Verizon announced on Wednesday that it had teamed up with Razer and Qualcomm for an always-connected portable game console that uses Google's Android operating system and allows to play Android games and games streamed from the cloud or a stationary game console.

The Razer Edge 5G game console leverages Qualcomm's Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 system-on-chip explicitly designed for portable gaming devices. Qualcomm introduced the SoC a little less than a year ago but still has not disclosed its specifications, so the only thing we do know for sure is that the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform supports gaming at an up to 4K resolution at up to 144 frames per second, rendering in 10-bit HDR, Wi-Fi 6E, and 5G (including both sub-6GHz and 5G mmWave) connectivity. In addition, the platform allows you to attach a 4K TV or a display to the console and an XR accessory using a USB-C port.

Razer built a reference software developer kit equipped with a 6.65-inch Full HD+ OLED screen for Qualcomm, though it is unclear whether the Razer Edge 5G relies on the design aimed at game designers.

Razer has been trying to enter console gaming  (with Oyua) and portable gaming (with Razer Phone) markets for a while without significant success. Perhaps its Razer Edge 5G will always be connected and essentially rely on remote gaming platforms developed by third parties, and Android will be a more successful product.

Razer plans to announce more details about its Razer Edge 5G gaming system at its RazerCon event on October 15.

We first got our hands on the Nreal Light augmented reality (AR) glasses in early January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. So it’s been nearly two years and the Chinese firm is now ready to bring the AR glasses to the United States. 

Nreal says that around 20 games that support its AR headset are available to download from the Google Play store for the device for those willing to give it a try. However, if gaming is not your forte, then partaking in a movie via the virtual 220-inch display (at a six-foot distance) is sure to get your attention.

The Nreal Light will be available to purchase exclusively at Verizon retail stores starting on November 30th. This is probably the best purchase option for those new to AR devices, as you can trial the Nreal Light in-store to see if this is an experience that suits your gaming or productivity workflows.

We should mention that availability is limited to just 20 Verizon retail stores across the U.S., with New York City accounting for seven of those locations. However, the AR glasses will also be available from Verizon’s online store starting on December 2nd. 

"Nreal Light's availability in the U.S. has been highlighy anticipated," said Nreal CEO and founder Chi Xu. "We couldn't be more excited to be announcing the sales of Nreal Light at Verizon retail stores as this marks a momentous milestone not only for Nreal, but also the AR industry as a whole." 

The Nreal Light is priced at $599 and is supported by the following Android smartphones:

• Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ 5G
• Samsung Galaxy S21 5G
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G UW
• Samsung Galaxy S20 5G UW
• Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G
• OnePlus 8 5G UW

Nreal says that its AR glasses will also work with iPhones, although the company didn’t provide further guidance on that support. 

Stay tuned for our full review of the Nreal Light AR glasses, which is coming shortly.

Lenovo is ready to ship its 5G laptop, the Lenovo Flex 5G. It will be the first to market on June 18, for $1,399.99.

In the US, the Flex 5G will be available through Verizon with an option for a 24-month payment plan. The system will be sold through the carrier or Lenovo’s website and include a 1-year personal subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal.

In some other markets, the device will be branded the Lenovo Yoga 5G (which is what it was called when we saw it back at CES). It will be available through EE in the UK, Sunrise in Switzerland and CMCC in China, as well as on Lenovo.com in certain markets. The company says there will be more pricing options and 5G data plans listed by these carriers in the coming months.

The Flex 5G is a thin 2-in-1 running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx 5G CPU, along with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS storage. It has a 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 touch screen. As for 5G, Lenovo is supporting both mmWave and Sub-6 GHz in a patented 5G antenna system, which Lenovo says is the smallest 5G module in the industry.

Additionally, Lenovo is making big promises on battery life: up to 24 hours with the 60 Whr battery. Lenovo tested that offline with video playback.

Perhaps one of the biggest struggles for the Flex 5G and other laptops supporting 5G networks is the sparse rollout so far. While some major cities are seeing coverage, even that’s spotty.

Verizon, shocking absolutely no one, said on March 17 that Americans played 75% more video games week-over-week as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The company said it saw a 75% increase in traffic on its network this week. Individual categories saw different surges: gaming rose 75%, VPN usage rose 34%, web traffic grew 20% and video streaming rose 12%. Social media (surprisingly) stayed flat.

We already suspected that people were playing more games after being advised to stay home from work (and damn near every other aspect of their lives) because Steam set a new record of 20.3 million concurrent users on March 15.

Verizon's report confirmed that people are playing more online games. It's possible that most of those Steam users were actually using their PCs for something else, but we doubt that Verizon included non-active users in a report on increased data usage.

Verizon CTO Kyle Malady said in the report:

“We’re in an unprecedented situation. We continually evaluate peak data usage times and build our networks to stay ahead of that demand. While it is not clear yet how having millions of additional people working from home will impact usage patterns, we remain ready to address changes in demand, if needed.”

This increase wasn't restricted to the U.S. The Financial Times reported yesterday that European Union officials asked Netflix to throttle some of its traffic in an effort to prevent broadband providers from being overwhelmed by increased usage.

Huawei today announced that it's filed multiple patent infringement lawsuits against Verizon, which it accused of violating 12 of its U.S. patents, after failing to reach a settlement despite negotiating for what Huawei called "a significant period of time."

The lawsuit follows June 2019 reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times indicating that Huawei believed Verizon had violated several of its patents. Huawei was reportedly seeking $1 billion in licensing fees to resolve the dispute.

Huawei said that it "provided a detailed list of patents and factual evidence of Verizon’s use of Huawei patents" during the companies' negotiations. They couldn't reach an agreement, though, which is why the dispute is now heading to court.

Here's what Huawei said about the potential cost of this alleged patent infringement:

"Huawei re-invests 10% to 15% of its revenue in R&D each year. The company has spent more than $70 billion U.S. dollars on R&D in the past decade, which has resulted in more than 80,000 patents worldwide – including over 10,000 patents in the United States alone. These innovations are not just the cornerstone of Huawei's own success; they are also widely used by companies around the world, delivering value both in the United States and elsewhere."

The company also said that it's earned $1.4 billion in patent licensing fees since 2015 and also paid out over $6 billion to license other companies' technologies in that timeframe. Some 80% of that was said to have gone to U.S. companies.

Huawei filed the lawsuits in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas and said in its announcement it's "seeking compensation for Verizon's use of patented technology" for ongoing royalty payments and an unspecified amount of compensation. 

Verizon also released a statement today:

"Huawei’s lawsuit filed overnight, in the very early morning, is nothing more than a PR stunt. This lawsuit is a sneak attack on our company and the entire tech ecosystem. Huawei’s real target is not Verizon; it is any country or company that defies it. The action lacks merit, and we look forward to vigorously defending ourselves."

Huawei is going down swinging. Despite facing intense scrutiny as the result of its blacklisting by the U.S. in May, the company is reportedly accusing Verizon of infringing on 238 of its patents, with the hope of forcing the wireless carrier into a costly licensing agreement. And "costly" is an understatement: An unidentified source told The New York Times that Huawei could seek up to $1 billion in licensing fees.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Huawei first made these accusations in February. That was before its addition to the Entity List, which led many tech companies to cease business with it, but after the U.S. made it abundantly clear that it was suspicious of the company by having Canada arrest its chief financial officer. (And amid rumors that it would be banned entirely from U.S. wireless networks.)

It's hard not to read these reports without thinking Huawei may be desperate. The company has largely denied the impact losing U.S. suppliers would have on its business, and seemed ready to fight the U.S. for its right to do business in the country, but there could be a few cracks in that facade. It recently delayed the development of new laptops, for example. Now it's tangling with Verizon.

Verizon previously had an indirect relationship with Huawei; its vendors were the ones buying equipment from the Chinese company. Now, in addition to figuring out its own culpability, the company has to navigate the political ramifications of dealing with Huawei. Part of the reason why trade talks broke down between the U.S. and China (at least according to reports) is the latter's stance on intellectual property theft.

The U.S. feared that Chinese businesses would have an unfair advantage over their U.S. rivals by stealing trade secrets. Those fears come right back to Huawei, too, because the U.S. Department of Justice accused the company of bribing T-Mobile employees in exchange for sharing intellectual property. We live in the Information Age, which means these accusations carry more weight than ever.

Huawei's accusations turn those fears right back around on Verizon. A billion-dollar licensing agreement would have to be carefully considered in any circumstance; now it's also at the heart of a trade war between the U.S. and China. We've cursed Verizon's cellular coverage as much as anyone else, but even we don't begrudge its lawyers the situations they're in.

Verizon Communications subsidiary Oath, which oversees the AOL and Yahoo brands as well as the company's other digital content interests, announced that it would shutter the Yahoo Messenger service in just over a month. That's right: Yahoo Messenger just received a July 17 execution date.

In recent years, Verizon Communications has made a couple significant moves in the internet media space. It acquired AOL in June 2015, and in June 2017, it took over Yahoo! Inc's primary assets. Along with purchase of Yahoo, Verizon created Oath Inc to oversee both of the brands it had just bought.

For the first few months, Oath let AOL and Yahoo operate as they did before, but in October 2017 the company announced that it would close AOL’s long-running AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) service. Oath discontinued AIM on December 15, 2017, and now it’s gearing up to do the same with Yahoo’s competing Yahoo Messenger app.

Oath acknowledged that Yahoo Messenger has many loyal fans, but the company wants to move away from antiquated messaging platforms and “focus on building and introducing new, exciting communications tools that better fit consumer needs.”

Yahoo already offers a replacement messaging application called Yahoo Squirrel. The app is still in beta, and it requires an invite to gain access (you can request an invite at squirrel.yahoo.com). It’s unclear when Squirrel will be available to everyone, but Yahoo wants to transition Yahoo Messenger users to Yahoo Squirrel in due time, and with Yahoo Messenger closing soon, we estimate Squirrel should leave closed beta sooner rather than later.

After July 17, the Yahoo Messenger app will cease to function. Oath said that your chat history would remain accessible for six months, but the desktop app would serve no other function during that timeframe. The change will have no effect on your Yahoo ID for other Yahoo services, such as Yahoo Mail.

Verizon Wireless doesn't have a great sense of timing. Shortly after tech companies, digital rights organizations, and individuals banded together in support of net neutrality, the wireless network provider has reportedly capped data transfer speeds from video services like Netflix and YouTube.

The Verge reported that several Reddit users have complained about Verizon Wireless capping Netflix data transfer speeds. We were able to confirm this ourselves using Fast.com, which is Netflix's download speed tester. When we were connected to Verizon Wireless our download speeds peaked at 12Mbps; over Wi-Fi they hit 46Mbps. Testing via Speedtest.net, however, resulted in almost identical download speeds over cellular and Wi-Fi.

That means Verizon Wireless is currently throttling data transfer speeds from Netflix to about one-fourth of their potential, at least on our connection. (We suspect the company is shooting for 10Mbps and that it's just a coincidence that our home Wi-Fi is roughly four times faster.) Others have said that Verizon Wireless is also throttling download speeds from YouTube, too, so it seems the company is targeting popular video services.

It makes sense for wireless network providers to want to cap streaming video download speeds. Watching something on Netflix or YouTube puts much more of a strain on their networks than, say, scrolling through Twitter. But this throttling violates the tenets of net neutrality, which insists that a byte is a byte and that data shouldn't flow slower or faster based on its source. Limiting Netflix and YouTube is the exact opposite of that position.

Like we said at the top, this wasn't a great time for Verizon Wireless to limit Netflix and YouTube. Earlier this month, more than 100,000 "websites, internet users, and organizations" protested the FCC's plans to roll back Obama administration net neutrality protections. Supporters included Twitter, Amazon, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among many others. (And, yes, Netflix was one of the companies backing this protest.)

We've reached out to Verizon Wireless to learn more about the extent of the download speed limits and why they were put in place. The company hasn't responded to our request for comment. Netflix told The Verge that it isn't responsible for the download limits, which means it's taking place on Verizon Wireless' end. We'll update this post if the company gets back to us. In the meantime, it seems Netflix and YouTube will be just a bit slower.

Verizon announced its Fios Gigabit Connection for $69.99 a month for new customers. Although the new service is billed as "gigabit," the actual speeds are listed as "as fast as 940 Mbps and uploads as fast as 880 Mbps."

Existing customers who want to upgrade to Fios Gigabit Connection will be able to do so at the end of this month. Customers with the older, more expensive 750 Mbps/750 Mbps Instant Internet service will soon automatically receive the new higher speeds and see a reduction in their bills, as well. Verizon did not elaborate on how much of a discount existing customers would receive.

Ken Dixon, president of Verizon’s consumer wireline business stated:

Everyone deserves the fastest Internet available. No cable provider comes close to offering the speeds and power of Fios Gigabit connection on this kind of scale. And we’ve priced it so that millions can enjoy it.

In areas where Fios Gigabit Connection service is available, Verizon now offers two tiers of standalone Internet service: 50 Mbps for $39.99 a month and the new Gigabit Connection for $69.99 a month when ordered online. The catch of course is that you must live in an area that offers Fios Gigabit Connection service. Fios customers in other areas will still be stuck with 300/300Mbps or 500/500Mbps plans that cost $79.99 and $179.99, respectively.  

A sneak peek of Verizon's Data Breach Digest, which is supposed to be published in full in March, revealed that an unidentified university had its own Internet of Things (IoT) devices hacked and turned into a botnet. The university's IT team laid out some of the hard lessons it learned during this whole incident that will help it prevent other botnets from taking over the university's IoT infrastructure again.

What Happened

The affected university used all sorts of IoT devices--smart light bulbs, vending machines, fridges, etc.--to improve convenience and management efficiency. Then, when students complained about their internet connections not working properly, the IT team discovered "over 5,000 discrete systems making hundreds of DNS lookups every 15 minutes." Nearly all of those systems were on the network dedicated to the university's IoT infrastructure.

The IT team realized that the IoT devices used weak, default passwords that were brute-forced as the botnet spread from device to device. Luckily for the IT team (and the university's accounting department) the affected devices didn't have to be thrown out. The attackers used an insecure HTTP connection to update the device's passwords, which allowed the IT team to intercept them and take back control of the compromised IoT gizmos.

Lessons Learned

Following this incident, the IT team learned a few lessons about the mistakes it made, which it hopes not to repeat in the future:

Keep Networks Isolated

One of the university's biggest mistakes was keeping all the insecure devices on a single network. This made them more vulnerable to attack by anyone with access to that network; setting up multiple networks could have made it harder to compromise all of the devices. (Though at least the IoT devices appear to have been kept separate from other networks, which likely mitigated the potential impact the attack could've had on other systems.)

"Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket; create separate network zones for IoT systems; air-gap them from other critical networks where possible," warned the university's IT team.

Not that setting up multiple networks is a magic bullet. Ultimately, it's best to make sure each and every device is secure.

No Direct Internet Connection

Another easily avoided issue was the fact that all these devices had direct internet connections. This isn't a good idea for all IoT devices, especially if an internet connection isn't strictly necessary, because connecting them to the internet at large means exposing them to attack from anywhere in the world. Devices that can be managed locally should be managed locally--this simple maxim could help prevent many potential attacks on IoT products.

"Don’t allow direct ingress or egress connectivity to the internet; don’t forget the importance of an in-line proxy or content-filtering system," said the IT team.

Change Default Credentials

The majority of IoT devices come with default credentials and don’t ask users to set new ones up. This a grave mistake, because it means that even institutions such as universities that have their own IT teams can make the mistake of leaving most of the devices with the default password intact.

"Change default credentials on devices; use strong and unique passwords for device accounts and Wi-Fi networks," recommended the university's IT team.

This is too much of a security responsibility to be given solely to the IoT device customers. One simple user interface change, such as asking the user to change the original password, could solve this. However, the customers themselves do take part of the blame for not changing the credentials as well.

If the IT team of the university had changed the credentials, this botnet takeover would have likely been avoided. The issue still remains that it’s far too easy for too many customers to make this mistake, though, and it falls on the manufacturers to fix this type of vulnerability.

Monitor Events/Disable Insecure Features

Insecure connections such as Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) should be disabled. The network traffic should be monitored for threats and other vulnerabilities in the system as well.

Always Update

Regular software updates tend to fix the majority of IoT security problems. The university's IT team recommended that administrators should keep an eye on manufacturer websites for new patches. However, it would also be preferable for critical security fixes to automatically install when they're released. It would also help if software updates were released more often--most IoT devices are updated a few times a year, and manufacturers stop supporting them after just a couple years.

Securing IoT Devices Will Become Critical

IoT devices clearly need better security. Less clear is how to convince manufacturers and their customers to care. Perhaps some baseline security regulations, a security rating system, and enforced recalls could help, but those aren't guaranteed solutions. Manufacturers trying to squeeze as much technology for as low a price as possible into their products--and the people buying those products--might still view security as an afterthought.

This problem should be addressed before smart-but-insecure devices become increasingly popular and reach more critical infrastructure. These same vulnerabilities in self-driving vehicles, heart rate monitors, traffic management systems, and others could endanger people's lives instead of merely inconveniencing a university's students and IT staff.

Update, 5/24/16, 8:07am PT: The LG "Friends," including the LG Cam Plus, LG 360 Cam, LG 360 VR, and LG Tone Platinum are now available. LG said that you can get them directly from LG or at most carriers and some retail locations. You'll be able to order extra batteries and charging cradles "in the coming weeks," and LG stated that more "Friends" are coming soon, as well.

Original article:

We were sufficiently impressed with what LG is doing with its new G5 flagship smartphone to give it one of our MWC 2016 awards. We’re not as enamored of LG’s decision to call its various G5 peripherals and accessories “Friends,” but in any case, you can snag yourself the phone and many of its pals from U.S. carriers starting in “early April.”

Outlets include the bigs -- AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile -- as well as U.S. Cellular, Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile Stores and B&H.

LG was vague on the exact dates of the G5's availability, and it was further unclear on when exactly the Friends will be available. In a press release, the company said, “Select companion devices and sales channels will also be available starting in April.”

The companion devices include the LG 360 VR headset (our "eyes-on" coverage here), a device that seems to fall somewhere between the Gear VR and Google Cardboard devices in terms of quality; the LG 360 Cam; the LG Rolling Bot, which is about as off-the-wall an accessory as we’ve seen; a camera attachment called the LG Cam Plus that gives you several hardware controls; a second battery and charging cradle; and the Harmon Kardon-tuned LG Tone Platinum Bluetooth earbuds.

We had a chance to fiddle with some of the above when we visited LG at Mobile World Congress. In our brief time, we weren’t exactly blown away by the quality, but LG is definitely on to something here: It knows that a smartphone is no longer just a smartphone. To stand out in the market, consumers need more incentive, and the G5’s clever modularity plus LG’s see-what-stick-to-the-wall accessories show that LG understands that.

For a more detailed look at the LG G5, check out our preview coverage here.  

Update, 3/10/16, 8:35am PT: And here's the information for our friends in the Great White North: The G5 will be available on April 8 from Bell, Eastlink, Fido, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Telus, Videotron and Wind Mobile, as well as from Best Buy, Tbooth wireless, The Source, Costco, and WirelessWave. Some carriers will provide "bonus offers." For example, Rogers and Fido will throw in an LG Cam Plus (a $99 value).

Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

I haven’t had Internet access for more than a week. I’ve resisted writing about it so as not to abuse the bully pulpit I enjoy as the Editor-in-Chief of Tom’s Hardware, but really, most of us have experienced outages, billing problems and customer service frustrations with ISPs, so my frustrating week is not unique.

But with Frontier Communications, it has been something different entirely, on a scale I’ve never experienced.

Apparently, I’m not alone. I’ve realized that my issues are also your issues, at least if you’re unlucky enough to be a Frontier customer, particularly one who used to be a Verizon customer, particularly now if you’re in the Los Angeles area. Still, the problems I’ve had are pretty universal, judging by all of the commentary I’ve read on the Internet (while sitting at a Starbucks, of course).

The issues drive deeper than outages and service problems — mine began with performance degradation that I first noticed when our IT department was doing some remote support (Tuesday, 4/12/16, 12:36 pm), and the painfully slow connection was driving them nuts. That’s when I placed my first call to Frontier.

The following morning (Wednesday, 4/13/16, 11:26 am), the connection disappeared altogether, and so began a new chapter in Frontier’s book on how to completely annihilate the notion of customer service and lose customers.

You know things are bad when you’re actually thinking seriously about Time Warner.

Frontier won’t say what’s going on, although in most regions where it has taken over (acquired) Verizon assets, it has been swapping out and upgrading infrastructure, including how services are provisioned. When I’ve asked various company representatives or technicians I get obfuscation. The technician who came to my house on the third day of the outage (Friday, 4/15/16, Noon) said it was some software issue specific to my installation, and it could only be fixed centrally.

The company’s two main issues, I’m led to believe, are specific to customers with FIOS digital voice, and issues with software provisioning (virtual cross connects, in carrier parlance), as the service and its associated records are migrated to Frontier.

But let’s back up a moment. The support shenanigans is where this really got surreal.

