 For years, LG's smartphone division has been chasing Samsung. Each move that Samsung made would invariably be followed by a less successful move from LG. But this year, LG is doing something different than Samsung. That something different is the new G4. The G4 has nearly the same level of experience as Samsung's Galaxy S6, but it offers things like a removable battery and microSD card support, both of which are missing from Samsung's phones this year. If you want something different than Samsung, or you're just looking for those specific features, the G4 is a great option. While Samsung radically changed the design, materials, and features in the Galaxy S6, LG's G4 mostly stays the course. It's very similar in design and appearance to last year's G3, and it's still made of plastic as opposed to glass and metal in the S6. For the most part, the G4 doesn't look or feel any different than the G3, and it doesn't feel as nice as the S6, the iPhone 6, or HTC's One M9. The few design differences from the G3 can be reduced to an exceptionally slight curve and slightly sharper corners. The curve is not extreme, it's not a G Flex 2, but it does make the G4 a little more comfortable to hold than a flatter phone. But none of this is to say the G4 is just a warmed up G3. There are two major upgrades here, and a couple of smaller ones that add up to make it a much more compelling smartphone. The first of these major upgrades is the new screen. It's still a 5.5 inch QHD panel with 2560 by 1440 pixels, but it's brighter, more color accurate, and more efficient than the G3's screen. LG uses a whole bunch of marketing mumbo jumbo to explain this new screen, but all that really matters to us is that it's one of, if not the best smartphone screens to date. It's super bright, not over saturated, amazing in direct sunlight, and just a pleasure to look at. The other big upgrade in the G4 is the camera. It's a new 16 megapixel camera with an ultra bright f1.8 aperture lens. It still has that laser assisted autofocus from the G3, but now it has a new secondary sensor that supposedly makes for better color and white balance. It also has a new optical image stabilization system that LG says is up to twice as good as other smartphones. But marketing claims aside, the G4's camera is really great. It's great in bright light and low light, has natural color, and lots of detail. There's a new camera app that lets you manually control a lot of features like shutter speed, white balance, ISO, and focus, and it's a lot of fun to shoot with if you know what you're doing. But not everything is perfect here. Even with that laser system, the G4 can still hunt for focus more than other phones, and even occasionally miss focus. White balance isn't as warm as the S6, but the most accurate results come when you override the automatic settings. Despite the bevy of manual controls, LG still doesn't let you adjust sharpness or saturation, and the default sharpening is too aggressive. But if this bothers you as much as it bothers me, you can actually shoot in RAW and process your images on a computer for better results. The G4's new 6-core Snapdragon 808 processor and 3GB of RAM make it plenty fast for virtually anything you need to do. It doesn't have the stutters or slowdowns that we saw with the G Flex 2, and while it doesn't really feel as blistering fast as the M9 or the S6, you'd only really notice that when you're comparing the phones side by side. The removable 3000 mAh battery is big enough to get through a full day of heavy use, too if you're less demanding than I am, but it doesn't have the built-in wireless charging or the quick charging features of Samsung's phone. For software, the G4 has Android 5.1 Lollipop. It's got LG's custom interface on top of that. LG says it's toned down the changes to Android and includes fewer duplicate apps than before, but it doesn't really feel any different. If you're looking for a Nexus-like experience, you won't get it here, and LG's software design skills aren't nearly as good as Google's, HTC's, or even Samsung's. Those complaints are pretty minor overall, and while the G4 isn't as popular as the S6, nor is it as pretty as the M9, it's still a good smartphone that gets the important things right. It's got a great display, great camera, and all-day battery life. If that's what you're looking for, the G4 is worth your time.
 For years, LG's smartphone division has been chasing Samsung.
 Each move that Samsung made would invariably be followed by a less successful move from
 LG.
 But this year, LG is doing something different than Samsung.
 That something different is the new G4.
 The G4 has nearly the same level of experience as Samsung's Galaxy S6, but it offers things
 like a removable battery and microSD card support, both of which are missing from Samsung's
 phones this year.
 If you want something different than Samsung, or you're just looking for those specific
 features, the G4 is a great option.
 While Samsung radically changed the design, materials, and features in the Galaxy S6,
 LG's G4 mostly stays the course.
 It's very similar in design and appearance to last year's G3, and it's still made
 of plastic as opposed to glass and metal in the S6.
 For the most part, the G4 doesn't look or feel any different than the G3, and it doesn't
 feel as nice as the S6, the iPhone 6, or HTC's One M9.
 The few design differences from the G3 can be reduced to an exceptionally slight curve
 and slightly sharper corners.
 The curve is not extreme, it's not a G Flex 2, but it does make the G4 a little more comfortable
 to hold than a flatter phone.
 But none of this is to say the G4 is just a warmed up G3.
 There are two major upgrades here, and a couple of smaller ones that add up to make it a much
 more compelling smartphone.
 The first of these major upgrades is the new screen.
 It's still a 5.5 inch QHD panel with 2560 by 1440 pixels, but it's brighter, more color
 accurate, and more efficient than the G3's screen.
 LG uses a whole bunch of marketing mumbo jumbo to explain this new screen, but all that really
 matters to us is that it's one of, if not the best smartphone screens to date.
 It's super bright, not over saturated, amazing in direct sunlight, and just a pleasure to
 look at.
 The other big upgrade in the G4 is the camera.
 It's a new 16 megapixel camera with an ultra bright f1.8 aperture lens.
 It still has that laser assisted autofocus from the G3, but now it has a new secondary
 sensor that supposedly makes for better color and white balance.
 It also has a new optical image stabilization system that LG says is up to twice as good
 as other smartphones.
 But marketing claims aside, the G4's camera is really great.
 It's great in bright light and low light, has natural color, and lots of detail.
 There's a new camera app that lets you manually control a lot of features like shutter speed,
 white balance, ISO, and focus, and it's a lot of fun to shoot with if you know what
 you're doing.
 But not everything is perfect here.
 Even with that laser system, the G4 can still hunt for focus more than other phones, and
 even occasionally miss focus.
 White balance isn't as warm as the S6, but the most accurate results come when you override
 the automatic settings.
 Despite the bevy of manual controls, LG still doesn't let you adjust sharpness or saturation,
 and the default sharpening is too aggressive.
 But if this bothers you as much as it bothers me, you can actually shoot in RAW and process
 your images on a computer for better results.
 The G4's new 6-core Snapdragon 808 processor and 3GB of RAM make it plenty fast for virtually
 anything you need to do.
 It doesn't have the stutters or slowdowns that we saw with the G Flex 2, and while it
 doesn't really feel as blistering fast as the M9 or the S6, you'd only really notice
 that when you're comparing the phones side by side.
 The removable 3000 mAh battery is big enough to get through a full day of heavy use, too
 if you're less demanding than I am, but it doesn't have the built-in wireless charging
 or the quick charging features of Samsung's phone.
 For software, the G4 has Android 5.1 Lollipop.
 It's got LG's custom interface on top of that.
 LG says it's toned down the changes to Android and includes fewer duplicate apps than before,
 but it doesn't really feel any different.
 If you're looking for a Nexus-like experience, you won't get it here, and LG's software
 design skills aren't nearly as good as Google's, HTC's, or even Samsung's.
 Those complaints are pretty minor overall, and while the G4 isn't as popular as the
 S6, nor is it as pretty as the M9, it's still a good smartphone that gets the important
 things right.
 It's got a great display, great camera, and all-day battery life.
 If that's what you're looking for, the G4 is worth your time.