LG has officially unveiled the LG G4 Beat, also known as the LG G4s in other markets, as an attractive, mid-range smartphone that has decent specs and, very likely, a competitive price.
The LG G4 Beat sports similar design aesthetics as the flagship LG G4, but the former has a slightly smaller 5.2-inch Full HD display compared to the 5.5-inch display on the latter. Some customers loyal to the LG line might even notice that the G4 Beat is somewhat similar to the LG G2, the South Korean manufacturer's flagship device from a couple of years back.
"Too often, mid-tier phones sacrifice overall usability in order to include that one killer feature," said LG CEO and President Juno Cho. "Our goal with the LG G4 Beat was to create a phone that was not only well-balanced in terms of display, camera, performance and design but delivered terrific value and satisfaction."
Powered by a 1.5 GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor from Qualcomm and 1.5GB of RAM, the G4 Beat should be able to deliver decent power for the average user's mobile needs. Inside is 8GB of eMMC storage space, which isn't much for media junkies, but should be enough for those who prefer to stream their music and store their photos in the cloud.
At the back is a decent 8-megapixel camera, which is upgraded to 13 megapixels for the Latin American version. The camera touts LG's color spectrum sensor, a manual mode that lets users control ISO, shutter speed, white balance and exposure, and a gesture interval shot that lets users take multiple shots with the 5-megapixel front camera.
Battery life is quite unexciting, with a mere 2,300 mAh battery letting users last through an entire day of non-heavy use. Out of the box, the G4 Beat runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, the latest and most stable version of Google's platform.
Price is currently unannounced, but it is of course going to cost less than the G4, which starts at $600 for an unlocked 32GB version. In a statement sent to TechCrunch, LG says the G4 Beat will cost around $440, but the price will differ from market to market.
The G4 Beat will become available in August first in Europe and Latin America markets, which include France, Germany and Brazil. This will be followed by an expansion to other markets with an unspecified timeline.
LG's business model of introducing low to mid-range smartphones under the banner of its flagship device has so far been working well for the company. In 2014, LG saw a 125 percent year-on-year increase in profits to $475 million, with its smartphone business raking in $14.26 billion in sales.
