do. They were supposed to arrive at about this time.
I really like LGs hardware, but their software support has really left me wanting. They seem to be getting better, but at least Samsung has been more reliable with updating the OS on their older phones, even if it is laden with bloat. Honestly we've started to crest that rise where increased performance isn't as important as it once was. I have a hard time seeing why I need to replace my original Optimus G other than it's still running Android 4.2.2.
"The new OIS system dubbed "OIS 2.0" now offers a 3-axis gyroscope instead of the traditional 2-axis implementations in all current OIS devices."
Er... no. Nokia has used 3-axis OIS (roll, yaw and pitch) from the beginning. Is the "Conventional OIS" part meant to refer to LG's own previous phones?
It's so laughable in every ways... 808 ap (worse than 805, no DDR4). Misleading marketing all around (IPS quantum display - which is NOT a quantum dot display), boasting 1/2.6" camera sensor (the same size as gs6), and f1.8 is negligibly faster than f1.9.
Now old and discounted galaxy note 4 is better in just every ways, it's almost sad.
I have to wonder if we will see another LG phone announced this year around the same time as the note 5 given the G4's lower spec I almost expect it to be cheaper leaving room for a true flagship to take on the Note 5 and S6 this fall. The lower specs also give me hope for a new lower cost nexus 5 based off it
And if people (ie the non-geek 99%) bought phones based on specs, this would be an actual issue. Last time I checked, AMD seems to survive OK selling low-end CPUs for low-end PCs. And Intel sells plenty of Celerons and Pentiums.
Okay, put the problematic SD810 aside for the moment...
So can someone give me a sound explanaition why go with the SD808 over the more powerful, more refined and graphically higher performing SD805? Qualcomm is clearly isn't quite ready for bit.LITTLE and these Cortex-A57 ARM cores, where the SD805 was the icing on the Krait cake, yet I can't count a total of five devices that have it.
I'm not entirely sure that's the only reason. Don't forget the 805 is just an AP without the modem integrated, that might also play a role. Besides, I'm not yet 100% convinced it's really always inferior. Though actually the gpu should be, if I see that right the 418 and 420 are actually mostly the same (the 418 is newer so might have some fixes but overall the unit count is the same) but the 420 has nearly twice the memory bandwidth at its disposal. We'll see how it really fares in benchmark and power consumption soon enough.
The SD805 is a more expensive, ultra-high-end design. It has a dual-channel 64-bit memory interface, much wider than the dual-channel memory interface of SD808. Additionally, SD805 does not have an integrated modem, requiring a separate modem chip in a smartphone. The SD808 does integrate a modem. Overall, using the SD808 allows lower cost and a much smaller form factor (less chips). There is a reason why SD805 isn't used in a lot of smartphones (a game console was recently announced using the chip, which makes sense given its specs).
Android 5 also takes advantage of cryptography instructions that are present in ARMv8 but missing in previous generation SoCs such as SD805. I don't know the details but I've read this is important when the recommended whole-device encryption is enabled.
Thank you, this definitely makes a lot of sense. Interesting on the integrated modem side, didn't know the SD805 uses a separate one. Still, for an expensive device cost shouldn't be a problem, and the G4 really is expensive. A downclocked SD810 with an also lower-capped Adreno 430 just makes more sense for a QHD display IMO, and there'S the worry. SD808 sounds like a great solution for Full HD. QHD is a different story.
That leather back actually is nice, but this particular design with the vertical groove and the buttons/camera towards the top is a little bit suggestive... at least there is no pink version ;-)
On another note, holy COW, looks like LG went ALL OUT with advertising, lol, every single banner location on this site is an ad for the LG G4 right now!!
I really hope Google doesn't make the next Nexus a curved phone. And I hope they wait for the 820 to be out.
This phone looks more like a way to ruin a well liked line of LG phones. The slow g2 updates and now some CEO thinks a curved phone is a good way to be different when really its a good way to be difficult.
Any word on if the S808 throttles nearly as much as the 810? Two A57s and four A53s sounds fine by me, in fact I wonder about the benefit of so many low power cores. I wonder if two and two wouldn't be nearly as good.
And how big is the downgrade from the Adreno 430 to the 418?
Ah, see it now. "In our preliminary tests with the demo device, we see GFXBench Manhattan offscreen go down from 22.7fps to 15fps and T-Rex from 49fps down to 35fps when comparing the G4 to the HTC M9, which sports a FHD screen as opposed to the QHD one we find in the LG device."
At QHD the phone is pushing 1.78 times as many pixels as under FHD. From this alone you'd expect a performance drop from 22.7 to 12.8 fps and from 49 to 27.6 fps. that's a rough approximation - but still, it's clearly not performing badly. If you want high fps on a phone a simple resolution reduction would be far more efficient than a bigger GPU. The difference might not even be visible at these crazy high pixel densities.
This is true though don't forget the S810 (at least in a phone) will drop scores by ~40% after a couple of minutes. Presumably the S808 should throttle less given similar thermal/power constraints.
Ars Technica did an article that showed just how badly the S810 throttles in the HTC M9 and LG G Flex 2, compared to the Exynos 7420 in the Galaxy S6.
