LG has announced that the LG G4 smartphone is now officially available in the U.S., with all major carriers, as well as electronics retailers such as Best Buy, offering the device.
The highly anticipated device brings a number of changes to the G series, including the new leather backing option, giving the device a premium look and feel.
"Stitched into the heart and soul of all of our smartphones is our guiding principle of innovation for a better life," said LG's senior vice president and head of North American sales and marketing, Morris Lee. "We focused long and hard on perfecting that promise in the G4, for consumers across the country to discover for themselves one of the best smartphone experiences on the market today."
Of course, the device has the specs to match the premium look and feel, boasting a 5.5-inch 2K display with a resolution of 538 pixels per inch. It has a rear-facing camera of 16 MP and an aperture of f/1.8, as well as optical image stabilization. The front-facing camera is 8 MP with an aperture of f/2.0.
A little surprising when it was announced, however, is the fact that the device features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 rather than the more powerful Snapdragon 810, which was selected as the processor based on scheduling issues. While the Snapdragon 808, which is hexa-core, is a little less powerful than the octa-core 810, it should provide plenty of processing power for most tasks.
Apart from that, the LG G4 also features a microSD card slot for those who want more than the 32 GB built into the device, as well as 3,000 mAh removable battery.
In fact, it seems that the G4 is keeping many of the features that Android users know and love, despite the fact that other companies are starting to remove them. Features like a removable battery and a microSD card slot are seen by many as getting a little outdated, especially with fast charging methods and cloud storage, however, the fact that LG has kept both of these features is sure to push the device in terms of sales.
Samsung, for example, completely overhauled the Galaxy series with the Galaxy S6, giving it a new design, which meant the removal of both expandable storage and a removable battery. Many were upset at the changes, saying that these features are part of what makes Android devices so great. Of course, LG changed up the design of the G4 by offering the leather backing on the device.
The LG G4 is now available from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and U.S. Cellular, as well as Best Buy and Amazon.