I’ve been on hold for a combined time of approximately 10 hours (probably more).I have been hung up on at least four times for no apparent reason. I’ve also been hung up on virtually (during an online chat). What’s more, support personnel — every one of them — has asked for a contact number in case something were to happen to the call, and despite providing this information every single time, not once did I get a call back after the call was “dropped."Initially I called billing, because my connection speed was far, far below what I was paying for. I was told to call customer service. After an hour on hold with customer service, I was told to call billing.On almost every call to customer service, I was passed along from support person to support person, each time waiting on hold for at least half an hour, after which I provided the very same information (every single detail on my account profile), only to be passed along again. Ultimately, when I asked for a supervisor, I was denied . . . until I insisted, and then I was placed on hold again for another 30 minutes.When I initially reported my Internet service outage, I was promised a technician by 5:00 pm that evening. Nobody came. Later that night, they said “tomorrow.” This happened for three straight days.About half the time, agents claimed be unable to find my account at all, even though I gave names, account numbers, ticket numbers, phone numbers and the names of all of my dead relatives. Some of them spent 10 or 15 minutes just trying to find the account.When viewing the status of the trouble ticket, the ticket shows (see below) that it was closed out an entire day before it was actually created.

Finally, when I’d had enough on the second day, I called Frontier PR (Wednesday, 4/13/16, 3:08 pm). I received a return call within a half hour. Later that week, I sent a scathing email update to Frontier PR (Friday, 4/15/16, 9:13 am). Things started happening then, but nothing ever got fixed. Technical support came to my house several times that day, and at least he communicated with me. However, he seemed to be running into the same issues I did when talking with Frontier’s central and support offices.

Over the weekend, he left a note saying service should be restored in 48 hours (Saturday, 4/16/16, approximately 9:00 am). Frontier closed the ticket--yet service never returned. When I called the technician Monday morning, he was flabbergasted.

LA Outage Reports

Several local LA media outlets have detailed the problems. The LA Times has reported on it, talked to Frontier, talked to customers, and publicly called into question the numbers Frontier is claiming are having problems in the LA area.

In a follow up story on the Frontier outages, The LA Times reporter pointed out that the money Frontier is using to “upgrade” the equipment is publicly funded. The company has spent billions buying up landline assets in many regions across the country, but Frontier still apparently hasn’t worked out how to make these migrations smooth. It initially claimed 1,700 outages, and now that figure is at 2,500, according to an LA Times reporter that detailed his conversation with Frontier’s western regional president.

What Tom’s Hardware Readers Think Of Frontier

Late last year, we posted a survey asking you to rate your ISP, which you did in droves. We’ve published many of those responses and provided reviews — based on that data — on these very pages. Frontier wasn’t one of the ISPs we asked about, but 40 of you wrote them in anyway.

Compared to the big guns we initially wrote about, Frontier fares poorly. For support, its average score was 2.35 (out of 5), and reliability was 2.65. Overall, Frontier received a 2.24 rating--the lowest, compared with our baseline group. Its individual scores on the various criteria were also the lowest. Granted, there were only 40 write-ins, so it’s a bit dangerous to compare these numbers to companies where hundreds of readers rated the services, but the commentary is pretty telling.

In fairness, of the overall verbatim reader comments on Frontier, 10 out of 40 were positive. Here were some of the less lovingly (and unedited) applied responses.

On Customer Service:

• “Works fine, but customer support is awful.”
• “The customer service and speed are terrible."
• “The worst company in internet today.”
• “Poor speed and customer service.”
• “Terribly slow speeds, poor customer service."

On performance:

• “Not getting the speed I pay for.”
• “Slow DSL, misconfigured, overloaded.”
• “Service consistency is horrible as the internet keeps cutting out despite awesome access point setup.”
• “Still have outages when it rains.”
• "$160 for unreliable 15mb DSL.”
• “They're selling 6mb download and only giving 3.3mb download speed as if everyone is living in the country expecting that.”
• “Slow-ass overpriced Internet.”
• “They only deliver a fraction of the promised bandwidth." 

And here’s one for mature audiences only: "It sucks monkey balls."

Two days ago (Wednesday, 4/20/16, 2:02 pm) someone in the local Frontier office was dedicated to work with me. At day’s end, she reported that from Frontier’s end, it looked as if the problem was resolved (Wednesday, 4/20/16, 9:58 pm). It is now Friday, 4/22/16 (see the timestamp of this article), and I still cannot access the Internet.

Write in the comments if you’ve also had problems with Frontier. Maybe together we can make our voices heard. This isn’t just about a service problem, it’s also about a customer service problem. Maybe we can even develop our own slogan for Frontier: “Hey, I don’t hear the monkeys complaining."

Fritz Nelson is the Editor-In-Chief of Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

The trend of unlocked, higher-end but affordable smartphones has been great for the mobile market, and Nexbit’s Robin is one that we’ve been tracking for some time. After the project caught fire on Kickstarter, the company received feedback from users that wanted a CDMA version of the phone so they could take it to Sprint and Verizon.

Nextbit has now canceled those plans. In a sorrowful blog post, CEO Tom Moss described at length (but not in great detail) why the team made the decision. In a nutshell, they thought they could pull off a CDMA version, but after working with the carriers, they realized that it was going to cost too much money and take too long.

"What people at the carriers, in good faith given our need for quick answers, thought would take 'weeks' has turned into 'months.' What they thought would cost 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' has turned into 'millions,'" said Moss in the post.

He also noted that there was no clear end in sight, and rather than delay, delay, delay, Nextbit opted to stop pursuing the CDMA option altogether.

Nextbit is refunding CDMA backers in full, within the next 48 hours. As an olive branch, the company is offering a 25% discount code for each CDMA backer. Obviously, for backers locked into CDMA networks, that’s not especially useful, but you can gift your discount to a friend or family member that can use it on a GSM unit.

It’s good that Nextbit is being candid (and remorseful) rather than stringing backers along or making excuses or throwing the carriers under the bus, but it highlights some of the struggles inherent in startup land and the Kickstarter culture. Nextbit is staffed with mobile industry veterans and was well-funded, but it still couldn’t get over that particular hump.

However, the good news is that after a few delays, all GSM Robin orders have now shipped, according to Moss.

Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Introduction

Last year, we asked Tom's Hardware readers to rate their Internet service providers (ISP). After receiving feedback from more than 3,100 audience members from across the United States, we chose the four most-voted companies for the Tom's Hardware ISP Review Survey.

Participants were asked to rate their ISP's price, performance, reliability and support on a scale of one to five stars, with one being the lowest possible score and five being the highest. We also averaged each category's total score and rounded each result to the nearest one-quarter star. Then, we provided the mathematical average of each score, allowing us to compare the companies later on.

Verizon is the only company in our series offering mainstream availability of fiber-optic Internet services (in addition to DSL options). After reviewing the ratings from 234 customers of Verizon's Internet services, it's time to determine how it stacks up in Tom's Hardware's ISP Review.

History

In 1984, there was a break-up of the massive Bell Operating Co. that previously monopolized the communications industry. Seven "Baby Bell" companies were created, five of which were eventually reacquired by AT&T. The only two remaining Baby Bells were Bell Atlantic and NYNEX.

In 1995, Bell Atlantic formed a joint partnership with NYNEX, and by 1997, the two companies merged in a $24 billion deal to become the second-largest telephone company in the U.S, serving more than 35 million customers from Maine to Virginia. This company was venturing into the expanding wireless communications segment, and was poised to obtain a healthy market share in the Northeastern regions.

In 2000, Bell Atlantic NYNEX merged with GTE Corp. and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. The $52 billion merger took almost two years to complete, with 27 state regulatory commissions, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission and various international agencies evaluating and providing clearance for the deal.

Up until that point, the company was mostly focused on wireless communications, launching its 3G network in 2002. It wasn't until 2005 that Verizon launched its FiOS all-fiber broadband Internet and TV service. FiOS is a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) telecommunications service, first introduced in Keller, Texas and Herndon, Virginia in late 2005. Coverage later expanded to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Florida, California, Oregon and Washington; even today, the coverage area continues to grow.

Verizon spent the remainder of the decade acquiring communications companies to expand its customer base. These purchases included companies like MCI in 2006, CyberTrust in 2007 and Rural Cellular in 2008.

In 2010, Verizon deployed its 4G LTE network, starting in 39 major markets and covering more than 110 million people on the first day. This expansion tightened the company's grip on the wireless communications industry.

After Superstorm Sandy, which affected many parts of the Atlantic Coast, Verizon rewired the entire networking grid of Lower Manhattan with 100 percent fiber-optic lines, expanding its FiOS home Internet service to the largest city in the country.

The past two years were impressive for Verizon. The company bought out Vodafone's 45 percent stake in 2014 for an astounding $130 billion. As a wholly owned entity, Verizon was able to take advantage of the changing market dynamics and, in May 2015, announced the acquisition of AOL, one of the early pioneers of the Internet service industry.

As of Q3 2015, Verizon reported 6.9 million home Internet service customers, more than two-thirds of whom are subscribing to FiOS Quantum Internet (fiber-optic) plans. With strong growth projected for its FiOS offerings, Verizon continues to expand its reach and appeal with incredibly fast fiber-optic Internet access.

Technology

Verizon's home Internet services are based on two different technologies: DSL and fiber-optics. These services are available in many of the same regions, with the exception being Rhode Island, which does not appear to offer fiber-optic Internet plans.

Fiber-optic connections transport data at extremely high speeds with low latency using light, providing industry-leading download and upload speeds. This is an incredible advantage over cable- and DSL-based Internet services; upload speeds for those older technologies peak at a fraction of advertised download speeds for fiber-optics networks.

Verizon high-speed (DSL) Internet service is available to an estimated 62 million homes, and FiOS fiber-optic services are available to an estimated 41 million people. Here's a table of Verizon's Internet service plans, speeds, prices and primary service regions:

Although DSL pricing falls in the middle of the road, Verizon no longer sells individual DSL service packages; they can only be purchased along with a landline phone service. In addition, the company no longer sells fixed-speed DSL plans above 1 Mb/s. The $30-per-month plans (up to 3, 7 and 15 Mb/s) are not guaranteed to be available, and your top speed depends on the strength and condition of the local network. Performance and top speeds naturally vary by region, and it's more or less the luck of the draw for DSL connections from Verizon.

Pricing: 2 ¾ Stars

Verizon Internet customers who participated in our survey rated the company's pricing at an above-average 2 3/4 (2.66) stars out of five. Although a less-than three-star rating doesn't seem very high, it is the highest score in our ISP round-up (though not by much), which may be affected by the company's higher scores in other categories. After all, we have seen a trend of low scores attributed to non-pricing factors in our series.

"[The] price is just a little more than I think it should be," said one reader who rated pricing at just two stars, more or less supporting the theory that some customers won't be satisfied, no matter what they're paying.

Once again, I had to input a serviceable address to gain access to Verizon's coveted pricing information. Luckily, I'm in the process of moving, and my destination has every FiOS fiber-optic Internet service available. DSL rates were harder to find, as customers are required to have an existing phone plan in order to receive service. But after much digging, I found the information I was after.

Verizon's price-to-performance ratio for DSL service is almost offensive. For 1 Mb/s, you pay $20 per Mb/s. In addition, the 1 Mb/s tier is subject to a $40 equipment rental and a $20 one-time installation fee. As if that wasn't bad enough, it has a 500MB (that's right, megabyte) monthly data cap. The company's "enhanced" DSL plans don't suffer the same hefty charges and limitations. This seems to be the single worst Internet service plan in our survey so far.

The "enhanced" Internet plan prices are a little better, with the best DSL service offering as low as $2 per Mb/s. But that's only if you can get up to 15 Mb/s, since the "enhanced" speeds vary by region and network strength. Still, the price-per-Mb/s is lower than AT&T in the 3-18 Mb/s plan range.

Some Verizon DSL subscribers were pleased with pricing. "[It's an] inexpensive DSL service, and luckily, I am one block away from the Verizon switch," said one respondent who rated pricing at four stars. Other readers weren't as satisfied. "There's not enough bandwidth, and it's expensive for what I do get," said one DSL customer who gave Verizon one star in the pricing category.

FiOS Quantum Internet plans (fiber-optic) benefit from a much more reasonable price-to-speed ratio, even when the second-year rates apply. These are not the best statistics in our series, but perhaps because of increased value placed on equally fast upload speeds, our readers rated Verizon's pricing above its competition.

"FiOS matching upload and download speeds makes it much nicer when using cloud storage, syncing and uploading," said one reader who rated Verizon's pricing at three stars. "Cable cannot match the upload speeds, the low latency or the consistency," said another reader, who awarded the company's prices four stars.

However, some FiOS fiber-optic Internet users who were generally content in other categories still seemed to be critical of pricing. "[The] service is above average compared to the alternatives in my area, but pricing is still on the extreme end," said one participant, who rated every category above four stars, except pricing, which received just two stars. "Very reliable and fast," said another, before adding "if only they could work on their pricing."

If you don't want to commit to a contract, you can purchase FiOS Internet services without one at the second-year price rates. But why would anyone do that if they intend on having the service for more than one year? Choosing to forgo the contract costs you $120 more after two years. So unless you're signing a one-year lease and plan on moving, the contract is worth the savings.

Once again, availability seemed to contribute heavily to negative pricing scores, with many surveyed readers pointing out that Verizon is the only high-speed Internet provider in their region; many respondents expressed a general disappointment with the lack of options.

"[There is] only 1-3 Mbps DSL available in my area," said one reader. "But it's relatively inexpensive." This participant rated pricing at just two stars, even after seemingly positive feedback. "Verizon DSL is terrible, and [it's] all that's offered to me," said another reader, who gave pricing one star.

If the prices for Verizon's 300 and 500 Mb/s service plans seem ridiculous to you, it's because they are. At $165 per month for 300 Mb/s, few find this level of performance to be affordable. Never mind the 500 Mbps tier, which costs $265 per month. Even though the price-to-performance ratio is relative to other slower plans, this service tier seems aimed at elite consumers with plenty of disposable income. Regardless of whether people can actually afford it, these are some of the top Internet connection speeds available from any company in our series.

Despite Verizon's middle-of-the-road price-to-performance ratio, our readers rated the ISP's pricing at a series-high 2¾ out of five stars. This shouldn't be the case if you look at the raw numbers from our other ISP reviews (particularly Time Warner Cable), but fiber-optic Internet connections appear to have a value advantage by providing higher upload speeds than cable or DSL.

Performance: 4 Stars

Perhaps the faster upload speeds also contributed to a higher performance score, with Verizon earning a series-high 4 (3.94) stars out of five. This is another win for Verizon's Internet services, with many readers praising the company's impressive download and upload speeds.

"The service is fast and very reliable," said a reader who gave Verizon's performance a five-star rating. "The speeds are constantly stable, and the upload speeds aren't a joke. They're equal to the download [speeds]," said another satisfied reader.

Even some readers who rated pricing below three stars found the cost acceptable, given what they got in performance. "Fast [and] reliable speeds at a price I can live with," said one such participant. "[There's] dedicated speed for my line, and no data cap."

In our survey, ISPs with data caps on their home Internet service plans generally score lower on performance. So, it's possible that Verizon's lack of a limit improved its outcome in this metric.

Most survey participants who criticized performance seemed to be Verizon DSL customers, with many complaining of slower-than-advertised speeds, generally unimpressive performance and frequent outages.

"It slows down all the time, sometimes for hours, sometimes for a day," said one such dissatisfied reader. "It has gone out [several times], and on speed tests, I am getting much less than what is being paid for."

However, since Verizon came in at four stars in our review, it's safe to say the majority of our readers are satisfied with the company's performance. This is also the most important factor when choosing an ISP, according to our surveyed Verizon readers, adding more gravity to the four-star rating. With Verizon offering some of the highest bandwidth available and equal upload speeds, the company is our undeniable performance leader.

Reliability: 4 ¼ Stars

Verizon also seems to be the reliability leader of our ISP review series, with a rating of 4 1/4 (4.16) stars out of five. This is the best rating of any ISP in any category in our review. However, despite the high score, there was an apparent split between surveyed DSL subscribers and fiber-optic customers.

Verizon DSL customers judged the company's reliability much lower, usually at or below two stars, citing some of the same complaints mentioned in the performance category. "Verizon DSL is slow and marginally reliable," said a reader who gave reliability a one-star rating. "But it's basically the only 'high-speed' Internet connection available."

It may be fortunate for Verizon that its final grade in each category doesn't seem to be affected by the minority of DSL customers giving feedback, because the few who voted in our survey seemed severely dissatisfied with almost every aspect of the service.

Measuring Broadband America, a 2014 Federal Communications Commission study on the reliability of the country's major Internet service providers, resonates with our survey findings. This study supports one of the primary complaints of Verizon DSL customers in our survey: that speeds are less-than-advertised.

Similar to our survey, this study shows that a majority of fiber-optic Internet customers enjoy higher-than-advertised performance. With as much as 138 percent more bandwidth than expected, FiOS Internet customers have reason to be satisfied with Verizon's reliability.

"I actually get [about] 10 percent faster speeds than advertised," said one surveyed reader. "My connection is reliable, and it always seems to be there."

"I've never had a problem with Verizon FiOS -- ever," said another fiber-optic Internet subscriber. "The service is quite reliable, and regardless of the time of day, I always manage to get my subscribed bandwidth," said another.

Reliability was the second-most important factor in deciding on an ISP, according to our surveyed Verizon Internet customers, and it seems that the company scored big with a rating of 4 1/4 stars out of five.

Service & Support: 3 ¼ Stars

Throughout our round-up, readers were particularly critical when scoring support. But Verizon managed to crack the three-star barrier, with a rating of 3 1/4 (3.20) stars out of five. This is once again the highest score in our survey, besting the closest runner-up by almost half a star. Satisfied readers happy with support mostly mentioned the pleasant customer service and speedy remediation they experienced.

"Overall, I've had great customer-support experiences with Verizon, and my average speed is actually higher than what I pay for," said a reader who rated support at the maximum five stars. "Any time I contact them, they are very helpful," said another reader, who awarded the company four out of five stars.

However, some readers also scored Verizon's support at or below three stars, with many citing long call lines, representatives lacking the necessary knowledge and disjointed remediation efforts as their primary issues.

"Customer service is often frustrating and unhelpful," said one such participant. "Only when you escalate [your] ticket, do your chances of running into someone that knows what they're talking about increase."

That Yoda-sounding reader is right; frustrating it is to have the help you rely on drop the ball in your time of need. However, these unsatisfied customers appear to be the minority because Verizon has the high score in our survey for customer service and support. Unlike the other ISPs in our review, Verizon's customers rated support as the least-important factor in deciding on a provider. Perhaps that lower priority gave the company an edge in our survey results, since this category did not bear the same weight in overall satisfaction as it did with other ISPs.

Not coincidentally, the majority of readers who rated Verizon's support at or below three stars were are also DSL customers.

Overall: 3 ½ Stars

Given the company's noticeably higher scores in every category, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Verizon's overall score of 3 1/2 (3.47) out of five stars also tops the charts in our survey. The two most important factors, according to our Verizon survey participants, performance and reliability, were also the two highest-scoring categories for the company, each earning higher than four stars. These scores were more favorable than those of competing ISPs, and their weighted importance pushed the overall score above the three-star threshold and into the lead.

Interestingly, the company with the highest-rated price score in our survey doesn't actually offer the best price-to-speed ratio. The lead in that category is not obvious compared to other categories and companies. Verizon nudges itself into the lead there because it is one of the only ISPs offering fiber-optic Internet services, with upload speeds as fast as its download bandwidth. This was not lost on our readers, who went hard on every company for pricing, but at least saw the value that fiber-optic technology provides. They therefore judged Verizon's pricing slightly more favorably than they did other ISPs.

"The network is 100 percent fiber," summed up one generally satisfied reader, who rated Verizon at or above three stars in every category. "It really makes the difference."

Our surveyed Verizon readers voted customer support the least-important factor in their decision, but the category still scored an impressive 3¼ stars. It was more important to readers subscribing to other ISPs, and resulted in overall lower ratings for those companies. Perhaps Verizon scored higher because support wasn't as much of a determining factor for these surveyed readers, or maybe the company is just that good with customer service. Either way, an overall score of 3¼ stars out of five gives Verizon the edge in our survey.

Conclusion

At this point, to say Verizon is the winner would be an understatement. Although the price-to-performance ratio isn't the best (on paper), and even though the majority of surveyed DSL subscribers rated each category lower than two stars, Verizon still takes the gold across the board.

Delivering on its customers' primary pain points looks like Verizon's formula for success, with the most important categories rating the highest for the company, and in our review.

The table above details the full results of our survey, with each category labeled by the least and most important factors when deciding on an ISP, with (1) being the most important and (4) being the least. Each category is tallied with its rounded one- to five-star rating and its mathematical average, for comparison later (although there isn't much comparison to be had at this point).

The race to the top comes to a screeching finish, with Verizon taking top honors in Tom's Hardware's ISP Review Survey. Before we end our series for the year, we'll take a closer look at the reviewed service providers and compare each directly. Though the winner may be obvious, each company has its merits, and we we'll revisit them in a final analysis.

