LG has brought the G4 to India and while a launch event will be held on June 19, the smartphone can be bought off the shelf across various brick-and-mortar stores in India. While the G4 will be covered extensively in its own standalone article (coming soon and it will be a review with a twist), the focus actually is not just on the G4 but it starts all the way back from Motorola Google Nexus 6. There have a range of complaints against Android smartphones especially when they are pitted against Apple’s iPhones and the comparisons are natural.
While the comparison between iPhones and Android smartphones is understandable, it is for the purpose of this article that we would focus on flagship Android smartphones only. What the recent wave of flagship Android smartphones have taught us is that Android OS has matured enough to even outmatch the iPhones in various areas where they used to fall short on. So, we have compiled a list of those areas and across the article, there will be mention of various smartphones for you to understand just how much they have contributed to the cause of making Android smartphone marketplace better:
LG has claimed that G4 was made in close collaboration with Qualcomm to ensure the Snapdragon 808 chip it sports fits it like a glove. In an earlier article, we mentioned the slow adoption rate of Snapdragon 805 and Snapdragon 810 processors. The G4 became the first, and right now, the only device to sport a Snapdragon 808 chip. Clocked at 1.8GHz it is not exactly ground-breaking in terms of performance. However, the G4 goes through all tasks thrown at it at an unbelievable pace. The only other smartphone maker, outside of Apple, that focuses on such hardware-software optimisation is Samsung and its Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones. But while Samsung makes the chips for Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, so is not the case with G4. Cutting long story short, if every smartphone maker works closely with chip makers while making their smartphones, we will soon be able to see smartphones with much better optimisation between hardware and software.
The G4 has also brought focus to another fact – large screens do not necessarily mean large smartphones. For this, we will take you back to when the G3 was launched. When the G3 was launched, it was not just its Quad HD screen that became the talking point but also the narrow bezels that it sported. Despite having a 5.5-inch screen, the G3 was quite a pocketable smartphone. The Galaxy Note 4 is also quite pocketable, despite its 5.7-inch screen size. Even more impressive is the Motorola Google Nexus 6 with its 6-inch screen. Make no mistake, a 6-inch device is not easy to use on a daily basis. But focus on ergonomics, small bezels and general design as such ensured that Nexus 6 stayed nearly as tall as iPhone 6 Plus. If you can fit an iPhone 6 Plus in your pocket, good chances are that Nexus 6 will also slide into your pocket without fuss. The LG G3 and Nexus 6 are powerful smartphones, but they prove themselves to be the ones spearheading a sort of design revolution in the smartphone industry.
A lot has been said in the past about big screen phones and their heft. While everyone wanted the smartphones to become light, they also wanted them to feel premium at the same time. Apple brought to the market is glass and metal trick with iPhone 4 and used it for quite some time. With iPhone 6, it brought in metal as the new material of choice, following in the footsteps of HTC’s One smartphone that had utilised the same trick an year before iPhone 6 went on sale. Samsung did away with its plastics by opting for glass and metal on Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. Even the Nexus smartphones moved over from plastic to leather when the duties were handed over by LG to Motorola. Not to be outdone, LG brought the G4 with leather back panel. The only smartphones though that break tradition are the iPhone 6 Plus and LG G4. Their weight is 172gm and 155gm respectively. Now, factor in the iPhone 6 Plus’ height and its dimensions (6.22in x 3.06 in x 0.28in) and you get the picture. The LG G4 is not too far off from iPhone 6 Plus in terms of dimensions (5.86in x 3.00in x 0.39in) but is lighter still. The Nexus 6 is also an exception but in a different manner, if you take a look at its dimensions (6.27in x 3.26in x 0.15in/0.39in(with curve). Still, it is the only one with two speakers up front and managing that feat with small bezels is not small feat.
While the big screen smartphones continue to be trendy, it is the ergonomics that keep them from an even higher adoption rate. Earlier, the button layout used to spread from top to sides. Then it was considered better to put buttons on the side and so has been the norm for a large number of smartphones, be it Galaxy Note 4, Nexus 6 or the latest joinees from Apple. Only LG has been walking a different path by offering buttons on the back of its smartphones. It all started with G2, which had rear layout of its volume and power buttons, and it continued further to G3 and now G4 also sports the same layout. But a careful observation would tell that even Asus opted for the same rear layout for volume buttons on ZenFone 2 while power button goes up top. It just goes on to say that while bigger smartphones are becoming a norm, some of them have been considering the ergonomics part pretty seriously.
When you buy a flagship smartphone, you pay money to get the very best thing out there in the market from a particular maker. However, if certain features are taken away from you while you are charged a bomb, you do end up feeling cheated, even though the feeling may not be as strong as you would want it to be (all the above points are a proof of this fact). Putting this argument in perspective, you do not bother if the iPhone 6 comes with expandable storage, removable back cover or water and dust-proof capabilities. It became a talking point when the Galaxy S6/Galaxy S6 Edge did not sport such features though. Now, when you consider G4’s expandable storage of up to 2TB and removable back cover with certain amount of water-resistance, you are bound to ask why all phones can not be made this way. This is what makes the LG G4 truly special. If you do not want LG G4, the next best choices are either Xperia Z3 from Sony, Nexus 6 from Motorola and Moto Turbo from Motorola as they are made to be used a bit more ruggedly than other flagship smartphones.
This article appeared on http://www.priceraja.com on June 15, 2015.
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