I was lucky enough to recieve from LG Electronics  a number of their flagship âGâ products to test in the real world and more importantly the world of gaming. This review your reading will give you an overview of the products as a whole, how well they work together and make your gaming life easier.
Apps are released alongside games now as often as the sun rises, some offering a standalone platform to add to the experience with others offering a little something extra working as a PDA as you play. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 was one of the first games I truly used the app to its full potential and customised my soldier using my smartphone over the in game menus, this was a turning point in my gaming experience as i was now finding myself attaching grips and RDS to MP5âs in my lunch hour while my colleagues looked on bewildered. My smartphone had become an armoury and I was very happy with this fact! The impact this is having on games is increasing with Assassins Creed Unity releasing with its own companion app. Now apps like this need Smart Devices that have a certain kick in the technical specifications and the âG Seriesâ from LG are no slouches in this department.
The 3 devices on test are;
LG G Watch R
LG G3 Smartphone
LG G Pad 7.0
The games I tested on these devices ranged from heavy graphic usage from the likes of Asphalt 8 to strategy based games like clash of clans. Companion apps are now becoming more prevalent in the games industry and I tested 4 of the main contenders using this hardware;
[Battlefield Commander / Assassins Creed Unity / Advanced Warfare / Destiny]
This is the top of the range Smart watch offered by LG, designed with a sport watch surround and black leather strap it is quite understated. Itâs sport surround will appeal to fitness enthusiasts and sportsmen alike but may not sit quite right on the wrist of an executive as I found when wearing with a suit it did not compliment it at all. Now your probably screaming change the watch face but the issue here is that whatever watch face you place on this Smartwatch the sports like design of the numbers surrounding the bezel take away from the formal design of some of the faces available. I was slightly disappointed with this, if the bezel had been blank it would have appealed to a wider audience and made the watch far more versatile. Connecting this watch to any smartphone other than the LG G3 I found to be a loborius process of resetting the watch and then deleting all bluetooth profiles available on my HTC One Max to even get the 2 to find each other, 4 times before they actually connected.
Once connected though the G Watch R came into itâs own with smooth operation and the ability to see the screen even in direct sunlight was impressive. The slight buzz of a notification on the wrist is enough to notice yet not too much to annoy and the ability to read messages on the display is a time saver. A majority of apps have not yet updated their ability to display on Android Wear and this is a shame [But with the lollipop rollout this will change], when a notification appears and you slide to the left to read it and the only option you have is âopen on phoneâ makes the watch seem pointless but this is not LGâs fault.
The slight buzz of a notification on the wrist is enough to notice yet not too much to annoy
This year we are to see more from Android Wear and as I type this apps are updating to integrate Android Wear to allow these devices to come into their own. Game notifications is where I realised I cannot live without one of these watches on my wrist, receiving e-mail notifications from clan mates, Clash of Clans notifications vibrating through to let me know that upgrades have been completed it increased my gaming productivity 10 fold. The smug âJames Bondâ feeling of pausing a song on the train while getting your ticket for the ticketmaster as he says âThatâs an awesome little gadgetâ. This is where the line is â currently smart watches are awesome little gadgets for the most but for the Gamers itâs a very interesting time, why not have your in game radar map displayed on your wristâŚ.the possibilities are endless. Android wear and video games donât really go hand in hand at the moment but weâre hoping this is to change in the near future.
DISPLAY
1.3-inch Full Circle P-OLED
AP
QualcommŽ Snapdragon⢠400, 1.2GHz
MEMORY
4GB eMMC / 512MB RAM
SIZE
46.4 x 53.6 x 9.7 mm (Bezel Ring included 11.1mm)
SENSOR
9-Axis (Gyro, Accelerometer, Compass),
PPG
(Hear rate monitor), Barometer
RESISTANCE
Dust & Water Resistant (IP67)
I am a huge fan of tablets and a huge fan of huge tablets [HUGE!] so the step down to a 7âł tab was a bit underwhelming but I was wrong. The G pad is a fantastic little piece of kit with a beautiful screen & incredibly easy to use. Using the WiFi Hotspot on the LG G3 I was in my element on the train to work with clash of clans or astro surf happily chugging along, the only issue I found and i donât do this often is if your running many background applications youâll notice lag in games such as Ashpalt 8 but only for a split second. That split second generally is enough to place you firmly in a wall but this is why you should always clear the RAM of your device before gaming. Easy on the eye and easy in the hand the LG G Pad is a delight to use and itâs battery life is very impressive with daily use of social apps and internet. When gaming the 215 ppi screen is clear with nice colour saturation but as with all intensive games the tablet gets warm but not uncomfortably. Playing Ashphalt 8 the touch responsiveness is good and sound quality is bareable through the tablet speaker but as always I recommend headphones [especially when on public transport].
I updated every social media outlet daily using the tablet and found itâs functionality great, easy to see in direct sunlight with only a little glare. LGâs keyboard design is well thought out and you donât get the annoying double letters or hitting the wrong keys and the option for resizing it has carried over from the G3 which is a helpful feature. Allowing the user to side by side apps is another feature that benefits while gaming checking my e-mail while running clash of clans, updating the site while upgrading buildings in SimCity is easy and also surprisingly productive!
