Slashdot Mirror
LG G4 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 Benchmarked
MojoKid writes: LG officially lifted the veil on its new G4 flagship Android phone this week and the buzz has been fairly strong. LG's display prowess is well known, along with their ability to pack a ton of screen real estate into a smaller frame with very little bezel, as they did with the previous generation G3. However, what's under the hood of the new LG G4 is probably just as interesting as the build quality and display, for some. On board the LG G4 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, the six-core little brother of the powerful and power-hungry Snapdragon 810 that's found in HTC's One M9. The One M9 is currently one of the fastest Android handsets out there, but its battery life suffers as a result. So with a six-core Snapdragon and a slightly tamer Adreno 418 graphics engine on board, but also with 3GB of RAM, it's interesting to see where the G4 lands performance-wise. It's basically somewhere between the HTC One M9 (Snapdragon 810) and the Snapdragon 805 in the Nexus 6 in CPU bound workloads, besting even the iPhone 6, but much more middle of the pack in terms of graphics and gaming.
How much?
But what's really interesting to me is the camera. I'm really interested in seeing that put through its paces.
So with a six-core Snapdragon and a slightly tamer Adreno 418 graphics engine on board...
Fantastic! So does this mean we'll finally get smooth scrolling?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Do not want.
One thing I find particularly senseless and counterproductive is removal of *all* physical buttons.
The older LG G models had a physical center button and capacitive left and right buttons positioned in the same area of the now useless LG logo at the bottom of the screen of the G4. This new arrangement senselessly wastes display real-estate by taking up screen space which now needs to be dedicated to display of virtual buttons.
Worse than this center button illuminated for notifications.. you were able to set any colors for different types of events and set it to flash so you could just look over and instantly know if there were any missed messages, tasks or calls without powering on the screen in addition to advantage of physical button for answering calls and working task manager.
Except this isn't the case. The G3 uses the same technique (only buttons for power/volume on the back, no buttons on the front).
For games and apps where you want the extra real estate, go into Settings->Display->Home touch buttons.
Then click on 'Hide Home touch buttons'. A list of all your apps will appear, just tick away.
Then when you're in an app you've done this with the bottom buttons will vanish but will re-appear when you slide your finger from the bottom/side of the screen where they normally are. For me, it's intuitive.
As a G3 owner, I can tell you that there's very useful finger real-estate at the bottom bezel for buttons. Also, as a 16:9 device, you're not really losing any useful space to them when they're "on screen" as that's a fucked up aspect ratio for any kind of real work - way too long and narrow.
And, fwiw, there is still a fully customizable, full color notification light - it's in the upper left corner. I thought I'd really like having it, but I've turned it off. It mattered back when I only got a couple calls or emails in a day, now it's just on all the time. Besides, when I check the time on the phone (I stopped wearing a watch about 3 months ago) all the notifications are already there in the tray.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
The single-core performance of the A8 is actually higher than that of the Snapdragon. So while it's faster in a multicore benchmark it's going to be slower in actual real-life use. Especially if you take into account how inefficient Android is.
Do not want.
Not sure why you got modded down, you made a valid point. Android used to be all about getting whichever phone had the features that best suited your needs. Now every flagship phone without a fruit on the back, is a freakin' phablet.
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Where do you get a Nexus 4 battery replaced?
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
Plus it has its own song!
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
I have a G2 - also a really nice device. But the notification light is so bright, it lights up the whole bedroom at night. If anybody reading this knows of a way to dim it (not just mute it at night), please comment.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
The N4 back comes off - it just takes some doing. I learned that when the stupid glass back on mine shattered. But it has a new back now and is still going (realatively) strong...
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
Other manufacturers are doing away with physical buttons as well.
For example, my first Sony, an Xperia X10, had 3 physical buttons at the bottom. So did my next Sony, Xperia Arc.
Then my current Xperia ZL has no buttons on the front, just capacitive ones.
You get used to it though, and never miss them after a few weeks of adjusting.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
An AC with some EE/CE knowledge says this iteration of ARM sucks but it might make a better design sooner or later.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
I wouldn't mind moving up to a device with 3GB RAM, as I frequently browse with multiple open tabs and can actually run a 2GB device out of memory. CPU performance isn't a major issue for me and you're right that more or less anything with a Snapdragon 800-series is probably just fine, but extra pixels on screen are great, more RAM is great and support for high capacity microSD is great if you didn't already have it.
The G4 is the only current-generation flashship phone with both a removable battery and a card reader, so if those things are important to you, this device is still a pretty big deal.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Except this isn't the case. The G3 uses the same technique (only buttons for power/volume on the back, no buttons on the front).
For games and apps where you want the extra real estate, go into Settings->Display->Home touch buttons.
Then click on 'Hide Home touch buttons'. A list of all your apps will appear, just tick away.
Then when you're in an app you've done this with the bottom buttons will vanish but will re-appear when you slide your finger from the bottom/side of the screen where they normally are. For me, it's intuitive.
I was referring to older models and apologize for "any buttons" what I really meant was the front buttons for navigating the UI not literally a total lack of any physical buttons.
It is true that anyone can adapt to anything and be happy with it yet my point is the change is not for the better... it doesn't accomplish anything other than requiring people to go through unnecessary hoops. It is a step backwards not forwards.