A special thanks goes out to our readers for participating, following along and providing lots of interesting feedback, which made it possible to take on the monumental task of rating an Internet service provider. We hope this review series was informative, represented your viewpoint in an honorable manner and created some compelling content for your enjoyment.

Derek Forrest is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware. Follow him on Twitter.

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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been investigating Verizon Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc. over false advertising for their Internet speeds since October. He’s now asking these companies’ customers to take an Internet speed test and submit the results to his office. This way he’ll get a better idea whether Verizon, Cablevision and TWC are lying to their customers about the speeds they’re getting.

Schneiderman's office also sent the three companies requests for more information and copies of any tests they have done on their own Internet speeds, as well as copies of disclosures they have made to their customers. To see whether there’s any large discrepancy between what they say they are offering and what they’re actually delivering, the AG also asked for feedback from the public.

His office created a new online broadband test at InternetHealthTest.org, which will capture a customer’s real bandwidth speeds. After the test is done by the customers of Verizon, Cablevision or TWC, he wants them to submit a screenshot of the results and fill out an online form.

“New Yorkers should get the Internet speeds they pay for. Too many of us may be paying for one thing, and getting another,” Schneiderman said in a statement to Reuters.

The current investigation is mainly interested in the interconnection deals that ISPs make with each other. The AG’s office was concerned that customers that pay a premium for their service were experiencing service disruptions due to disputes between the providers over the interconnection arrangements.

When the FCC passed the new net neutrality rules earlier this year, it specifically left out interconnection deals because it thought it lacked expertise in this fast-growing area. This could be why the NY Attorney General decided to take matters into his hands, if he saw some potential abuses afoot.

The three companies said that they will offer the AG any information he needs and will assist in the investigation.

______________________________________________________________________

Lucian Armasu joined Tom’s Hardware in early 2014. He writes news stories on mobile, chipsets, security, privacy, and anything else that might be of interest to him from the technology world. Outside of Tom’s Hardware, he dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.

You can follow him at @lucian_armasu. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

The team in charge of CyanogenMod announced the first wave of nightlies for the Android Marshmallow-based CyanogenMod 13. So far the list is quite short, including support for only seven devices, but more should be supported in the coming weeks.

The devices that are now supported by CM 13 are the following:

OnePlus One (bacon)Nexus 7 (deb & flo)LG G4 (h815)Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 (mondrianwifi)LG GPad 7.0 (v400 & v410)LG G3 Verizon (vs985)Moto X 2014 (victara)

The developers also gave some warnings before you start flashing the ROM to the supported devices. Those who are on the CM 12.1 YOG4P or CM 12.1 YOG7D releases should stay on the Snapshot release channel, as they are much more stable than the current CM 13 nightlies. CM 13 is expected to reach Snapshot stage in January of next year.

Everyone who is on a CM 12.1 nightly release can do a "dirty flash," but only if they also upgrade all of their add-ons (Xposed, OpenGapps, etc.) at the same time.

The team also recommended those who are using unofficial ports of CyanogemMod 13 source code to wipe the device before flashing the new official CM 13. The two ROMs may not be compatible with each other, despite sharing similar source code.

The new Marshmallow-based upgrade should bring new features such as Doze, which significantly improves standby battery life; a new permission manager (CyanogenMod already had the Privacy Guard, but it shouldn't be necessary anymore in Android 6.0); built-in support for fingerprint readers; a memory manager to track which apps use too much memory; and Google Now on Tap (among other things.)

If your device is among the few that are now supported, you can head to the CyanogenMod download page to get the new ROM.

______________________________________________________________________

Lucian Armasu joined Tom’s Hardware in early 2014. He writes news stories on mobile, chipsets, security, privacy, and anything else that might be of interest to him from the technology world. Outside of Tom’s Hardware, he dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.

You can follow him at @lucian_armasu. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Typically, if you want to sell a lot of smartphones, the process is as follows:

• Step 1: Create an attractive phone with solid hardware
  
• Step 2: Secure support from as many carriers as possible
  
• Step 3: Profit

There's been some misinformation floating around about the availability of the Lumia 950 and 950 XL handsets that Microsoft announced this week, and it's due in part to the baffling way the company has handled Step 2.

AT&T will carry the Lumia 950. No other carriers in the U.S. will have the phone, at least at launch, and no specific carrier will have the 950 XL. However, Microsoft itself will offer both smartphones unlocked from its own store.

Here is the official statement from a company representative:

We're refocusing our channel strategy, narrowing it in the short-term and planning for broader operator availability long-term. While there was interest across the board from U.S. operators, currently we've made the decision to have AT&T carry the Lumia 950, and then sell both the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL unlocked through our own channel in Microsoft stores.In Europe, Deutsche Telekom will carry the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and we'll have more to share about other carriers shortly.

Apparently, Microsoft is taking the "slow burn" approach to selling these devices, to an extent. What "broader operator availability" means exactly is unclear. As they stand today, both the 950 and 950 XL would work on AT&T and T-Mobile networks, but not Sprint and Verizon networks. (They should, however, be able to run on any of Canada's mobile networks.)

Microsoft gets points for offering both phones unlocked -- something it inexplicably failed to do with the launch of the midrange Lumia 640 and 640 XL smartphones earlier this year -- but it's strange that T-Mobile won't be offering the 950 and 950 XL.

Microsoft's above statement said that "there was interest across the board from U.S. operators," and again, with the phones' current configurations, that could only mean AT&T and T-Mobile, unless there were unannounced plans for a CDMA version that supported Sprint and Verizon networks.

But even that seems spurious, at least if you take T-Mobile CEO John Legere (presently the most entertaining industry troll there is) at his word. He took to Twitter this week to say that T-Mobile wanted the handsets. He said that Microsoft "gave" them to AT&T.

Step 2 is a mess right now, and Microsoft can hardly afford a misstep there (or anywhere, really, as it pertain to its mobile strategy). Windows phones have a paltry market share in the U.S., and they won't nibble away at iOS and Android with a limited carrier strategy.

The Lumia 950 and 950 XL have so much going for them: They have solid specs and not-unreasonable price tags. They'll run Windows 10 for phones and all those Universal Apps, which will streamline and unify the Windows 10 experience across PCs and smartphones. They support Continuum. They're the first flagship Lumia devices in a while, so existing Windows Phone fans have been holding off on buying a new smartphone because they've been waiting for these specific handsets.

But Microsoft is fumbling the availability of the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, and that doesn't bode well for the success of these phones, nor of Microsoft's smartphone business as a whole.

Seth Colaner is the News Director at Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Verizon, which bought AOL earlier this year, will begin matching offline personal data of its customers with the data it gets from AOL, which in turn tracks millions of users across the Web. The Verizon customers' personal data includes details such as gender, age and interests.

The invasive tracking is enabled by default for all users, and it is sent unencrypted over the Web, which leaves the personal data of millions of Verizon and AOL users vulnerable to interception for malicious entities. Verizon has 135 million wireless customers, while AOL reaches 40 percent of the Web with its advertising network.

Verizon said that it will share the data with a "limited number of partners," which suggests Verizon and AOL won't be the only companies that will have access to this data, even in the "official" way. However, Verizon did note that the data will only be used "for Verizon and AOL purposes," although it's not clear what exactly that implies.

The way Verizon's identifiers work is by inserting them into the users' Web traffic, which can't happen if the traffic is encrypted with HTTPS. Therefore, by visiting only websites that use HTTPS encryption, you can avoid Verizon's identifiers. Verizon has also set up a way to opt out of its tracking by visiting your privacy choices page in MyVerizon or calling 1.866.211.0874.

A recent report by Access found that AT&T and Vodafone had been using similar techniques to inject their trackers into their customers' Web streams to track them all over the Web, but so far no government agency in any of the countries in which they operate has taken any action on this.

In the U.S., Senators Bill Nelson, Edward Markey, and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to the FTC and FCC to ask them to bring charges against Verizon Wireless, but so far this call has remained unanswered.

Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

On Thursday, LG announced its latest smartphone, the 5.7-inch LG V10. This new flagship is part of a new V-series of phones from LG and features some unique innovations such as a secondary display, stainless steel construction and a manual video mode. All of this is on top of continuing its core features such as  a removable battery and microSD slot.

We were at the New York City launch event and got to spend some time the V10, so check out our thoughts below.

Specifications

Hands-On Video

Stainless Steel: Premium and Durable

LG has finally moved to metal for the construction of one of its phones. Although it previously made some older dumbphones out of metal, it hasn’t used this material in any of its smartphones. However, unlike some OEMs who incorporate metal for the sake of metal into their designs, LG has really thought about what using it means for a phone.

Metal doesn't just have to be about looks; it can add to the durability of a device, too, but only if you use the right material. Although aluminum looks great, in many ways it can be less durable than plastic because it doesn't react well to shocks and impacts. It either dents or bends and transfers the force to other parts of the phone, making the damage worse.

Stainless steel, like the 316L type LG is using (the same used on many high-end watches), is much stronger, so it won't easily dent or bend. LG has also smartly combined this steel "Dura Guard" frame with impact-absorbing plastic, allowing the V10 to be certified as "MIL-STD-810G Transit Drop Compliant." At the event, LG had a video playing showing the V10 being repeatedly dropped, and it held up very well.

It is interesting to note that in many of the drops, the removable back popped off, and after discussing this with some colleagues, we theorized that this feature helps even further with a phone's durability. Some of the impact force is transferred to the back of the phone, and when it comes off, this force is taken away from the phone, reducing the damage it could do.

Color And Design

When we saw the first pictures of the V10, we weren't sure what to make of the textured back. Although we still aren't too enamored with the lines that divide the back into a grid, in person, the V10 looks a lot nicer. The steel sides add a touch of class, and the back looks great and also has a ton of grip with its soft touch scratch-resistant "Dura Skin" coating. The top and bottom of the phone seem to have the same finish, too.

As for color options, the V10 comes in black, white, beige, light (ocean) blue and dark (opal) blue. At the event, though, they only had the black, white and light blue models on display. We're not sure if this is a sign of which colors will be available in the U.S., or just that the others weren't ready to show yet.

At a minimum, you can expect to see the black and white models come to U.S. carriers. The white model is also notable for having a rose-gold (the smartphone color du jour) finish applied to the steel sides and camera surround. It's not our cup of tea, but it's sure to appeal to some. We do hope that LG does offer some optional different color backs, as they do with the leather back for the G4.

The Second Display

Out of all the features of the V10, its secondary display is probably the only one whose value we question. That's not to say that it isn't implemented well – it is, but if the phone didn’t have it, we wouldn't think any less of it. It also adds quite a bit of vertical height to the V10, making it a rather large phone. Yes, it is a 5.7-inch device, so one shouldn't expect it to be small, but other large-screen devices like the Moto X Style and Galaxy Note5 have managed to squeeze the same size screen into much smaller frames. For example, check out the side-by-side of the V10 and Note5 below.

Whether we see the value or not, the second screen does do some neat tricks. Of course, by default it acts as a ticker-tape style information bar above the main screen, which can display app shortcuts, contact shortcuts, notifications, music controls and more. In addition, though, when the V10 is off, it can be set to "always on" to show the date, time and weather, and also four customizable shortcuts; shown below are ringer, Wi-Fi, flashlight and camera shortcuts. Perhaps our favorite use of this display is to be a persistent panel for the camera mode buttons, making them easier to access when taking pictures or video.

Having another display above the main panel, especially one that is also IPS, not a more power-efficient AMOLED screen, means there will be some impact to battery life. LG claims that it only uses up around 5 percent more battery. If you're of the mind that even that is too much, the secondary screen can be turned off permanently in the settings.

Internal Specs and Software: (Almost) More Of The Same

Internally, the V10 isn't substantially different than its older, smaller brother, the 5.5-inch LG G4 (which you can see in the size comparison with the V10 below). LG kept using the SnapDragon 808 SoC to avoid having to deal with the power consumption and heat issues of Qualcomm's flagship 810 SoC. Now that the 810 has been around for a while and other OEMs have learned how to avoid its problems and get the most out of the SoC, usually by underclocking it, we wish that perhaps LG had revisited it, too.

Although the 808 is no slouch, it is hampered by its noticeably slower GPU and lack of support for things like DDR4 memory and the H.265 High Efficiency Video Coding (HVEC) standard. H.265 encoding would make the V10's 4K video file sizes a lot smaller. Still, from our time with the G4, the 808 can still deliver excellent performance, and in the little time we used the V10, we didn't experience any slowdowns or performance issues.

The V10 does best the G4 by having 4 GB of RAM and more default storage (64 GB vs. 32 GB). The single speaker has been moved to the bottom to fire downward, improving over the G4's speakers that face to the rear and is easily muffled. Unfortunately, this placement can also be blocked by your hand, especially when holding the phone in a landscape orientation.

The V10 does now have a fingerprint reader, one of the things I missed most after I switched from the Note 4 to the G4. Even if you aren't planning on using it for mobile payments with Android Pay, it makes logging into the phone and using password management apps like LastPass a lot faster. The V10 uses a circular touch-style reader (similar to the LG Nexus 5X) under the power button, which is located on the back, along with the volume controls, in LG's trademark way, below the camera.

The LG UI on the V10 doesn't look to have changed in any way from the G4's (well, other than the fact that the info can also be shown on the second screen). This time around, it is running over Android 5.1.1. LG's current UI is fairly attractive, and it adheres quite well to Google's Material design language, but it still feels a little rough around the edges when compared to stock Android or the latest iteration of Samsung's TouchWiz.

We also worry about how well LG will keep the V10 updated. This phone will be yet another new device that is going to ship with an older version of Android other than the current one Google offers. Let's hope an update to Android Marshmallow (6.0) isn't too far off.

The Last American Hero

LG is the last big Android OEM to still offer two longtime mainstays of Android phone design: a removable battery and microSD storage expansion. Unfortunately, the battery isn't any bigger than the G4's, still at 3,000 mAh, so the bigger screen and second screen probably give the V10 slightly less runtime. The microSD slot can take up to 2 TB cards, although at the moment, the largest readily-available one is a 200 GB card from SanDisk that costs a whopping $200.

The V10 supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0, but it still has a microUSB (version 2.0) port. With many OEMs moving to USB Type-C now, it would have been nice if LG followed suit, too. Although wireless charging isn't supported out of the box, you'll be able to add it with optional backs (that support either the WPC Qi standard or the PMA standard).

Another area that LG has invested in with the V10 is its audio quality. At the launch event, it had the V10 connected to some high-end audio hardware to show off its audio output chops. We didn't get a chance to listen to the V10 playing music, but on paper, its ESS Technology Sabre 9018 32-bit Hi-Fi DAC and Sabre 9602C headphone amplifier means that the V10 should have some of the best audio output of any phone.

It's All About The (Video) Camera

If there is one feature of the V10 that stands out above all else, it is its vastly improved video capture mode. If the G4 was all about improving still capture performance, then the V10 would be all about video (which would explain the V). What hasn't changed is the actual camera hardware over the G4. The V10 still uses the Sony IMX234 Exmor RS image sensor, has an f/1.8 lens in front of it, and it has the same improved OIS 2.0, the laser autofocus, and the color spectrum sensor for more accurate white balance. That means you can expect identical still capture performance when compared to the G4.

What LG has done is to take all the great things about the G4's manual mode and applied them to the video side of the shop. When we looked at the G4, we thought it was odd that its video mode was so lacking, and now that the V10 is out, it's almost like this was a conscious decision, wink wink, nudge nudge.

We can comfortably say that the V10's manual video mode is the most powerful and fully-featured of any smartphone. Not only does it have the usual selection of manual shutter speed, focus, white balance, and exposure controls, but LG has also incorporated full manual control over the V10's audio capture when shooting video. You can not only see the audio levels, but also monitor them with headphones, and control the capture volume during shooting.

You can also change the capture balance, moving it from in front of the phone to behind the phone, utilizing the V10's three microphones. Audio capture when shooting video is something that is often neglected, even on dedicated cameras, so it is great to see LG paying so much attention to this.

Further, just as the audio levels can be adjusted while shooting, all the other manual controls can be changed while recording, so you can, for example, use the manual focus to pull focus and shift the viewers' attention. The V10 also now has Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) that, although it reduces the capture image size by 20 percent, it does reduce the dreaded "jello" effect when shooting video while the phone is moving.

Finally, LG hasn't just focused on controlling capturing the video but has invested time in giving users the most comprehensive control over frame rates, resolutions and bit rates. The V10 can capture video in 720p, 1080p and 4K. You can also toggle between 16:9 and a more film-like 21:9 aspect ratio, and change the bit rates of each resolution from low to medium to high.

In 1080p, those rates are 10, 17 and 24 Mbps, and in 4K, they're 30, 48 and an outstanding 64 Mpbs (which will produce awesome-looking video…and also chew through the V10's storage like no tomorrow).

All in all, the V10's video mode blows the competition away, and it looks like this phone is the first that we (and I am sure many other professionals) would consider using to shoot "real" videos. Of course, this is all conjecture, and we'll have to test the V10's video mode first before we can claim it is the best, but we like what we see so far.

Another less important (at least to us) feature is the V10's dual front cameras. Instead of one wide front camera, the V10 has two 5MP camera that have different focal lengths -- one at 80 degrees, which is perfect for solo selfies, and one at 120 degrees for group shots. There is also a mode where you can set it to capture a picture will all three cameras, which if you ask us is a bit gimmicky, but we suppose may have some fans.

LG's New Flagship Smarty Improves On Its Predecessor

Although we think the G4 is a good phone, there are a few areas where we did find it a little lacking, and it looks like LG has addressed all of them with the V10. It's almost like this was its plan all along. The V10 is a premium device made from premium materials that hasn't given up on features that for many Android users are non-negotiable -- a removable battery and microSD slot.

When it came to adding the material that everyone seemed to be asking for, metal, LG carefully thought how to use it on the V10 to add more than just aesthetic value, and the choice of stainless steel over aluminum allows for a more durable device. It also has what looks to be one of the best all-round cameras of any phone, with excellent still and video performance.

We like that LG seems to get that even in the premium space, there isn't one size that fits all, and there is room for a phone that perhaps has some features that have more of a niche appeal. With the V10, the V standing for "Video," LG has created the ultimate (on paper) phone for content creators, which means it might not be for everyone, but it's the perfect phone for many.

The only concerns we have are that it is quite big for a 2015 phone, thanks to the secondary display that we could perhaps live without, and that its internal specs haven't been improved much from the G4's. Also, the 3,000 mAh battery might struggle to produce sufficient battery life with the V10's two screens.

The LG V10 is coming out in Korea next week, and in the U.S. soon, most likely late October or early November. No pricing has been announced, but it is sure to cost more than the G4 (though not by too much -- LG isn't Samsung or Apple), and it will be available on AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. (Sorry, Sprint customers.)

Beginning August 13, new Verizon Wireless customers will be able to sign up only to simplified plans that don't include smartphone subsidies. The smartphones, along with other devices such as tablets and wearables, will be sold on a payment plan or at full retail price.

Verizon seems to finally be fully on board with a trend that T-Mobile started a few years ago with its "un-carrier" strategy, which promoted higher transparency of wireless plans and gave the customers a little more control over what they were paying.

First off, Verizon will split its Voice and Data plans into four classes or "sizes:"

Small: $30/month for 1 GB of shareable dataMedium: $45/month for 3 GB of shareable dataLarge: $60/month for 6 GB of shareable dataX-Large: $80/month for 12 GB of shareable data

Then, the company will also simplify its monthly line-access charges. On the new plan, the line-access for smartphones is $20 per month, for tablets it costs $10 a month, and for devices such as smartwatches it's $5 a month. The plans can be shared with up to 10 devices.

There's still a debate to be had about whether Verizon should be charging for "sharing" your data with other devices, considering you're already paying for that data, so it shouldn't matter which device gets to use it. The line between a smartphone and a PC and what you can do with both has blurred significantly over the past few years.

For instance, people watch data-intensive videos on their phones all the time. Therefore, it should make little difference whether it's a smartphone or a PC that uses that data, as long as the customer pays for it. However, American carriers continue to charge extra for the "privilege" of using your smartphone data on a PC.

As part of the new structure, Verizon has also put its old "Edge" payments program for smartphones front and center, giving all customers the choice between a monthly payment plan and paying the full retail price of the available smartphones.

Customers can keep their existing plans or move to the new ones, but there will be some restrictions. Verizon promised that over the next six months, more customers will be able to see the increased transparency in their phone bills, and they should be able to know exactly what they paid for.

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Motorola announced three new phones: the Moto X Style, the Moto X Play and Moto G (3^rd Gen). The Moto X Style is the premium device in its new lineup and the one we are most excited about. It's coming out in September, so we only had a small window of time at the event to go hands-on with it. You can read our impressions and watch our hands-on video below.

One point of clarification that does need to be made is the naming convention of this new Moto X. The phone will be known as the "Moto X Style" in all the markets it will be released in apart from the U.S. Here, it will be called the "Moto X Pure Edition" and will only be sold unlocked by Motorola, Amazon and Best Buy. The reason for this name is that it offers an (almost) Pure Android experience in the same way that Google's Nexus series of devices do.

