Test: LG G4 Beat

LG’s one of the tech companies that follows the trend releasing multiple versions of its flagship devices. With its flagship, the G4, well and out on the market, it was time to be joined by its smaller and more lightweight versions. One of which is the G4 Beat. How does it hold up against its big brother?

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• There isn’t much of a difference in terms of design when it comes to the G4 and the G4 Beat. It has a slightly smaller display but it maintains the button positions and the slight curve in the back that makes holding the phone a bit more natural to hold. But you won’t feel leather in your hands like you would with the G4; instead it’s a plastic affair with the Beat. But that doesn’t make it look too low-end. It still looks pretty stylish. In fact, I think the plastic helped bring down the weight of the device. Although it’s a bit disconcerting at first, holding such a light device.

• The Beat feels solidly built. It feels too well-built that you might have a hard time prying the back cover away (like I did) to put in the battery and SIM.

• Built with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor, the Beat isn’t a slouch per se. App switching is done with relative ease. I can enjoy Full HD videos on its crisp and clear display. Although power up the more graphics-intensive games and you’ll start to feel the lag.

• Speaking of graphics-intensive games, you won’t be able to put too many of them in this device as it just has 8GB of storage internally. And then you can’t expand that further. I had to juggle a few apps around so I can try out Asphalt 8: Airborne on it. Plus, it doesn’t support OTG too so you won’t be able to use those nifty dual USB drives. You get what you’re given and nothing more. This can turn off media and game junkies.

• This device has a pretty decent camera for well-lit areas. Colors are well-balanced and crisp. You can see the details. But, of course, you can expect grain and lesser quality in darker rooms. If you want more control over your shots, the Beat inherits the Manual Mode feature of the G4. You’ll want to constantly back up your photos on the cloud or to your PC though so you can make the most of the camera.

• How long will it take before you have to find a power outlet or bust out the power bank? I managed to get around four hours and a half with the screen on the entire time. With more judicious use, you can get a work day out of it and just a bit for happy hour. If you have long days ahead, just bring a power bank with you; or better yet, buy a spare battery, the Beat supports that. And I like it for that.

THE VERDICT:

The LG G4 Beat is shouldn’t be compared to the flagship device but that’s to be expected, looking at it from the price cut alone. It’s a decent handset with a pretty good smartphone camera. Storage issues are making it a bit hard to recommend the Beat to those who tend to have a lot of things stored on their devices.

SPECIFICATIONS:

DISPLAY 5.2” Full HD IPS (1,920 x 1,080 resolution)

OPERATING SYSTEM Android 5.1.1 Lollipop

PROCESSOR Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 1.5GHz octa-core

MEMORY 1.5GB RAM

STORAGE 8GB internal

CAMERA 8MP AF rear, 5MP front

CONNECTIVITY & I/O PORTS 4G LTE/WCDMA (3G), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, A-GPS, GLONASS, USB 2.0

BATTERY Removable 2,300mAh

DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT 142.7 x 72.6 x 9.85mm, 140g