LG G3: The Prettiest Smartphone You Can Buy

Fast focusing

The 13-megapixel rear camera on the LG G3 is excellent. LG improved the focus time by introducing what it calls "laser autofocus," the same kind of optical radartech that police use to catch speeders. The camera locks on extremely fast, even if you don't tap the screen, which I'd say gives it an edge over the Samsung Galaxy S5, which also has fast autofocus.

Quirks

There's no fingerprint scanner on the LG G3; I suspect this is because it's waiting for the technology to advance enough so it can be integrated into the screen. Instead, LG provides a different, yet novel, way to unlock the phone: a knock code. Just tap the lock screen in a way that's known only to you, and it'll let you in.

I honestly don't know if a knock code is inherently more or less secure than a PIN, but I'll say this: It doesn't really save you any time. Whether your fingers dance across a number pad or tap quadrants of the display, it's pretty much the same to me. But better to introduce a novelty than a fingerprint sensor that barely works, like Samsung did with the Galaxy S5.

LG also provides a few other proprietary tricks, such as its Health app, which includes a step counter; this is something the Galaxy S5 also does, and Apple (sort of) does with its M7 coprocessor. It's not much to write home about, but it shows that the G3 will be capable of supporting the mobile-health platforms that everyone thinks we'll be using in the next few years.

Screen

The screen typically doesn’t warrant it’s own section, but wow — the LG G3 screen is phenomenal. LG packed in a 5.5-inch 2560 x 1440 display, which has a mind-numbing 534 ppi. The human eye can’t even see pixels past 250-300 ppi, so if anything, this screen is pure overkill.

Hardware

The G3 makes some interesting compromises. To get thin bezels, they placed the power key and volume rocker on the back. The plastic build of the phone feels anything but cheap, and it’s lightness is a stark contrast to the profile and appearance. We often equate heft to quality, and the LG G3 is both light and premium.