They just did a follow-up showing the S808. It manages to stay much closer to the max CPU freq, and rarely touches the LITTLE cores during the testing. While the max frequency is lower, the overall performance should be equal or better than the S810 due to better thermals.
Expecting performance of this phone to be average with the Snapdragon 808. But at the end, if the actual production unit can run smoothly and have a decent battery life, I think that is great for me. Honestly, not many apps can utilized all the cores in a quad/octa core chip. These from my opinion are more for marketing rather than practical usage.
Precisely why I'm thinking most Android phones are designed by marketing first, then engineering has to make a workable product from crazy specs. We need faster yet more efficient cores and screens with good color accuracy and sunlight readability, not pointless 8-core toasters and bazillion ppi displays.
I lay awake at night, dreaming of the day. When we can use a pure version of Android. No terrible OEM bloat. An excellent camera and no restrictive, monotone properties of iOS. That's all. And so far, it's been impossible to find all three.
Am I the only one who thinks 2560x1440 on a 5.5" screen is overkill? They could have stuck a 1080p screen there and still have high pixel density and much better battery life. Unless people are actually holding these big phones right next to their eyeballs...
I can't see the pixel density difference between my G2 and my partner's G3 with my bare eyes. I can see the poor contrast of the newer LCD and the lag that resolution induces with a Snapdragon 801, though... Hopefully, they can at least get display quality back to where it was with the G2 (which is pretty damn good for a device that doesn't suffer from screen burn. I've seen too many year old AMOLEDs which couldn't display continuous tone to want to try that one again, sorry Samsung!)
LG may have deviated from the CPU core count race, but still have to keep up in other aspect if they are to compete. But I do agree that have a full HD resolution would help conserve battery.
Great job LG. I have a G2, my partner has a G3 - As if the G3 wasn't enough of a downgrade from the G2 (low contrast LCD, high DPI but practically no SoC improvement causing massive lag, much worse battery life), they've decided to hamstring the G4 compared to the rest of the current generation by giving it a qHD screen with a lame GPU, making it heavier and sticking with the same battery capacity again - although perhaps this low power SoC will at least bring them back to the battery life the G2 delivered...
Note: qHD is 960x540; QHD is 2560x1440. Very big difference. :)
The GPU in the G4 is improved over the G3 (Adreno 418 vs Adreno 330), while the screen resolution remained the same. Thus, GPU performance should be much improved compared to the G3.
Unlike the G2, the G3 does't have PSR; the G4 does. Between that and the improved efficiency of the LCD itself, battery life should be better in the G4.
While the G4 only looks like a marginal improvement to the G3, performance should be better. And it's a great improvement over the G2. Considering people tend to have 2-year contracts, the G4 will be a decent upgrade for G2 users.
Still, there's always the LTE-A version of the G3 for anybody who wants an LG phone with decent performance. I'm assuming they won't release the G4 as its 'replacement' in S. Korea, since it's slower!
Huh, didn't know there were two hardware versions of the G3. Thanks for the pointer.
That would be an interesting benchmarking session:
LG G3 (using Snapdragon S801 SoC) LG G3 LTE-A (using Snapdragon S805 SoC) LG G4 (using Snapdragon S808 SoC)
The screen resolution is the same, the amount of RAM is the same, virtually everything is the same except the CPU and GPU cores used. With a bit of finaggling, one could probably even get the same version of LG Android onto each phone.
That would really showcase the performance of each SoC in relation to each other.
Front speakers and 6" screen and i may buy. Otherwise twice cheaper almost same spec chinese phones (without cool sounding but useless spectrum analyzer specifically in IR up to 5 microns (!!!)) is the way to go.
Also why the heck they confuse people with F1.8 and 40+% more light then F1.9 of competitor? Someone should sue them since F stop has nothing to do with more or less light since the focal length is not fixed for all companies. Only one major parameter - the lens diameter of entrance (in real millimeters) gives you more or less light. Others are number of lens surfaces and their reflective quality.
So, i know this is totally minor and somewhat whiney.
But, i bought a G3 about 4 months ago to replace the original HTC One i had. I read the stuff about the G4, and figured meh, battery is roughly the same, screen roughly the same. I dont do any real computing stuff or gaming on the phone so i dont need the extra compute power.
What i didn't anticipate was the RIDICULOUSLY COOL LEATHER BACKS...
Now, i wish i had waited. That brown leather backed one is sects. Pure sects.
I thought it was just me who saw all these reviews for phones that don't seem very important or relevant. They had the S6 one out quick though. I'm guessing they're having issues with getting a review unit
Not just you... i'm waiting as well. I've never cruised the net for phone reviews as much as I have for the G4 and you really realize how much more comprehensive Anandtech's reviews are once you read some others. So I get why they're last... they're that much better. I hope it comes out soon though, it's one of the most desirable phones of the year.
They could always buy one at Best Buy and return it after 14 days lol. LG is pretty generous at giving out review units though, so if they haven't given Anandtech one, it's probably because Anandtech hasn't tried very hard to get one. Pretty disappointed that they wasted time on that ZenPhone instead of reviewing a major new phone like the G4 though.
