LG G3 review

The LG G2 was one of the most critically acclaimed phones of 2013, exceeding all expectations. Strange then that one year after this triumph, LG seemed to have lost its confidence, rushing the release of the LG G3 as the market threatened to slip away.With Samsung, Sony and HTC all bringing out superior models, LG couldn't afford to wait. Instead, it tried to race to the front of the pack with a dramatic step forward in screen technology.Apart from that stunning screen, all the LG G3's enhancements were direct responses to criticism of the previous model: removable battery, microSD slot, metallic frame and a new, mature interface.On top of all that, the company has finally rolled out Android 5.0 Lollipop to G3 handsets on certain networks in the UK, with the final set of users due to receive it in the very near future.One major point in the G3's favour is the price. Where other handsets cost a huge chunk of cash, the G3 can be picked up for a little over half of the cost of a new iPhone 6, and has better specs in some regards. That's not bad at all.
So with that in mind, and with the LG G4 set to hit shops shortly, is the LG G3 the perfect smartphone?

Design

One of the features most heavily touted in the pre-launch leaks was the LG G3's new metallic skin. The all-plastic unibody of the G2 was one of the main reasons it didn't achieve five-star status, so the prospect of a metal body on the G3 caused much excitement.

But then when the phone was displayed for the first time, this turned out to be a plastic shell painted to look like a brushed metal case. LG was almost apologetic about this, saying it wanted to deliver a metal phone that felt as premium as possible, but the mechanics simply didn't allow for it.
The result is a compromise. LG has created a special film that takes away the plastic feel somewhat, while still looking the part in a world where consumers are crying out for high-end design. And on a table or on the shop shelf, it's a great looking phone.

 

The battery and back cover are both removable

LG has done something else that I was keen to see: made the backplate removable, allowing you to swap the battery and add in a microSD card. I'm not convinced that a removable battery is strictly necessary in a phone, but I always think a microSD card is a good option to have.
That's especially true because the LG G3 only comes in 16GB and 32GB options and most will buy the former, which doesn't give a huge amount of room for all the larger apps on offer these days.
Unfortunately, the removable battery demands a backplate, which means that despite being made of a more refined material, the LG G3 actually feels cheaper in the hand than the G2. Not by much, but enough for me to long for this metallic plastic to be used on the older version.

 It might look similar, but the feel in the hand is very different
And then there's the issue of the screen. Not the actual display itself, which is excellent, but the size of it.
The smartphone category is constantly evolving. Where once we thought any display over 4 inches as enormous, it's now tiny. Phones with a 5-inch screen have become a normal option at the high end, although I get the feeling that this is the limit of what's acceptable.
The G3's 5.5-inch screen is just too large to be considered a smartphone – we're definitely at the bottom end of phablet territory here. This means it's not as fluid to navigate the screen with one hand. Combined with the more angular corners, using the G3 is not a great experience, despite its impressively thin bezels.

The rear buttons get drilled into your muscle memory amazingly quickly

I do like the rear buttons though. The principle gets burned into your muscle memory much faster than you'd expect, to the point where I keep tapping the camera on other handsets in a futile attempt to turn off the screen.
And LG's upgrades here (including making the power button more rounded and the volume keys ridged) mean it's even easier to operate without looking. If you're thinking this is a reason not to buy the phone, then disregard it – it's actually a really neat feature and one that I'm surprised hasn't been copied yet.
In summary, LG has both improved the design of its flagship phone and taken a couple of steps backwards. The G3 certainly looks more premium, and offers the removable battery and microSD slot some people believe they simply cannot live without.
But the separate backplate means the whole thing is less tightly packaged, and I found holding it less pleasant than I did the G2.
If you're going to make a phone look metallic, then it ought to have the same satisfying weight as the HTC One M9 or iPhone 6 Plus, whereas this is more like the Samsung Galaxy S5 in feel, albeit with a coat of paint and no weirdly dimpled back.True, the new design is much less prone to fingerprints than the predecessor, but that doesn't change the fact that those who don't want a phablet will see the G3 as a touch too large.