While we were looking at the Pure Edition specifically, our hands-on is relevant to the Moto X Style, too, because it is an identical phone available through a different sales model. (This is not to be confused with the Moto X Play, which is a different device entirely.)

Hardware Specifications

It is interesting that the specs of the Moto X Pure Edition are very similar to the LG G4, which uses the same Snapdragon 808 SoC, 3 GB of RAM, QHD display and 3,000 mAh battery. That means you should expect similar performance from the Moto X, which is very good. While we haven't finished our review of the G4 yet, we have spent quite a bit of time with it, and have been impressed by the Snapdragon 808, which bodes well for the Moto X Pure Edition. It is also good to see that Motorola hasn't ignored the needs of many Android phone users by including a microSD slot.

Another impressive feature is the amount of LTE bands that the new Moto X supports. Motorola said that it has "universal" LTE support for all U.S. carriers, including Verizon and Sprint, which is impressive. There are 14 bands listed, and the X supports Category 6 LTE speeds of up to 300 Mbps. This means that not only will it work through the U.S., but if you are a frequent traveler, you should be able to get LTE connectivity most anywhere in the world.

We are a little disappointed to see that Motorola did not include a fingerprint sensor. Although its usefulness would be limited at present, by the time the phone is released in September, Google's new Android Pay mobile payment solution should be launched. Having a fingerprint reader to authenticate when using Pay is an important feature that the Moto X is missing.

The combination of a 3,000 mAh screen, Snapdragon 808 SoC and QHD display means that the Moto X's battery life should be similar to the LG G4's. Which is to say good, but not great.

The Moto X uses Motorola's TurboPower technology, which is Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0 rapid charging tech. This has already been available on other Motorola phones using the optional 15 W Turbo Charger. We were told that the Moto X Pure Edition will come with an even faster charging 25 W charger in the box. We are not sure if the Style version of this phone will come with the same. This faster charger allows the Moto X to get 50 percent more power in 15 minutes than competing fast charging solutions such as Samsung's Adaptive Fast Charging.

Hands-On Video

Design

The Moto X Pure Edition contains the same design DNA as previous Motorola phones such as the Moto X (2014) and Nexus 6. It has the same metal sides and curved non-removable back. One thing that has changed is the surround for the camera, and all of the 2015 Motorola phones including the Moto X Play and Moto G have a metal "bar" that runs down the middle of the back below the camera. A nice touch is the return of the Motorola logo dimple that becomes a natural, comfortable resting place for your index finger when holding the phone.

Up top, we find the headphone jack and the combination slot for the Nano SIM and microSD card.

On the bottom is the microUSB 2.0 port. It is a little disappointing that the new Moto X doesn't use a USB Type-C port. This reversible port is the connector of the future, and it will soon become the standard for all smartphones, and we'd wish Motorola had been a little more forward-thinking.

The default back finish is new this year and is what Motorola calls "coated silicone rubber" (CSR). It has a nice, smooth touch matte finish and does not show fingerprints. You can also get the Moto X with an optional wood or leather back. It has a water-repellent nano-coating -- which is not water-resistant, mind you. The fine print on Motorola's site specifically says, "Not designed to be submersed in water, or exposed to pressurized water, or other liquids; Not waterproof."

Despite having a huge 5.7-inch screen, the Moto X is still reasonably compact for a big phone, having a screen-to-body ratio of 76 percent. This is substantially higher than the iPhone 6 Plus' 68 percent, as well as the Galaxy S6's 71 percent and LG G4's 72.5 percent. In fact, it is one of the highest of any smartphone. So despite having a bigger screen, the Moto X is still physically overall a smaller device than the iPhone 6 Plus.

Customization

Motorola's phones are the most customizable on the market today. Using its Moto Maker website, you can change the color and material of the back, and choose from three different colors for the metal sides. You can also customize the color of the metal accents around the camera and the speakers.

There are 10 different CSR color choices, many of which you can see in the image above. The metal accents are available in seven different colors. The choice of side metal color is determined by your color choice for the front lens, either black or white.

The Moto X can also be customized with either a wooden or leather back (for an extra cost). There are four wood choices – bamboo, walnut, ebony and charcoal ash (which you can see above on the right). The leather used is Saffiano leather sourced from Horween, "one of the finest U.S. leather companies." Saffiano leather has a hard texture finish that is scratch-resistant and much more durable that regular leather. One of the negatives of the leather used on last year's Moto X is that it soon got quite scuffed up with use. The leather color options are red, black and natural (shown above) and cognac (not shown).

If you buy the Moto X Pure Edition from Amazon or Best Buy, you will not be able to customize it. Those sellers will have it in white with champagne gold metal accents, bamboo with silver metal accents, and black with dark gray metal accents.

Camera

One of the biggest weaknesses of previous Motorola phones were their cameras. For the 2015 models, Motorola went back to the drawing board and stated that its new devices will have best in class cameras. While we haven't (of course) been able to verify this yet by testing the Moto X's camera, its specs do at least look great on paper. The Moto X Pure Edition uses the new 21MP Sony Exmor RS IMX230 sensor. This is a big 1/2.4" stacked CMOS sensor that has phase detect autofocus (PDAF) with 192 focus points. Its size means that its pixel size shouldn't be too small, despite the megapixel count, allowing for decent low light performance. This sensor can shoot 4K video in HDR, too, which is a nice bonus.

Motorola has combined the sensor with an f/2.0 lens with a blue glass IR filter that helps reduce lens flare and chromatic aberrations. It has a dual LED CCT (color correlated temperature) flash for better color balance when shooting with the flash. Unfortunately, the Motorola camera app does not have a full manual mode – you can adjust the exposure levels, but not ISO, shutter speed and so on. You should, however, be able to download third-party camera apps that leverage Google's Camera2 API to get full control of the camera.

Image quality with this sensor should be very good, and DXOMark has already tested it and rated it higher than every other smartphone apart from the Note 4 and Galaxy S6. This is a big improvement over the camera in the previous Moto X. However, this rating didn't take into account the LG G4, which in my opinion has the best camera of any phone on the market. It will be hard for Motorola to beat the G4's performance.

The front-facing camera is 5MP and has an 87-degree wide angle with front facing flash. The "double twist the phone to start the camera" gesture has returned on, and now you can double twist again to activate the front camera instead.

Software

The Moto X Pure Edition runs an almost stock version of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. Motorola has included its own camera and gallery apps and added a suite of its value-add features, but other than that, this is stock Android in every other way. Also, because this is going to be sold unlocked without any carrier involvement, there won't be any useless bloatware or carrier apps.

The standard suite of Motorola apps included are Moto Assist, Moto Voice, Moto Display and Moto Actions. These are the same as last year's Moto X, and they do add some useful features to the smartphone experience, such as improved voice control. We are not sure if there are any major changes or improvements to the versions installed on the Moto X, as we didn't have too much time to test out the software.

One area of concern though is the Moto Display feature. This displays notifications that appear while the screen is off. Moto Display is activated by picking the Moto X up or reaching your hand towards the screen. Previous Motorola phones had AMOLED displays, where these minimal white notifications showed up on the powered-down screen and only the pixels needed to display the white text were lit.

This meant that there was minimal impact to battery life. However, because the new Moto X now uses a TFT LCD screen, the entire screen now needs to turn on to show the notifications. This is because of the difference in the way LCD and AMOLED screens display black pixels. Now, if Moto Display is turned on in the Moto X Pure Edition, there will be a much more significant impact on battery life.

Availability And Pricing

As mentioned, the Pure Edition of the new Moto X will be the only model available in the U.S. In other markets, it will be sold as the Moto X Style, possibly unlocked and by carriers, though Motorola did not provide any details.

The Pure Edition will be sold online by Motorola (where it can be customized), Amazon, and Best Buy. It will also be sold in Best Buy retail stores. Pricing starts at $400 for the 16 GB model, with an extra $50 for each additional level of storage (32 GB or 64 GB). This makes the Moto X an incredible value, because unlike some competing budget flagships, there seem to be no compromises (like the removal of NFC as on the OnePlus 2). However, the aforementioned lack of a fingerprint reader will impact it when Google Pay launches later this year.

The Pure Edition even fills the need for a stock Android phone to replace the discontinued Nexus 5, for those who find the Nexus 6 too big (though in all honesty, the new Moto X isn't that much smaller). I'd even see it as a viable competitor for the Note 4/5 for those who don't have any need for the S Pen. I own a Note 4 and love its size, but really rarely, if ever, do I use the S Pen, and I would love to replace it with a similarly-sized premium device running stock Android.

The Motorola Moto X Pure Edition will be available in September.

Alex Davies is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware, covering Smartphones, Tablets, and Virtual Reality. You can follow him on Twitter. Follow Tom's Hardware on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Sony announced that it will launch the Xperia Z4v exclusively on Verizon Wireless this summer. The Xperia Z4v is Sony's waterproof and dust proof successor to the Xperia Z3v on the Verizon network.

Sony has had a rather confusing launch strategy for its new flagship model, by calling it the Xperia Z4 in Japan first, and then giving it the Xperia Z3+ name internationally, only to go back to an Xperia Z4 variation for the U.S. market. It's unclear exactly why Sony chose to do this, especially as it's only going to make the next flagship name even more confusing (Xperia Z4 internationally/Xperia Z5 in the U.S.?).

It's possible that after the Japan launch, the company realized the offering wasn't strong enough to call it the "Xperia Z4," which is why it moved to the Xperia Z3+ name. However, Verizon tends to get its way with its phone partners, and it probably wasn't going to put too much money into advertising last year's product name with a "+" next to it. An "Xperia Z3+v" wouldn't have been that easy to advertise, either.

Verizon's Xperia Z4v is also slightly different than the international Xperia Z3+. The main difference seems to be that it comes with a 1440p resolution display, making it the first Sony phone to have a resolution higher than 1080p. Sony has been reluctant to move to higher resolutions on its smartphones, citing battery life concerns.

However, that argument wouldn't make sense if the company continued to use old 1080p panels manufactured with a less efficient technology. A modern 1440p panel could be just as efficient. The real trade-off in battery life would be if Sony started using 1080p panels made with the same modern technology, but it seems the company has decided to simply start using 1440p Triluminos panels instead.

Another difference is that the phone is a little thicker at 8.6 mm compared to the Xperia Z3+, which is only 6.9 mm. It's not clear why this difference exists, as the battery size is virtually the same at 3,000 mAh.

The Xperia Z4v phone will arrive with the same Snapdragon 810 processor that's inside the Xperia Z3+ as well as 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, support for microSD expansion up to 128 GB, cat.6 LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac and hVoLTE (hybrid VoLTE that allows VoLTE calls to switch back to normal calls when the VoLTE signal drops).

Sony's Xperia Z4v also comes with high-res 96 kHz/24-bit audio and supports audio technologies such as ClearAudio+ (automated equalizer settings), DSEE HX (upscales poor quality MP3s to CD quality), LDAC (proprietary Sony technology that can send high-res audio over Bluetooth) and automatic headset compensation.

The Xperia Z4v's cameras seem to be the same ones as on the Xperia Z3+. On the back it has a 20MP shooter that can take 4K videos at 30 fps, and in the front it has a wide-angle 5MP camera optimized for selfies that also supports many of the rear camera's software features.

The device also supports PS4 Remote Play, which allows Xperia Z4v owners to play full versions of their PS4 games on their phones, via Wi-Fi.

The Sony Xperia Z4v will be available on Verizon's network this summer in black and white color options. Customers will also be able to purchase cases from brands such as Otterbox, Case-Mate, Tech21 and Incipio. The device will come with Android 5.0.2 out of the box.

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LG created a new smartphone for Verizon customers featuring Windows 8.1. But unlike other smartphones, which are already expensive even before purchasing a data plan, the new LG Lancet is priced for customers on a budget.

The Lancet has a 4.5-inch LCD display and uses a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor. It has two cameras: an 8-megapixel camera in the rear and a VGA camera in the front. It has 8 GB of internal storage, but it also supports up to an additional 128 GB through a MicroSD card. Verizon "More Everything" customers will also get 25 GB of free cloud storage. It uses a 2100 mAh lithium ion battery, which LG said gives the phone a battery life of 420 hours on standby and 18.5 hours during usage.

LG also fitted it with some of its own features, such as Knock On, which allows you to turn the screen on or off by double-tapping it, and Quick Memo to easily capture screenshots. Verizon will also give Lancet users Advance Calling 1.0, making it the first Windows phone in Verizon's roster to feature what the company calls HD Voice Calling. The feature is supposed to provide better voice quality during phone calls.

The smartphone is now available online with the phone arriving in stores on May 21. The full retail price is $120, but customers can pay $5 a month for 24 months through Verizon Edge. Its price and features make it a viable option for a basic smartphone, and with Windows 10 coming in the next few months -- albeit later than the full Windows 10, as we've just learned -- Lancet owners will join other Windows Phone users in the free upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile.

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Today, Verizon announced that it intends to purchase AOL Inc. for $4.4 billion. Verizon seems to believe that this deal should strengthen its OTT (Over the Top) strategy and help it diversify away from being only a wireless provider.

Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO, said: "Verizon's vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global multiscreen network platform. This acquisition supports our strategy to provide a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers to deliver that premium customer experience."

Late last year, Verizon tried to get into the content business with a new technology news-focused website called Sugarstring. It's not clear what Verizon's strategy was at the time, because the company quickly shuttered it soon after rumors appeared online that Sugarstring writers would not be allowed to talk about the NSA's domestic surveillance activities or net neutrality.

Perhaps Verizon realized that it was simply thinking too small then and that a brand new homegrown website wouldn't have had too much success or credibility. Soon, Verizon will own some large media brands such as Engadget and Techcrunch (Huffington Post will apparently be spun off) that already have an established readership.

If Verizon was willing to completely ban certain technology hot topics that didn't put it in a good light from its Sugarstring site, it will be interesting to see if Verizon ends up doing the same with its AOL properties. However, as a large U.S. carrier that's tied to the explosive mobile industry, Verizon's businesses and actions will continue to come up in the news cycle whether the company likes it or not. Therefore, such actions may prove futile and even counter-productive.

For now, though, Verizon seems more interested in expanding its business portfolio than meddling with the news about the company. As the Internet increasingly becomes the only type of medium people use for consuming content, and its customers start using Voice and Text plans less and less, Verizon may fear that it will eventually get completely commoditized. Verizon, and other carriers, don't want to eventually compete on a "per GB" price.

Many billion dollar businesses have been built on the Internet, and Verizon wants to own or create a few of those, too. For instance, AOL is third only to Google and Facebook in terms of the people it reaches with online video (seriously!) and Verizon is planning a video streaming service of its own. By acquiring AOL, Verizon can reach many more people, which can help its OTT video streaming service explode almost overnight.

Verizon seems to want to offer this streaming service for free, monetized through ads, which is another area in which AOL can help the company. AOL has a large ad platform for its own content, and it could expand that platform to cover Verizon's own streaming business, too. That means it should be easier for Verizon to find advertisers for its shows, which could keep the streaming business profitable, even if it was offered to users for free. If Verizon's ad-based streaming service is profitable enough to get good and original shows, it could become the free Netflix competitor that Hulu never was.

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Marvell is heavily involved in developing mobile and IoT technologies. Although its products primarily impact Asia, the company has been slowly expanding its reach. At Mobile World Congress 2015, we had the opportunity to speak with Marvell to see what new products it has been working on.

Last November, Marvell announced two new SoCs—the Armada PXA1908 and Armada PXA1936—both of which feature 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores running at up to 1.5 GHz. The PXA1908, using a quad-core CPU configuration and supporting up to a 13 MP camera with a 720p display, is geared towards low-end smartphones, while the PXA1936, using an octa-core configuration and supporting up to a 16 MP camera with a 1080p display, is destined for mid-range devices.

At MWC 2015, Marvell announced that the PXA1908, along with its Avastar 88W8777 wireless connectivity chip, have found a new home in the Samsung Galaxy J1 smartphone. There are actually two different versions of this phone. The global LTE version with Marvell inside is SM-J100F.

In addition to the Marvell silicon, this version of the J1 also includes a 4.3-inch WVGA screen (800 x 480), 768 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD slot), 4G LTE modem and a 5 MP rear camera, and it will be running Android 4.4. This version should be available starting in March.

Project Ara

Marvell announced its support for Project Ara at Google's second Developer Conference back in January. The 2x2 module contains an Armada PXA1928 SoC, which integrates four A53 cores running at 1.5 GHz and a GC5000 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.0. The module also includes an audio codec, along with full wireless capability including 802.11ac (1x1), BT 4.1, NFC, and FM radio courtesy of an Avastar 88W8887; GPS, Glonass, and Compass satellite navigation provided by the 88L2000 chip; and a 2G/3G/4G/LTE Cat 4 modem with VoLTE support.

Wireless

During MWC 2015, Marvell also announced that its PXA1802, PXA1920, PXA1928, PXA1908 and PXA1936 SoCs now offer LTE Broadcast capability thanks to software support for eMBMS (evolved Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service), and 3GPP standard governing broadcast/multicast services. Marvell demonstrated this new feature using a Verizon exclusive Ellipsis 8 tablet.

A more interesting announcement is the new Armada PXA1826 modem with Category 7 LTE and VoLTE support. The modem includes an integrated ARM Cortex-A7 processor running at up to 1.2 GHz and is paired with Marvell's R10 LTE RF transceiver. It works with TD-LTE, FDD-LTE, TD-SCDMA, WCDMA and GSM carriers, but specific frequency bands were not specified.

Marvell also showed a demonstration of its TAPIR project. The animal-shaped keyfobs have an embedded NFC chip and swipe-style fingerprint sensor, enabling several different use cases. For example, holding the fob up to an intelligent sign could show additional info or a web link in the companion app on your smartphone. It can also be used for NFC payments, authenticated with the fingerprint sensor.

The most compelling application shown during the demo involves hotel room access. After checking into your hotel using an app on your phone, the room number and relevant information is downloaded and shared with the fob. After arriving at the hotel, you can skip the check-in line and head straight to your room, using the fob to unlock the door.

Finally, Marvell's Wi-Fi combo chips, the Avastar 88W8887 and 88W8897, both received support for the Wi-Fi Alliance Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) specification. NAN uses peer-to-peer Wi-Fi in a low-power background mode to discover nearby information and devices without requiring a connection to a Wi-Fi access point. It has some overlapping functionality with Bluetooth beacons, as it can be used for location aware advertisements for example, and it sounds similar to Wi-Fi Direct, although that's a separate technology. However, NAN can also be used for social gaming and sharing media with nearby users.

NAN functionality complements indoor navigation technologies such as Bluetooth beacons and Wi-Fi received signal strength indication (RSSI). Marvell's Avastar 88W8964 4x4 802.11ac Wi-Fi chipset improves indoor location and navigation further by adding support for 802.11mc. Later this year, Marvell will release chipsets that also add Bluetooth Low Energy Angle of Arrival/Angle of Departure to further aid indoor navigation.

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The HTTP/2 standard, the successor to HTTP/1.1, has recently been finalized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and now all browsers and servers are free to use it. The HTTP/2 protocol initially started as a Google project called SPDY, which was encrypted by default, and it later entered the standardization process at IETF, so all browsers can start using it.

Unfortunately, despite the protocol's initial promise to be encrypted-only, the Open Web Alliance group, formed by companies such as Verizon, Comcast, Cisco, DISH, Microsoft and others, managed to fight against that plan in the last few months of the protocol's standardization process, making encryption optional. (You can learn more about the Open Web Alliance in this InfoWorld article.)

This happened despite an almost unanimous consensus of IETF in the fall of 2013 (post-Snowden revelations) that it will try to bring an Internet where everything is encrypted by default (see video below). 

Through the lobbying power of the Open Web Alliance group and through well-placed members inside of IETF as co-chairs from companies such as Cisco, and even from agencies such as the NSA, the IETF organization eventually lost consensus for mandating that all HTTP/2 connections be secure by default.

The ones who had the most to gain from this are the telecom companies, which have recently started injecting ads into their customers browsing to make some extra revenue, despite already being paid more than reasonably well for their Internet connection services. Some of these companies have backtracked somewhat from doing this, in the sense that their tracking and ad-injection is optional, but still requires an opt-out; meaning, it's enabled by default for all customers.

Even if they had backtracked completely due to the recent PR scandals about these issues, the damage to the HTTP/2 protocol is already done, because it's unlikely that there will be an updated version that mandates encryption anytime soon. The previous version of the HTTP protocol came out in 1999, which is 16 years ago.

Fortunately, the browsers that have adopted it so far, such as Chrome and Firefox, are only enabling the encrypted version of HTTP/2. In these browsers, there won't be an option to use the HTTP/2 protocol without encryption, at least for now.

Despite Microsoft being part of the group that opposed mandatory encryption in HTTP/2, the Internet Explorer (IE) browser that comes with Windows 10 right now only has the encrypted version of HTTP/2 as well. However, Windows 10 is still in preview mode, and we haven't seen Project Spartan yet. So it remains to be seen if Microsoft will keep the encrypted-only HTTP/2 or adopt the plain-text one as well in the final versions of IE browsers. If Microsoft wants IE to be seen as secure as Chrome and Firefox, then hopefully the company will support only the encrypted version of HTTP/2.