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hansmuff - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Any idea about pricing and particular vendor availability?phoenix_rizzen - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
No indications of pricing, but TheVerge reported it would be available on all four major US carriers. Hoping it also makes it to Canada, as this is the first phone (other than the Xperia Z3 Compact which isn't available on Rogers) that feels/sounds like an upgrade to the LG G2.Will be interesting to see how the phone compares to the G3 (should be faster/smoother) and the S6. The lack of 2 big cores should help a lot with heating issues, compared to the SD810 SoC.
phoenix_rizzen - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Quote from http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1526101/lg-g4-the-..."TORONTO, April 28, 2015 /CNW/ - Beginning this June, Canadians can get their hands on the eagerly anticipated LG G4, LG's latest smartphone and the successor to the award-winning LG G3. Globally announced today, the LG G4 will be available this summer through Bell, Rogers, TELUS, Videotron and WIND Mobile."
So, it appears it will be available on every major carrier in Canada and the US.
Will be interesting to see if the removable battery and MicroSD slot remain in the Canadian model(s).
hpka - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I'll be annoyed if either of those things are removed as this looks like a perfect phone for me, in part, for those specific reasons. I'd even sooner loose the leather than I would the MicroSD slot and removable battery.retrospooty - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Pricing? Try $650 for the base model like every flagship ever.Endda - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
The G3 was $580 on AT&T upon releaseretrospooty - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Any carrier may do a sale or price reduction at any given time, even at release, but its still was a $650 phone like every other entry level flagship. Even the entry level iPhone 6 is $650. You guys need some work spotting patterns. LOL.retrospooty - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
/edit , I mean the starting point for a flag ship not "entry level"... In other words, the "base model"Kutark - Monday, May 4, 2015 - link
There is no justification for these things costing that much money. You can get a top end 10-11" tablet for that. I mean thats almost surface pro territory. $300-400 seems more reasonable.IMO the reason they price them that way is so they can use their famous 2yr contract BS and sell it at a "reduced" cost.
dazweeja - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
You may also find that the choice to use the cheaper 808 was to differentiate on price.warreo - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
It would be rather ironic if LG was forced to pay more for the 808 because it's a newer part and not as available as the 810, despite being slower. The price of being one of the "cool" kids...Laxaa - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
It seems like serious camera features are the big deal this year. It's a trend I can get behind. The specs are there, and I'm eager to see some samples(they've ues Colby Brown in their marketing material, so I guess we will see something from him soon)The phone is still too big, though. G2's size was perfect and I wish they would stick to that.
Syklis - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Do any other manufacturers than Sony make more compact versions of their flagship phones? I'm eagerly awaiting the Z4 Compact, since Z3 Compact had pretty much the same specs as Z3.Laxaa - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
No other than Sony, unfortunately.Impulses - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I'm right there with ya, this looks nice, I actually dig the leather back and between PSR and the 808 (plus a larger capacity battery) this might achieve some of the best battery results this year... But I don't think I can go that large, currently on a N5 and I wouldn't even mind something a little smaller (like the original Moto X).Laxaa - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
The G2 managed to squeeze in a 5.2" screen in a body simmilar to the iPhone 6, which to me, is the upper size limit.Impulses - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
I could go for something that size, it's still pretty close to my N5 and it's 5" (G2 having smaller bezels), but all the current flagships being 5.5"-ish is a turn off, big time.jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
This will be very tough sell.The 808 will turn many away, the leather many others, the design overall is a big step back compared to the G3 and even G2.
It would work as a weird alternative bellow flagships but if this is their flagship for the year, it's not good enough.
They don't have the Nexus anymore , euro dropping will hurt them so this year might get tough for LG.
Maxpower2727 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
The 808 will turn many away in the hard-core spec crowd. It will turn precisely nobody else away, since this phone is targeted towards mainstream consumers. Spec-heads like us are in the overwhelming minority.jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Consumers that are clueless will see the number of cores and that's enough to label it as less. Plus the missing cores will be highlighted in any reviews.Maxpower2727 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
You're really overestimating how much mainstream consumers care about cores. Nobody cares except for spec junkies, who again represent a very small portion of potential buyers. Go ahead, ask a random person on the street how many CPU cores their phone has. They won't know or care.jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Vast majority of people care more when spending hundreds of dollars. There might be a market or two where people behave like you assume but those are just weird exceptions.Plus the number of cores is one of the few specs they think understand. Like ppl chose GPUs in prebuilt desktops based on amount of RAM.
Maxpower2727 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I get it. You're tech-savvy. So am I. Most people are not. Most people don't "choose GPUs in prebuilt desktops based on amount of RAM." They buy the nice shiny thing that looks good in the store, which was recommended to them by the equally uninformed Best Buy employee. I don't know where you're getting the notion that average consumers care about advanced technical specs, but I assure you that they don't. You clearly spend most of your time with technologically-inclined people. That's great, but it also seems to have left you with a lack of perspective regarding the population at large.jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
They actually do buy like that, seen it a lot of times lol. The GPU's model number doesn't mean anything and they have no clue what things like screen resolution mean but they know that more RAM is better.Look at Mediatek last year, it made a killing by going 8 cores and forced Qualcomm to follow.
