LG G3, Shine Gold 32GB (Sprint)

I bought the G3 on Amazon for $50 with 2 yr contract extension (+$30 verizon upgrade fee, grr..) and free additional battery promotion through LG's website (no longer offered) shortly before the iPhone 6 was revealed. I upgraded from a Samsung Galaxy S3.Thus far, I absolutely love this phone! It's not perfect of course and I discuss some of those quirks below but really these are minor nitpicks and I have no real complaints with the phone.Design:I absolutely love how the phone looks. The physical size much smaller than the iPhone 6 plus (which has the same size display). I could care less that the back is plastic - it looks premium to me and not cheap like the fake metal trim on the Galaxy S5. It did not take long to adapt to having the power/volume buttons on the back. The knock on feature works flawlessly and is really clever. Turning off the display using this feature is not really usable however (unless you navigate to an empty home screen panel and double tap the wallpaper). Coming from the Samsung Galaxy S3, I'm not yet sure if I like the on-screen buttons for back, home, etc. More on this in the UI section.Display:The display is a massive upgrade compared to the Galaxy S3 I had previously. At first, I thought the text looked a bit strange, perhaps too crisp. It turns out LG applies a "screen sharpening" effect to the display (google it). Depending upon how sensitive you are to these things, it might be annoying - I've gotten used to it. I can no longer look at the S3 display. The colors on the S3 look off. The one negative on the display is the viewing angle. Both the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5s (and I'm sure iPhone 6) have much wider viewing angles. But realistically, this does not effect my usage at all since I'm always looking straight on. I prefer the iPhone 5s's "painted on" look to the display (I suppose they use thinner glass?).There is some light bleeding on the bottom left edge of the display.At first I thought the resolution may be a bit overkill, perhaps because I was worried about battery life, but it has grown on me. I would probably not want a lower resolution display unless it had a significant improvement in battery life. Despite the large display size and ultra high resolution, the usable space is not necessarily greater (more on this in usability section).UI / Usability:Even though this phone has a 5.5" ultra high res screen, in some applications you actually see less content. For instance, in Gmail, I can see more emails in the list view on my Galaxy S3 than on the LG G3 - this was a bit surprising. Now, this is only partly because of the button bar taking up precious screen real estate. It's also because the app is "scaled" up and all the fonts are larger. Even if the button bar was not present, I would see ~2 less emails in the list view (even if I go into settings and change the font size to the smallest setting).I'm still not sold on the onscreen buttons. Some applications are inconsistent with its usage. For instance, the LG photo app hides the button bar when viewing photos, but the Google photo app always shows the button bar (which is rather annoying when you want the photo to fill the whole LCD screen). Also, when using Waze for navigation at night, Waze properly changes to a "night" theme map, but the button bar is always visible in that bright grey color. There was also a scenario where I could not figure out how to exit a full-screen Vimeo video. The on-screen button bar would not pop up when tapping the screen, so I was forced to hit the power button on the back of the phone. So I think I would prefer the Galaxy S3's buttons, if they could figure out a way how to incorporate them without making the phone any larger.The brightness control is not very intuitive to me. On the Galaxy S3, when I chose "Auto" it was completely automatic brightness. With the LG G3, you can use a combination of the brightness slider and auto. I believe the slider controls the "maximum" brightness. This is probably better and saves battery, but I was confused initially. I normally set it to ~75% Auto.The Smart Tips guide is awesome and it shows how to use some of the advanced LG specific phone features. Every phone should have this. The features themselves are surprisingly useful! I use the knock on feature all the time, the IR sensor to control the volume of my Optimus receiver and LG TV (does not work well with Scientific Atlanta cable box), Swipe when typing, etc.The fitness app is also really great for keeping track of steps/calories - I no longer use my fitbit.This is more of an Android usability issue, but it's my first time using mobile Chrome which the G3 ships with by default. It has a "feature" where every HTML paragraph element's text will be dynamically resized so it appears larger on mobile. On some of my favorite sites, this means as I scroll down, I'm seeing the text size constantly change (at first I thought this was an LG bug until I found the Chrome feature/bug report). The titles of articles are also extremely small versus the article contents due to this change. Also, the refresh button was moved to the top-right drop down menu. I can't imagine how Google ever approved of these changes.Battery life:The battery life is surprisingly much better than my old Galaxy S3 - though that might be simply due to the age of my old battery. At the time I ordered LG had a promotion for a free battery which gave me more confidence to place the order (I've just now received it and it also double as a stand for the phone, awesome!).Build Quality:The micro-usb charging port does not have a perfect fit. I have to be very delicate when inserting the charging cable, otherwise I'm worried of damaging the port. I'm sure they're not all like this, but it concerned me enough where I thought of returning it. Also, as I said earlier, there is a little bit of light bleeding on the bottom left side of the display. Finally, the charger has a very high frequency "buzz" and since I usually have my phone charging right next to me this is a problem (this is a common problem with LG phones - google "lg charger buzzing"). It bothers me enough where I have to unplug the charger or move it further away.Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase.

