Customer Reviews

LG G3, Silk White 32GB (AT&T)

I recently upgraded to this phone from the Samsung Galaxy S3. For months I was certain that I would be upgrading to the Samsung Galaxy S5. That was until I stumbled upon this little beauty.

The phone's x-large 5.5 inch screen is MUCH bigger than Samsung Galaxy S5's 5.1 inch screen. I was unaware of how much of a difference there is when comparing tenths of inches. But now I know 0.4 inches is a major difference. This phone is creeping into 'phablet' territory (see the Galaxy Note's 5.7 inch screen). But the Galaxy Note is much more expensive, even though it is basically a Galaxy S5 with a larger screen.

The screen is not only bigger, but it has a much higher resolution. The LG G3 comes in with a QuadHD 2,560 x 1,440 pixels and 538ppi against the Galaxy S5's HD 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and 431ppi. Again, the difference is apparent as soon as you turn on the phone. I place a lot of importance on the quality of the screen I'm going to be looking at 50-100 times per day.

The LG G3 has the same super fast 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor as the Galaxy S5. But the LG G3 comes with 3GB of RAM as opposed the Galaxy S5's 2GB of RAM. It also comes with 32GB of storage at no extra cost. The Galaxy S5 starts you at 16GB of storage or you can pay more and get one with 32GB.

Physically the phone is stylish and feels durable. Much more so than the GS5. One thing that is taking time to get used to is the location of the standby/volume buttons located on the back of the phone as opposed to the side. This is a minor inconvenience and I'm sure I will adapt as I have only had the phone for 2 days. I can see the advantages of having the buttons on the back. It's almost impossible to press them by accident and they are easier to reach. It's just a matter of breaking old habits.

My favorite feature so far is the Knock Code. Basically you can unlock your phone from a completely black screen without having to push any physical buttons first. It sounds like a small feature, but you'll be surprised how much more convenient it is to unlock your phone in one step instead of two.

The keyboard is also a dream. It's taken me a long time to get accustomed to software keyboards as opposed to hardware ones featured on the old blackberry's. But this one lets you customize it to your tastes. You can make it larger and you can even choose which buttons go where. Typing has never been easier. And for someone who texts and emails constantly throughout the day, that is an extremely important function of my phone.

Overall this is the best phone I have ever owned and I can safely say it is the best phone on the market right now. I did months of research before deciding to buy the LG G3 and I'm glad I did. So if you're on the fence between this phone, the Galaxy S5, the Iphone and the HTC One M8. I would recommend choosing this phone.

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Wow. After getting sick of my Nokia 1520, I went on the hunt to return to android. The contenders were the Fire, M8, and the G3. The G3 won out and I couldn't be more pleased with my choice. Screen is gorgeous, the phone is incredibly fast, camera is great and the battery lasts forever. The design gives you a 5.5 inch screen but the phone never feels too big like my Nokia or the Note 2 and 3 I previously used. One thing I have to mention is the keyboard. It is the fastest and most accurate I have ever used on a phone. Best phone I have ever owned hands down.

Pros-

1. Gorgeous big screen.
2. Fast smooth performance.
3. MicroSD and removable battery.
4. Better looking user interface.
5. Nice camera.

Cons-

1. Additions are mostly useless or inferior copies of others.
2. Still plastic exterior.
3. No waterproof.
4. No fingerprint sensor.

Neutral-

1. Good battery life but inferior to predecessor.

I have been using this LG G3 for the past few days. I plan to give you an idea of what the phone is like and whether or not you should consider it when it comes time to upgrade your phone. I have used many phones over the last couple of years including the Galaxy S5, HTC One (M8) and the LG G2. I plan on using comparisons to some of these phones to give you an idea how the LG G3 stacks up against them.

DISPLAY

The LG G3 display is 5.5 inches in size and has an impressive resolution of 2560 x 1440. Most of the other high end phones on the market have a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Everything on the display looks sharp. The colors are nice but not as saturated as the Samsung AMOLED screens. LG has made a big deal about the resolution on this phone but to be frank I can't tell the difference when I compare it side by side with the LG G2 or the S5. In fact, I like the screen on the S5 a little bit more. I like the colors in the S5 better. Doesn't mean the G3 is bad though. It is simply a matter of preference. The LG G3 has the upper hand when it comes to videos because of the extra screen size. It is amazing that LG managed to cram that big of a display in a phone that is not much bigger than the HTC One.