The average global consumer makes a bit of an effort even when buying a 100-200$ phone , so even more so when spending 600-1000$ (depending on location). Unless they buy on brand and then Apple is the first choice and Samsung second.
serendip - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
MediaTek with 8x A7 tiny cores... A slightly batty idea, I have no idea what Android apps can take advantage of that many cores. The cheap phones that use these chips are decently fast though.name99 - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Oh don't be stupid. The best selling phone in the world has TWO cores, and that doesn't seem to have hurt Apple any. Probably because if I asked every single one of my non-tech friends how many cores are in their iPhone they wouldn't even understand the question.You even admit then when you start throwing in your idiotic "buying on brand". So basically your argument is
"people really care about cores --- except when they don't, which I will call 'buying on brand'"?
Maybe LG is more interested in selling to this 'buying on brand' population because they represent 99% of potential customers?
As for Mediatek, since Mediatek does not sell to consumers, your argument is meaningless; it's like claiming that Windows Phone will do great because Azure is so awesome. Azure may well be awesome, but 99% of people buying a Windows Phone have no idea what it is, and it doesn't affect their purchase in the slightest.
lilmoe - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Tech junkies aren't worried about the "number of cores" either. They're worried about both real performance (single AND multi-threaded performance and battery life) , and perceived performance (UI responsiveness and overall feel).The internet is full of wannabes though.
player911 - Monday, May 4, 2015 - link
Most carriers don't even list processors. They just say quad core or 64bit. This being a hexacore (2big+4little). Still a step in the right directionSoC-IT2ME - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
iPhone has 2 cores - guess what...it sells like nothing else.Cores are not the issue, Marketing is.
name99 - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Marketing is not the issue EITHER. We have been through this before, how low Apple marketing spend is compared to their competitors. The issue is offering features of value to customers.You wouldn't think this is rocket science, but read the comments in this thread (and every other phone thread) and it soon becomes apparent that there is a HUGE pool of people who are utterly unwilling to accept this basic fact, even after 8 years of iPhone evidence (and maybe 7 years or so of iPod evidence before that).
mortimerr - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Wait how is this so? I'm actively staying far far away from any device using the 810 with 5.0. If anything it's a plus.And people saying less cores=less performance are..well shortsighted. The iPhone doesn't have 8 cores and still runs fine. The moto x 2013 didn't have a the same number of cores as the s5 but still ran better. It's not all about the number of cores. Anyone should be aware of that. It's about design and optimization. The s6 has the exynos and still deals with lag issues.
Vaibhav Sharma - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Whoa, you might be talking about galaxy s4, moto x first gen could not come close to galaxy s5. S4 pro in moto x is weaker than s4 almost equivalent to the soc used in nexus 4. Galaxy s5 was far more powerful.Drumsticks - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I've no concerns about the CPU performance of the SD 808, I am concerned about the GPU driving a QHD display.phoenix_rizzen - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
The LG G3 uses a Snapdragon 801 SoC with an Adreno 330 GPU that just barely managed to push 1440p.The LG G4 uses a Snapdragon 808 SoC with an Adreno 418 GPU. There shouldn't be any issues wiht the 1440p screen. It's actually nice to see an OEM keep the resolution the same across generations, but increase the GPU power to work better with that resolution.
jospoortvliet - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
I doubt the 418 is so crazy much faster - Qualcomm promised20% and I bet that's optimistic. It will be fine, though, I guess the raw shading power won't be much more bit the GPU will be better at handling more pixels in less demanding tasks (more ROP power). And that is fine - not great in games, but for me - the last time my phone did run a game is over 2.years ago and that wasn't even a 3d game...jospoortvliet - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
I doubt the 418 is so crazy much faster - Qualcomm promised20% and I bet that's optimistic. It will be fine, though, I guess the raw shading power won't be much more bit the GPU will be better at handling more pixels in less demanding tasks (more ROP power). And that is fine - not great in games, but for me - the last time my phone did run a game is over 2.years ago and that wasn't even a 3d game...player911 - Monday, May 4, 2015 - link
The 808 performs better than the 810 because of the overheating\throttling issues. Plus the G4 (while not scoring as high) finishes benchmark tests faster then HTC and S6. Samsung chip is a beast though. The 810 is a huge let down.extide - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I think some people will prefer the 808. There really is little use for the 4x A57's anyways. The only real downside is the lower spec GPU. Also, you can get it without the leather, so that's a non-issue.jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Anyone that might prefer the 808, should also know enough to not buy now and wait for much faster SoCs soon. Anyway 808 is less and will be seen as such by the vast majority. And i'm not counting on it being able to throttle a lot less than SD810 either.There should be some other features missing, like HVEC hardware encode.
djvita - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Soon as in next year soon? The 815 was a rumor, 820 gets sampled in Q3, long way ahead.jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Samsung could sell the 7420 to others so that one could be available first in more phones.SD620 and 618 would be faster single core in theory and those should arrive this year for the mid-range.
