LG G3 Review: Taking Smartphones to a Whole New Level

 

LG was notably missing in action when the rest of the world's biggest Android smartphone makers unveiled their 2014 flagships at or around the Mobile World Congress trade show. Sony, Samsung and HTC debuted largely similar products, and although each one has its own personality, it's hard to choose a single winner between the three.
By waiting a few months, LG has managed to pull a trick out of its hat that none of the others did. In fact had it not been for the upstart Oppo and its new Find 7, LG would have been the first to market with a QHD (1440x2560-pixel) screen. It's a little mind-boggling that a screen resolution once reserved for gigantic, expensive workstation-class monitors is now possible on a relatively affordable pocket-sized device, so we've been dying to get our hands on LG's new top-end smartphone, the G3, for quite some time now
Look and feel
We really have to hand it to LG - this might be the best-looking smartphone available today, period. It's absolutely gorgeous. This phone is slick, understated, and oozes class. At first glance it appears to be made out of metal, though it becomes clear that the body is all plastic when you pick it up.
The curves and proportions make it feel smaller than it is, though that isn't saying much for a phone with a 5.5-inch screen. This also makes it the largest of the current generation of flagships, whose screens generally range from 5 to 5.2 inches diagonally.
LG has managed to shave the side bezels down to just a few millimetres, but the unusually small forehead and chin stand out even more. There's only just about enough space on top for the earpiece, front camera and sensors, while there's only a smallish LG logo on the bottom. Beneath the glass, you'll notice a very subtle pattern of concentric rings on the chin. It's much less pronounced than the very similar design on Asus' Zenfone series.
The only things on the top edge are an infrared LED for the remote control feature, and a mic for noise suppression. The headset jack, Micro-USB port and primary microphone are on the bottom. Thanks to LG's controversial decision to move all buttons to the rear, the two sides are entirely blank.
We've seen this rear-button configuration on several models now, including the G Flex and G Pro 2, but it still isn't easy to get used to. LG has improved upon its idea and the volume buttons now form a concave pad with the power button in between them like a dimple. It's easy to feel for the buttons thanks to this design and their different textures, but that still doesn't solve the problem of accidentally clicking them and not being able to reach them when needed.