If I may say so, I have never owned an LG smart phone. And since I am being honest, I don’t think I have ever had a good look at one. Not until the LG G3 Beat arrived at my door. If you have seen the LG G3 you will notice that the G3 Beat has a strong resemblance to it. Just like other brands produce mini versions of their devices, LG has done so with the G3 Beat.
Under the hood the G3 Beat is powered by a Quad-core 1.2 Qualcomm MSM8926 Snapdragon 400 processor with 1GB RAM. I know the G3 for example is more powerful but not everyone needs that sort of power and quite frankly, for what I do on a daily basis, the G3 Beat fared well. I basically browse the web, use social networking apps and take photos/vines and the G3 Beat was smooth and fast.
The G3 Beat comes loaded with Android KitKat 4.4.2 with LGs UI. The UI adds a clean look with flat icons which makes the device easy to use. Simple is always better and the UI did a good job at keeping things simple and clean. It looks like the G3 Beat, known as the G3 S overseas will receive the latest version of Android, Android Lollipop which is awesome.
The Display is a 5.0 inch IPS LCD capacitive touch screen with 720 x 1280 pixels. I found the screen to actually be really good. The colours showed nicely, images and videos were crisp and clear and lastly the screen has a nice feel to it. You may notice that different screens have a different feel to the finger. This may sometimes be the screen protector that you are feeling but since you use the screen for everything, it’s important that the screen has a comfortable feel to it.
If you find the G3 to be a bit too big for your hand, the G3 Beat should be a better fit at 137.7 x 69.6mm. I have small hands so I prefer a smaller phone. I guess it’s the same as a person with big hands using a big phone J At 134 g it’s also fairly light! The G3 Beat has a plastic finish. I had the white model to look at which had a nice finish and feel to it.
You won’t find the power button and volume rocker in their usual place. Turning the device around, you find the power button in the middle of the volume rocker right below the camera. This allows for one handed operation! I did find that I kept on hitting the volume button instead of the power button to unlock the device but there is a nifty fix for that. By simply taping the screen, you can lock or unlock the device. This is a feature which will save you so much time and effort as our phones are constantly being locked and unlocked.
Since this is called the beat, you would expect that this device is ready for music. The speaker, which is situated at the back of the device, produces good quality music. I don’t normally listen to music on my phone but if you do, you will be pleased with the sound quality on the G3 Beat.
If you are going to be using the beat for music, you are going to need lots of space to store your music as well as photos and videos. The G3 Beat has 8GB internal memory and supports a microSD, up to 64 GB. You will definitely not run out of space!
Capturing decent photos will be easy with the 8 MP camera with 3264 x 2448 pixels. Luckily the G3 Beat features the laser autofocus that is seen on the G3 which makes focusing on nearby objects easy. The camera interface is really easy to use and if you want to fiddle with the settings, they are available at the touch of a button. I was very happy with the quality of the photos captured.
For selfie lovers, the secondary camera captures photos at 1.3 MP. Selfie addicts like Kim K will agree that the Beat captures good quality selfies ready for her hubby. I wonder if she would be keen to test it out 😉
For vloggers or video lovers, you can capture videos at Full HD 1080P at 30fps. Perfect for when you don’t have your DSLR with you.
With a Li-Ion 2540 mAh battery, the G3 beat is not far off from other top range phones. The battery is removable in case you ever need to replace it. You will get through a day of use with normal usage. Heavy usage may put strain on the battery but you will still make it to your next charge with features like the battery saving mode.
Overall the LG G3 Beat is a decent device for those wanting a Smartphone but don’t want to blow the bank. With a sleek design, strong build quality, nippy processor and decent camera, the average user will be happy with the G3 Beat as a daily driver. Well done LG!