The most prominent feature of the LG is the QHD screen. Where the HTC One M9 packs in two million pixels, the G3 has 3.6 million. It's a lot sharper, sure, but it's not mindblowing.
The big question here with the screen is: why do it? LG's official line is that its research showed Steve Jobs was wrong. While it agrees with Jobs that there is a limit to what the human eye can see in terms of sharpness, LG reckons that the Retina display isn't the top end. That's obvious anyway: the display on the Samsung Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8 is significantly sharper than that on the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, so there is more headroom.
But apparently there's another level still to attack, and that's just what it's done with the QHD screen. Where the Samsung Galaxy S5 (arguably the LG G3's biggest contemporary) offers 440ppi sharpness, the G3 has 538ppi – equivalent to high-end glossy art books, which LG used as the benchmark of sharpness.

 

The QHD screen is fantastic, but arguably superfluous

While you might question the need for such a sharp display, it's worth mentioning that other major Android manufacturers have since adopted this QHD standard. The Nexus 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 straddle the LG G3 in terms of screen size, but both have since gone for the same pixel-dense resolution.Now, here's the quandary: the LG G3's screen is brilliant, no question. Internet browsing, looking at pictures, watching high-end video all awesome. But that's the exact same feeling I had with the G2, which also had a simply stunning screen.
It feels like the QHD screen is great to look at because LG knows how to make an amazing display, rather than offering a next level of sharpness that blows me away. I didn't feel that I was looking at something superior to the G2 in terms of screen quality, and with the larger heft and hit on battery life, I believe LG has gone too early with the technology just to make an impact.
Or possibly it's not even early. Perhaps we just don't need QHD screens in our phones. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S6's screen is arguably the best around, but that's got little if anything to do with its QHD resolution and everything to do with things like vibrancy, clarity, and colour accuracy.
The LG G3's display isn't without problems either: tilt it left or right and the brightness drops off sharply, which makes sense when you consider how many pixels are packed in there.
It's perhaps unfair to criticise the QHD screen on the G3. While not all new high-end smartphones are using this technology in 2015, as we once thought they would, it still appears to be where screen technology is heading - and LG got there first.
But as a headline spec, it doesn't seem to add a huge amount to the G3, which is a shame as I was hoping to be looking at the next generation of picture quality on a phone.

New interface

When it came to listing the criticisms of the LG G2, the biggest problem was the interface. It was so cluttered that if you had the remote activated and received a message you had to scroll down to see it.
Compare that to the HTC One M9, and you've got nothing but the missive to check. On top of that, the G2 went for a really garish and cartoony look too, meaning it was hard to evangelise about a phone that was otherwise brilliant.

The interface gains a new and sophisticated simplicity

The new interface on the LG G3 is a big improvement. Gone is the skeuomorphism in favour of a new flat tile look. The icons are redesigned. The different applications have their own colour scheme for easy recognition and the colour palette is more muted than before.
It's a much more fluid system that shows LG has grown up, taking the problems of before and making it into a more intuitive way of navigating through the handset.
LG has definitely taken touches from HTC, Samsung and Apple with the new interface. The home screen features a separate section for the pedometer and tips videos (where Samsung's pointless magazine option is on the Galaxy S6), the colours are very similar to some of HTC's work, and the flatter design owes more than a tip of the hat to Apple.
The interface is still a little cluttered, even with the Android 5.0 Lollipop update (which I'll discuss a little later), but overall it's a tick for LG updating something that sorely needed a new look.