One thing that troubles me a little bit is that the display is not as bright as others I have seen. During daylight I had to crank the brightness all the way up and even then I struggled to read web pages. It was readable just not very comfortable. Most smartphones require that you increase the brightness when under direct sunlight but usually it delivers a good performance. I can't say that was the case with this one. Maybe there is a problem with my unit. That problem was not present indoors. Normally I keep the phone brightness at 60%.

PERFORMANCE

The LG G3 comes with Quad Core Snapdragon 801 CPU running at 2.5 GHz. The unit I am using comes with 3 GB of RAM. The phone runs very fast and smooth. Everyday tasks run very smooth without any stutters. The good amount of RAM memory allows me to have many open applications at the same time without causing the phone to stutter. The phone can handle all of the games available on the Play Store. I spent a couple of hours yesterday playing Grand Theft Auto San Andreas on the phone and it was buttery smooth. No stutters, no lag.

It is obvious to me that we are getting to point where hardware is getting ahead of the software. I have a hard time separating the performance from one phone to another. For example, the LG G2 is a year old phone. However, at this point the difference in performance is minimal at best. There is not a whole lot of difference. Everyday things like text messaging, making calls, opening and closing apps, playing games. They are all the same. The HTC One (M8) feels to me a little bit faster than the LG G3 but that is because the animations are quicker. Once again, the difference is minimal. All of the current crop of smartphone are fast, really fast.

DESIGN

I was completely fooled by LG when they started leaking pictures of the LG G3. I was ecstatic when I saw that the phone was going to be metallic. I was very disappointed when I saw it was nothing more than an imitation of metal. It is the same plastic design from last year but this time it has a coating that looks like it is metal. Now with that said, I like the fact that it is not nearly as fingerprint prone as the LG G2. It also feels less slippery than the G2. That is an improvement. The G2 is a fingerprint and oil magnet. It gets pretty ugly after a while.

The front of the LG G3 is made up predominantly of the display. The borders around the display are razor thin. Even thinner than the ones on the LG G2. There are no physical buttons like on the Galaxy line of phones or the IPhone line. There are no front face speakers like the HTC One. The very small borders in the display allows for easier handling of the phone. This phone is very big, there is no way around this but at least it is manageable. You will still require the use of two hands more often than not. The width of the phone is closer to the Galaxy S3 than the Note 3. After a few days you will get used to it and will be handling it like a pro.
Most phones have the power and volume button on the sides. The LG G3 has them on the back. Don't hesitate to buy this phone because of this. It is going to feel a little weird for a couple of days but it will feel natural after that. The buttons themselves are very easy to find and the power button is only a small distance from your index button. I like this design that LG has implemented. Much easier to reach than that the top power button on the HTC One.

Another thing that disappointed me a bit on the LG G3 was that it was not waterproof and did not include a fingerprint scanner. Neither of those features are necessary but they are useful. I personally never dropped my phone in water but I like having the peace of mind that my phone can withstand it. As it is, the LG G3 will die if it drops in the water for more than a few seconds. A real shame. The Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Sony Xperia Z2 are both water resistant. The phone I was using before getting this G3 was the S5. I got used to the fingerprint scanner. It worked pretty well for the most part and it is safer than a pin code or the "knock code" password found on the G3. A fingerprint scanner is "guess" proof. LG dropped the ball by omitting these two features.

USER INTERFACE AND LG APPS

Many people criticized the LG interface found on the LG G2. I was one of them. Not because it was not useful but because it was ugly. The icons and the overall aesthetic were not pleasing. They looked like they were designed by an 8 year old. The LG G3 has received a fresh coat of paint. Everything found on the menus and the notification bar is pretty much intact. But all of the icons have been redesigned. Looks much better. The good thing about android is that you have many different ways to customize your experience. Even if you do not like the LG launcher and icons you can always install a third party launcher from Play Store. I personally recommend Nova Launcher Prime.