Hello...I have used the samsung s4 and have the LG Ultimate 2 4.5" screen model and the LG G3 rocks! I use it for great skyline and nature photos and have a nikon DSLR pro camera and the pictures are very simular which is amazing. The FEATURES THAT SET THE LG G3 apart from SAMSUNG ARE QUIT A FEW...The screen quality is much better than even the S5 or S6 and the natural colors are better that the samsung by far. SUPERIOR FEATURES INCLUDE.. Voice command photo snap...for selfies or holding small objects TAP ON AND OFF screen..no button finding. Customizable task keys that can disapper on selected apps by you like ALL SCREEN mode while typing , watching movies and Browsing the web so ALL OF THE 5.5 AMAZING clear screen is there without distractions. POP UP mini INCOMING Window s so phone, text and others can be done without leaving your original task like a mini full phone keypad (about 1/5 size or screen ) like while gaming or texting and having mini keyboard to call with at the same time.....Its wonderful. I counted atleast 20 features so far the samsung s or note dosen't do and there are many you tube videos on samsung vs. this LG G3 to prove it. Do you want the best screen under 500.00 with top specs and even a QHD screen for 4K content to future proof yourself now....CHECK. How about one of the most Tech and spec BANK OF THE BUCK over samsung top preformers out there CHECK. Need more brightness and color on the that most samsung phones with PERSONALIZED color ,tint and contrast controls , just like a monitor Screen CHECK. Dual selfie and picture or video mode to capture your face or reaction to something EVEN WHILE SHOOTING VIDEOS with amazing stereo sound quality...CHECK Fantastic AUDIO AND VOICE quality on speaker on-board and dictation mikes with noise cancel for calls and notetaking VS. my samsung s5 I'm using at work now must CLEARER VOICE AND MUSIC PLAYBACK than my work SAMMY S5 so these are head to head REAL TIME USE at work and on the road. S5 work phone vs. LG3 personal phone use. Not a quicky "YOU TUBE" opinion and the LG LG3 blows it away for the RWAL CATEGORIES you should be buying a phone upgrade...IS IT CLEARER THAT most phones ( YES even samsung S5 series for twice the price) with wifi reception, voice incoming and outgoing and very easy to setup and use...YESCan I customize things like COLOR, CONTRAST and brightness, alarm, zone settings and even take photos without ever TOUCHING THE PHONE unlike other phones if say I'm a gamer , photographer or just like to see the sharpest most vivid screen on my device that I WANT...YES YOU CAN.What about the future, does it understand and play 4K videos and photos now so its more FUTURE PROOFED than even samsung right now for my money. YES IT IS !And finally , since I'm buying a Higher grade and more feature rich phone that even a s6 samsung for about 170.00 AT&T unit AND UNLOCKED used here on amazon, from the same company that built my NEXUS phones of amazing slimmer and top flight specs units I have owned can I go wrong with this over say the sammy S5 I was going to buy at twice or triple the price used.... what do you think...LG brains , brawn and 4K picture screen res now for photos and my own videos are amazing...playback of movie and tv all on -line streaming services like netflix, hulu, amazon prime just look sharper and with over 20 more advanced features that my sammy phone, I love to use and look at its feature , It just more natural to hold, listen , see, hear, and use...WASN"T THAT THE REAL REASON TO OWN this phone..or as stan in the office said..." IT's like owning a TESLA sports car at a CAMRY sedan price both are great cars but you can see and feel the diffrence right away...WOW how much was that one again ??? I think the office jumped the gun on the sammy's" ATTENTION TRACFONE USERS.... I have a tracfone account here in the S.F. bay area for many years as a backup phone and my I T guy said he called them and they can transfer are OUR CURRENT 1 YEAR ACTIVE ACCOUNT PHONES to these LG G3 if unlocked and on AT&T or t moblie carrier. SO THATS A CHAMPAGNE PHONE on enen a geniric beer price plan but check with tracfone customer service about your area for service and just buy the right carrier in your area like verizon, at&t or t-mobile your in. And if you get t-mobile service model as them about WIFI CALLING for free like my daughter can on her SAMMY S4...LOVE IT and run to AMAZON WAREHOUSE DEALS like I did for a amazing deal on a better that top of the line phone...I still can't believe I'm using this top drawer phone and amazing features and clarity for under 200.00 bucks with 4k picture and fabulous sound , what else would you want it a phone at any price....Jay