Metallic shell

As mentioned the other big problem with the G2 was the fact it had a really glossy plastic shell. The phone was well packaged, but still didn't offer the same premium quality as the HTC One M7, iPhone or Sony Xperia Z1 at the time.
So with the LG G3, the South Korean brand has gone for the best of both worlds. It's created a 'metallic skin' that supposedly looks and feels premium, but offers the lower weight and added connectivity benefits of polycarbonate.
The problem is, LG hasn't really managed this lofty goal. The G3 certainly looks the business, bringing a more iconic look of brushed metal and some cool colours (black, silver and gold) to make it stand out on the shelves, which makes sense given it's mostly screen otherwise.
But the second you pick it up, the plastic nature jars with the look of the phone, which is a disappointment. It actually feels cheaper than the G2 thanks to using a removable back, which lowers the tightness of the packaging and makes it feel more hollow.
The upside of this is you've got a removable battery and microSD slot, both of which are a big win for a certain section of the customer base. That said, there are better ways of doing this, as you can easily have a slot for a microSD card without needing to remove the back.
And I know a few people disagree, but a unibody phone feels better in the hand and a portable battery pack is much more useful than being able to swap in a new battery – it's easier to charge, for one, and 98% of users will never swap the battery in and out anyway, so why bother when an integrated unit can offer more capacity and better design?
So again, LG has stepped forward with the G3 – but it's still not quite got all the pieces together when it comes to design.

Health chops

The LG G3 doesn't have the heart rate monitor that the Samsung Galaxy S5 packs, which means some will see it as less of a phone for being able to keep you on track.
That's not true though, as it features a fairly in depth stride sensor and some other elements to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.
And now that Android 5 Lollipop is here (for most people at least), the LG G Watch R and new LG Watch Urbane are able to automatically take your heart rate at intervals throughout the day (as well as being able to unlock your phone through proximity to the smartwatch) which should give you a fuller picture of what's happening to you health-wise.

Simple camera with laser autofocus

The 13MP camera on the LG G3 is also another big talking point, both in terms of the new look to the interface and the additional technology on board.
I'll start with the latter point: the laser auto focus, which is designed to make it the fastest-focusing smartphone on the market. It seems to be true at times, but I'm not sure shaving another 100 milliseconds off makes that much of a difference when boot-up speed is more important.
It's possibly a bit unfair to say that the extra speed isn't warranted – if the system worked perfectly, chances are you'd take 10-20 more high quality pictures that capture the moment compared to the competition, but without being able to fully test the system it's hard to comment.
The laser works by sending out a conical infra-red signal (using technology nabbed from a robo-vacuum cleaner developed by LG's home appliances division) and absorbs information from the surroundings to create an instant and clear picture for the camera to use.
This means it doesn't have to look for contrast shifts like before, and offers a sharper image.
The interface is really scaled back too: it's nothing more than a back button, a menu icon and the viewfinder. Tap the screen and it focuses and takes the picture. It's designed to be simple and effective.

 

The camera app is ultra streamlined

It also doesn't let you focus to check the shot composition before taking the photo, which would be nice – but then again, tap that menu icon and you get all you need in terms of shutter, options and video recording.
The G3 is all about simplification, and this kind of technology really works. It's a little too scaled back for the camera, but it's the right idea.
The front 2.1MP camera is now cringingly called the "selfie" camera. The lens is a wider angle, so you can get more friends into the photo (or more actors at the Oscars) and features gesture recognition to take the photo.
Hold your hand out, make a fist and it'll start the G3 self-portrait timer. It's a clever system and it works, which is great for those moments when you can't use both hands and don't want to tap the screen.
Another cool feature is the ability to have a front-facing flash, although it's not an LED light. Instead, part of the screen goes white, which illuminates faces and takes better pictures. LG has even white balanced this screen to correct skin tone imperfections – and it really gives some nice front facing snaps.