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Qualcomm announced its LTE-U chips, which use the unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum currently in use by Wi-Fi networks. LTE-U could become a threat to Wi-Fi networks if it ends up increasing the congestion in the available Wi-Fi spectrum, but Qualcomm said that the technology will actually work in harmony with the Wi-Fi signals.

Today, some carriers boost their cell towers with Wi-Fi, but Wi-Fi is not the same technology as LTE, so the transition between the two is not quite seamless. LTE-U is meant to solve this issue because it's simply LTE that works over another band, that is unlicensed rather than licensed, so everyone can use it, including carriers. Carriers could install many small LTE-U cells everywhere that would end up boosting the signal of their big towers that work on the licensed spectrum.

Another advantage for smartphone users is that they don't have to login to different Wi-Fi networks to benefit from a stronger signal. On the other hand, using data on LTE-U will likely count against your data bill. So far, only Verizon and T-Mobile have signed up for LTE-U deployments, but AT&T and Sprint will probably follow them soon, too.

The main motivation to use LTE-U for both Qualcomm and carriers is to address the explosion of mobile data demand over the next decade. The company said that forecasts put mobile data consumption at 1000x what it is today within 10 years, so new solutions and technologies will need to account for that growth.

“As the Internet enters a new phase of growth, in which more devices are connected and share richer data, there is a need to cost effectively address the challenges of a 1000x increase in mobile data traffic. To do this, we need a combination of more spectrum, more efficient use of existing spectrum, and more small cells," said Matt Grob, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and chief technology officer. “Our job is to help the industry make the best use of all available spectrum, using both LTE and Wi-Fi technologies, to increase capacity."

The first chipset family to integrate the LTE-U technology will be the FSM99xx, and it should be available in the second half of this year to mobile device makers. Consumers will be able to use LTE-U technology in their smartphones in the first half of 2016. Qualcomm also announced the FTR8950, which is the first RF solution for the small LTE-U cells that the carriers will be deploying. The company will offer more details at MWC next week.

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Google announced on Monday that it is currently working with Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA and AT&T Mobility to bring tap-and-pay functionality back to Google Wallet. This feature will be offered on Android-based phones running Android 4.4 "KitKat" and later.

Google Wallet previously wasn't offered on many pre-KitKat Android devices due to the three carriers' joint payment system called ISIS Wallet. To use this service, customers with Android phones were required to install a special SIM card offered by the carriers. Even with that installed, Google Wallet wasn't listed on Google Play, and customers were forced to use ISIS Wallet if they wanted tap-and-pay functionality.

Back in July 2014, ISIS Wallet CEO Michael Abbott announced that the company was changing its name to Softcard so it wouldn't be associated with the Islamic militant group located in the Middle East. "We have no desire to share a name with this group and our hearts go out to those affected by this violence," Abbott said.

Meanwhile, the three carriers finally allowed Google to re-open downloads for Google Wallet for all Android tablets and smartphones. Although only a handful of devices were allowed to use the tap-and-pay function, presumably the rest of the Android crowd could only send and request money by using a stored credit card.

That brings us to the present, as Google's Ariel Bardin, Vice President of Payments, reported that Google has worked out a deal with the three carriers and Softcard to enable NFC payments within Google Wallet, which will be pre-installed on upcoming Android 4.4 devices slated to be released later this year.

"We're also acquiring some exciting technology and intellectual property from Softcard to make Google Wallet better," Bardin added.

These devices will undoubtedly have the special SIM card already installed, while owners of current Android 4.4 devices will need to contact their wireless carrier to receive the heavily-secured card. These cards should be free for subscribers.

The move to beef up Google Wallet is surprising given that Softcard was the reason why Google couldn't enable Wallet-based tap-to-pay in the first place. One could speculate that the recent Apple Pay boom has pushed carriers into rethinking their Android-based payment plans. Heck, even Samsung is looking to launch its own tap-to-pay payment system with the purchase of LoopPay.

Tap-to-pay requires that a device have not only the special secured SIM card, but NFC hardware, as well. With Google Wallet's tap-to-pay capability turned on, users can simply make a payment by tapping their phone on a register sporting the oval Wi-Fi-like logo. Customers can also add multiple credit cards and set one as the default before making a tap-to-pay purchase.

KitKat-based devices not compatible with Google Wallet's tap-and-pay include the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and several others.

UPDATE, 2:43 PM EST, 2/24/15: Fixed an error regarding compatible tap-and-pay phones. Also note as reader "juanricos" points out, tap-and-pay has been available in Google Wallet with the release of KitKat. The need for special SIM card and the useof ISIS/Software instead of Google Wallet was an issue germane to Android Jellybean devices, not KitKat

Follow Kevin Parrish @exfileme. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

LG G3: A Plethora Of Pixels And A Laser!

At the end of May, LG announced its latest flagship Android phone, the G3. We were at the New York event and spent a small amount of time with a pre-production Korean model. Two months later, the G3 was made available for North American consumers to buy through all five major U.S. carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon. It was also released in Canada at the beginning of August on Bell, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel and Videotron.

(Ed.: We realize our review of the G3 is rather late and, for that, we apologize. However, the G3 is still LG’s flagship phone and will likely be available even after its successor arrives. So, this review is still relevant.)

As the successor to 2013's well-received (but not exactly popular) G2, the G3 was the first smartphone released in North America with a WQHD (2560x1440) display and the final device of the mid-year Android flagship release schedule, which started back in March with the HTC One M8 and was followed by the Samsung Galaxy S5 in April.

LG was Google’s go-to partner for several of its Android reference devices, such as the past two Nexus phones and the Android Wear G Watch. Consequently, we assumed that the G3 would be the basis for the next Nexus phone, just as the G2 was for the Nexus 5. However, Google surprised us and decided to partner with Motorola instead to build the Nexus 6, a super-sized Moto X with a six-inch WQHD screen.

Like the G2, the front of the G3 is almost all screen. And its power and volume control buttons are on the back, a layout that works surprisingly well once you get used to it. The G3 remains an all-plastic phone, but has the look and feel of a premium device.

LG also decided to make its newest flagship more flexible. No, not flexible in a G Flex kind of way. Rather, the company provides the options to expand storage capacity through a microSD slot and swap out the battery.

LG G3 Tech Specs

(Note: Camera specifications will be compared later in the camera hardware section)

1 Included on international models, but requires optional cover for U.S. model2 Requires optional Sony wireless charging cover

The G3 has all of the hardware we expect from a flagship device: a Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3GB RAM, 32GB NAND, 802.11ac, Cat 4 LTE and a large display with high resolution. We’ll see how all this hardware comes together later in the review and how it compares to other flagship phones.

Options And Availability

Both of the G3 models we tested were what LG calls Metallic Black, which is really more of a gunmetal gray. The G3 is also available in the United States in Silk White and Shine Gold (the ubiquitous color that nearly all of 2014’s flagship phones are available in). In other markets, the G3 is available in Moon Violet and Burgundy Red, too. Canadians have to make do with only one color, Metallic Black.

Customers in the U.S. have two additional colors to choose from: Blaze Red and Steel Blue. The red color is a Verizon exclusive (its Metallic Black model is also blacker than the others), and the blue color is a Best Buy exclusive, although it's still available for the three major carriers.

As you can see, the LG G3 is available on a wide variety of North American carriers just like the other flagship phones—the notable exception being the OnePlus One. Strangely, it is not available on Telus in Canada, even though this carrier did sell the G2.

The G3’s retail cost is in line with that of all the other flagships shown above, apart from the OnePlus One, which is one of the best deals in mobile. Contract pricing is something that is hard to compare, since, while the G3's "normal" pricing on a two-year term seems to be $200 on all carriers, different limited-time promotions can reduce the contract price of the phone substantially. Also, T-Mobile skews contract pricing, since its phones are available for $0 up front.

Comparing The G3 To Its Competition

We had the opportunity to test both the Canadian (which is the same as the U.S. GSM version) and Korean variants of the G3. Before we dive into our review and benchmarks, we’ll compare the G3's specifications and features to several of its major flagship competitors, including the Apple iPhone 6 Plus, OnePlus One, Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Samsung Galaxy S5 and Sony Xperia Z3.

Four of the six phones we are comparing (including the G3) use Qualcomm’s popular Snapdragon 801 SoC, a faster version of the Snapdragon 800 that appeared in the G2 (read this article to learn the differences between the Snapdragon 801 and 800). Consequently, the overall performance of these phones should be fairly similar. However, there are several other factors that can affect benchmark results like software and the phone’s ability to dissipate heat.

The iPhone 6 Plus’ A8 and Galaxy Note 4’s Snapdragon 805 are more recent releases, and thus offer improved CPU and GPU performance over the G3. While LG may not be able to match these newer phones in our metrics, that's not reason enough to dismiss the G3. The 801 is still a capable SoC.

Most versions of the G3 have 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (some European models only come with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage). This is nice to see, as most flagship phones still ship base models with only 16GB of flash, which just isn’t sufficient for the many things we can do with our phones today. The G3 also has a microSD slot, a nice addition after the lack of expandable storage in the G2. All of the other flagship Android phones, apart from the OnePlus One, have microSD slots too, so we guess OEMs realized that this a feature Android users appreciate.

We’ll be going into more detail about the G3’s screen later, but as you can see from the specs table, it has the same 5.5-inch size as the OnePlus One and iPhone 6 Plus. At 534 PPI, the G3’s incredibly crisp WQHD (2560x1440) resolution is only shared with a handful of phones, including the Galaxy S5 LTE-A (576 PPI), Galaxy Note 4 (515 PPI) and Nexus 6 (493 PPI).

Looking at power sources, the G3 has a large 3000mAh cell, which is comparable to the larger batteries of all the phones we're looking at. Unfortunately, battery size isn’t everything since there are other factors that determine how long a phone can run, such as screen size and power draw. As you’ll see later in our tests, the G3 doesn’t have the best battery life when it's up against the competition. Nonetheless, it still runs longer than many flagship phones from last year, so run time is all relative.

Even though the international G3 does support wireless charging, you can only get it on the North American model if you invest in the official LG Quick Circle Folio Case ($60). This gives carriers a higher profit margin accessory to sell to those who want a feature that international buyers get out of the box. Frustratingly, while Qi is the charging standard on the international G3 and most of the North American carriers, if you get the AT&T variant, it uses the less popular PMA standard, locking you into only using the case that AT&T sells.

Like five of the six phones we are comparing, the G3 only has a mono speaker. It seems Sony and HTC are the only OEMs that understand the value of front-facing stereo speakers. At least, at 1W, the G3’s driver is louder than the average smartphone's.

As for connectivity, there are different G3 models for each of the four main North American carriers, supporting different selections of LTE bands. It would be nice if LG took the lead of Apple and Sony by simply producing two models: one for the GSM carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile and the Canadian carriers) with as many LTE bands available as possible, and one model for CDMA carriers. The G3, like the other five phones in today's review, supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0. It even has an IR port so it can act as a universal remote.

Despite being all-plastic, the G3 looks like a premium device. It feels solid with minimal flex, although it does bend more than the other phones in our comparison, and it has a high level of fit and finish.

The G3’s plastic back has the appearance of brushed aluminum, and even though it’s slipperier than the rubberized texture on the back of the Galaxy S5, we prefer its metallic appearance over the S5’s golf club handle look. Of course, simulated aluminum can’t replace the look and feel of the real thing. But there are several advantages for using plastic; it reduces cost, decreases weight and allows the back (and subsequently, the battery) to be removable. That's a feature missing from the all-aluminum iPhone 6 Plus and HTC One M8.

Unfortunately, the G3, like the all-plastic Galaxy S5, Note 4 and Xperia Z3, has an issue with performance throttling due to overheating. The plastic chassis doesn’t dissipate heat nearly as well as metal. While this thermal issue does affect the G3’s potential when it's pushed to its limits, such as when we run our benchmark suite or play 3D-heavy games, it doesn’t have an impact on normal daily usage.

Another feature missing from the G3 is water and dust resistance. While still a relatively new feature for flagship phones, both the Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z3 come with basic environmental protection.

For a 5.5-inch phone, the G3 is very compact. If you look at the dimensions in the specifications table, it isn’t much bigger than the Xperia Z3 or Galaxy S5, both phones with smaller screens. Even though it has the same size screen as the iPhone 6 Plus, the G3 is so much smaller and lighter, you might confuse it for the 5.2-inch G2. In fact, the G3 is the second-lightest phone of the six flagships in our comparison. Only the 5.1-inch Galaxy S5 is lighter. I'd still call it a two-handed phone, but the G3’s lightness and small bezels make this phablet much easier to handle.

On the software side, the G3 is, unfortunately, still running an older version of Android KitKat (4.4.2). This is the same build that it shipped with when it came out last year. The other four Android phones we are comparing the G3 to have either been updated to or came with Android 4.4.4. While all Android OEMs have vastly improved the speed that they deliver software updates, they are always going to lag a little behind Google, so none of them are running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) yet. However, LG has said the reason it has not released a 4.4.4 update for the G3 is that it wants to jump directly to 5.0. This update is already rolling out in the UK and will debut for North American customers early in 2015.

LG G3 Look And Feel

As mentioned, the G3 is an all-plastic, but well-made, phone. It doesn’t suffer from the cheap feeling that plagues many of the competing plastic phones. It is also quite an attractive device, with a very convincing faux brushed metal finish on the back, and a front that focuses all of your attention on the star of the show, the WQHD display.

As with the most recent flagship Android phones, the G3 follows the trend of increasing screen size over the previous generation, in this case from 5.2 to 5.5 inches.

The front of the phone is almost all display, with super-thin bezels at the side—LG claims the front is 76.4-percent screen. Since it uses on-screen buttons for navigation, the lower bezel, devoid of physical buttons, is minimized, which helps make the G3 compact for a phone with a 5.5-inch display.

Located within the thin bezel along the top is the earpiece, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, a notification LED and the 2.1MP front-facing camera.

The thin lower bezel is slightly textured, with circular ridges and the LG logo smack-dab in its center. We would have preferred to see the corporate branding kept to just the back of the phone, and for this bezel to be black so it blends into the screen.

In the picture above, we see the brushed metal pattern and curved shape of the back (what LG calls a “Floating Arc” design), which makes the G3 feel smaller than it actually is and very comfortable to hold. It’s a design feature also found on the HTC One M8, another phone with great ergonomics. There are no buttons on the sides of the G3; all of its controls are relocated to the back, just under the camera.

Like the G2, the G3’s volume rocker and power button are on the back of the phone, just under the camera. And while this placement at first seems awkward, once you get used to where they are, it becomes more natural. However, until your finger is trained, it is easy to accidentally touch the camera, which usually leaves a nice big smudge across the glass. In addition, their location is part of the reason LG can keep the side bezels on the front so narrow, since there is no internal button hardware on the sides taking up space. The rear buttons also act as shortcuts to launch applications when the phone is locked or off; the lower one activates the camera and the upper one the QuickMemo+ note-taking app.

The redesigned buttons feature a raised, circular power button sitting in the middle of a concave volume rocker. Contrasting textures help differentiate them by touch. A color-matched plastic accent surrounds the buttons and camera lens, tying these elements together in an alluring way.

To the left of the camera lens is the sensor for the G3’s big innovation, a laser-assisted autofocus. On the camera’s right is a dual LED flash that projects a more natural color onto your lit subjects than the single white LED flashes other phones use.

At the bottom-left corner is the one-watt mono speaker. While it is quite loud for a smartphone speaker, it is still disappointing that LG did not equip the G3 with stereo drivers. Then again, given a compact design, it would have been hard for LG to squeeze in two speakers and a 5.5-inch screen without increasing the phone’s overall size.

In the close-up shot above, we see that the brushed aluminum aesthetic on the G3’s plastic back is quite convincing—at first glance it really does look like metal. It also has a nice satin finish that resists fingerprints well. Strangely, the G3 does not have the self-healing, anti-scratch finish of the G Flex.

On the top, there's an IR port for the LG Quick Remote software that comes with the phone, along with one of the noise cancelling microphones. In this view, you can see the G3’s “Floating Arc” design theme again.

On the bottom of the G3 is another microphone, a headphone jack and the USB charging port. It’s still microUSB 2.0, so Samsung remains the only Android OEM to use USB 3.0 on its flagship phones. At this point, the benefits of USB 3.0 are negligible; the additional wired transfer speed only matters when transferring larger video files off of the device. Many users now use cloud services for this anyway.

The plastic back of the G3 is removable, revealing the replaceable battery, SIM card slot and microSD slot. There are also four pins at the top-left that connect to the back cover for NFC and Qi wireless charging. Note that the default cover of the North American G3 does not support wireless charging. If you want to cut the cord, then you’ll have to buy the LG Quick Circle Folio Case that attaches by replacing the stock back cover.

The G3 still uses a micro-SIM, which is both a blessing and a curse. If you are upgrading from an older phone, that means that you do not need to get a new SIM. However, if you are someone who switches between multiple phones, and one of them uses a nano-SIM, you’ll need to buy an adapter. The microSD slot is above the SIM card, and is designed in such a way that you can insert and remove it without having to remove the phone's battery, which is nice.

The G3 has a removable 3000mAh battery, a feature than many users say is important to them. However, in some ways this is a step back from the battery found in LG's G2. Because the G2’s battery was sealed in the phone and didn’t need to be user-accessible, LG better utilized the available space and increased its capacity, a missed opportunity on the G3. Since the G3’s WQHD display has higher power requirements than the 1080p screens of other flagship Android phones, the G3 would benefit from any additional capacity, even if it were just a few hundred mAh.

LG G3 Software Tour

Of the major Android OEMs, LG has the dubious distinction of having the ugliest custom skin. Forever playing catch-up with Samsung, the software on LG’s phones seems to resemble the look and feel of Samsung’s previous-generation UI. A great example is the G2, by all rights a fantastic piece of hardware saddled with a garish interface. No wonder people preferred its Nexus 5 cousin that ran stock Android.

For the G3, LG went back to the drawing board and designed a flatter, simpler UI using the guiding principle “Simple is the New Smart.” The result is an attractive interface that we don’t want to immediately change or hide with a custom launcher.

Historically, OEM skins on top of Android are a bit of a nightmare, particularly a few years ago when their heavy-handed customizations not only looked bad, but also impacted performance. In 2014, the situation improved drastically, with nearly all OEM skins adhering a lot closer to the standards Google lays out, subsequently looking and performing a lot better. The G3’s UI is a big improvement over the G2. In our opinion, it's now one of the most attractive Android OEM skins.

It has a flat, clean, minimal appearance, which, if you want a comparison, looks a little like a cross between HTC’s Sense UI and stock Android. It does, however, have a unique look (you can learn more about in this video), which it achieves by using a toned-down palette used consistently throughout the UI. It actually looks very similar to the Material design language of Android 5.0.

The screenshots above show the application drawer for the Canadian Bell model; the assortment of pre-installed bloatware is carrier-specific, so the selection of apps differs from what other carriers offer (Ed.: The North American Sprint model comes packed with “value-added” software. If AOL still made CDs, I wouldn’t be surprised to find one of those in the box too). To its credit, LG doesn’t provide many superfluous applications that duplicate Google app functionality—there’s no LG-branded music or app store, just Google’s Play Store. LG even gives you the opportunity during the initial setup (and afterwards) to choose to uninstall some of its applications before you start using the phone.

In the third screenshot above, you can see the notification shade, which has a selection of shortcuts at the top that you can scroll through, a collapsible row of LG’s QSlide apps, along with volume and brightness controls. In all, the controls can take up to half of the screen, which does not leave much room for actual notifications. At least LG provides the option to edit the shade’s settings to remove the sliders and make more room. However, stock Android still handles this better, allowing you to flip between two panes, one with shortcuts and the other just notifications.

Part of LG’s new UI is the use of color coding (including behind the transparent status bar) of the phone’s main applications. The Calendar app is orange, Contacts is teal, Messaging is a muted yellow, Music is purple and QuickMemo+ is brown. Along with the color coding, the stock apps are well designed and follow Google’s guidelines closely, so much so that you might think they are Google apps (meant as a compliment).

The G3’s Smart Keyboard can be seen in the second screenshot, and it’s one of the best I’ve used. It’s similar to what is widely considered the gold standard of Android keyboards, Google’s own, but does have some unique LG features, such as being able to change its height and how much of the screen it takes up to make the individual keys bigger (or smaller). You can also customize the position of the two keys beside the space bar and what action they perform; for example, if you’d prefer the right-hand key to be a comma instead of a period, you can change it. The keyboard also supports gestures for correcting mistakes and predictive text suggestions.

The G3 has a split-screen multitasking mode (shown in the third screenshot above) called Dual Window. It works in the same fashion as Samsung's, allowing two resizable applications to share the same screen. Unlike the 25 apps Samsung’s Multi Window supports, including Facebook and Twitter, the G3 only has 10 Dual Window-capable apps: LG Browser, Chrome, LG E-mail, File Manager, Gallery, Gmail, Hangouts, Maps, Messaging and YouTube.

