Device Overview: LG G4

With the Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, and LG G4, 2015 looks to be the year of great cameras on smartphones.

Today we will be looking at the LG G4. At first glance, the device looks a lot like the G3 from last year. Add to that the slight curve on the display and you may think it’s the LG G Flex 2’s cousin. Ultimately, this is a device that packs a great set of features. These features are sure to make you a fan right out of the box.

What’s In The Box:

• Phone
• Wall Charger
• USB Sync and Charge cable
• 3000 mAh Battery

HARDWARE

The phone packs a Hexa-Core processor, the Snapdragon 808 chip clocked at 1.8 GHz with the Adreno 418 GPU. This combination is unique for a device released in mid 2015. LG decided to sport the 808 CPU in its flagship, which was likely done in response to the heat issues that faced the G Flex 2 running the Snapdragon 810. The CPU works great and competes with the best of them. We are kind of at the point where the hardware is truly ahead of the common daily driver needs.

 

The display is an IPS Quantum Quad HD 2560 x 1440 resolution panel protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The camera, however, is the real star of this great device. We get a F1.8 16MP camera on the back, with a F2.0 8MP camera on the front. The G4 comes with a massive 3000 mAh battery and 3 GB of RAM, more than enough for all your multitasking needs.

Device Specifications:

• Snapdragon 808 1.8GHz 64-bit Hexa-Core Processor
• Adreno 418 GPU
• 5” 2560 x 1440 (Quad HD) IPS Quantum Display
• 3 GB RAM
• 32 GB Storage (Expansion up to 2 TB)
• 3000 mAh Battery with Quick charge
• 16 MP F1.8 Back Camera with LED Flash, Laser auto focus, OIS, and color spectrum sensor
• 8 MP F2.0 for the Front
• Android Lollipop 5.1 with LG UX 4.0 UI
• Bluetooth 4.1 / Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, GPS/ NFC
• Connectivity:
  • LTE, HSDPA +, UMTS, EDGE, GSM
  • GSM (850/900/1800/1900); UMTS (850/900/1900/2100); LTE (800/1800/2600)
• 155 g (5.47 oz)
• Stereo FM radio with RDS

Over the course of 8 days of testing, the G4 handled everything I needed and did a great job taking great photos and videos. The battery lasted easily a day with normal use. As the review unit does not work with US LTE bands in my area, I was limited to 3G speeds. Your experience may vary depending on 4G LTE availability and your specific model.

Comparing the G4 to my other phablet devices, like the Nexus 6 and Note Edge, I have to say it feels better in the hand. The device is light with a good grip, and just performs very well in the camera department.

INTERFACE

The device runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box with the LG UX 4.0 UI on top. Where the LG G4 shines is in the hardware. The Software just does not seem to match the experience. It is not that LG’s UI is bad, it just feels less cohesive compared to Samsung’s TouchWiz. I quickly fixed that by installing Nova Launcher and this made me enjoy the user interface much better.

The LG G4 comes with themes and automation built in to the device, to help you make it a truly unique experience. There is a power saving mode to help squeeze more life out of the massive battery.  The camera app is great with the manual mode and RAW format support, but I can’t help but feel like they could have put in some filters and better shooting modes.

CAMERA

The camera on the LG G4 is the going to be one of the main reasons to buy this device. The camera app on the device offers the option to manually control all aspects of the camera, from the focus to the white balance and more. The one thing to mention is that even though you can shoot in RAW format, you don’t have very modes in this app.

Hopefully with the release of the G4, the app store will work correctly and we can update the camera interface. This will make the camera even more attractive. I am pleased to see that cameras on our devices are getting better and better every year.

DESIGN

The design of the G4 is really a progression of the G3 with some G Flex 2 thrown in there. This is due to the slight curve in the display, and the overall design of the phone. I had a hard time getting used to the device with the buttons on the back. Specifically when the phone was on the table and I wanted to raise the volume, but this is minor and not a challenge for LG G3 users.

