Android By Russell Holly May. 9, 2014 2:31 pm
They may not have the marketshare that Samsung has or the cult following that HTC has, but LG’s smartphones have a history of bringing something special to the market with every release. The LG G2 was a quirky smartphone that focused on being blindingly fast, and weirdly put the volume and power buttons on the back of the phone. With the launch of the successor to this flagship expected soon, there’s been no shortage of leaks to paint a picture of what’s to come. Fortunately for LG, everything we’ve seen so far has been very impressive.
LG is continuing the trend of including bleeding edge hardware in the G3, which is great news for anyone interested in making sure their phone can handle anything over the next two years of app releases. LG has recently announced the intent to mass produce 1440×2560 AH-IPS LCD displays for smartphones, which is expected to be the display included with the 5.5-inch G3. For the launch of the LG G2, Qualcomm joined them on stage to announce that LG was the first company to wield the crazy fast Snapdragon 800 processor in their phones, so it makes perfect sense for LG to do the same with the new Snapdragon 805 processor in this updated phone. With the fastest mobile processor on the market and one of the highest resolution displays in a smartphone today, the G3 certainly meets the standards set by its predecessor.
All of the leaked screenshots for the LG G3 reveal some new designs for the back of the phone, which is clearly slightly larger than its predecessor. LG’s Rear Key design is here to stay, but the polycarbonate backing for the phone has been replaced by several shades of metal. The brushed aluminum look on the back (and what little of it on the front that isn’t glass) looks great, and will apparently be available in the shades Apple made popular late last year. More importantly, the backplate appears to be removable and the battery replaceable. It’s unclear whether or not LG will go the HTC and Samsung route and release non-metallic colors yet, but the silver, gold, and charcoal look suits the phone nicely. Plus, it will be a good thing all around for LG*if this change makes the rear key more tactile and less squishy.
LG’s camera for the G3 looks like an evolution of the system first seen in the LG G Flex. The 13MP sensor that is expected to appear just above the Rear Key on this phone is accompanied by a laser on the left hand side. This sensor is designed to offer more information to the camera, which can be applied in the form of greater depth data or a more accurate light sampling for low light photography. The flash, found on the other side of the camera, appears to be capable of multiple color temperatures and brightness levels. This is a feature we’ve seen recently from Apple and HTC, and it has made just differences in how those devices handled low light photography. If LG’s camera software is up to the task, this camera could be one of the better offerings we see this year.
A major point of contention for LG’s smartphones is often their user interface. For the G3, LG offered a unique selection of high quality audio samples for ringtones and notification samples to showcase how impressive their HD audio handling was in both hardware and software. It was a cool addition, but ultimately felt unimpressive next to a UI that looked like it belonged in the previous version of Android. Now that a year has passed and LG has responded to that criticism, the G3 screenshots seen so far appear to place a greater focus on a simpler UI with flat icons and fewer poorly imitated skeuomorphic designs. It’s a great step that doesn’t take away from the existing LG UI, but still demonstrates a step forward for those interested in seeing LG improve visually.
The current expectation for seeing this phone in the wild is based on an announcement LG made for a multi-city press event. On May 27 and 28, LG will put this phone in as many hands as possible to show how well it holds up against the current smartphone heavyweights, which means it will be available to purchase shortly after. LG worked hard last year to get the G2 on as many carriers as possible, and there’s no doubt that the G3 will be an extension of that effort. Given the available evidence, it looks like LG is preparing for an all out offensive to make sure the G3 is a bigger success than any of their previous phones. Fortunately, we don’t have much longer to wait in order to see how true that ends up being.
More...
LG is continuing the trend of including bleeding edge hardware in the G3, which is great news for anyone interested in making sure their phone can handle anything over the next two years of app releases. LG has recently announced the intent to mass produce 1440×2560 AH-IPS LCD displays for smartphones, which is expected to be the display included with the 5.5-inch G3. For the launch of the LG G2, Qualcomm joined them on stage to announce that LG was the first company to wield the crazy fast Snapdragon 800 processor in their phones, so it makes perfect sense for LG to do the same with the new Snapdragon 805 processor in this updated phone. With the fastest mobile processor on the market and one of the highest resolution displays in a smartphone today, the G3 certainly meets the standards set by its predecessor.
All of the leaked screenshots for the LG G3 reveal some new designs for the back of the phone, which is clearly slightly larger than its predecessor. LG’s Rear Key design is here to stay, but the polycarbonate backing for the phone has been replaced by several shades of metal. The brushed aluminum look on the back (and what little of it on the front that isn’t glass) looks great, and will apparently be available in the shades Apple made popular late last year. More importantly, the backplate appears to be removable and the battery replaceable. It’s unclear whether or not LG will go the HTC and Samsung route and release non-metallic colors yet, but the silver, gold, and charcoal look suits the phone nicely. Plus, it will be a good thing all around for LG*if this change makes the rear key more tactile and less squishy.
LG’s camera for the G3 looks like an evolution of the system first seen in the LG G Flex. The 13MP sensor that is expected to appear just above the Rear Key on this phone is accompanied by a laser on the left hand side. This sensor is designed to offer more information to the camera, which can be applied in the form of greater depth data or a more accurate light sampling for low light photography. The flash, found on the other side of the camera, appears to be capable of multiple color temperatures and brightness levels. This is a feature we’ve seen recently from Apple and HTC, and it has made just differences in how those devices handled low light photography. If LG’s camera software is up to the task, this camera could be one of the better offerings we see this year.
A major point of contention for LG’s smartphones is often their user interface. For the G3, LG offered a unique selection of high quality audio samples for ringtones and notification samples to showcase how impressive their HD audio handling was in both hardware and software. It was a cool addition, but ultimately felt unimpressive next to a UI that looked like it belonged in the previous version of Android. Now that a year has passed and LG has responded to that criticism, the G3 screenshots seen so far appear to place a greater focus on a simpler UI with flat icons and fewer poorly imitated skeuomorphic designs. It’s a great step that doesn’t take away from the existing LG UI, but still demonstrates a step forward for those interested in seeing LG improve visually.
The current expectation for seeing this phone in the wild is based on an announcement LG made for a multi-city press event. On May 27 and 28, LG will put this phone in as many hands as possible to show how well it holds up against the current smartphone heavyweights, which means it will be available to purchase shortly after. LG worked hard last year to get the G2 on as many carriers as possible, and there’s no doubt that the G3 will be an extension of that effort. Given the available evidence, it looks like LG is preparing for an all out offensive to make sure the G3 is a bigger success than any of their previous phones. Fortunately, we don’t have much longer to wait in order to see how true that ends up being.
More...