Playing Ashphalt 8 the touch responsiveness is good and sound quality is bareable through the tablet speaker
DISPLAY
Resolution
1280 x 800 ( 215 ppi )
Touchscreen
Multi-Touch
Features
Corning Gorilla glass
Processor Clock Speed
1.2 GHz
Number of Cores
Quad-Core
Storage
8 GB
Supported Flash Memory Cards
microSD
Max Supported Capacity
32 GB
Wireless Connectivity
802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Security Protocols & Features
DLNA
Rear-facing Camera
3 Megapixel
Digital Zoom
4
Video Resolutions
1280 x 720
HD Video Recording
720p
Features
Burst mode, Cheese Shutter function, Geo-tagging, delay timer
Front-facing Camera
1.3 Megapixel
Graphics
Qualcomm ADRENO 305
Supported Digital Video Formats
3GP, AVI, MPEG-4, WMV
Audio
Microphone , stereo speakers
Preloaded Software
Agenda, Alarm Clock, Backup, Clip Tray, Contacts, E-mail, File Manager, Gmail, Google Plus Hangouts, Google Plus Messenger, Guest Mode, Icon customizer, Internet Browser, Knock Code, KnockON, LG Smart World, Multi Window, Multi-User Function, Polaris Office 5, Predictive Dictionary, QPair 2.0, QSlide 2.5, Quick-Memo, QuickRemote 1.0, SMS, Screen zooming, Smart Screen, Update Center, Voice Recognition, Voice Recorder, Weather, instant messaging
EXPANSION AND CONNECTIVITY
Expansion Slots
1 x microSD
Interfaces
1 x headset
1 x Micro-USB
Capacity
4000 mAh
Standby Time
up to 100 h
Sensors
gesture, motion sensor
Features
built-in speakerphone, capacitive touch screen, charging via USB
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHT
Width â 4.5 in
Depth â 0.4 in
Height â 7.5 in
Weight â 10.3 oz
GENERAL
Manufacturer â LG
The G2 ran up and smacked a lot of critics in the face and shouted âIâm here!â. The smartphone wowed all who touched it in 2013 with a slew of features that put it ahead of most of the competition but LG realised they need to improve with new flagships coming from HTC / Samsung / Motorola / Sony. The G3 has improved where the G2 left off with an improved camera, slicker UI and metallic chassis things are on the up and up!
Upon itâs release in 2014 critics were fast to applaud LG and their new flagship as it topped a majority of scales in a lot of reviewers hands and to say we agree would be an understatement. The UI is far more mature and smooth than a lot of  skins like Touchwiz and HTCâs Sense interface. This allows you to setup your phone a lot quicker without a lot of annoying options to turn off. The removable battery allows the power hungry to keep a spare and a microSD slot allows you to carry your entire data farm with you.
Asphalt 8, Clash of Clans and SimCity run effortlessly and itâs not surprising considering whats under the hood of this SmartPhone and the QHD screen is something to behold. Considering the human eye can only really distinguish so much you can see the difference in the QHD compared to older smartphones (i.e my HTC One MAX) it show colour beautifully but if you do tilt the phone images to darken significantly this being down to how many pixels are crammed on the phone! 568ppi thatâs a lot and puts it in the top 5 smartphone screens out there. The sound out of this device is fantastic with a 1 Watt speaker offering clear and crisp sound with great volume.
The G3 has improved where the G2 left off with an improved camera, slicker UI and metallic chassis things are on the up and up!
With the ability to increase the storage a fantastic addition for mobile gamers to be able to carry as many apps and games as their card can carry. The laser auto focus allows you quick image capture while on the move and a QHD screen made us all want to go out and purchase one of these for ourselves.
5.76 x 2.94 x 0.35 inches (146.3 x 74.6 x 8.9 mm)
5.26 oz (149 g)
the average is 4.8 oz (138 g)
Physical size:
5.5 inches
Resolution:
1440 x 2560 pixels
Screen-to-body ratio:
75.22 %
Features:
Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Oleophobic coating
Camera sensor size:
1/3.06âł
Features:
Back-illuminated sensor (BSI), Autofocus, Touch to focus, Optical image stabilization, Face detection, Smile detection, ISO control, Burst mode, Geo tagging, High Dynamic Range mode (HDR), Panorama, Voice activation
Camcorder:
3840Ă2160 (4K) (30 fps), 1920Ă1080 (1080p HD) (30 fps)
Features:
Optical image stabilization
Front-facing camera:
2.1 megapixels
HARDWARE
System chip:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 8974-AC
Processor:
Quad core, 2500 MHz, Krait 400
Graphics processor:
Adreno 330
System memory:
3072 MB RAM
Storage expansion:
microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC up to 128 GB
Talk time:
19.00 hours
the average is 12 h (700 min)
Stand-by time:
22.8 days (548 hours)
the average is 20 days (485 h)
Talk time (3G):
21.00 hours
the average is 16 h (936 min)
Stand-by time (3G):
23.0 days (553 hours)
the average is 23 days (554 h)
Stand-by time (4G):
25.0 days (600 hours)
the average is 85 days (2031 h)
Wireless charging:
Built-in
MULTIMEDIA
Music player:
Filter by:
Album, Artist, Playlists
Features:
Album art cover, Background playback
Speakers:
Earpiece, Loudspeaker
Built-in online services support:
YouTube (upload), Picasa/Google+
GSM:
850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
UMTS:
850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz
FDD LTE:
800 (band 20), 1800 (band 3), 2600 (band 7) MHz
Data:
LTE, HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS
Positioning:
GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
LG âGâ Family I was lucky enough to recieve from LG Electronics  a number of their flagship 'G' products to test in the real world and more importantly the world of gaming.