The G4 is customizable allowing you to create a unique phone. You can remove the back and change it with some premium options. The battery is also removable, which is definitely welcomed considering that most flagships this year have done away with removable batteries. The G4 also comes with SD card support, which is a big plus to me. I am personally reminded on a daily basis that my Nexus 6 32GB device needs more storage, and I wish I could replace it with the 64GB version. The moral of the story here is we need more storage on phones that can do 4K and take massive photos and videos.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The LG G4 (LG-H815) unit that we received for review did very well for the 8 days it was under review. I am sad to have to send it back, but I am considering picking it up from my carrier soon. The device performed very well and held its own. I enjoyed the time I had with G4 and will most likely get one as my daily driver.

The price of the G4 seems to be a little lower than most of the flagship devices on the market. At $600 on T-mobile off contract, the LG G4 is a very good deal for anybody wanting to upgrade to a new device this year.

The camera is by far the best camera on a mobile device. The display is stunning. You will not be disappointed with this device. I feel the pros outweigh any issues you might find with the user interface.

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Sunday Debate: What Determines Smartphone Evolution?

Join us in a fun Sunday Debate on Mobile Evolution. Come with your opinions and feel free to read some of our thoughts, then pick your side or play devil’s advocate to get your voice heard and engage in friendly discussion. You can read our food-for-thought or jump straight into the fray below!

 

 

Who decides the fate of smartphone hardware and software? A quick answer would be OEMs and Google, but while they have the ultimate decision as to what makes it in, they base their developments on what certain consumers or markets want. And, as we all know, there are many types of Android users out there; as Google would say, all together but not the same. These differences, be them due to culture, geography or savviness, impact their opinions and purchasing habits, and these end up affecting the course of phone line-ups and market trends. From this perspective, we want to establish an open debate:

 

Unlike previous debates, this one will not be framed under a dichotomy of stances. We want to explore, as a community, the question of who determines smartphone trends… and who should determine them. There are innumerable factors at play, from an uncountable number of sources and plenty demographics. Because of this, we can’t cover them all, but we will still offer some brain teasers to get you going. The smartphone market has changed dramatically in the past few years, and many marked trends have picked up and died since. With this in mind, here are our questions:

 

What kind of factors determine what hardware, software, and features see revisions, upgrades, increased focus or make it in or out? What is the weight of these factors, and how do they relate? Which demographics should OEMs listen or cater to in order to build the best smartphone? Below you will find a list of demographics and factors in brain-teasing bulletpoints. Feel free to jump to the comments at your leisure!

 

• The market as a whole: Google and OEMs analyze the general trends of what sells and what doesn’t (without necessarily going in-depth nor holistically into each of its parts) to extrapolate information on how to build their next phone. Sometimes this allows OEMs to focus on what people in general want, but many of the finer details are lost in the generalization. Example: an OEM might see that phones with bigger screens are being swiftly adopted in most regions and markets, thus decide to increase its next phone’s screen size.
• The casual user base: Casual users are a big demographic to account for in decisions. While they might not be very savvy or informed, the monetary advantage from catering to what the Average Joe wants can be immediately beneficial for OEMs – if done right. The casual user base can also inform smartphone makers of subconscious trends that are shaping up, but the uninformed masses are also unpredictable and might not know exactly what they want or what is good for the evolution of smartphones. Example: an OEM might decide to bundle certain social media applications, or even develop its own, to cater to a certain trend among casual users.
• The hardcore user base: Hardcore and power users are savvy and typically know what they want and how they want it. They also are exposed to many more alternatives, which allows them to compare each of them to figure out what’s best. Power users are also diverse in their use cases, though, and they do not represent what would necessarily sell the best. Example: hardcore users tend to love customizability, so OEMs decide to include theme engines in their phone and at the same time, make them accessible to all users.
• Geography, High-end & Developing Markets: Adjusting for the affluence level of the targeted demographic is very important for any hardware or software development, from pricing strategies to investments in marketing. What makes it in also depends on the cultural values present in different areas of the world. Example: an Asian OEM’s software aesthetics might be very popular in their region due to its color palettes and design, but the same aesthetic might not appeal to western markets.
• Purchasing habits: Not to be confused with which smartphones sell, but rather, the kind of things people want in and out of smartphones and technology in general. This allows OEMs to predict trends, or create them altogether. Example: as fitness and health technology is increasingly consumed in the form of fitness bands and other accessories, OEMs decide to incorporate fitness features – such as heart rate monitors – in their phones and watches.
• Brand Loyalty and Conformism: Sometimes OEMs and developers decide to stick to a particular vision or direction simply to please their hardcore fans or those who have grown used to their products.This can be good to retain customers, but if done improperly it can lead to stagnation and a negative image.  Example: Samsung stuck to their design language for years as things like their physical home button became a recognizable visual cue for their Galaxy line of phones.
• Android Blogs, Journalism and Reviews: Phone makers monitor the world of Android news and the communities these feed. It is not rare to see the major complaints from specific reviews and/or particular reviewers get addressed with hardware or software iterations. Some reviewers hold very important and insightful opinions, but many reviews fill their rants with inconsequential and petty complaints. Both the good and the bad gets listened to, even if they tend to create big fuss over non-issues, and turn actual problems into non-issues as well. Example: reviewers complain about non-premium materials, then OEMs decide to increase the amount of metal and glass in their phones, sometimes sacrificing features and/or hardware modularity.