Along with the fresh coat of paint LG introduced a brand new keyboard. This one is more customizable than the one found on the G2. You can adjust the height of the keys to the one that pleases you. LG claims that the keyboard adapts to your use over time. The more you type on it the better it gets at predicting what you are going to say next. It is a good effort by LG. The keyboard doesn't lag and it is generally functional. I like it better than the S5 keyboard. However, after a couple of days I ended up download Swiftkey. It is much better at predictions. The text in both English and Spanish. The LG keyboard kept getting confused. Swiftkey does a much better job balancing both languages.

Another feature they introduced was "Smart Notice". It is basically an imitation of Google Now. It gives you weather reports, notifies you of upcoming calendar events and not much else. It is not nearly as useful as Google Now. I hope LG introduces more features in the coming month but I am not going to be holding my breath.

Multitasking on the phone has been improved. You can run two applications at the same time and place them one on top of the other. You have the option to resize the windows and switch them around. It is useful and a nice addition that was not available last year. If you do not like the dual windows you still have the LG QSlides that were present on the G2. The QSlides are like small windows of certain apps that do not take the entire screen and let you run other things on the background. For example sometimes I am browsing on a website and find a number that I want to call. Instead of having to go back and forth between the website and the dialer you can simply launch a small QSlide window of the dialer and dial the number while you still have access to the website on the background.

CAMERA

The camera on the LG G3 is one of its strongest features. The camera is fantastic. It is a 13 Megapixels camera with Optical Image Stabilization. This year LG has included a new IR laser auto focus that allows the camera to lock in on its target on a fraction of a second. I am thoroughly impressed by this feature. It is really fast. The laser tends to focus slower in darker environments though.
The user interface in the camera has been simplified considerably. When you turn on the camera app you don't see anything on either side of the screen. If you want to take a picture the only thing you have to do is tap the screen with your finger. It is that simple. When you combine the new auto focus with the image stabilization you get a picture that is rarely blurry. Like most premium cameras it takes fantastic pictures during daylight but average pictures at night. When it comes to picture quality the LG G3 is in the same league to the S5. It is much better than the HTC One in daylight pictures. The HTC One takes better night pictures though.

When it comes time to take videos the LG G3 is fantastic thanks to the image stabilization. If you have ever taken videos with a smartphone you know that the videos come out shaky no matter how still you are. The LG G3 provides a less shaky experience. It is in a league of its own in this aspect. If you like taking nice pictures and videos this phone does not disappoint.

BATTERY LIFE

The LG G3 comes with a removable 3000 mah battery. If you ever run out of battery in the middle of the day you have the chance to remove the plastic cover on the back and change it with another one. The battery life on the G3 is on par with the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One. It is enough for an entire day. It is a step back from the battery life found on the G2. I would say the G2 had 25% more battery life. The battery life on the G3 is great for web browsing, listening to music, and making calls. The standby time is fantastic. It went down 5% after letting it sit overnight. The Achilles heel is when you are watching videos. If you crank up the brightness at 100% and watch videos for an hour the battery life will drop about 25%. Over the last few days I have experienced a screen on time between 3 and half to 4 hours. Most of it is doing light stuff like web browsing, text messaging and a couple of calls. It is not bad, but I was getting between 5-6 hours of screen on time consistently on my old G2. This is while keeping the brightness at around 60%. I will be updating this review if I notice any change in the future. I am hoping that maybe with future android updates we might see an improvement.

STORAGE

The current model I am using has 32 GB of internal storage. LG decided to include a slot for a MicroSD card with a capacity of up to 128 GB. This MicroSD slot allows you to put music, videos, and picture without having to use the internal storage of the device. That way you can use the internal memory to download all the apps and games you want. Apps can take quite a bit of space and most of them can only be installed on the internal storage of the phone. The G3 came with about 24 GB of free storage out of the box.

CONCLUSION

The LG G3 is a marginal improvement on its very good predecessor the LG G2. It has a big beautiful 5.5 inch display with great resolution. It packs a top of the class processor and plenty of RAM memory. The performance is top of the line. The camera is great and very simple to use. The LG G3 now has a removable battery and a slot for a MicroSD slot.
There are some things missing like a fingerprint scanner and water proofing. There are phones that have a more premium construction like the HTC One and the Windows Lumia phones.