Mediatek might have it's rumored dual A72 (2+4+4) this year but likely early next year.
And you can bet that Qualcomm will do all it can to rush SD820 and maybe have it earlier than expected ,their sales are troubled and they need the new chips fast since nobody is happy with the current crop.
It's May in a few days so late this year is not that far away.
I certainly wouldn't consider buying SD810/808 at this time in a high end device.
Maxpower2727 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Define "vast majority" in your view. I live in a world where most people don't know even the most rudimentary information regarding the SOC that powers their phone, let alone who made it or how many CPU cores it has.I'm not disagreeing with you regarding the capabilities of the processor, mind you. I just think you need a reality check to understand the extent to which average people outside of your circle actually care.
jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Your view of how much consumers know and care might be distorted by your location.And do remember that a phone like this is not 200$ , in many markets even carrier subs are more like on T-Mo than VZW or ATT. So it's a much bigger purchase while the number of cores is one of the most visible spec.
In the US clueless ppl will likely go Apple, some Samsung and be done with it.
extide - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
There ALWAYS newer better chips coming...sonicmerlin - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
The DDR3 will also slow down the GPU significantly compared to the competition's DDR4.Vaibhav Sharma - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Its not that the a57 cores work for more than a few minutes in m9 either way. But i think gflex 2 is better performing than m9. Anyways with the increase in resolution, weaker gpu and plastic instead of metal I think g4 will be even behind m9. Its not that the less cores in g4, gave it a more powerful gpu or higher clocked cores. At best it will match note 4, at worst even the quad core kraits on its last leg will beat it.mczak - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
If you needed even more proof the Snapdragon 810 has thermal / power issues, that would be it. Flagship smartphone model using a lower tier cpu instead.(That said I suspect this is quite a reasonable choice, because neither the A57 cpu cores nor the Adreno 430 could really clock anywhere close to where they should for more than a few seconds in the S810. The S808, having both half the A57 cores and half (?) the shader units in the gpu, should not have the huge throttling issues and hence could end up with nearly the same performance in practice I suspect.)
jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Many hope for that kind of logic to work but the early benchmarks are not encouraging and in SD810 or 808 usually the bulk of the load is on a single core so i am not counting on 808 performing significantly better. Power consumption might be better.mczak - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Single thread the performance should just be mostly the same indeed.I'm not saying the 808 will end up faster but just be nearly as fast in practice - hence choosing it instead of the S810 makes technical sense (it should be cheaper after all). Of course, for marketing it's bad (only 6 and not 8 cores!). Compared to what Samsung offers in the S6 this isn't all that great, and compared to the old S801 it's probably not much of an improvement neither, but I'd say it's the best offer (in the higher end space) qualcomm has right now.
jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
805 might be better than 808 and this is LG's flagship that follows the G3, a phone that created a lot of buzz .mczak - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
You could be right, these two may end up similar. On paper the 805 should actually indeed be somewhat better at least on the gpu side (not sure how exactly the adreno 420 and 418 compare but the 805 has nearly twice the memory bandwidth). It is possible though the 808 has an edge in the power efficiency (these wide memory interfaces don't come for free neither, especially in near-idle situations). I'll reserve judgement on this until I've seen some real numbers though.phoenix_rizzen - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
LG G3 uses a Snapdragon 801 SoC (Adreno 330 GPU), not an 805 (Adreno 420 GPU). Moving up to the 808 SoC (Adreno 418 GPU) should provide a nice graphics boost compared to the G3.mortimerr - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Exactly. jjj doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.cwolf78 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Considering how aggressively the 810 throttles, I wonder if the 808 is actually any slower after the first 5 seconds of using the phone.MrSpadge - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
"Using" a phone is not the same as loading all cores with a benchmark.shadarlo - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
As a hardcore techie and power user I think I actually prefer the 808... or really any CPU.. that uses less battery than the 810. I want battery life more than a tiny bit extra performance. Unless you play hardcore games on the phone do you really think the extra performance will even matter?I seriously wish companies would release a slightly thicker version of their flagship phones that included oversized batteries (2+ days constant use operation) and water/dust proofing. Those two features are among my top interests with a phone. I never want to charge my phone all day and I don't want to worry about a little spill bricking my phone.
But the one key feature from the G2 that makes it my favorite phone I've owned is tap on/off and knock code. Are they carried through to the G4? If so I will almost definitely be upgrading to the G4 later this year when my upgrade comes due as the rest of the specs look quite good.