LG’s QSlide feature, which allows eight different LG applications to be floatable windows that can be positioned anywhere on the screen, is also shown in the third screenshot above. The transparency of these floating windows can be adjusted to see any content that they may be obscuring. For example, if you need to do some calculations on some complex figures in an email, you can open and use the calculator app without leaving the mail app. Additionally, if the QSlide app is in the way, you can minimize it to an icon on the side without closing it. Lastly, you can have two QSlide applications open at the same time, which, when you include the two applications from using Dual Window mode, means you can have up to four applications open on the G3 at once, an impressive feat that utilizes every pixel of the 5.5-inch screen and makes good use of the 3GB of RAM. The applications on the G3 that have a QSlide mode include the LG Browser, Calculator, Calendar, LG E-mail, File Manager, Messaging, Phone and Video Player.

Like Apple, Samsung and, well, basically every company that makes smartphones, LG is concerned with your health. While the G3 lacks specific hardware like Samsung’s heart rate sensor, it does have the LG Health app. I didn’t spend much time exercising it, but it seems to have all of the expected functions for tracking physical activity, wrapped in LG’s new UI.

The G3 also has an IR port on its top edge, which works with the included Quick Remote app to turn the phone into a universal remote for the TV, cable box, stereo and even air conditioner. LG’s app works as advertised, is easy to set up and has an attractive UI. It allows multiple devices to be grouped by room, and easily switches between rooms with a drop-down menu. What it does not have is a program guide like Samsung’s WatchON app.

The third screenshot above shows a brand new software feature for the G3, Smart Notice. This works a little like Google Now, where it learns from your actions and makes suggestions. But it also includes device-specific notifications like telling you to turn on battery saver when the G3’s power is low, to add a phone number to Contacts if you make frequent calls to it, reminding you about missed calls or letting you know that it is going to rain and that you should bring an umbrella. These notices appear as both notifications in the pull-down notification shade and as part of the weather and clock widget on the home screen. While this feature is sometimes useful, some of the notices I received seemed superfluous. However, since it learns as you use the phone, perhaps after owning the G3 for a longer period of time Smart Notice would prove itself more useful.

Another interesting software feature is the G3's Smart Cleaning app. It analyzes what’s stored on the phone and suggests unneeded files to delete, freeing up space. It also looks at how often, and when, applications are used and makes recommendations as to which ones to uninstall. Smart cleaning ties in with the G3’s Smart Notice feature too. If the phone starts running out of room, you'll get a reminder to run Smart Cleaning to free up space.

Like LG's G2, the G3 includes a Guest Mode. This allows you to set up a separate user account on the phone with its own login credentials. In Guest Mode, the user only has access to the specific applications you allow. It's a particularly valuable feature if you are a parent and want to let your child play games without giving them unfettered access to the Internet.

Along with the standard Android lock screen security mechanisms (face unlock, pattern, PIN and password), LG adds a new method of securing your phone, Knock Code. This is an extension of a feature introduced in the G2, Knock On, which allows you to double-tap anywhere on the screen to wake up the phone. Using Knock Code, a complex code of three to eight taps is entered into a four-zone grid on the lock screen. LG claims that there are over 80,000 possible code combinations. The actual level of security depends, of course, on how many taps and zones are used. The big security advantage is that someone trying to hack into the phone will not be able to use finger marks left on the screen to break your code, unlike PIN passwords. As long as multiple taps occur in the same zone in the code, it will be difficult for anyone to decipher it from screen marks alone.

LG’s QuickMemo+ note-taking app returns on the G3, allowing you to take either handwritten or typed notes. You can also insert photos, video, audio and location information into the note. QuickMemo+ can be used to annotate a photo or a screenshot, such as a location on Google Maps. However, the G3 does not include a stylus, so one has to either be purchased separately, or you have to deal with the imprecision of writing and drawing with a finger. Also, unlike Samsung’s similar S Note app, QuickMemo+ does not have any integration with online note services, such as Evernote. The only option to get notes out is the Android sharing function to export either just the typed text or the complete note as an image.

The G3 also comes with a mobile security app installed. The exact app varies between region and carrier. The Canadian and International versions seem to ship with McAfee Mobile Security, Sprint comes with Lookout Security and AT&T uses AT&T Mobile Locate, which offers similar security features as the McAfee app, but for a fee. The McAfee app on the Canadian model we tested, which includes five years of service, does offer a couple of useful features beyond the standard set of security and backup functions. If the phone is lost or stolen, it can be remotely locked and wiped and its location tracked through McAfee’s Web portal. McAfee goes a step further by adding a Kill Switch feature that blocks factory resets and rooting, rendering the phone unusable.

The third screenshot above shows the built-in IPsec VPN client that is part of LG’s Gate enterprise security and management technology. The VPN client works with multiple vendors, including Cisco, Juniper and Fortinet. LG Gate also adds support for enhanced EAS (Exchange ActiveSync) security policies, FIPS 140-2 Encryption and integration with leading mobile device management (MDM) tools like Mobile Iron and Airwatch.

Like Apple’s Reachability for the iPhone 6 Plus and the Note 4’s one-handed features, LG gives the G3 some software tools for easing interaction with its large screen. LG follows Samsung’s approach of slightly shrinking the phone keypad, LG keyboard and lock screen PIN pad and snapping them to one side of the screen, shown above. Tapping the arrow on the left or right side snaps the input pad to that side. The difference is subtle, but just enough to bring all the keys within reach. Unfortunately, the G3 lacks the mini-view option present on the Note 4 and G2, allowing the entire screen to be resized. Therefore, it offers no help for reaching UI elements at the top of the screen.

The Quiet Mode feature silences the phone based on a schedule, which even includes turning off the notification LED. Other features, such as Smart screen and gestures, aren’t nearly as useful. Thankfully these are turned off by default, so if you find them gimmicky, you never have to see them.

The WQHD Screen In Detail

We ran a series of comprehensive tests on the G3’s screen to find out how it compares to some other phones. But first we want to cover the matter of its WQHD resolution in a little more detail.

The big question: is there any visible benefit associated with such a high resolution on a 5.5-inch phone screen? If you look at the pixel density values in the specification table, it’s apparent that the G3’s 534 PPI is the highest of any phone currently available in the North American market. It is substantially sharper than the 1080p screens found in most current smartphones, and due to its smaller size, is even sharper than the WQHD displays in the Note 4 and Nexus 6. So, does this have any experiential impact?

Well, at first glance no, since in most cases 1080p smartphone screens are already sharp, and you’d be hard pressed to see the difference unless you look closely. Apple correctly claims that when viewing a screen from 12 inches away, anything higher than 300 PPI makes the individual pixels invisible to the human eye. At this distance, looking at the 5.5-inch 1080p screen on the OnePlus One and the 1440p screen on the G3, they're hard to tell apart.

However, looking closely at the images above, which show fine detail of the minute lines in the clock icon and small text on a website, we see a small, but tangible, benefit to having such a high-resolution screen. The tiniest fonts are still hard to read on a 5.5-inch screen when viewing from 12 inches, requiring you to bring the phone closer to your face. That's when you’ll see a noticeable benefit from the G3’s WQHD screen.

Jumping from 1080p to 1440p is not nearly as noticeable as the move from 720p to 1080p. There are also some negatives to having a WQHD screen on your phone, which are quantified in the benchmark section (at least if it’s powered by a Snapdragon 801 or equivalent SoC and a battery capacity that isn’t any greater than phones with 1080p screens).

In an effort to minimize the power impact of the WQHD screen, LG implements what it calls 3A technology, which includes adaptive frame rate, adaptive clocking and adaptive timing control. While we were not able to perform any comparative tests on how these technologies affect the screen’s performance, the adaptive clocking does appear to alter the refresh rate dynamically. Unfortunately, while this is not noticeable 99% of the time, it does mean that animations and transitions on the G3’s 1440p screen just don’t feel as smooth as those on other flagships. You might not be as sensitive to the effect though, and it's most apparent when you are comparing phones side-by-side.

Another issue with the G3’s screen relates to software, and it seems only to affect particular builds on select versions of the G3. LG applies additional sharpening to content displayed on the screen, probably in an effort to make low-res assets look better on the high-res display. Unfortunately, if a filter like this is used too aggressively, it can have an adverse effect on image quality, causing halos to appear around some of the content being displayed. We weren’t able to capture a photographic example, but there are many to be found in some of the threads about this issue over on xda developers.

The problem is not as apparent on the Korean model we tested, but was noticeable on the ROM installed on the North American G3 when we first received it. Thankfully, subsequent software updates seemed to reduce the sharpening to a degree, but it isn't gone completely. It would be nice if LG allowed users to turn this on or off. Since the company hasn’t addressed the issue months after the G3’s release, the Android community has come to the rescue. A fix was recently issued, which requires flashing a new kernel.

Our testing also revealed that the G3’s screen is not as bright as some of the other flagship smartphones. This is most likely due to the excessive amount of heat and battery drain the WQHD display would generate if its backlight were allowed to push brightness above 400 nits, which other flagships can achieve. In fact, if you leave it at 100% brightness too long, the software automatically lowers it to 95%, and won't allow you to set maximum brightness until the screen cools down.

Since screen brightness above 400 nits isn’t required for general indoor use, this shortcoming doesn’t impact most environments. However, when using a phone outside, especially under sunlight, the screen needs to be as bright as possible. Sadly, the G3’s screen, even at maximum, just isn’t bright enough to make it easily readable in these conditions.

Another odd behavior is an auto-dimming mechanism when configuring screen brightness in manual mode. Whatever level you set seems to be gradually dimmed approximately 15% by the software over the span of about five minutes. The effect is gradual and not a huge change, so as not to be perceptible, but rather designed to conserve a little bit of power if you set the screen brighter than it really needs to be. While this could be considered a feature, it makes testing the phone a pain, since the battery testing requires a constant brightness setting. Like the sharpening “feature”, it would have been nice if LG included an option to toggle this on or off.

Call Quality And Audio Performance

The call quality of the G3 was good when we tested it on three different Canadian GSM networks: Bell, Rogers and Telus. Like most current smartphones, the G3 has an additional microphone for noise cancellation to improve the outgoing call clarity when using it in loud environments.

The G3’s speaker resides on the back of the phone, which is a change from the bottom speaker placement on the G2. What doesn't changed is its single-driver construction. While front-facing stereo speakers would be nice, that'd require enlarging the bezels and sacrificing the G3’s “compact” size.

Thankfully, the mono speaker in the G3 is actually good. Rated at 1W, it gets plenty loud and LG says there’s even a 1.5W “Boost Amp” that improves clarity and enhances the bass. When we tested the speaker playing music, watching YouTube videos and making speakerphone calls, we were impressed. Its volume and clarity were up there with the HTC One M8, widely considered to have the best smartphone speakers.

Still, despite its quality, you're still only getting a single speaker directing sound away from you, so it isn’t able to fill space as well as the M8’s stereo pair. Also, it is a lot easier to accidentally muffle the G3’s rear-facing speaker with your hand when holding it.

I subjectively tested the sound quality of the audio output from the headphone jack using a pair of NAD VISO HP50 headphones and Apple's iPad Air as a reference. While the G3 sounds good (the best I've heard from any Android phone so far), it fails to match the listening experience Apple provides.

After listening to several tracks across different genres of music, the G3 sounded a bit flat and lacked the iPad's dynamic range. The soundstage also seemed narrower, and crescendos didn't reach peak impact. In Metallica's "One", the double bass drums didn't have the same punch and energy, and it was difficult to hear fingers squeaking on the guitar strings. In "A Window To The Past" by John Williams, the recorder at the beginning of the song sounded shrill and the harpsichord didn't sparkle. When listening to more complex music, it became difficult to discern each individual instrument and note, and the background tended to blend together.

I tried using the EQ in the Music app to compensate, but unfortunately, it's next to useless. All of the predefined EQ settings sound terrible and horribly unnatural. Trying to adjust the EQ manually is just frustrating. Normally, tweaking one of the sliders only affects frequencies in a narrow band centered around the selected frequency. In this case, however, adjusting the slider to boost one frequency has the opposite effect across the remaining spectrum. For example, adjusting the lowest frequency slider to boost bass drastically reduces gain in both the midrange and treble. Without finer control, it's impossible to improve the sound using the EQ, no matter what adjustments are made.

While this assessment may sound harsh, I want to make clear that these deficiencies are subtle and generally only apparent while critically listening during the A/B tests. If you just pick up the G3, plug in some headphones and start listening, you're probably going to be quite pleased with how it sounds. Only those who have a critical ear or high-quality headphones should expect to find something missing from the listening experience.

Camera: Hardware

The G3 is equipped with a 13MP rear camera, which is the same resolution as last year’s G2. In fact, when you look at the specifications in more detail, the G3 uses the same sensor as its predecessor, the Sony IMX135 Exmor RS. While it certainly is a little older compared to the sensors found in other 2014 flagship phones, it is still quite capable of producing good photos, especially when combined with good optics and camera software.

The IMX135 is a stacked CMOS design that helps capture more light and supports HDR video (more information about this sensor is available on Sony’s website). Its 1.12µm pixel size is nearly ubiquitous for flagship phones—the iPhone 6 Plus, HTC One M8 and Xperia Z3 are notable exceptions. And while 13MP was common for flagships in 2013 and the first half of 2014, many of the competing models from Samsung and Sony moved on to higher-resolution sensors.

LG G3 Camera Specs

It’s disappointing to see that the optics in front of the G3’s rear sensor has only a f/2.4 lens, which lets in less light. However, the use of Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) does help compensate by allowing the camera to leave the shutter open for a longer interval. The focal length for the G3’s camera is comparable to all the other phones in the chart above apart from the Xperia Z3, which does have one of the widest rear camera lenses of any current smartphone.

Other hardware includes a dual LED flash, similar to the True Tone flash in the iPhone 6 Plus, which should create more natural colors under illumination, and an adequate 2.1MP front-facing camera.

Laser Autofocus and OIS+

The G3’s defining camera feature is its Laser Autofocus system. It’s an infrared rangefinder that uses a tightly focused IR laser beam to help the camera focus. It measures the time from the beam’s emission to its reflection back to the phone to quickly and accurately gauge the G3’s distance from the subject so the lens can be focused to that range. If the laser detection fails, then the camera falls back to the much slower contrast detection autofocus method, which has been the standard in smartphone cameras until just recently.

With this system, LG claims that the G3 can focus on something faster than the blink of an eye, or about 276ms. While we weren’t able to measure the actual focus time to verify its claim, in practice we did find that the G3 focused on its subjects very quickly. Compared to the phase detection autofocus (PDAF) used by the Galaxy S5 and iPhone 6, we found the G3’s laser system to be as fast or faster in low-light situations. In brighter light, the PDAF system in the iPhone 6 proved quicker.

The G3’s rear camera also uses OIS+ (Optical Image Stabilization Plus), which is an upgraded version of the OIS found on 2013's G2. OIS reduces the effects of camera shake to produce sharper images when shooting stills and video from your hands, which is 99 percent of the time when using a camera phone. It does this by mechanically moving the lens to compensate for motion. The G2’s system was able to stabilize the lens on the x- and y-axes, while the upgraded OIS+ system on the G3 stabilizes the z-axis too. Whether you’ve had too much caffeine or are shooting pictures in less than optimal lighting conditions, the G3’s OIS+ feature helps capture useable, in-focus images, even with slower shutter speeds.

Camera: Software

The G3’s camera interface is extremely minimal. The default UI (shown above) has nothing but a back button and an image review button, opening the photo gallery, on the right. To take a picture you just tap the screen on what you want to focus on, and the laser autofocus system quickly locks on to the subject and takes a shot.

For more control, tapping the three dots in top-left corner brings up additional options in the sidebars. On the right-hand side is a shutter button that can be held down for continuous shooting and a video record button. On the left we find the flash control (on/off/auto), the toggle to switch between the front and rear cameras, a mode selection button and the settings button.

The camera UI’s simplicity also applies to the number of shooting modes it offers. Some phones go overboard, loading you down with modes that usually don’t improve the camera experience. In contrast, the G3 has only four: Auto (default), Magic focus, Panorama and Dual.

Magic focus allows the focal point to be changed after the picture is taken. When taking a photo in this mode, the camera needs to be held steady as it takes a series of shots with different focus points. Once complete, you enter the photo gallery where the focus depth is adjusted either via a slider, which only has five discrete points, or by tapping on object. After choosing the desired focus point, you can save the image (and only one image), automatically discarding the others. This mode doesn’t actually produce an image any different from using Auto mode and just focusing on the desired object; it’s not equivalent to the background defocus process the HTC One M8 uses to create a more realistic bokeh effect.

Dual mode is a picture-in-picture shooting mode that uses both the front a rear camera simultaneously. The inserted image can be resized and placed anywhere in the frame. Tapping the inserted image switches the two images.

The remaining options are found in the settings menu. There are several choices for still image and video resolution. The default resolution for stills is the 16:9 10MP resolution shown selected, which matches the 16:9 display so there isn’t a black border. When any of the other resolutions with 4:3 or 1:1 aspect ratios are selected, there are black bars on the sides beneath the controls. Regardless of resolution, the image you see in the viewscreen will match the picture captured by the camera.

The other items in the settings menu include an on/off/auto toggle for HDR, a timer (3s/10s), a framing grid and the voice-activated “Cheese shutter.”

This cheesy feature lets you say one of the five keywords to snap a photo. While a little gimmicky, it’s still useful when taking selfies with the front-facing camera. It’s also nice to see that LG kept the culturally specific “Kimchi” as one of the words.

Camera: Photo Quality

This section contains a selection of sample images taken with LG's G3, all of which were taken in auto mode unless noted. The G3’s HDR performance and Magic focus mode are also covered in more detail. You can view the full-sized image for each photo (no stupid postage stamp-sized thumbnails) by either clicking on the stand-alone image or clicking the text links below the images that are within a slideshow album.

Full Size Images: [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample: f/2.4, 1/877 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor night sample: f/2.4, 1/20 sec, ISO 350], [LG G3 indoor sample: f/2.4, 1/24 sec, ISO 250], [LG G3 indoor low-light sample: f/2.4, 1/9 sec, ISO 1950]

In bright daylight conditions, the G3’s camera performs well, and its 13MP sensor captures a lot of detail. That means you can crop in a fair amount without fear of reducing the image quality. The camera’s auto mode sets the shutter speed high and the ISO low to minimize noise and avoid overexposure. The dynamic range of the G3’s camera when shooting in ideal lighting conditions is good, the white balance is accurate and colors are vivid without being oversaturated and unrealistic.

At night, the G3 performs respectably, at least at lower ISOs. In the second picture above, it’s evident that the G3’s camera favors keeping the ISO as low as possible at the expense of shutter speed, relying on OIS to compensate for camera shake and keeping the image sharp. When lighting conditions get even darker, it starts increasing the ISO and, at much higher ISOs than the image above, the G3’s pictures do start getting a lot noisier.

The third image was taken indoors under good artificial light. Once again, the auto mode keeps the shutter open longer than usual, OIS keeps the picture sharp and there isn’t a lot of noise at ISO 250. The auto mode also sets the right white balance for the fluorescent lighting, and the colors of the candy bars are all accurately reproduced.

The fourth photo was taken indoors in a large room with minimal light. The white balance is accurate, and despite a very long exposure, there’s minimal blur thanks to the effective OIS. However, the higher ISO setting produces significant noise throughout the image.

HDR Mode

Full Size Images: [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample: f/2.4, 1/271 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample HDR: f/2.4, 1/220 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor low-light sample HDR: f/2.4, 1/30 sec, ISO 150]

Auto is the default setting for HDR on the G3; however, when set to this, the software rarely engages HDR, so it’s best to turn it on manually. The side-by-side HDR comparison image shows that the G3’s HDR mode is not as aggressive as phones like the OnePlus One.

The G3’s HDR mode does leverage the Snapdragon 801 ISP to produce almost instantaneous HDR shots. There's only a minimal delay after taking the photo for the HDR image to be processed. Unlike the Galaxy S5 and Note 4 though, the G3 does not show a preview of how the HDR image will look in the viewfinder when you are composing a shot. Still, the G3’s HDR mode can produce some very pleasing shots, as can be seen in the second image.

Magic Focus Mode

Magic focus, as described in the previous section, allows the focal distance to be changed after the picture is taken and can be use to blur the background behind the subject of the picture. The G3 does this through software, like the Galaxy S5 and Note 4, and unlike the HTC One M8 that has additional hardware to achieve this effect.

Full Size Images: [LG G3 Magic Focus UI close], [LG G3 Magic Focus UI far], [LG G3 Magic Focus sample: f/2.4, 1/158 sec, ISO 50]

Taking a picture in this mode captures multiple images at different focal lengths, combines them in software and allows you to change the focus point and level of background blur afterwards. The first two screenshots above show the interface for adjusting the focal point with the slider on the right, and what the image looks like at the two most extreme settings.