There are many phones right now on the market. All of them have their pros and their cons. The G3 is a solid improvement on the G2 but not a necessary upgrade in my opinion. In fact, I think right now at the moment the G2 offers a better value for your money. I have seen some retailers offering it for free with a two year contract. As far as performance is concerned they are pretty much identical. On paper, the resolution on the G3 is superior but in real life the difference in resolution is negligible. The battery life on the G2 is superior and the price is very attractive.

Last year I felt that the LG G2 was clearly superior to the Galaxy S4. This year, I actually like the S5 a little bit more than the G3. It just don't feel LG placed emphasis on the right things. Most of the software additions are cheap imitation of better third party options found on the Play Store and most of hardware specs are improvements on paper not real life usage. They decided to bypass real tangible improvements like a metal covering, water resistance, and finger print scanner.
With all that said the G3 is an awesome phone but just not my favorite right now. I feel there are better options. I give it a 4 out of 5.
Before you make your purchasing decision I really suggest you go to a store and take a look at ALL of the handsets available. You will be surprised how many good options there are. Everybody has a different taste and I feel there is a right phone for everyone. I hope this review has helped you be more informed and prepared to buy your new phone.

If you break the screen you may kill yourself. For some reason, the LG G2 and G3 (all the LG smartphones I've so far owned) have some weird property where if you crack or shatter the screen, it is basically useless. YOU WILL NEED INSURANCE on this device or you'll be one pissed off person. I have insurance on both of the ones I purchased (for my wife, and myself) and I still kinda dread the fact that I did buy the phone. With AT&T within the first 6 months of purchasing device for insurance replacement it costs a whopping $200. I bought them for $50 each. I've never owned another brand smartphone that quits makes the ENTIRE screen touchless if you crack the phone's screen. I've owned HTC, Samsung and Motorola and have even seen iPhones with parts of the glass missing so bad you may cut your finger off trying to answer a phone call but the digitalizer still works. This seems like a gimick for LG to ensure they sell at least 2 or 3 phones for each initial customer they receive. Hope you don't have to go through this hell.

LOVE this phone! No side buttons is great; the "knock" to start feature is so much easier. The apps are fast. The phone is super easy to use and the picture is BEAUTIFUL! Love that i can increase the size of the keyboard for texting - was having trouble with hitting the space bar between words - drove me crazy! The sound is phenomenal and the battery lasts about 30 hours with medium use.
I'm glad I tried the LG - still love HTC - but this was so worth it!

My Lg G3 phone had the overheat issue and I got 80+(C) degree on the CPU from my two week experience. This is not the normal temperature for a smartphone. Once the phone got too warm (hot), the screen started lagging and the battery got drained fast. I had to return this phone. Honestly i love this phone with all the new features, but the lags and battery life when it gets too warm stopped me from keeping it.

Screen
The size of the screen for the overall size of the phone is incredible and is what sparked my initial interest. The 2k screen is very impressive to look at, but is a bit overkill. I've heard that the human eye can't tell the difference much over 300 PPI (pixels per inch) This phone has over 500. Most flag ship phones these days are over 350 PPI. I have had no problems with brightness. I have it set to 66% and auto adjust and it is always bright enough for me.

Button Location
The buttons on the back take a little getting use to, but after that initial period I prefer it over buttons on the side of the phone. I actually use the knock feature to turn the screen on and off more often then not.

Camera
The camera is very impressive, but has an annoying lack of features and I wish it had more. For some reason the camera comes set to lower resolution then max out of the box, but can be easily changed in settings. Low light shots are impressive and with the auto setting makes this one step short of a stand alone point and shoot.

IR blaster
One of my favorite features is actually the IR blaster and the stock quick remote APP. I will admit this is my first phone with a IR blaster, but it makes the hunt for the remote none existent. I have programmed all the needed buttons for all my devices on to one screen. The only real draw back is I have to aim a little more carefully than with my normal remote for it to work.