extide - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Get a Note 4 + ZeroLemon battery. Done.Pissedoffyouth - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
This this this. I get about 18 hours screen on time on my Note 3 with the 10ah batteryextide - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Yeah, I have one for my Note 4, and basically it is impossible to run it out of battery, even if I let my kids play games all day, and I am messing with it all day, it still rarely goes below 50%!Impulses - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I actually view the 808 as a positive given the results we've seen from the 810... And I dig the leather backs, they're just an option anyway. I'd actually take a leather back over a metal one tho. /shrugZoiloM - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Not necessarily a tough sell. As a spec-head, I can understand their reasoning for dropping down to the 808 to favor more stable performance rather than trying to find a way to deal with the overheating issues on the 810. Better GPU with the same screen size & HD resolution will definitely make sure the graphics can keep up with the additional processing power. Yes, they focused on the camera quality, which definitely opens up the market for those looking to have a good quality camera with their phone, but for your average user, all they care about is if the phone can do what they want it to do without slowing down or freezing up. I'm hoping the UX 4.0 allows you to control the use of cores like the original Optimus did, but it's not a dealbreaker. Now, for the average consumer, the G4 would be one of the best options. There are people who are looking for alternative options from Samsung & iPhone. I will be getting this phone when it's available in about a month or so.As far as the leather design, it's not the only option for the backing, so there's no real reason why that specific feature would turn away buyers. You have the option for the more conventional styles for backing with a few color/style options.
watzupken - Monday, May 4, 2015 - link
Compared to the Exynos 7420 and the SD 810, I don't believe the SD 808 will be any slower in real life usage. A lot of these reviews focuses on benchmarks, which for most people out there means nothing. Most applications is unlikely to use more than dual core in the beginning, so Octo core is really just a marketing gimmick. I doubt most users will experience any slow downs, unless there is some software issues or any unknown issues with the hardware itself. I do hope to see a better battery life, but I am sold on the G4 for now. Looking forward to it when it becomes available.MrSpadge - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Sure.. and if they used SD810 you'd probably complain that it will be a very tough sell because the phone is too power hungry under sustained load on 4 cores.arayoflight - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Andrei, wasn't LG claiming that the camera sensor is home brewn?Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Not that I'm aware of?We've had confirmation of the IMX234 sensor for several months now.
jjj - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Have you heard anything about the Omnivision 21 and 24MP stacked sensors arriving soon? Curious how they'll do. They were supposed to arrive at about this time.JoshHo - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
The sensor is made by Sony, but almost everything else is made by LG Innotek.arayoflight - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
So it's just like S6. IMX 240 from S6, but the lens system of their own.I have 2 more queries:
1. Is the sensor 4:3 or 16:9?
2. Is it a 6-element lens system?
djc208 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I really like LGs hardware, but their software support has really left me wanting. They seem to be getting better, but at least Samsung has been more reliable with updating the OS on their older phones, even if it is laden with bloat.Honestly we've started to crest that rise where increased performance isn't as important as it once was. I have a hard time seeing why I need to replace my original Optimus G other than it's still running Android 4.2.2.
geekfool - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
"The new OIS system dubbed "OIS 2.0" now offers a 3-axis gyroscope instead of the traditional 2-axis implementations in all current OIS devices."Er... no. Nokia has used 3-axis OIS (roll, yaw and pitch) from the beginning. Is the "Conventional OIS" part meant to refer to LG's own previous phones?
nerd1 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
It's so laughable in every ways... 808 ap (worse than 805, no DDR4). Misleading marketing all around (IPS quantum display - which is NOT a quantum dot display), boasting 1/2.6" camera sensor (the same size as gs6), and f1.8 is negligibly faster than f1.9.Now old and discounted galaxy note 4 is better in just every ways, it's almost sad.
SunLord - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I have to wonder if we will see another LG phone announced this year around the same time as the note 5 given the G4's lower spec I almost expect it to be cheaper leaving room for a true flagship to take on the Note 5 and S6 this fall. The lower specs also give me hope for a new lower cost nexus 5 based off itname99 - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
And if people (ie the non-geek 99%) bought phones based on specs, this would be an actual issue.Last time I checked, AMD seems to survive OK selling low-end CPUs for low-end PCs. And Intel sells plenty of Celerons and Pentiums.
BoneAT - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Okay, put the problematic SD810 aside for the moment...So can someone give me a sound explanaition why go with the SD808 over the more powerful, more refined and graphically higher performing SD805? Qualcomm is clearly isn't quite ready for bit.LITTLE and these Cortex-A57 ARM cores, where the SD805 was the icing on the Krait cake, yet I can't count a total of five devices that have it.
Is it the 64 bit marketing?
extide - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Yup, 64-bit marketing.mczak - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I'm not entirely sure that's the only reason. Don't forget the 805 is just an AP without the modem integrated, that might also play a role.Besides, I'm not yet 100% convinced it's really always inferior. Though actually the gpu should be, if I see that right the 418 and 420 are actually mostly the same (the 418 is newer so might have some fixes but overall the unit count is the same) but the 420 has nearly twice the memory bandwidth at its disposal. We'll see how it really fares in benchmark and power consumption soon enough.
Vegator - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
A few reasons for using SD808 over SD805:The SD805 is a more expensive, ultra-high-end design. It has a dual-channel 64-bit memory interface, much wider than the dual-channel memory interface of SD808. Additionally, SD805 does not have an integrated modem, requiring a separate modem chip in a smartphone. The SD808 does integrate a modem. Overall, using the SD808 allows lower cost and a much smaller form factor (less chips). There is a reason why SD805 isn't used in a lot of smartphones (a game console was recently announced using the chip, which makes sense given its specs).
