Appearance
On paper, of course, a 5.5-inch phone is immense. A flagship phone the size of a phablet without LG promoting it as a phablet. Even in real life, the G3 is large, although this is well disguised by various cosmetic and design aspects.
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The front is characterized by a large black glass plate. This is extended to the edge and is only interrupted by a grey LG bar at the bottom of the screen. There is a subtle circle pattern in this but it is not noticeable because it is behind the glass. At the top we find the loudspeaker grill with on the left the various sensors and a selfie camera.
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On the back of the camera module we find the renewed control buttons. They recognise the power button better by touch and don't stick out the buttons as far as the G2. The G3 is therefore much more solid on your desk. Although it still wobbles this time because of the bulge of the camera. To the right of the camera is a two-color LED flash and to the left a mysterious black module. This is the laser autofocus to be more about later. At the bottom left is a silver-colored grill with a remarkably loud speaker behind it.
The back is made of plastic and can be removed. So you can replace the battery yourself. Instead of a plastic look, LG opts for a more premium metal look. As we understood it, metal particles have been incorporated into the paint to create a 'Brushed Aluminium' look. Very nice and subtle on top of that. In spite of that, it still feels ordinary plastic. Another big advantage is that the device is quite insensitive to fingerprints.
Because the LG G3 has the control buttons on the back, the sides are free of buttons. LG chooses to have an extra small screen border. This is justifiable, although not everyone is a fan of the buttons on the back. Fact is that you do not accidentally press a volume button when you grab the device. It is also easier to place the device in a universal carholder. Even if you can't reach the volume buttons by yourself. Well, there is always something.
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The top has an infrared transmitter and we find the second microphone to reduce noise. At the bottom are the connections for the headphones and the charger. In between is the main microphone.
In practice we regularly encountered problems to operate the G3 with one hand. Whether it's the size of our hands, or the fact that the G3 is just a big phone, sometimes you need two hands to work with it. The question is whether that is a problem. For example, if you want to send a message quickly with one hand on the road, tricks have been invented to make that possible, it will never be really nice to operate with one hand.