Debating

 

There are a lot more factors at play that we have not listed – from the economic state of the world and its regions to the predominance or rise of certain socio-political concerns such as security and privacy. We hope that we could, at least, give you a brief example of the kind of things that OEMs take into account when building a new smartphone. But what we really hope to see is a good debate come out of this. So we ask you:

 

• Which factors do you think matter to OEMs the most?
• Which do you think should matter to them the most (even if they don’t), and why?
• In which ways do certain factors damage smartphone evolution?
• What trends do you see picking up that you wish were not growing?

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8GB Sony Xperia M4 Aqua Comes With Only 1.26GB Free

The Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is a great device. For €299 ($335) for the 8GB storage variant, you get an Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, a 5″ HD display, a 13MP rear camera with 1080p recording as well as a 5MP front camera with 720p recording, and even Micro-sd card slot for support up to 32GB. The device features the same minimalistic design pattern followed along in the Sony flagship lineup, and is even IP68 certified for being dustproof and waterproof. Surely, this is the perfect device trying to create healthy competition and choice along with the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact.

Except, it may not be as perfect. At least the 8GB internal storage variant won’t be.

As reported by XperiaBlog, the Xperia M4 Aqua has its own Achilles Heel. The base storage variant comes with an advertised 8GB of Internal storage along with SD card support up to 32GB. However, an out-of-the-box M4 Aqua actually sports only 1.26GB of free internal storage for the user, which is rather crippling for a mid ranged device.

Out of the 8GB internal storage, the system takes up 4GB of storage right off the bat. The device was running Android 5.0 on firmware build 26.1.A.1.100. If you thought that was outrageous, the pre-installed apps chew up another 2GB of storage. This is the case on a device that was purchased on retail, SIM free, so the situation will only worsen with carriers insisting on adding more of their own “goodies” when they offer this device along with their contract plans.

After everything else accounted for, the 8GB storage variant of the Xperia M4 Aqua comes with only 1.26GB out of the box for the user to store his personal data and for additional apps. The issue is worsened by the fact that most pre-installed apps (like Kobo Books, AVG etc) cannot be completely uninstalled, so you are essentially limited to apps which you may never use while giving up storage for apps that you would like to use.

Something to offset this situation by a small margin is the fact that the M4 Aqua does come along with a micro SD card slot, offering capacity for 32GB external storage if you wish to go that route. This offers relief by giving an option for storing your personal data and media on a more abundant local storage.