Android 5 also takes advantage of cryptography instructions that are present in ARMv8 but missing in previous generation SoCs such as SD805. I don't know the details but I've read this is important when the recommended whole-device encryption is enabled.
BoneAT - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Thank you, this definitely makes a lot of sense. Interesting on the integrated modem side, didn't know the SD805 uses a separate one. Still, for an expensive device cost shouldn't be a problem, and the G4 really is expensive. A downclocked SD810 with an also lower-capped Adreno 430 just makes more sense for a QHD display IMO, and there'S the worry. SD808 sounds like a great solution for Full HD. QHD is a different story.jospoortvliet - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
Well it is claimed to be 20%faster than the chip in a he also-QHD G3 so it should not be a huge dealbreaker.uhuznaa - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
That leather back actually is nice, but this particular design with the vertical groove and the buttons/camera towards the top is a little bit suggestive... at least there is no pink version ;-)extide - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
On another note, holy COW, looks like LG went ALL OUT with advertising, lol, every single banner location on this site is an ad for the LG G4 right now!!toyotabedzrock - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
I really hope Google doesn't make the next Nexus a curved phone. And I hope they wait for the 820 to be out.This phone looks more like a way to ruin a well liked line of LG phones. The slow g2 updates and now some CEO thinks a curved phone is a good way to be different when really its a good way to be difficult.
tipoo - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Any word on if the S808 throttles nearly as much as the 810? Two A57s and four A53s sounds fine by me, in fact I wonder about the benefit of so many low power cores. I wonder if two and two wouldn't be nearly as good.And how big is the downgrade from the Adreno 430 to the 418?
tipoo - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Ah, see it now. "In our preliminary tests with the demo device, we see GFXBench Manhattan offscreen go down from 22.7fps to 15fps and T-Rex from 49fps down to 35fps when comparing the G4 to the HTC M9, which sports a FHD screen as opposed to the QHD one we find in the LG device."Pretty big drop.
MrSpadge - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
At QHD the phone is pushing 1.78 times as many pixels as under FHD. From this alone you'd expect a performance drop from 22.7 to 12.8 fps and from 49 to 27.6 fps. that's a rough approximation - but still, it's clearly not performing badly. If you want high fps on a phone a simple resolution reduction would be far more efficient than a bigger GPU. The difference might not even be visible at these crazy high pixel densities.tipoo - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Offscreen. Panel res doesn't matter in offscreen tests.mczak - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
This is true though don't forget the S810 (at least in a phone) will drop scores by ~40% after a couple of minutes. Presumably the S808 should throttle less given similar thermal/power constraints.phoenix_rizzen - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
The more important question is how does it compare to the G3, which uses an older GPU and the same QHD resolution?phoenix_rizzen - Monday, May 4, 2015 - link
Ars Technica did an article that showed just how badly the S810 throttles in the HTC M9 and LG G Flex 2, compared to the Exynos 7420 in the Galaxy S6.They just did a follow-up showing the S808. It manages to stay much closer to the max CPU freq, and rarely touches the LITTLE cores during the testing. While the max frequency is lower, the overall performance should be equal or better than the S810 due to better thermals.
watzupken - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Expecting performance of this phone to be average with the Snapdragon 808. But at the end, if the actual production unit can run smoothly and have a decent battery life, I think that is great for me. Honestly, not many apps can utilized all the cores in a quad/octa core chip. These from my opinion are more for marketing rather than practical usage.serendip - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Precisely why I'm thinking most Android phones are designed by marketing first, then engineering has to make a workable product from crazy specs. We need faster yet more efficient cores and screens with good color accuracy and sunlight readability, not pointless 8-core toasters and bazillion ppi displays.mortimerr - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
I lay awake at night, dreaming of the day. When we can use a pure version of Android. No terrible OEM bloat. An excellent camera and no restrictive, monotone properties of iOS. That's all. And so far, it's been impossible to find all three.serendip - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Am I the only one who thinks 2560x1440 on a 5.5" screen is overkill? They could have stuck a 1080p screen there and still have high pixel density and much better battery life. Unless people are actually holding these big phones right next to their eyeballs...Azurael - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
I can't see the pixel density difference between my G2 and my partner's G3 with my bare eyes. I can see the poor contrast of the newer LCD and the lag that resolution induces with a Snapdragon 801, though... Hopefully, they can at least get display quality back to where it was with the G2 (which is pretty damn good for a device that doesn't suffer from screen burn. I've seen too many year old AMOLEDs which couldn't display continuous tone to want to try that one again, sorry Samsung!)watzupken - Monday, May 4, 2015 - link
LG may have deviated from the CPU core count race, but still have to keep up in other aspect if they are to compete. But I do agree that have a full HD resolution would help conserve battery.der - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Was looking for this anandtech...goddamit. This phone gonna be great.sandy105 - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
"The G3's designs largely borrows from the G3"-typoAzurael - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Great job LG. I have a G2, my partner has a G3 - As if the G3 wasn't enough of a downgrade from the G2 (low contrast LCD, high DPI but practically no SoC improvement causing massive lag, much worse battery life), they've decided to hamstring the G4 compared to the rest of the current generation by giving it a qHD screen with a lame GPU, making it heavier and sticking with the same battery capacity again - although perhaps this low power SoC will at least bring them back to the battery life the G2 delivered...coburn_c - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
I almost want to buy a spare G2 before they stop selling new models.trivor - Friday, May 1, 2015 - link
You can pick up an unlocked LG G2 @ BestBuy (Verizon) or EBay (GSM) for around $200.phoenix_rizzen - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Note: qHD is 960x540; QHD is 2560x1440. Very big difference. :)The GPU in the G4 is improved over the G3 (Adreno 418 vs Adreno 330), while the screen resolution remained the same. Thus, GPU performance should be much improved compared to the G3.
