LG G4 Beat Review

LG has been consistent in giving smartphone options for consumers who want to have the design language of their flagship into a smaller and more affordable package. Enter the LG G4 Beat. Yes, it is under the G4 lineup of the South Korean company but does it have what it takes to deserve the G4 label? Here’s our review of the LG G4 Beat, a smaller and underpowered sibling.

Design and Construction

Design-wise, LG brings in what it does best in the smartphone game. A minimal yet sophisticated looking device that shouts elegance whenever placed down on a table.

The whole front of the device is just pure Gorilla Glass 3. Underneath it is the 5.2-inch IPS LCD display with the front-facing camera and multiple sensors on top while the LG logo sits proudly below.

The sides are virtually clean which is great as it gives a neat feeling on hand. Things get busy at the back, wherein LG has continued to place the volume rocker and power/lock button together with rear camera. The module is sandwiched by the LED flash, color spectrum sensor, and laser-AF. The speaker grille is also at the back placed at the lower left.

The 3.5mm jack is situated on top along with the secondary microphone. Finally, the bottom houses the micro-USB port plus the primary microphone. The back cover is removable and you can access the micro SIM card slot and microSD card slot with ease. The battery is also replaceable, so if you are a power user and don’t rely on powerbanks, you can slip in a spared Li-ion cell anytime.

It’s always a treat to stare and hold the G4 Beat although the plastic build of the device could be a turn off for some. It just doesn’t have the cold feel of an aluminum frame. Nevertheless, it is solid and creaks is at minimal due to the removable back cover.

Display

The G4 Beat sports a fairly sized 5.2-inch display. You don’t have to worry about viewing angles because the IPS panel has got you covered. Also, LG used an In-Cell display that is slightly curved with a Full HD (1920×1080 pixels) resolution. The curve is at minimum and you’ll hardly notice it during everyday usage.

The display delivers crisp text thanks to its sharp 423ppi density and the overall quality deserves an applause. Colors are vibrant with just the right white balance for most content. Brightness is also good with average sunlight legibility. The less reflective glass also helps with the readability, so feel free to use the smartphone anywhere. We’ve noticed that you can’t get 100% brightness level at all times because LG forbids it if the device is getting warm.

Next Page: OS, Apps, and UI / Camera and Multimedia

OS, Apps, and UI

It runs Android 5.1.1 with LG’s customization. While LG’s skin on top of Android is not everyone’s cup of tea, the company did a good job in keeping things light and straightforward.

LG even included some key Google apps to get you started with your familiar Google services like Gmail, Drive, Maps, and YouTube. There’s nothing much to say about the UI that we haven’t tackled before since LG is consistent in giving similar user experience throughout its releases, may it be a budget or a flagship smartphone.

It’s basically a standard Android flair with some tinkering. The QuickMemo+ feature is here too, like most LG devices in the market today, and the Q-Slide mini apps for better multi-tasking.

Camera and Multimedia

With an 8-megapixel rear shooter plus laser autofocus capability, you’d expect the G4 Beat to take stills quickly. It does, but not as quick as advertised. Quality, on the other hand, is at par with most 8MP sensors. It can capture bright and decent stills, given that the environment is well-lit. Indoor shots are murky and unappealing, although the LED flash can help but it tends to fill in too much light.

It inherits the manual mode of the LG G4 which is great. This allows better control over photos and should please photography enthusiasts. The samples below are taken with auto mode which most of the buyers prefer.

Video recording is up to 1080p only with no OIS present. If you have a shaky hand, like mine, stabilization is badly needed during video editing. Quality is the same as the stills but with less vibrant color reproduction. Framerate is steady at 30fps with middling stereo sound. Check out the quality below:

The front-facing camera is a wide 5-megapixel shooter with average quality for social media selfies. Camera-wise, the G4 Beat doesn’t have the power of its bigger brother but it performs pretty well on its own.

Next Page: Performance and Benchmarks / Call Quality and Connectivity / Battery Life

 

Performance and Benchmarks

With a Snapdragon 615 paired with a 1.5GB of RAM, performance has been so-so during our usage. While UI navigation shows minor hiccups with transitions, in-app performance is good. The rather unusual 1.5GB of RAM seems to take its toll when you’re already running heavy applications in the background.

Nevertheless, we can assure that you won’t get frustrated in using the G4 Beat due to lag and occasional reboots because it’s stable. We just hope that LG could have been generous in giving out a full 2GB memory like most 2015 mid-range Androids.

Here’s our usual benchmark tests for those who are looking for definite numbers:

• Antutu v5 – 27204
• Geekbench 3 – 625 (Single Core), 2288 (Multi-core)
• Nenamark 2 – 59.6fps
• PCMark – 3717
• Quadrant Standard – 22946

Call Quality and Connectivity

Calls with the G4 Beat are loud and clear. The earpiece has enough volume to hear the other party even in a noisy area. The noise-cancelling microphone also does it job well. As far as calling is concerned, we have no complaints.

Equipped with LTE, we were able to enjoy mobile browsing with fast speeds given that the phone has good reception. Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1 are also onboard but NFC is out of the question.

Battery Life

The juice of the ample 2300mAh battery is sufficient to last for a full day of moderate use. This includes calls, SMS, and Internet browsing from time to time. Using our traditional battery test wherein we loop a 1080p video with no volume and in airplane mode, the G4 Beat was able to last for 6 hours and 40 minutes.

You can binge watch your favorite series while stuck in terrible Manila traffic — given that you’re a passenger not the driver. Sadly, we weren’t able to properly run PCMark battery test due to a software issue.

Conclusion

While most mid-range devices having 2GB of RAM, the LG G4 Beat only has 1.5GB. It could be just us nitpicking but for Php 12,990, we expected better. Nevertheless, LG was able to deliver in terms of design. The smartphone definite has good looks with average performance.

LG G4 Beat specifications:
5.2-inch Full HD IPS LCD (1920×1080 pixels), 423ppi
1.5GHz Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615
Adreno 405
1.5GB RAM
8GB internal storage, expandable up to 64GB via microSD
8-megapixel laser autofocus rear camera w/ LED flash
5-megapixel front-facing camera
LTE Cat4
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.1
GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS
FM Radio
2300mAh Li-ion battery
Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
142.7 x 72.6 x 9.9mm
139g

 

What we liked about it:

• Beautiful display
• Clean design

What we didn’t like:

• Minor UI hiccups
• Limited internal storage
• 1.5GB of RAM