For average users who may never hear the words “root” and “custom rom”, this is a really crippling scenario which they were led to through false advertising. With the general increase in the quality of Android hardware available, apps have also grown to take advantage of this increase in potential. As most apps are made with universal targeting and compatibility in mind, future apps may simply be too large to have on devices with such low storage. Even in the present scenario, “heavy” games like Fifa 15 or Asphalt 8 will barely leave any room for anything else to be stored in the internal storage.

But of course, this is XDA. For the power users who can take the risk associated with rooting and custom softwares, there are options. As someone who has personally used a device with 160MB of internal storage for 3 years, there are methods available which can help such a scenario. For starters, after acquiring root, unused apps can be completely uninstalled. You can even repartition the existing layouts on your phone to get more free space through a smart mix of reallocation and custom ROMs. Even if you would like to retain the existing system of your phone, options in such a scenario include force moving apps to the SD card, with a better and neater alternative being re-partitioning the SD card and using scripts or apps like Link2SD to make your SD card be emulated as internal storage.

However, at the moment, as the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua does not have root methods available, the options are really limited. Early adopters are already complaining about the limited internal storage and the lack of root is only worsening the bad soup.

Has anyone been able to successfully root the M4 Aqua please, and if so, how? I’ve had the phone for 3 days and I’m already fed up of seeing “not enough storage space” due to the ridiculously small amount if internal storage available. If I could root it, I could, in theory, use a third party app to repartition my sd card to convince it that part of it is internal storage, or, at the very least use Links2SD.

– MetalOllie, XDA Senior Member

Neither Towelroot or Kingroot work. Kingo have suggested their app *may* work, but I’m not sure how secure that app is, so haven’t tried it. I badly need to root this phone, so I can partition the sd card and use Links2SD. As it stands, I have about 600mb of my “8gb” free, after installing a few apps. I’d like to zap most of the Google apps, and some of the other preinstalled software. Without root, this phone is next to useless if you want to install many, or large, apps.

– MetalOllie, XDA Senior Member

Android M does bring some good news on a generic and wider scale, as it brings extended support for SD cards in the form of “Adoptable Storage Devices”. This should help future devices launched with Android M, or upgraded to Android M, use their SD card (and even drives on USB OTG) seamlessly as internal storage. However, whether the Xperia M4 Aqua will ever see an official update to Android M is unknown at this stage.

We do hope Sony does take action to try to fix the low internal storage. Because otherwise, in its current state, the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua 8GB storage variant will be a nightmare to use. The phone has a lot of positives going for it, but such an oversight on a 2015 mid range device will only result in a terrible user experience which would sour future sales. If you are looking to buy an otherwise capable device, skip the 8GB storage variant and opt for the 16GB storage variant to avoid regrets.

What do you think about “low-storage” issues in a 2015 mid-range device? Can this be termed as false advertisement? Have you ever used a device with extremely limited storage? How did it affect your experience as a user? Let us know in the comments below!

Screenshot Credits: XperiaBlog

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Modify LG G Series Launch Shortcuts with Key Plus

Since the G2, LG’s G series devices have had a nifty feature that allowed users to quickly launch apps on the device, using the volume buttons when it was locked. However, like most OEM features, the apps were hardcoded and Key Plus is a handy app that allows you to choose which app is launched.

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Stock Lollipop Theme Coming Soon to Galaxy S6

Samsung’s Theme Store was one of the big announcements back in March, and recently, the South Korean OEM began inviting external designers to contribute themes. One such designer is working on a theme based on Lollipop’s colors, which will go through an approval process, and will then be free to download.

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RRO Layers Status Bar and Navigation Bar Collection

RRO Layers has gained a tremendous amount of traction in the modding community as of late, and XDA Senior Member carlospr21 has put together an extensive collection of status bar and navigation bar styles that can effectively give a complete overhaul to the two persistent system elements.

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Diamond CM12 Theme

Diamond is a minimal and elegant theme for devices running any ROM with Theme Engine support, and features rich blue highlights, outlined icons, slender and elegant fonts and gives the system a fresh look that is a hybrid of flat and playful styles.

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