LG's theme for the G3 is "smart is the new simple" and one of the key factors in this is the new interface it put together for the new handset.
One of my big criticisms of the LG G2 was that the interface was simply awful: cartoon-like, hard to understand, cluttered and simply not up to the standard the HTC One M8 and friends offer.
So it's great to see that the brand has gone back to the drawing board and made something that's more fitting with a top-end handset. The garish colours are replaced with more muted and mature hues, meaning out goes the bright yellow and purple to be replaced with softer greens and autumnal burnt reds.
Each core app, such as contacts and messaging, has its own colour to help you discern where you are in the phone – if that was a confusing problem for you – and the notifications bar has been stripped right back to simply pack a row of quick settings and the stuff you want to know about.
By default you do have a brightness bar and the option to control volumes (which is useful when you're using the phone in landscape) but these can be toggled on or off, depending on your preference, which allows for a very clean notifications zone.
If you think of it as somewhere between Samsung's new TouchWiz and native Android 5.0, you'll be pretty close. It's not as close to standard Android as some would have you believe, as the notifications area and menu systems are different, but the ethos is there and it's very similar.
The interface is visually a triumph for LG, a new look that brings a freshness that sends a statement that the South Korean brand is finally looking to make the step up to top-tier manufacturer.
To that end, there have been a couple of extra features added in to help with day to day living – these include helpful video tips that alter throughout the lifetime of the phone (so start-up tips in the first few weeks, app tutorials for the programs you're not using a bit later on, and then information about new LG products as the G3 nears the end of life).
The idea is clever, but not one you'll use that often. The same can be said of Smart Notice, a constant label that hangs beneath the weather widget on the home screen.
This is meant to be the companion in your phone, allowing you to see the truth behind the weather by prompting you when you'll need an umbrella or offering to save a contact that you call multiple times but isn't in your phone book.
The thing is more often it tells you when there's a new video to watch, or adding helpfully that when it's foggy outside 'it's very foggy'. The idea is cool, but it's more annoying than helpful.

 

The Android 5.0 update represents quite a subtle overhaul

In terms of improvements brought about by the recent Android 5.0 Lollipop update, it's perhaps not as extensive an overhaul as I would have liked.
The home screen look and layout is pretty much identical, as is the app tray and the app icons themselves. Indeed, the only thing on these home screens that betrays the fact that Google's new OS is beating at its heart is the new software keys.
The back, home, and multitasking keys are now represented by the triangle, circle, and square symbols found in stock Lollipop.
Slightly more noticeable is the change in look of the drop-down notification menu. In terms of function and layout it's identical to before, but it now has more of a solid, physical feel in keeping with Google's Material Design language. The notifications, too, will look familiar to anyone who's used a Nexus device.
That change carries through to the lock screen notifications, although they don't have the same tactile springiness as on stock Android Lollipop, which is a shame.
We're disappointed in the lack of improvement to the look of LG's custom UI, then, but Lollipop appears to have done wonders for the feel of the LG G3. Whereas in Android 4.4 I experienced lag and numerous stutters simply flicking through the G3's home screens, now everything moves with a real snap. It's much more fluid simply moving through the home screens and app menus.
So, onto the performance of the LG G3; as you can guess with the Snapdragon 801 CPU on board and up to 3GB of RAM (if you buy the 32GB iteration of the phone) this handset performs well on standard benchmarks.
While the interface performance is better than it was, however, general performance doesn't compare well with other handsets. Dig deeper and there's a definite lag under the finger that's simply not present when using the HTC One M9 or iPhone 6, and it's quickly noticeable.
In side-by-side tests, opening and closing apps was markedly slower on the LG G3, and while we're talking nanosecond differences it does all add up. I definitely felt the G3 wasn't as slick as other handsets on trial, and the problem didn't resolve itself between getting the European version of the software and the pre-production Korean handset.
This hasn't improved with the introduction of Android 5.0. I had the opportunity to use two cleanly installed LG G3 handsets side by side, one with Android 4.4 and one running Android 5.0, and apps tended to take a fraction longer to boots up on the model with the newer OS.
It's not deal-breaking, but I'm confused as to why a firm that prides itself so much on engineering would let something like this slip through.

 

Performance lags behind the competition

The benchmark GeekBench 3 results could give a clue as to why - the LG G3 doesn't perform as well as the rest of the competition, which could be partly down to the extra pixels needing to be driven. It's surprising, given LG usually bosses these tests, but GeekBench is designed to replicate real life use as much as possible, and the results tally with the way I found using the phone.
To give a more specific example, the average multicore score I got with the LG G3 was 2,307, which compares badly with the Samsung Galaxy S5 and its score of 2909. We'll say it again: there's a hefty price to be paid for a QHD resolution, and last year's best processor can't quite cover the bill.

