LG G4 hands-on first impressions

When looking at the overall landscape of smartphones in the US, most casual conversation is dominated by talk of Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S—currently that means the iPhone 6 and the Galaxy S6. The thing is, though, that there are other great phones out there that deserve to be a part of the conversation. Last year, my favorite Android phone was the LG G3, and I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on the successor ever since LG announced it.

As most know, I’m one of the rare people who owns multiple smartphones. I didn’t need the LG G4, but I definitely wanted it. LG sent one over, and I’ve been enjoying the process of learning all the ins and outs of the superb camera. If you’re unfamiliar, LG did a great job differentiating the camera on the G4. It’s got fantastic performance in low light situations thanks to the f/1.8 aperture, and sports a manual mode with 15 settings and over 135 options for configuring the camera to capture just the right shot. Pair that with the laser autofocus that gets things looking great in an instant, and the ability to capture RAW images and you have a winner. Super cool.

The display is not to be missed either. LG makes fantastic displays across its product line—that includes televisions, watches, and computer monitors. On the LG G4, you get a 5.5-inch IPS Quantum Display with quad HD resolution and 538 pixels per inch. The cool that about that is even though my iPhone 6 Plus also has a 5.5-inch display, the LG G4 feels smaller in the hand thanks to the shape and build. Same screen size in a smaller space, and higher resolution? That’s hard to beat.

Lastly, the design of the LG G4 is legitimately impressive. The company has three different material finishes to choose from: ceramic, metallic, and genuine stitched leather. Each one looks and feels great—mine is the ceramic version. The G4 also adopts the design cues of the LG G Flex line, sporting a slight curve in the display which makes it ergonomically more comfortable.

I learned that Best Buy was offering a $100 gift card to buyers of the LG G4 on release day, so I went down to my local Best Buy to check out the in-store experience. I found it next to a couple of other LG devices, and it’s was a good place to get your hands on the device and get a feel for how you might use it and how comfortable it would be in your own hands.

I’m certain that LG has a winner here with the G4, and it’s a device that deserves to be in the conversation when talking about the best smartphones on the market today. It’s now my favorite Android device currently for 2015.

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.