The last image shows the final result of using this mode, and it looks quite good. However, it uses the natural background blur of the G3’s f/2.4 lens from the multiple exposures rather than applying additional blur via software, meaning the bokeh isn’t that strong or aesthetically pleasing. The other drawback of this mode is that since it takes multiple exposures, you need to hold the camera steady for a few seconds to minimize ghosting. The best results are achieved in good light, where low shutter speeds and camera shake are not going to be an issue.

When you compare the G3’s Magic focus mode to similar modes on the Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8, it does a better job than the S5’s, but not as good as the M8’s. The S5’s purely software-driven refocusing mode often has trouble determining what object is in the foreground, something the G3 does not have as much of a problem with. The M8’s additional depth sensing camera allows it to achieve superior results, simply because it uses hardware, not just software, for its UFocus feature.

Macro Mode

The G3 is capable of taking decent macro shots. In the photo above, the phone was held about three inches away, and the camera was able to focus on the fine detail of the driver’s helmet of this 1/18 scale model.

Front-Facing Camera Performance

Full Size Images: [LG G3 front camera sample: f/2.0, 1/24 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 front camera sample low-light: f/2.0, no info saved]

The G3’s front-facing camera uses a 2.1MP Sony IMX208 Exmor R sensor that is capable of shooting in HDR and recording 1080p video. It has a f/2.0 lens, wider than that found on the rear camera, so performs well for its intended purpose in low light. Unfortunately, in very low light conditions, like the right picture above, the G3 applies heavy post-processing to reduce noise, reducing detail at the same time and creating a muddy image. It also doesn’t record Exif data for shutter speed and ISO.

In better lighting and lower ISOs, the results from the front camera are quite good. The G3, like many newer smartphones, has the obligatory beauty slider that lets you soften an image in an attempt to make the vain look younger.

Additional Sample Image Slideshow

This slideshow contains a variety of additional images taken with the LG G3. As with the previous sample images, they were taken in Auto mode unless noted. In this album, you’ll see a number of photos of different colored cars, and the G3 reproduced each of the colors accurately (even the red). You can view the full-sized version of the images in this slideshow using the links below.

Full Size Images: [LG G3 indoor sample 2: f/2.4, 1/24 sec, ISO 350], [LG G3 indoor sample 3: f/2.4, 1/24 sec, ISO 150], [LG G3 indoor sample 4: f/2.4, 1/30 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample 1: f/2.4, 1/1123 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample 2: f/2.4, 1/1886 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample 3: f/2.4, 1/442 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample 5: f/2.4, 1/1612 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample 6: f/2.4, 1/909 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample 7: f/2.4, 1/30 sec, ISO 100], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample 8: f/2.4, 1/564 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample 9: f/2.4, 1/60 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor daylight sample macro: f/2.4, 1/30 sec, ISO 50], [LG G3 outdoor night sample: f/2.4, 1/10 sec, ISO 1700]

Still Camera Performance

The G3’s camera relies on an older sensor and higher-aperture lens then competing phones. However, its laser autofocus and OIS+ help close the gap a bit. The extremely fast autofocus and image stabilization allow the G3 to take a good pictures in conditions where other smartphones struggle. In handheld, low-light shots, OIS+ helps the G3 produce sharp images at longer exposures, a recipe for a blurry mess on some other phones.

While the G3’s rear camera is fast to focus, total image capture time lags behind other flagship phones. In lower-light conditions, the G3 can take as long as three seconds before it’s ready to take another picture, compared to only about one second for the iPhone 6. Even in bright conditions, the G3 takes just over half a second, where the iPhone 6 snaps pictures as fast as I can press the button.

Where the G3 really falters is in low-light conditions. At higher ISO settings, noise becomes a serious issue and the pictures get pretty grainy. In even lower light, LG’s noise reduction algorithm produces muddy, undefined images.

On the software side, the auto mode still produces very good pictures. As any good auto mode should, the G3 makes the right decision about 95% of the time, which frees you up to capture the moment quickly, without worrying about the settings. The G3 sets the correct white balance in nearly any light and reproduces colors vividly, yet realistically.

Despite these positives, we do think that perhaps LG has gone a little too far with its simplification of the camera software. While we are not looking for a return to camera software with more modes and settings than we can count, it would be nice if the G3 had at least some manual controls. Even just being able to select exposure, ISO and white balance would allow for better results in those few times that the auto mode’s choices just don’t cut it.

Camera: Photo Quality Comparison

In this section, we are comparing the G3’s photo quality to that of the other smartphones shown in the camera spec chart. Unfortunately, we do not have sample images from the iPhone 6 Plus, so I'm substituted those from the iPhone 5s. Its 8MP camera produces comparable output to the iPhone 6 Plus’ in good lighting, although the 6 Plus does produce better images in low light.

Both the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 capture images natively in a 16:9 aspect ratio, so for the purpose of this comparison, their samples are cropped horizontally to 4:3 (this has no effect on image quality). Also, while the Z3’s sensor is 20.7MP, its “Superior Auto” mode takes 8MP pictures by downsampling the larger image when post-processing it.

Indoor Performance: Low Light

In this low-light test, both the G3 and Galaxy Note 4’s auto modes apply some post-processing to the image that results in no shutter speed or ISO information being recorded. Out the five phones tested, they are the only ones with OIS, so presumably are able to take pictures at a slower shutter speed and lower ISO and still have a sharp image. The G3’s image has the least amount of noise, but is a bit underexposed and dark.

Out of the remaining three phones, the Z3’s image is the best because it was captured at a comparatively low ISO of 1600. While it doesn’t benefit from OIS, having a f/2.0 lens certainly helps when shooting in lower light. The other phones produce noisy, yet usable images in these lighting conditions.

Indoor Performance: Low Light with Flash

With the flash turned on, all of the phones naturally produce much better pictures. The G3’s flash is one of the brightest, but its lens is also the slowest of the phones being compared. The f/2.4 lens could only let in enough light for the image to have a two-digit ISO. The flashes of both the OnePlus One and Z3 aren’t that powerful and don’t provide enough light to shoot at a low ISO.

While the G3 does have a dual LED flash with two different colored LEDs similar to the iPhone’s True Tone flash, LG’s implementation doesn’t match Apple’s. The flash-lit colors of the iPhone 5s’ image are more accurate.

Indoor Performance: Very Low Light

In very low light, all of the phones struggle except the Xperia Z3. The Z3 in auto mode can take pictures at up to ISO-12,800, and this one was taken at 6400, which explains why it is so much brighter.

The iPhone 5s and G3 also do fairly well. The iPhone has good color balance, but encounters more noise, while the G3 image has an orange tint, but much less noise. The Galaxy S5 performs the worst with an overly dark image.

Outdoor Performance: Daytime

While the sample pictures here were, unfortunately, not all captured under the same conditions, they are all taken on an overcast day, so the lighting is similar enough that we can still compare them. The G3’s auto mode set the ISO to 50, yielding a noise-free image. But the shutter speed is quite low, which it gets away with thanks to OIS. Looking at the inset 100% crop, the G3 captures a good amount of detail and the colors are accurately represented. The dynamic range of the photo is good too.

In comparison, the results from the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5 are similar to the G3’s, but a little more detailed due to the higher 16MP resolution. They are both able to capture at faster shutter speeds due to the wider aperture of their lenses. As for the other phones, the iPhone 5s performs well, again showing accurate colors, but capturing less detail due to its smaller 8MP sensor. The OnePlus One captures good detail, but its white balance is noticeably off. The Xperia Z3’s 8MP image also lacks detail and its white balance is a little cool.

Outdoor Performance: Low Light

Like the daylight pictures above, not all of these comparison pictures were taken at the same time. Again, though, we do think that they are similar enough that we can draw worthwhile conclusions as to which camera performs best.

In lower light, the G3 is able to keep the ISO low at 100, and while the shutter speed is quite slow, the OIS prevents any camera shake from ruining the shot. The Galaxy S5, iPhone 5s and Note 4 are also able to take photos with low ISO. Only the OnePlus One and Z3 resort to much noisier higher ISOs. The Z3’s image, while the brightest, is brighter than the conditions were in reality.

The Note 4 does really well, considering it has less light to work with. The image quality of the iPhone 5s and G3 is pretty similar. Both images have accurate color and similar amounts of noise. The G3 does capture the finer detail of the power lines and street signs better though.

Outdoor Performance: Night

At night, the performance of all six phones is similar to the low-light results above. Both the Z3 and OnePlus One resort to high ISO settings that obscure detail with noise, and the lower MP sensor of the iPhone 5s also results in less detail. The G3 performs well, shooting a clear image even with the shutter at 1/20 seconds, but at ISO-400, the picture is a little grainy when you look at it closely.

Camera: Video Quality

The LG G3 shoots 1080p and 4K video at 30 FPS, but does not enable 1080p at 60 FPS, which is strange since the Sony IMX135 sensor does support it. The G3 also doesn’t shoot HDR video, again despite the fact that the sensor supports it at 30 FPS. The only other video modes available are 720p at 30 FPS and slow-motion 720p at 120 FPS.

Just like still pictures, there is only one mode for video: auto. Again, the lack of any manual controls is disappointing, but auto mode does do a good job picking the right settings 95% of the time. We're only missing the other 5%, when human intervention could improve the end result if additional controls were available. Of course, there's always the option to install a third-party camera app, like Cinema FV-5, to add full manual control.

The G3’s OIS+ is a big help when shooting video, even more so than stills. It helps keep the video a lot smoother and steadier when shooting hand-held, which is how the G3 is used most of the time.

(Ed.: Since all of the online video streaming services re-encode posted videos at a lower bitrate, and we currently don't have a solution to allow direct download of the original videos, we are not posting any sample videos for quality comparison. The videos that are shown are for demonstrating video features rather than quality.)

The G3 captures 1080p video at a 20Mb/s bitrate, which is the same as the OnePlus One and higher than the 17Mb/s phones like the Galaxy S5 record at. Video quality looks good with decent lighting, and while noise levels increase as light levels fall, video quality remains above average.

Videos also benefit from the laser autofocus system, which adjusts focus during the video to keep moving objects looking sharp. The following two videos compare the iPhone 6's phase detection autofocus to the laser system used by the G3.

The iPhone 6 smoothly transitions between the two different focal distances, continuously adjusting focus and keeping the numbers legible.

The G3 also adjusts to the two different distances. However, it doesn't adjust focus as the camera moves like the iPhone 6, and there's a pause before the G3 finally refocuses. This behavior also occurs in some circumstances when taking stills. The laser does better in low-light and low-contrast conditions, while the iPhone's PDAF performs better in bright light.

The G3 records 4K video at 30Mb/s, lower than the Galaxy S5 or OnePlus One, which record 4K at 57Mb/s. The loss of quality is evident, but still better than recording at 1080p.

Shooting 4K video does chew through storage quickly, even at the G3’s lower bitrate and five-minute clip length limit. Fortunately, the G3 supports microSD cards up to 128GB for offloading the large video files.

Compared to the G3's still image performance, recording video is disappointing. The lack of HDR or 60 FPS modes directly impacts video quality and are curious omissions. The G3 also isn't the best phone for shooting 4K video due to its lower bitrate recordings and clip length cap.

How We Tested

Benchmark Suite

Our current Android test line-up comprises six key sections: CPU, Web, GPU, GPGPU, Display, and Battery.

Test Methodology

All handsets are benchmarked on a fully updated copy of the device's stock software. The table below lists other common device settings that we standardize to before testing.

Furthermore, for browser-based testing on Android, we're employing a static version of the Chromium-based Opera in order to keep the browser version even across all devices. Due to platform restrictions, Safari is the best choice for iOS-based devices, while Internet Explorer is the only game in town on Windows RT.

Comparison System Specs

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon family is popular among Android handset OEMs, with most current high-end phones coming with a Snapdragon 800 series SoC. The LG G3, like many of the 2014 flagship phones, is using the highest performing 8974AC variant of Snapdragon 801. We’ll be comparing the G3 to the OnePlus One and Samsung Galaxy S5, both competing phones that use the same SoC. We’re including the Oppo N1 (running CyanogenMod), not because it’s a direct competitor with the G3, but to show the performance difference between the Snapdragon 801 and the mid-range 600. The brand new Galaxy Note 4 uses the latest Snapdragon 805 SoC.

The table below contains all the pertinent technical specifications for today’s comparison units:

Note: The Canadian G3 we tested used software version KVT49L. It’s unfortunate that six months after its release, the G3 is still running Android 4.4.2. Apparently, LG is going to skip version 4.4.4 and go straight to 5.0 Lollipop.

The LG G3 should have similar system performance to the OnePlus One and the Galaxy S5, since they’re all using the same SoC. However, on-screen GPU performance is expected to be lower on the G3 due to its higher-resolution QHD display. Both the Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus, with their newer CPU and GPU architectures, will demonstrate stronger performance numbers.

Excluding the Oppo N1, which is the largest phone of the group, all of the review units have similar sized batteries. Will they all have similar battery life, or will the different screen sizes for the two Galaxy devices skew the results?

Results: CPU Core Benchmarks

AnTuTu X

AnTuTu is an Android system benchmark designed to test the performance capabilities of four major aspects of mobile devices: Graphics (encompassing 2D, UI and basic 3D), CPU (fixed, floating-point and threading), RAM (read and write) and I/O (read and write).

The results for AnTuTu X are sorted based on the overall scores, which are the values shown within the left end of each bar. The overall score is not simply a cumulative value based on the individual test scores. Instead, it’s a separate calculation with its own distinct value. This is why the length of the bars don’t correlate with the overall score.

In this system-level benchmark, the overall scores for the LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy S5 are within 4%, as we would expect. The OnePlus One posts a higher overall score than the other two Snapdragon 801-based devices, largely due to its higher score in the GPU test. However, it falls behind in the the UX, RAM and CPU tests, all of which stress threaded CPU performance to some degree.

AndEBench Pro

AndEBench Pro is produced by The Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) and uses carefully designed, low-level algorithms for testing CPU, GPU, memory and storage subsystem performance. The benchmark workload includes XML parsing, data compression, GUI rendering, photo manipulation and cryptography tasks.

The G3 and Galaxy S5 exhibit similar performance in the CPU, memory bandwidth and memory latency tests. The OnePlus One, despite sharing the same SoC with the G3 and S5, shows about a 6% and 10% advantage in memory bandwidth and memory latency, respectively.

In the storage test, the G3 does comparatively well, outpaced only by the Note 4. Surprisingly, the S5 achieves less than half the performance of the G3.

Basemark OS II Full (Anti-Detection)

Basemark OS II is an all-in-one tool designed for measuring overall performance of mobile devices. It scores each device in four main categories: System, Memory, Graphics and Web. The System score reflects CPU and memory performance, specifically testing integer and floating-point math, along with single- and multi-core CPU image processing using a 2048x2048, 32-bit image. Measuring the transfer rate of the internal NAND storage (Memory) is done by reading and writing files with a fixed size, files varying from 65KB to 16MB, and files in a fragmented memory scenario. Calculating the Graphics score involves mixing 2D/3D graphics inside the same scene, applying several pixel shader effects and displaying 100 particles with a single draw call to test GPU vertex operations. The benchmark is rendered at 1920x1080 off-screen 100 times before being displayed on-screen. Finally, the Web score stresses the CPU by performing 3D transformations and object resizing with CSS, and also includes an HTML5 Canvas particle physics test.

There are no real surprises in Basemark OS II. The overall scores for the three Snapdragon 801-based devices fall within a 9% range. The Note 4 pulls ahead thanks to the performance of its Adreno 420 GPU in the Graphics test. Compared to the G3, the Snapdragon 600 in the Oppo N1 scores 30% lower, with a large deficit in the Graphics test.

Geekbench 3 Pro (Anti-Detection)

Primate Labs' Geekbench offers a wide selection of cross-platform compatibility, with apps available for Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS and Android. This simple system benchmark produces two sets of scores: single- and multi-threaded. For each, it runs a series of tests in three categories: Integer, Floating Point and Memory. The individual results are used to calculate category scores, which, in turn, generate overall Geekbench scores.

Again we see the G3, One and S5 perform nearly the same in the single-threaded tests, with a slight variation in the Memory score. The Note 4 sees less than a 10-percent advantage from its higher clock speed.

There’s a bit more variation in the multi-threaded tests. The Galaxy S5 demonstrates a slight advantage over the G3. The OnePlus One encounters a problem when trying to use multiple cores and its performance drops to that of the Snapdragon 600 in the Oppo N1.

MobileXPRT 2013

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capture any data for either the Performance or User Experience tests for the G3. The benchmark runs repeatedly crashed and none of them ran to completion.

Results: HTML5 And JavaScript Benchmarks

The tests on this page are JavaScript- and HTML5-heavy selections from our Web Browser Grand Prix series. Such tests are extremely meaningful to mobile devices because so much of the in-app content is served via the platform's native Web browser. These tests not only offer a view of each device's Web browsing performance, but since these tasks are traditionally so CPU-dependent, browser benchmarks (especially JavaScript-heavy tests) are a great way to measure SoC performance among devices using the same platform and browser.

Browsermark 2.1

Rightware's Browsermark 2.1 is a synthetic browsing benchmark that tests several performance metrics, including load time, CSS, DOM, HTML5 Canvas, JavaScript and WebGL.

The G3 performs as expected in our first Web browsing benchmark, achieving nearly the same score as the OnePlus One and Galaxy S5. The Snapdragon 805-powered Note 4 is only 6% faster than the G3, which is not enough to be noticeable in everyday use.

JSBench

Unlike most JavaScript performance benchmarks, JSBench could almost be considered real-world, since it utilizes actual snippets of JavaScript from Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo.

Again we see the Snapdragon-based devices line up according to CPU architecture. The iPhone 6 Plus dominates this benchmark thanks to Safari’s JIT compiler optimizations.

Peacekeeper 2.0

Peacekeeper is a synthetic JavaScript performance benchmark from Futuremark.

The Peacekeeper results are similar to those from JSBench. So far, the G3 performs on par with its peers, avoiding any performance anomalies.

WebXPRT 2013

Principled Technologies' WebXPRT 2013 is an HTML5-based benchmark that simulates common productivity tasks that are traditionally handled by locally installed applications, including photo editing, financial charting and offline note-taking.

The LG G3 performs well in our final Web browsing benchmark and doesn’t exhibit any performance or stability issues.

Results: GPU Core Benchmarks

3DMark (Anti-Detection)

Futuremark has become a name synonymous with benchmarking, and the company's latest iteration of 3DMark offers three main graphical benchmarks: Ice Storm, Cloud Gate and Fire Strike. Currently, the DirectX 9-level Ice Storm tests are cross-platform for Windows, Windows RT, Android and iOS.

Ice Storm simulates the demands of OpenGL ES 2.0 games using shaders, particles and physics via the company's in-house engine. Although it was just released in May of 2013, the on-screen portions of Ice Storm have already been outpaced by modern mobile chipsets, with Nvidia's Tegra 4 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 both easily maxing-out the Extreme version (1080p with high-quality textures). However, Ice Storm Unlimited, which renders the scene off-screen at 720p, is still a good gauge of GPU-to-GPU performance.

The overall score shows only a 5% difference between the OnePlus One and the G3, with the former holding a 13% advantage in the Graphics test. In the CPU-focused Physics test, the G3 flips the results with a 16% performance edge over the One. The Adreno 420 in the Note 4 isn’t much faster than the One in the Graphics test and is only 14% faster than the G3.

Basemark X 1.1

Based on the Unity 4.0 game engine, Rightware’s Basemark X is a cross­-platform graphics benchmark for Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8. This test utilizes Unity’s modern features via the OpenGL ES 2.0 render path to simulate how a modern game might look and run. Basemark X is an aggressive metric that still hasn’t been maxed out by the latest mobile SoCs.

The on-screen results for the iPhone 6 Plus are not accurate, since the current version of this benchmark doesn’t support its native resolution. Instead, it renders at the native resolution of the 5s (640x1136). The Overall scores are not affected by this issue though, since they are based on the off-screen rendering tests.

All of the Adreno 330-equipped devices fall within 8% of each other when looking at the overall score, with the OnePlus One showing a slight edge. The Adreno 420 GPU in the Note 4 scores no better than the G3 in this test.

The G3 falls behind the competition in the on-screen module. Its Adreno 330 GPU struggles with the higher-resolution WQHD display. The Adreno 420 in the Note 4 handles the WQHD resolution a little better, but fails to match the Adreno 330's performance at 1080p.

The G3 performs as expected in the off-screen tests and even manages to outperform the Note 4 in Hangar.

The high-quality overall test shows the G3 and the the other two Adreno 330-based devices grouped together with only a 9% spread. In the off-screen tests, the G3 lands between the Galaxy S5 and the OnePlus One.

GFXBench 3.0 Corporate

Kishonti GFXBench 3.0 is a cross-platform GPU benchmark supporting both the OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenGL ES 3.0 APIs. It comprises both “high-level” game-like scenarios, along with more “low-level” tests designed to measure specific subsystems.

Among the high-level tests are Manhattan and T-Rex. Manhattan is a modern, complex OpenGL ES 3.0-based test, while the OpenGL ES 2.0-level T-Rex is a holdover from GFXBench v2.7.

