Announcing a new top-of-the-line smartphone around the same time rival manufacturers are also showing off their latest flagships is not an inspired move, which is why LG has decided to unveil its upcoming G4 after MWC 2015, leaving HTC, Samsung and the like fighting for the public's attention.
So, the new G4 will debut later this month, at a dedicated event that LG is holding on April 28. The flagship will arrive 11 months after its predecessor, G3, and, unlike its rivals, the South Korean maker has already revealed some details about the camera and software.
When G4 launches you can expect to see a main camera with a very large aperture lens, for a smartphone shooter, of f/1.8. Samsung's Galaxy S6 gets pretty close, with its main camera's lens featuring an f/1.9 aperture, but G4 is clearly more advanced in this regard.
The benefit? G4 should perform better in low-light conditions than any other competitor. That's the theory at least; in practice the optical image stabilization -- which will undoubtedly be offered in G4 -- also plays a key role here, as well as software algorithms. We'll have to wait and see if that's really the case until we can get our hands on a review unit.
There is no word yet on the number of megapixels that G4's camera packs, but it's fair to assume that it will at least match last year's G3, which comes with a 13 MP shooter on the back. If it opts for a 13 MP sensor again, this would be LG's third flagship with the same MP count, which doesn't seem likely -- I suspect G4's camera will have at least 16 MP, even if only to match Galaxy S6.
As I said above, LG also revealed some details about the software. Looking at the press release, the company isn't even mentioning that it runs Android, or which Android version its distribution is based off. However, LG's UX 4.0 is derived from Android 5.0/5.1 Lollipop; it retains the visual elements that we have come to expect from LG. It's far from elegant; I think it still looks too cartoonish in this day and age, even when compared to Samsung's TouchWiz.
LG claims that its new Android skin will be "simpler and more intuitive and will better understand and respond to the needs of each user". In this iteration, the main features are a manual mode for the camera and Smart Notice.
The camera will still offer auto and semi-auto modes, which I suspect will be used exclusively by most. While useful, the manual mode should only be needed for certain types of photos (like long-exposures); on smartphones, the auto mode -- which is the default on every smartphone -- must be faultless, so I hope that LG is making it a priority, with regards to calibration, rather than putting too much effort into the manual mode.
There's also Quick Shot, which lets users take photos with a double-tap on the G4's so-called rear key (a trait of the G line) even when the smartphone's in sleep mode, and Smart Bulletin, which is a Flipboard-like feature that offers aggregated information -- news, editorials, tips, etc -- content. LG also says it has improved the calendar and gallery apps.
