I bought an LG G4 a few weeks ago to replace my G2, which I had also bought when it was "last year's phone." It's an H818N, which is a Hong Kong dual-sim model. Had 6.0 out of the box. My decision was based on:
A) my positive experience with the G2
B) the fact that its specs, including screen resolution, seem pretty much up-to-date except for the processor
C) very positive Android Central review of the camera
D) removable battery
E) form factor, design, and screen size appealed to me
Here are my impressions after using it for a few weeks:
Pros:
-The screen is very good. It's very sharp, as expected, and is a clear upgrade over the G2, which is what I wanted. Also, they did a nice job of fitting a large screen into a manageable phone. My understanding is that this year's phones have even better screens, but this one is very good and feels like a big upgrade to me.
-The form factor is good. I tried putting a sample Nexus 6P in my pocket, and it stuck way out of my pocket, while this one fits pretty comfortably in my pocket. That's nice, considering the size of the screen.
-The camera seems good. I'm not a very knowledgeable photographer and I mostly just take auto snapshots, but they seem to come out good. Better than the G2.
-I like the feel of the leather back (got the brown one). It also came with a plastic back which I haven't tried yet.
-It's hard to predict long term, but I like the fact that I will be able to replace the back and the battery in the future to give the phone a refresh.
Cons:
-The battery life on LTE has been disappointing. It does better on wi-fi, but I think LTE is the real test, since the presence of wi-fi also means the presence of a charger. When I do something intensive such as play a game, it drains rather fast even on lower brightness levels, and in general it seems to drain pretty fast with screen on. It would last through a day if I were mostly just using it for messaging, of course, but it's not really a horse for playing around with your phone for a long time away from a charger - unless you bring a backup battery. The ability to do that is nice though, and it mitigates the battery life issues, since you can go through 2 batteries if you need to. I wonder whether the battery life on Marshmallow is worse than what reviewers were getting when they tested it last year. I had hoped it would have battery life similar to the G2 despite the larger, higher resolution screen (because of greater efficiency or whatever) but I guess that was overly optimistic. Still, the replaceable battery helps.
-The build quality isn't too bad, but it's imperfect. One one side, there's more of a seam between the removable back and the main part of the phone than there should be (wondering whether that's because of the back or the main part), and the silvery sides will probably pick up dings as time goes on along the raised edge - I've noticed a very tiny ding or two, which only an obsessive would notice, but I imagine there will be more over the next couple years.
Overall, I'd say it is perhaps not as perfect a phone as the G2 was for its time, but the experience has been good and I think it'll work as my phone for another 2 years. I plan on changing the back once in a while, and probably get a couple of fresh batteries in the second year.
My question is: over time, does frequently removing the back cause the connection to get looser over time? Since there's already a bit of a seam on one side, I'm wondering whether I should try not to take the back off too much.
A) my positive experience with the G2
B) the fact that its specs, including screen resolution, seem pretty much up-to-date except for the processor
C) very positive Android Central review of the camera
D) removable battery
E) form factor, design, and screen size appealed to me
Here are my impressions after using it for a few weeks:
Pros:
-The screen is very good. It's very sharp, as expected, and is a clear upgrade over the G2, which is what I wanted. Also, they did a nice job of fitting a large screen into a manageable phone. My understanding is that this year's phones have even better screens, but this one is very good and feels like a big upgrade to me.
-The form factor is good. I tried putting a sample Nexus 6P in my pocket, and it stuck way out of my pocket, while this one fits pretty comfortably in my pocket. That's nice, considering the size of the screen.
-The camera seems good. I'm not a very knowledgeable photographer and I mostly just take auto snapshots, but they seem to come out good. Better than the G2.
-I like the feel of the leather back (got the brown one). It also came with a plastic back which I haven't tried yet.
-It's hard to predict long term, but I like the fact that I will be able to replace the back and the battery in the future to give the phone a refresh.
Cons:
-The battery life on LTE has been disappointing. It does better on wi-fi, but I think LTE is the real test, since the presence of wi-fi also means the presence of a charger. When I do something intensive such as play a game, it drains rather fast even on lower brightness levels, and in general it seems to drain pretty fast with screen on. It would last through a day if I were mostly just using it for messaging, of course, but it's not really a horse for playing around with your phone for a long time away from a charger - unless you bring a backup battery. The ability to do that is nice though, and it mitigates the battery life issues, since you can go through 2 batteries if you need to. I wonder whether the battery life on Marshmallow is worse than what reviewers were getting when they tested it last year. I had hoped it would have battery life similar to the G2 despite the larger, higher resolution screen (because of greater efficiency or whatever) but I guess that was overly optimistic. Still, the replaceable battery helps.
-The build quality isn't too bad, but it's imperfect. One one side, there's more of a seam between the removable back and the main part of the phone than there should be (wondering whether that's because of the back or the main part), and the silvery sides will probably pick up dings as time goes on along the raised edge - I've noticed a very tiny ding or two, which only an obsessive would notice, but I imagine there will be more over the next couple years.
Overall, I'd say it is perhaps not as perfect a phone as the G2 was for its time, but the experience has been good and I think it'll work as my phone for another 2 years. I plan on changing the back once in a while, and probably get a couple of fresh batteries in the second year.
My question is: over time, does frequently removing the back cause the connection to get looser over time? Since there's already a bit of a seam on one side, I'm wondering whether I should try not to take the back off too much.
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