It is no secret to anyone that I am a bit of an LG fangirl. After all, I like their Android UI skin, their buttons on the back design, and I have been using an LG G2 as my main smartphone since October. I take every opportunity to demo the phone’s camera and screen to everyone I meet, and I have been patiently waiting for the G3 to hit the markets so I can upgrade, skipping the Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 and Xperia Z2 in the meantime. Now that the G3 has been announced, I can finally feast my eyes on it and figure out where and how it excels over its competition and predecessor.

Hardware and Design

LG got a lot of things right with their new G3. Having owned a G2 prior, I know how amazing a bigger screen-to-body ratio is. Every time I pick up my G2 to use it, the bezels disappear and I feel like I am holding a screen. It’s uncanny, and you wouldn’t understand it until you try it first-hand. The G3 expands on that, with a bigger screen and even smaller bezels. The arc design is even more refined so the phone should fit better in your hands.

LG has also fixed two of the major issues with the G2: the glossy plastic finish and the back buttons design. While I personally love the idea of the back buttons, their placement on the G2 put them quite close to the camera lens cover, and I often got that smudged by reaching for Volume Up key. On the G3, the buttons are more defined, separated from the camera lens, and the power button is round and protruding, making it a better anchor point. As for the phone’s finish, the matte brushed metallic feel should avoid the smudges and fingerprints that were quite often seen on the G2, while also providing a more elegant look and a better grip.

Camera

Laser! The story goes, according to Engadget, that LG’s robotic vacuum team (Roboking) was working on this technology to detect the distance between the vacuum and objects it has to avoid. They told the mobile team over lunch, and that started the series of events that lead to LG adding this laser autofocus technology in the G3 in order to assist in low-light photography and result in faster focusing times.

The camera isn’t a slouch either, with a 13MP sensor and OIS+ (a mix of hardware and software stabilization), and the capability to shoot 4K video. Putting all of these together, the G3’s camera performance should be shoulders above the G2, especially in low-light, and the problem that every G2 owner had of slow focusing times should be gone for good.

Screen

We can start a whole controversy about whether or not a 2K Quad HD display is necessary, and whether you can spot the difference between it and a regular 1080p display. However, the truth of the matter is that a higher display resolution, while not essential, certainly makes things clearer, especially text and more specifically asian characters with lots of curves and tiny detail. The G3’s screen is also bigger than the G2, at 5.5″ diagonal, allowing it to fit more information in one go. I can’t wait to see pictures or watch videos on it.

Removable battery, expandable storage

I can live with most of the G2’s small niggles that I cited above, but the one issue I have been facing constantly over the last two months is running out of internal storage. At this day and age, where phones can record 4K videos and where any graphic-intense game is at least 1GB in size, it is unforgivable to have just 16GB of on-board storage. While the G2 had a 32GB variant, it was limited in its worldwide availability. By comparison, the G3 will have both variants, but most importantly, a microSD slot so even if you end up with the 16GB version, you can still get a microSD card and add as much storage as you require.

The removable battery is another bonus, as it allows you to carry a spare battery, or to buy a new one in a few months, when the first one starts draining out quicker and quicker.

Smart Notice

Smart Notice is LG’s take on contextual intelligence. It feels a bit like Google Now in its approach, except that it is more anchored in your phone whereas Google Now takes most of its data from Google’s servers. So while Google Now checks your email and browsing habits, Smart Notice is more aware of your missed calls, the apps you install on your phone, and your phone’s settings. Another key difference is that Smart Notice will always say “I’ve noticed this, would you like me to do that?” whereas Google Now is mostly a notification service, and action-based cards are a lot less frequent.

What do you think of LG’s new G3? What are the features that stuck with you as the most interesting ones coming from the company?