Knock On/Knock Code

LG's proprietary way of unlocking the phone is back for a second round – and it's as good as it was before.
The notion is simple: you tap the screen twice when turned off to unlock the phone (if you've not got lockscreen security set up) and can then tap the notification bar twice in quick succession, or any empty area on the home screen, to shut it down again.
It worked really well on the LG G2 to the point where, as with the rear buttons, I often tried the same trick on other handsets. Others have since attempted something similar, as with the Sony Xperia Z3 or the HTC One M9, and of course Nokia invented the technique in the first place.But none do it as well as LG, and it's a real boon.

 LG has made the knock code its own

The brand arguably reached a little too far by adding in Knock Code. It's a clever system where you can simply tap the right quadrants of the screen with the screen turned off and it works the same as an unlock code or pattern.
It used to be that this didn't register 80% of the time, but LG has improved it dramatically since launch. Now, even if you've just touched the screen repeatedly in the process of getting the phone out of your pocket, the Knock code will register.
The things is, tapping the display twice to wake it and entering the pattern is pretty much as simple, and arguably still more reliable. Still, we're not going to complain too much about having the option here, and when it works Knock Code is second only to the iPhone's TouchID as a simple way to open the phone.

I was keen to check out the battery life on the LG G3. With its 3,000mAh battery, the power pack on the G3 is certainly big enough, but it has to fire all those extra pixels, which could limit things. Then again, it's also got the ultra-efficient Snapdragon 801 CPU that even made an HTC phone last through the day without giving up the ghost.
Well, the battery life is great. It's not quite as impressive as other LG phones, but given the extra power that's needed as well as other brightness controls, it's a stellar effort and one that will easily see you through a day or so of medium-to-hard use.
LG has worked all its magic to get the power efficiency of the G3 to the maximum possible, and you won't see a lot of the stuff that's going on under the hood in day-to-day use.

 

LG is the expert at extracting maximum battery performance

It all depends on what you're doing. The frame rate of the display will slow down if not needed, as will the clock speed of the 2.5GHz quad-core CPU, and the LCD controls themselves also adapt to your usage, and it all works well together.
The result is that I never really noticed the phone getting overly warm either, which usually hints at strong power efficiency. It's also interesting to note that following the Android 5.0 Lollipop update, video doesn't seem to sap the G3's battery quite so much as it used to.
Running a 90 minute 720p video, with the screen brightness set to full, the LG G3 battery dropped to 82% on average. That's a massive improvement over our original Android 4.4.2-based test, which dropped dramatically to 70%.
One thing I should note, however, is the extreme variation I seemed to get in these video-based battery tests. On one run through I scored 79%, while the very next one scored 87%. It suggests that while Lollipop is generally more power efficient than before, it's perhaps not quite as consistent or stable as it should be.

 

Video is a great drain on the battery, probably because of that screen

It's interesting to note that LG doesn't seem to have the same Ultra/Extreme power saving mode as seen on the HTC One M9 and Samsung Galaxy S6 – I've not been convinced of their need to be a headline feature, but if you're in a pinch these modes can turn the phone down to the minimum power drain possible.
It's not needed, but such is the synergy between what Samsung and LG do with their flagship phones I'd have expected to see it there.
It's also great to see the LG G3 coming with wireless charging out of the box, although not all models will have this feature. It's frustrating that it's not a standard feature on more handsets, as it would help with the proliferation of the method of charging a phone.
LG says this wireless charging is based on the Qi standard, and while it seems to be a little confused over which charging pads it uses, it's ace to see it there from the start.
Overall, battery life is plenty good enough on the LG G3, and as something that most people look for in a new smartphone, this is a real recommendation.
There's a small, wistful, part of me that almost wishes that the QHD screen wasn't added into the G3 – which I appreciate borders on the hypocritical given it's something we've been looking forward to for a long while in a phone.
But given LG's ability to eke the most out of the battery, this could have been a record breaking phone, especially if the battery had been sealed in. The LG G2 had a battery that was morphed around the internal components, so if we could have feasibly had an even larger capacity on a phone that didn't draw as much power, meaning you genuinely wouldn't have to charge more than once every two days.
It's not fair to criticise a brand for pushing the boundaries of technology in everyday devices, but it perhaps hints that longer battery life would have been a better selling point than the first QHD display, especially now that it's not even the only phone with a QHD screen any more.

