LG’s G3 coming to SA in August

Papi Mabele — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 17:10:04 +0000

South Africans, your wait for LG’s G3 is (nearly) over. LG has gone and confirmed a local launch date for the 2K-capable Android smartphone, and now expects the device to hit retail shops in August.

We warmn; Be prepared to fork over a lot of cash if you want that pixel-packed display as soon as possible, though. The G3 will cost around R8999 (if the exchange rate allows) if you buy it outright, and with that its safe to say it won’t qualify for an easier-to-swallow installment plan. Only one local service provider (Vodacom) has revealed their plans to carry LG’s brawny handset, but we’d expect matching announcements from at least the larger networks before long. (MTN, I bet)

LG G3 goes bigger, better and higher-res

Papi Mabele — Wed, 28 May 2014 15:25:45 +0000

Simple is the new smart. That’s how the press release to LG’s G3 launch read. But what’s simple about the newly announced LG G3 flagship LTE phone? We’ll decode the marketing talk soon, but for now lets look at the simple facts about the hardware. As suspected, he G3 has a 5.5-inch display, again with a much-talked-about Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440) display. As for the innards, there’s a Snapdragon 801 chip clocked at 2.5GHz plus 2GB of RAM to serve you up Android KitKat, along with 16GB of storage. There’s also a 3GB/32GB variant if you want to up the ante. Other hardware highlights include a removable (3,000mAh) battery, wireless charging and SD card support.

Budding photographers will want to know that the main camera is a 13-megapixel unit, and comes with OIS and tap to focus. And yes, again, as rumored there’s the (infrared) laser auto focus — we’ll be exploring that in detail once it launches locally for sure. That’s the key spec list, but in this increasingly experiential mobile world, there’s a lot more going on than just a laundry list of features, which we hope to get chance to explore for ourselves.

List of Simpler Features

Smart Keyboard: Adaptive technology learns as you type for faster input with less mistakes. Smart Keyboard reduces input errors by up to 75 percent by tracking and analysing typing habits and intuitively “knowing” what word the user intended to type. The height of the keyboard can also be adjusted to better fit the user’s hands and position of the thumbs. Individual keys can also be customised with frequently used symbols for even faster input.

Smart Notice: Like a personal assistant, Smart Notice provides suggestions and recommendations based on user behavior, phone usage patterns and location to offeruser information when it’s needed the most. Smart Notice can remind you of a call you declined earlier and ask if you would like to call that person back. If you have a large number of unused files or apps on the G3 taking up valuable space, Smart Notice will ask if you would like to delete or uninstall them. But what sets Smart Notice apart from other personal assistants is its natural language capabilities. For example, instead of just displaying today’s temperature and weather forecast, Smart Notice will make a recommendation such as, “You may want to take an umbrella today since it will rain this evening.”

Smart Security: Understanding the importance of maintaining and securing confidential data when smartphones are shared, misplaced, lost or stolen, the LG G3 offers a number of enhanced security features such as Knock Code, Content Lock and Kill Switch.

*Local availability, pricing and model variants are yet to be confirmed

Lg G3 – TWFLD

LG’s G3 coming to SA in August

LG G3 goes bigger, better and higher-res