Unlike the G2, the G3 does't have PSR; the G4 does. Between that and the improved efficiency of the LCD itself, battery life should be better in the G4.
While the G4 only looks like a marginal improvement to the G3, performance should be better. And it's a great improvement over the G2. Considering people tend to have 2-year contracts, the G4 will be a decent upgrade for G2 users.
Azurael - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Not for me, it won't!Azurael - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
Still, there's always the LTE-A version of the G3 for anybody who wants an LG phone with decent performance. I'm assuming they won't release the G4 as its 'replacement' in S. Korea, since it's slower!phoenix_rizzen - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
Huh, didn't know there were two hardware versions of the G3. Thanks for the pointer.That would be an interesting benchmarking session:
LG G3 (using Snapdragon S801 SoC)
LG G3 LTE-A (using Snapdragon S805 SoC)
LG G4 (using Snapdragon S808 SoC)
The screen resolution is the same, the amount of RAM is the same, virtually everything is the same except the CPU and GPU cores used. With a bit of finaggling, one could probably even get the same version of LG Android onto each phone.
That would really showcase the performance of each SoC in relation to each other.
SanX - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Front speakers and 6" screen and i may buy. Otherwise twice cheaper almost same spec chinese phones (without cool sounding but useless spectrum analyzer specifically in IR up to 5 microns (!!!)) is the way to go.SanX - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Also why the heck they confuse people with F1.8 and 40+% more light then F1.9 of competitor? Someone should sue them since F stop has nothing to do with more or less light since the focal length is not fixed for all companies. Only one major parameter - the lens diameter of entrance (in real millimeters) gives you more or less light. Others are number of lens surfaces and their reflective quality.Vaibhav Sharma - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
And the early benches are out for g4 oon gsmarena, and from the looks of it will be again the least powerful flagship like last year.SydneyBlue120d - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Are You sure the camera is Sony ? I'm reading elsewehere that it is LG Innotek, can You clarify? Thanks a lot.bigi - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
90% of buyers don't give a frack about its chips inside. The leather options are great.I've seen sample pictures from G4 and now finally it rivals crappy PS digicams.
I am getting it.
Ashinjuka - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Am I alone in thinking: I'm not buying any next phone with a camera bump?Gunbuster - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - link
Hoping LG does a Windows Phone 10 port on this hardware, if nothing else to keep me and Microsoft happy.wilsondavis015 - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
It is not a bad ideas.......Kutark - Monday, May 4, 2015 - link
So, i know this is totally minor and somewhat whiney.But, i bought a G3 about 4 months ago to replace the original HTC One i had. I read the stuff about the G4, and figured meh, battery is roughly the same, screen roughly the same. I dont do any real computing stuff or gaming on the phone so i dont need the extra compute power.
What i didn't anticipate was the RIDICULOUSLY COOL LEATHER BACKS...
Now, i wish i had waited. That brown leather backed one is sects. Pure sects.
RahulShetty - Thursday, May 7, 2015 - link
Very useful information. Tough in terms of understanding the subject completely. May be a person who is technically more sound can follow better.iRoNeTiK - Tuesday, May 19, 2015 - link
When is your review coming out?velanapontinha - Monday, May 25, 2015 - link
Their G3 review came out more than 6 months after launch...iRoNeTiK - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
That's too bad, yet they post a review quickly on the ASUS ZenPhone, who cares :-pIntelligentAj - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
I thought it was just me who saw all these reviews for phones that don't seem very important or relevant. They had the S6 one out quick though. I'm guessing they're having issues with getting a review unitMilwaukeeMike - Saturday, June 13, 2015 - link
Not just you... i'm waiting as well. I've never cruised the net for phone reviews as much as I have for the G4 and you really realize how much more comprehensive Anandtech's reviews are once you read some others. So I get why they're last... they're that much better. I hope it comes out soon though, it's one of the most desirable phones of the year.grayson_carr - Wednesday, June 24, 2015 - link
They could always buy one at Best Buy and return it after 14 days lol. LG is pretty generous at giving out review units though, so if they haven't given Anandtech one, it's probably because Anandtech hasn't tried very hard to get one. Pretty disappointed that they wasted time on that ZenPhone instead of reviewing a major new phone like the G4 though.cheifzero - Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - link
My question as well. I can't buy a phone until reading the review here first!!