One of the big selling points of the LG G3 is the fact the company thinks it's sorted the onboard keyboard, making it into something more usable and better than the wealth of third-party options out there.
It's certainly taken some dramatic leaps forward, as the keyboard is both resizable and able to learn from your typing action, meaning it becomes more accurate the more you use it.

 

The keyboard is decent, but can't beat third-party options

The resizing option is pretty good, although increasing the height of the keys does limit the space you can see what you're actually typing, which isn't great when you're trying to enter text into fields on the web browser.
Similarly shrinking it doesn't do a lot for trying to improve the accuracy, no matter how much I used it. One of the other elements that LG has brought in is the next word prediction, but it's not really got the idea well.
For instance, if you're trying to type "can't" but accidentally enter 'vant' then it will still go with that option, rather than working out what you're after.
I always use the test of whether the keyboard makes me want to install Swiftkey Keyboard, and sadly with the LG that was the case after a couple of weeks' use.
The ability to change the layout to your own choices slightly is a big boon though – having the comma key instead of settings is a real win.
But given so many good aftermarket options are so good, I can't say the new keyboard is really a selling point; HTC's phones are still the only ones I've not bothered to upgrade the typing experience on.
The call quality on the LG G3 is pretty good though, as it seemed to offer really good connection throughout. It also comes with all the bells and whistles you'd hope, such as being able to message straight from the call if you so need.

 

Call quality is strong and reliable

The one issue I did note is that the LG G3 sometimes struggled to get a signal where other phones managed it just fine – it wasn't that the signal was weak, or the reception from the phone poor, it just was stuck searching to find any reception, meaning a restart or putting it in and out of airplane mode to sort.
However, it was decent at flipping in and out of Wi-Fi and 4G – while it doesn't have the download booster of the Samsung Galaxy S5 or S6, when it gets a fast connection it didn't let it go.
The internet browsing, as a result, was super slick and speedy whether using the onboard browser or Chrome – the latter isn't obvious, but now that Google's managed to get its mobile internet app up to speed I can't see why you'd use LG's option.

 

Chrome has improved to the point where proprietary browser's are irrelevant

It's not that it's bad, but it harks back to an older era where the clever notions were from the manufacturers and Google's Chrome offered nothing more than a desktop sync – but that advantage has been eroded now.

The camera on the LG G3 is a pretty good affair, despite being largely similar in spec to the LG G2. This means the same 13MP sensor, enhanced optical image stabilisation (OIS+) and the same efforts to disguise noisy photos by smoothing them with algorithms.
But on the software side, LG has stripped things right back to make one of the most streamlined UIs for a phone yet.
Turn on the camera and you'll be greeted with just a back button and small set of dots to signify more features, should you want them. Simply tap the screen to focus where you want, and the phone takes the shot quickly.

 

