PHONE SUMMARY
When the LG G3 came in at under £500 we were impressed. A year on and a phone that packs amazing features, including a Quad HD display and a camera with a laser auto focus, is one of the bargains of the market. The handset is surprisingly small considering the 5.5in display and we like the more premium design. It’s another winner from LG, and well worth your consideration. Full review at tinyurl.com/gu4e9xc
Internal sound quality
The G3 suffers from huge internal audio problems, with distortions, interference and random clicking sounds when a 3.5mm jack is plugged in. The audio is therefore extremely hampered by the poor performance of the audio jack. Despite this, the LG has a decent reproduction of the mid-bass and -range. Overall, out of the phones we tested, the LG G3 was one of the worst we came across.
SoC Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801. We believe it uses the Qualcomm WCD9320 audio codec.
The LG G3 suffers from massive interference. We were extremely disappointed with its problems and furthermore found that the phone produced a double-clicking noise each time a 3.5mm jack is plugged into the phone. This frustrating and annoying feature cannot be disabled and becomes a distraction when plugging in a jack into the phone. Furthermore, we found the phone produces huge computer hard-drive sounds when used alongside an amplifier.
In our tests, the LG G3 was able to drive everything we threw at it, which is impressive considering it’s only a smartphone. Score: 60- to 65 percent
The bass is really divided and we feel the sub-bass is not well extended and is cut-off. With the mid-bass, however, it produces the right amount of slam and provides a good quality reproduction.
The mids are a little recessed and slightly pushed back, but nevertheless are well portrayed.
The G3’s highs are decent, but we didn’t provide the right amount of sparkle to our music. We feel the highs lack a little bit of life and extension (due to being rolled off) at the top-end.
Its soundstage is a little closed, where we felt the songs in our tests were being slightly suffocated and didn’t have enough room to breathe. With that said, we feel the tonality alongside the decay is accurate and well presented.