Battery life
The first few days the battery died quickly and required extra charging to get through the day. Now it makes it through a day with over 20% at night. I unplug it around 6AM and plug it bake in around 10-11PM.

LED notifier
This phone has a smaller LED light on the front then normal and I prefer it that way. I'm a fairly light sleeper and a bright LED can keep me awake. Since I use my phone for my alarm it is always near me when I sleep.

Speaker
The speaker is not very impressive. It is not any loader than my old S3, but i does seem to have slightly better sound quality and the loudest settings.

In the box
A big disappointment about the phone is no headphones in the box. I have come to expect headphones to come with all flag ship phones.

Wireless charging
I gave this 4 stars in stead of 5 for one reason. The AT&T version of this phone does not use Qi standard it uses a different method because AT&T is invested in a company that uses the other method I can't remember what it is called now. Unless I am mistaken it does not come wireless charge capable out of the box either. That makes this the Achilles Heal of the phone. I have though about returning it for this reason alone. I might still seeing as I am still in that window, but I find my self unwilling to part with it even given this large flaw.

I've had this phone for a week now, and I absolutely love it! I've owned every iPhone since the 3GS, as well as the HTC One, Nokia Lumia 520, and the Galaxy S5, and this is by far the best out of all of them.

First of all, the screen resolution is stunning and gorgeous! I thought the 1080p display on the Galaxy S5 was awesome, but this one creates a new standard for beauty and crispness, so much so that I sold my Galaxy S5 and got this phone instead. I will say that, because of the beautiful display, the screen tends to get really hot at times, almost too hot to touch, but for me, it isn't a deal breaker, as I don't usually turn the display up past 80 percent or so.

Next, the customization is awesome! I can literally change everything from the font applied to everything in the phone to the placement of the buttons at the bottom of the screen. After being locked down to the features of an iPhone, I love being able to make everything just the way I want it.

Finally, this phone is a great, well, phone. As obvious as one it may sound, so many smartphones excel at all the fancy specs but have awful call quality, especially the Galaxy S5. The speaker phone on the G3 is nice and loud and sounds very clear, even while driving, and the call quality on the headset is fabulous as well.

Overall, this phone is the best Android out there as far as I'm concerned. The screen size is perfect, and the phone manages to excel as a "phablet" without being uncomfortable to hold in one hand. I highly recommend it if you're after an awesome phone with the perfect combo of specs, customization, and, well, perfection!

I did months of research with buying a new phone. As an iPhone user for years, I was really skeptical about switching over to Android. I had a previous bad experience with the first edition Samsung Galaxy Note and I swore off all Android phones, until now. With the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus line of boring software, mediocre cameras, and lackluster design, I knew that my current iPhone was about the bite the dust and a new iPhone would be the last phone I would get. After months of research, this is the one I choose due to the overall design, camera, simplicity of the software, and the Android 5 update. It's been almost a week since I've had this phone and I have to say I'm quite impressed with it. It has such a big beautiful screen with clear color and text. 3 GB of ram doesn't hurt either. The texting tool is wonderful and you have the ability to adjust your keyboard to whichever height you'd like it to be. I realize now that Android is all about customization without limit, where as iPhone has customization, but there's a limit to what you can do. I highly recommend this phone to anyone who is sick and tired of their iPhone. I never thought I'd go back to an Android phone, but I'm glad I did.

This is my first Android phone and I am happy I went with the LG G3. I was debating between the G3, Moto X, Note 4, and the S5. I went with the LG G3 for a few reasons, but I really liked that it had a removable battery and a mico SD slot.

Pros:
-The screen is gorgeous, bright, and vivid.
-The phone is fast! I haven't had a new phone in a couple years, so this is probably common among new phones.
-I actually like the LG skinned Android. I was worried that it would be poor compared to stock Android, but I like it - minus the AT&T apps.
-The size is really something else. I have been using a 4 inch display and this thing dwarfs it. It takes a bit to get used to it, but once I did I don't think I'll be able to go back.
-I have been able to use the phone all day with moderate use and the battery hasn't gotten below 40%. I charge the device once a day.

Cons:
-None so far! I love it!