The camera is fast, but options are limited

If you want to just take speedy snaps, this is a great method. The camera can also be activated by holding the down volume button in standby mode, though it seems to take a fraction longer on Android 5.0 than before. The volume key can be used as a shutter button too.
If you want a few more options (and I do when taking a photo) then intriguingly the G3 doesn't have much more to play with. You can toggle the HDR mode on or off (it's on by default), enter dual capture, panorama or "Magic Focus" which is the same re-focus feature that's become popular with all high-end phones.
There's no way to change the ISO settings, exposure or contrast… it's a camera with minimal interaction. It's not a bad thing, but I would like to see a touch more control, even if it's buried down through the menus.
Nokia (now Microsoft), Samsung and even HTC have done a great job in starting the education process of how to get great snaps by playing with settings, but it seems LG is more interested in doing the same as Apple and just getting out of the way.
The actual picture quality is pretty good, with well-lit scenes giving really clear, sharp and well-defined snaps. In lower light the G3 is good, if not as fast at taking snaps, although that image smoothing easily goes over the top – like the One M8, if you're thinking of zooming in or cropping your photos, some will look a bit muddy on the G3.
But the general pictures gained from day to day photography are up there with the best on the LG G3, and it's a real recommendation from me.
The autofocus needs a mention here again – the laser shooting out a conical beam to check out the room leads to blistering autofocus, and notably out-does the Samsung Galaxy S5 at going from standing start to snap.
The camera features a dual-tone LED flash to improve skin tone
The S5 struggles to wake from sleep mode as fast as the G3, and the shutter speed of the latter is so impressive – check out the snaps below to see.
The other big change is the front facing camera with its increased camera angle, so you can fit more in. You can also open and close your hand to start the countdown, which means if you've framed the photo well you won't knock it out of shot by tapping the screen.
The beauty slider is present too, meaning the photo is smoothed out to make a weird soft-focus on your face (especially odd for men with beards, as they end up looking like a sooty smudge).
I do like the addition of the "flash" on the front. As I mentioned, this shrinks the front camera image down and turns the surrounding area a skin-friendly white tone, meaning in darker scenes I got much better pics.

Media on the LG G3 is predictably excellent for a number of reasons: the screen and audio experience being two of them.
The QHD screen is something that has to be seen to be believed – the criticisms of it earlier aren't that it's a bad screen (quite the opposite, it's stunning) but more that the effect isn't that much better than a Full HD screen.
It is better though, and even average movies look a touch sharper than they would do otherwise – plus you've got a much bigger display to look at.

 

Video shows off the power of the QHD screen

For instance, I was browsing through some video files I had on a spare SD card, and came across one that was shot in QHD resolution. Well, that was what I thought when watching it back… it was actually a 720p file when I checked it out, which was amazing given the flawless detail on offer.
The preloaded stuff from LG is obviously the most amazing thing, and nobody that I showed off the starry night scenes to wasn't gobsmacked by the detail on show. However, it was the same reaction that I saw with the G2, and with the G3 you'll need to be ready to put up with that larger screen.
I do wish the Video player was still a separate app, as rooting through the Gallery isn't that much fun. It's still in there, too: the option to use it comes up when you start a video for the first time.

Music

The music player on the LG G3 is both simple and sophisticated at the same time. It can handle really high quality audio (LG had to rewrite some of the core code of Android to facilitate this last year) and the new phone has a built in amplifier to make music sound louder and clearer with less distortion.

 

The music app is low-key and stays out of the way

This means if you're properly into your tunes, then 50MB FLAC files will be noted with a small 'Hi-Fi' icon next to them, and sound really rather nice. But even the tunes you've ripped in low quality from a CD sound OK – nothing amazing, but team the LG G3 with a decent pair of headphones and you've got a brilliant sound system.
There's not a lot more to say about the music player though, because as with many high end smartphones it's more out of the way than in your face.

 

The rear speaker is loud and powerful, but still tinnier than the best out there

You can control the tunes from the notifications bar, or the dedicated widget on the home screen. The Android 5.0 trick of having full screen album art on the lockscreen is there too, and it looks awesome.
The speaker on the rear of the phone isn't as good as the competition though. I've come to adore front facing speakers such as those on the One M9 and Nexus 6, not to mention the Sony Xperia Z3 and to not have it here is a failure. It's loud, that's for sure, and the internal amplification means it doesn't distort too much, but it's only OK.
The LG G3 entered a really rather packed smartphone market, and these are the big phones you'll probably be considering alongside the South Korean's big hitter – take a look to see how it stacks up against the best the competition has to offer.