Pros & Cons
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- Excellent camera.
- Gorgeous screen.
- Includes microSD card slot and removable battery.
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- Runs too hot.
- Mediocre call quality.
- Lots of bloatware.
- Slower processor than competitors.
LG G4 (Verizon Wireless) Specs
| Battery Life (As Tested) | 4 hours 47 (LTE video streaming) minutes |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 |
| Dimensions | 5.86 by 3 by 0.39 inches |
| Screen Resolution | 2,560 by 1,440 pixels |
| Screen Size | 5.5 |
When I asked for a hot new smartphone, this isn't what I had in mind. The LG G4 has a big, bright screen, tons of storage, and an absolutely terrific camera. But mediocre voice quality and an epic amount of bloatware hold it back, while poor thermal tuning causes it to run uncomfortably hot. There's a lot to like about the LG G4, but it's difficult to recommend over Editors' Choice winners like the Samsung Galaxy S6, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and the Motorola Droid Turbo.
Physical Form and Call Quality
The G4 is a sizeable slab of phone at 5.9 by 3 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and 5.6 ounces. It's noticeably bigger than the Samsung Galaxy S6 or the Apple iPhone 6, but smaller than the Galaxy Note 4.
The 5.5-inch, 2,560-by-1,440-pixel display is strikingly vibrant and saturated, but it also has a noticeable bezel. LG is using quantum dot technology to improve the color gamut, and it seems to have struck the perfect balance between LCD crispness and OLED-style saturation, with excellent blacks.
View All As with the past few generations of LG phones, the power and volume buttons are on the back of the G4, rather than on the side. The volume buttons are textured and recessed so that they're relatively easy to feel. You can also wake the phone by either tapping sharply on the screen twice, or using a "knock code" of patterned taps that you set, another carryover from previous LG devices.
The G4 has a range of back cover designs. I've heard good things about the natural leather option, but I wasn't sent one for review. Instead, I got a plastic back with a subtle diamond pattern, which gives the phone an all-plastic feel without any of the metal or glass touches on the latest Samsung, HTC, Sony, or Apple phones. I really like metal and glass, so I consider that a minus, but plastic is more durable, and a scratched plastic back is easy to replace.