The low-level tests include Fill, which measures fill rate by rendering four layers of compressed textures; Alpha Blending, a test that renders layers of semi-transparent quads using high-resolution, uncompressed textures; ALU, for measuring shader compute performance; and Driver Overhead, which measures the CPU overhead of the graphics driver and API by making a lot of draw calls and state changes.

See GFXBench 3.0: A Fresh Look At Mobile Benchmarking for a complete test-by-test breakdown of this benchmark.

The Manhattan off-screen results line up perfectly by SoC family, with identical scores for our three Snapdragon 801-based devices. The G3 offers 2.4x the performance of the Snapdragon 600 in the Oppo N1, while the 805 in the Note 4 offers 1.5x better performance than the G3.

As expected, the G3 encounters a significant drop in performance when running Manhattan on-screen. The G3 is about 42% slower than the OnePlus One, which makes sense since the One has about 44% fewer pixels to render at its HD resolution. The Note 4, which has the same WQHD resolution as the G3, also sees a 39% drop in performance when rendering at WQHD versus HD resolution.

T-Rex Offscreen again shows the three Snapdragon 801 devices in a virtual tie. The Note 4 doesn’t fare well due to excessive thermal throttling in this test. The G3 offers 1.8x the performance of the Snapdragon 600 in the Oppo N1.

When rendering on-screen, the G3 drops 25%, a less significant hit compared to the more demanding Manhattan test. In a weird twist, the Note 4 actually scores better when rendering at the higher onscreen resolution.

AndEBench Pro already showed the OnePlus One with a slight advantage over the G3 and Galaxy S5 in both memory bandwidth and memory latency. It should be no surprise, then, that the One shows a 15% advantage over the G3 in the off-screen Alpha Blending test, which fetches high-resolution, uncompressed textures from memory. All of the other low-level tests show the G3 with near identical performance to the other Snapdragon 801 phones.

Overall, the LG G3 performs on par with other flagship phones based on Snapdragon 801. Unlike those other phones that use HD screens, however, the G3’s 801 has far more pixels to deal with. This leads to a rather poor experience for any games that render at native screen resolution. Fortunately, most games render to a smaller off-screen buffer and use the hardware scaler in the SoC to scale each frame to native screen size, so game performance issues should be rare.

Results: GPGPU Benchmarks

CompuBenchRS

CompuBenchRS tests the compute performance of multi-core systems supporting the RenderScript API (a component of the Android operating system). The compute API is similar to CUDA or OpenCL, and can distribute parallel tasks across all compute cores, including the CPU and GPU (as of Android 4.2, RenderScript is expanded to run on the GPU, in addition to the CPU of supported systems). On compute-capable GPUs, the benchmark runs on the graphics engine. Otherwise, the tests stress CPU cores. CompuBenchRS sub-tests cover the following categories: Computer Vision (Face Detection), 3D Graphics (Provence - ray tracing), Image Processing (Gaussian Blur, Histogram), Physics (Particle Simulation – 4K), and Throughput (Julia Set, Ambient Occlusion).

LG's G3 performs well in the Face Detection test, edging out the Galaxy S5 and almost equaling the Note 4. The OnePlus One runs this test on the CPU, highlighting the performance gains available when using GPU-accelerated compute.

Inconsistent results are common when running these RenderScript tests, and here we see the G3 reverse its position relative to the other Snapdragon 801 devices. It doesn’t perform much better than the Snapdragon 600 in the Oppo N1.

We continue to see mixed performance in the remainder of the RenderScript benchmarks. The G3 tops the chart in the Graphics test, but falls near the bottom in Physics. While the G3 matches the Galaxy S5’s performance in the Julia throughput test, it’s well off the pace of the OnePlus One.

Results: Display Measurements

Brightness

Brightness (also known as white level) measurements are taken by recording the luminance output of each device displaying a full white pattern, with the device's brightness slider set to both minimum and maximum values.

The G3 is about average in maximum brightness, falling just shy of the 400-nit mark. This is likely the result of less active area in the higher-resolution panel. We definitely would like to see a higher peak brightness available for outdoor viewing.

In order to make device comparison possible, the rest of our display measurements, along with our battery testing, are performed with the screen set to a standardized white level of 200 nits.

Calibrating the G3’s display to 200 nits is complicated by a sneaky power-saving feature. After manually setting the screen brightness, the value is lowered approximately 15% after a period of time. The premise of this feature is that the user won’t perceive the difference in brightness, while conserving power. Though this feature may be useful in some scenarios, it definitely doesn’t help outdoor readability when the max brightness drops to 300 nits or less.

Unfortunately, LG doesn’t provide a way to disable this behavior. Therefore, we had to account for this dimming when calibrating our display to 200 nits for testing.

Black Level

Our black level measurement is the luminance output of a full black pattern after the luminance output of full white has been standardized to 200 nits. It's important to note that AMOLED displays will always measure a black level of zero, since their pixels simply turn off to render black.

The G3’s black level can’t compete with the iPhone 6 Plus, but still registers a respectable value, preserving shadow detail and showing richer colors.

The SAMOLED screens in the Galaxy S5 and Note 4 achieve a true black, since the organic LEDs are switched off and not emitting any light.

Contrast Ratio

Contrast ratio is the difference between a full white pattern and a full black pattern. Due to their zero reading on the black level tests, AMOLED displays are said to have an infinite contrast ratio.

The G3’s contrast ratio is only average, since neither its maximum brightness or black level are particularly impressive.

Gamma

Gamma compensates for the linear brightness levels displayed by a screen versus the nonlinear way our eyes perceive light. A gamma curve of 2.2 is what we optimally want to see, as a screen with a gamma less than 2.2 appears brighter and with less shadow detail, while a gamma larger than 2.2 displays heavy shadows with fewer highlights.

It’s nice to see the G3 fall very close to the ideal gamma value of 2.2.

Color Temperature

Color temperature is a measurement in Kelvin, which is used to describe how “warm” or “cool” a given display is. Ideally, as long as you're not viewing your device in direct sunlight, this should be in the 6500 range. Higher color temperatures result in a bluish hue, while lower temperatures deliver a warm or reddish tone.

All of the smartphone displays we’ve seen lately tend to use cooler color temperatures above 6500 Kelvin, and the G3 is no exception. It’s definitely on the higher end of the scale, giving the screen a slightly blue cast, but nothing as severe as the Galaxy S5.

We also looked at a G3 intended for the Korean market, which had a color temperature of 7316 Kelvin. It’s interesting that the G3 receives region specific calibration settings.

Color Gamut

Our volume measurements are compared against both the sRGB and AdobeRGB color gamuts. A reading of 100 percent on sRGB and 72 percent on AdobeRGB is ideal for viewing the vast majority of digital consumer content. A lower reading is typically accompanied by an overly red or yellow image, and a higher reading is usually too blue/green.

The G3’s display covers nearly the full sRGB color gamut, while avoiding the oversaturated, neon colors that come with exceeding 100%.

Overall, the G3’s WQHD display is good but not great. Peak brightness is lower than we’d like to see, which leads to a contrast ratio that fails to impress. Also, the panel LG is using in the G3 exhibits a lot of IPS glow, which is a white glow that appears at wide viewing angles and is especially apparent when viewing a black screen.

Color accuracy could also be better. The most noticeable issue is that yellows display with a green tint. There also appears to be some red saturation compression, which is evident when viewing a color wheel and seeing a lack of gradation between adjacent colors.

Update: The Android Lollipop update (firmware version LS990ZV8) eliminates the color saturation compression issue and improves color accuracy overall. The only significant color deviation is that magenta tones are shifted towards blue. The other screen measurements in the charts above remain essentially unchanged.

Results: Battery And Throttling

Basemark OS II Full (Anti-Detection)

The Basemark OS II battery test scores are derived by repeatedly running the devices until enough data has been collected to determine the drain rate of the device.

Of the two WQHD devices, the Note 4, with a 7% larger battery and slightly larger screen, manages to score 11% better than the G3. It’s not a big difference, but also not insignificant considering the Snapdragon 805 in the Note 4 offers better performance on the same 28nm HPm process as the 801 in the G3.

The iPhone 6 Plus and its smaller 2906mAh battery scores 35% better than the G3 with a 3000mAh battery. The 3610mAh battery in the Oppo N1 helps it score well, despite its slower Snapdragon 600 SoC and less-optimized 28nm LP process.

BatteryXPRT 2014

Unfortunately, we couldn’t collect any data for BatteryXPRT 2014. The test repeatedly crashed on the G3 and never ran to completion.

GFXBench 3.0 Corporate

GFXBench's battery test measures battery life and performance stability by logging frame and battery discharge rate as the on-screen T-Rex test runs for 30 consecutive iterations. The results are given in two scores: estimated battery life in minutes and the number of frames rendered on the slowest test run (to gauge if a device is throttling).

The G3 falls behind the Galaxy S5 and Note 4 in battery life, but still lasts a reasonable 3.3 hours.

If we only look at the battery life chart, we might conclude that the G3 is superior to the iPhone 6 Plus. However, the iPhone completes the test at peak performance without any throttling. This, unfortunately, is not the case for the G3.

Average performance over thirty iterations of T-Rex drops to 11 FPS compared to 20 FPS for a single iteration. The diagram below shows how the G3’s performance varies over time.

The G3 is unable to dissipate the heat generated from running the GPU at 100% and has to throttle the GPU clock speed to keep it within its thermal envelope. This is one disadvantage of using an all-plastic construction.

Better To Be Fashionably Late Then Impatiently Early

The G3 is a stylish phone, with a convincing brushed metal finish on the back and no garish border around the glass on the front. We especially like the design of the rear camera and button stack. The textures and contours of the buttons contrast nicely with the smooth brushed metal look, and the symmetry between the laser and flash also enhances its appeal. While it doesn’t have the customization options like the Moto X, the G3 does come in a variety of colors (at least in most markets).

Foregoing physical navigation buttons helps LG minimize the bezel and the G3’s overall size. Despite its larger screen, it isn’t much bigger than HTC's One (M8) or Samsung's Galaxy S5. The reduction in size and all-plastic construction collectively trim weight. Surprisingly, the G3 is only 3% heavier than the 5.1-inch plastic S5.

Combining a curved back with the smaller, lightweight frame creates a great in-hand feel. It doesn’t dig into your palm while holding it, and it remains comfortable to grasp in both portrait and landscape modes. The smooth back does make it feel a bit slippery though, and while it may be the smallest phone with a 5.5-inch screen, this phone is best experienced with two hands.

LG’s most radical design decision, though, was to relocate the remaining physical buttons to the back of the phone. This does take a little getting used to, but I’ve grown to like the arrangement. After picking up the phone, I’ve learned to quickly locate the buttons, and their position puts them within easy reach. This also eliminates the issue of inadvertently pressing buttons on the sides, a problem that I encounter frequently with other phones.

LG’s eye for design carries over into the software, too. Blending a simplified, flatter aesthetic with consistent use of muted colors creates an attractive UI that in many ways resembles Google’s own Material design language.

The Dual Window and QSlide features help take full advantage of the G3’s larger screen. While four different windows open at the same time might not be practical, even for a 5.5-inch display, having two windows open, either by using Dual Window or a QSlide app sitting above a full-screen app, is immensely helpful and saves me from the hassle of constantly bouncing back and forth between apps.

Other notable features include Guest Mode, a terrific feature for parents who want to let their children use the phone. Using Knock On to turn the screen on or off by tapping it twice works well and is convenient; it’s definitely a feature we miss when moving to a different phone. Similarly, Knock Code is a welcome addition to securing the device.

Not all of LG’s software features are praiseworthy. We didn’t find Smart Notice to be particularly helpful. The note-taking app QuickMemo+ is decent, but it doesn’t really stand out as anything special. The one area where LG really falls short is the notification shade. With half of the screen taken up by controls, there isn’t enough room left for notifications. We would prefer having the controls and notifications on separate tabs, or splitting it into two shades accessible by pulling down from either the left or right side of the screen.

Despite reliance on a previous-generation Sony sensor, the G3’s camera performs well. When lighting is good, whether in daylight outdoors or with bright lighting indoors, the G3 produces images with accurate white balance and vivid color. It also uses sufficiently fast shutter speed to avoid problems with overexposure. In lower-light conditions, the G3 leverages its OIS+ to keep the shutter open longer, capturing more light, while holding ISO low and reducing noise. Even though the G3 performs better than many competing cameras in low light, it doesn’t match the performance of the iPhone and its larger pixels.

The G3’s unique laser autofocus system is extremely fast and works well, even performing better than the iPhone 6 Plus’ phase detection autofocus in low contrast scenes. However, the total image capture time is a tad slow, making it feel more like a previous-generation device.

Internal hardware is appropriate for a flagship phone, including a Snapdragon 801 SoC, a generous 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. All of the current wireless protocols are covered (802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4, NFC, Cat. 4 LTE) and LG adds microSD card support and a removable battery, both missing from 2013's G2. Dust and water resistance didn’t get an invite to the G3 party, unfortunately.

The G3’s headlining hardware feature, the WQHD screen, is ironically its biggest detriment. Part of the problem is software (color compression and overly aggressive sharpening filter), part of it is the panel (maximum brightness below 400 nits and excessive IPS glow) and the final part is simply timing. Rather than waiting for the Snapdragon 805 to become available, like Samsung and Google did for the WQHD-equipped Note 4 and Nexus 6, LG opted to be the first with 1440p in North America. That was a marketing win that meant Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 would be asked to drive its high-res screen. Unfortunately, the Adreno 330 GPU can’t handle this many pixels, resulting in poor gaming performance and increased battery drain as the GPU struggles to keep up. In this respect, the G3 is ahead of its time.

Overall, the LG G3 is still a great phone with more pluses than minuses. If LG used a high-quality 1080p display instead of rushing to 1440p, the G3 might qualify as the best flagship phone for this generation. If you’re not a big phone gamer, can overlook the minor display aberrations and can settle for good but not great battery life, than you’ll be really happy with the G3.

     >> See the Reader Ratings and Advice for the LG G3

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After all the Snowden revelations, many tech companies have worked to improve the security of their products. Some, such as Google, did it in part because it wanted its users to be more secure, but also because its executives and security employees were angry with the U.S. government for hacking its internal networks.

Google has already implemented many security improvements to its systems, but some of the most noteworthy are the announcements about the end-to-end encryption for Gmail (not yet implemented) and about default storage encryption on devices that come pre-installed with Android 5.0.  

Yesterday, Verizon announced that it's also entering this post-Snowden "secure communications" market with an app of its own called "Voice Cypher," which it built in partnership with a security company called Cellcrypt.

On its site, Verizon claims that the app has "end-to-end" security, which normally means that users should be able to communicate directly to each other, with no other middleman, and the encryption key is stored locally. If the encryption key is stored with anyone else, then some other party is involved in the communication and can decrypt it, so it wouldn't be "end-to-end" anymore.

Despite Voice Cypher's claim for end-to-end security on the marketing materials, it seems Verizon admitted to Bloomberg Businessweek that the U.S. government can access the data. This means one of these two things: either the app is not end-to-end secure, because someone else can intercept the call, or the app is end-to-end secure, but Verizon has some kind of built-in backdoor for the government's benefit.

Either way, the app is not as secure as Verizon claims, and it can at the very least be accessed by U.S. authorities, or even by other hackers once they discover the vulnerability. Cellcrypt, Verizon's partner, stated that the weakness exists only for the government, but many security experts believe that when such a loophole exists, that never turns out to be true.

"Requiring software vendors to build intercept functionality into their products is unwise and will be ineffective, with the result being serious consequences (PDF) for the economic well-being and national security of the United States," wrote security experts in a report earlier this year, when evaluating CALEA 2, a new FBI-proposed law mandating backdoors in tech products.

Individuals or organizations who want real end-to-end secure voice applications already have at least two strong options: the open source Signal (iOS)/RedPhone (Android), or Silent Circles paid security suite.

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Historically, Sony’s Z series of flagship phones have been conspicuously absent from the U.S. market. Yes, the Xperia Z1 was available as the Z1s on T-Mobile, but the Z2 never made its way to U.S. shores (although it did show up on one carrier in Canada).

While the new Xperia Z3, which is already available in Europe, will be coming to T-Mobile later this fall, there haven’t been any Sony phones on one of the bigger U.S. carriers like AT&T and Verizon. Today Sony changes that with the announcement of the new Xperia Z3v smartphone, a Verizon exclusive coming on October 23 for $200 on a 2-year contract.

At the event, Kunimasa Suzuki, EVP of Sony Mobile, took to the stage and talked about how the U.S. market is tough and how Sony is renewing its commitment to it with today’s announcement. He said that there is a big difference between good and great, and that people should ‘demand great’; Sony's new offering with Verizon fulfills that demand. He said that today’s Verizon announcement demonstrated its commitment to the U.S. consumer – let’s hope that this commitment goes beyond one carrier soon, though!

Jeff Dietel from Verizon then came on stage to announce the Sony Xperia Z3v, which is the follow-up to the new relationship Verizon started with Sony when it launched the Xperiz Z2 LTE tablet earlier this year. Along with the phone, Verizon will be carrying a full suite of accessories, including the $250 Sony Smartwatch 3 (which will run Android Wear).

The last part of the presentation concerned Playstation 4 streaming, which is already available on the Playstation Vita and Playstation TV. It will be coming to all Z3 phones, including the Z3v in November, and they will be the only phones that support this feature.

Xperia Z3v

The Xperia Z3v, while being called a Z3, in fact looks more like a Z2. It doesn’t have the rounded sides and rubber bumper corners of the Z3, but at the same time it isn’t exactly like the Z2, since the covers over the ports have been redesigned. This is to facilitate the new level of dust and water resistance – the Z3v is IP65/68 rated, making it the most waterproof phone currently on the market. The Z3v can be continuously immersed in up to 3m of water.

One cool accessory that they showed today at the event was a mount that allows you to attach the Z3v to a Dualshock 4 controller when you use it with Playstation 4 Remote Play.

The Z3v has an updated 5.2-inch Full HD (1080p) Triluminos display that is brighter than the screen in the Z2, with a maximum brightness of 500 nits. Internally it has the tried-and-tested Snapdragon 801 SoC, like so many other flagship Androids, but it is the 2.46 GHz AC version. The Z3v has 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage, and a 3,200 mAh battery.

One exclusive feature of the Z3v is that is supports wireless Qi charging, something no other Xperia phones have. The camera hardware is unchanged from the Z2, being a 20.7 MP sensor with a Sony G Lens, but there are new camera shooting modes. It runs Android 4.4.4. with an updated Sony UI, with the larger icons of the Google Now launcher.

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Is T-Mobile throttling its unlimited customers, too? On Thursday CEO John Legere jumped on Twitter to deny the rumor, saying that there is “no limit on data”.

The denial follows reports of an internal memo obtained by TmoNews that says the company plans to address unauthorized tethering and those sharing files via peer-to-peer networks. Somehow this bit of news turned into accusations that the company is throttling a specific group of customers.

“T-Mobile has identified customers who are heavy data users and are engaged in peer-to-peer file sharing, and tethering outside of T-Mobile’s Terms and Conditions (T&C),” the internal memo said. “This results in a negative data network experience for T-Mobile customers. Beginning August 17, T-Mobile will begin to address customers who are conducting activities outside of T-Mobile’s T&Cs.”

According to the document, customers with the old $70 Unlimited High-Speed Data plan that are violating the company’s T&Cs are the only customers that will be contacted. The company will explain to them the T&C and why the data speed may be reduced until the next billing cycle if they continue their pirating ways.

The document said that when approaching these users, the company will apply a “Misuse Warning SOC” to the account. If the customer stops downloading illegal content, then the label will be removed. If the downloading continues, then the account will be flagged with a “Misuse Throttle SOC” and the data speeds will be reduced.

Here’s a part of the T&C that clearly states what customers cannot do:

“…using the Service in connection with server devices or host computer applications, including continuous Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, automated machine-to-machine connections or peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing applications that are broadcast to multiple servers or recipients, ‘bots’ or similar routines that could disrupt net user groups or email use by others or other applications that denigrate network capacity or functionality,” the T&C states under section 18, Misuse of Service or Device.

Before CEO John Legere used Twitter to defend T-Mobile, Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert told Re/code that the memo was misinterpreted, making it seem that T-Mobile was out to throttle heavy data users.

News of T-Mobiles throttling confusion arrives after Verizon Wireless stated that starting October 1, it plans to throttle the speed of a specific group of 4G LTE customers with unlimited data plans. The company is targeting users that consume more than 4.7 GB in a single billing period and who are connected to a congested cell tower. Once the congestion subsides, Verizon indicated that it would then ease back off of the throttling.

News of the throttling didn’t sit well with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Chairman Tom Wheeler said that he was “deeply troubled” about the reports and sent letters to the major wireless carriers asking about how data is being managed.

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Verizon Wireless announced on Thursday that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 tablet is now available to purchase online, and will become available at Verizon's retail outlets in the next several weeks. For a limited time, the tablet will cost $359.99 with a new two-year contract, or $459 without a contract. The tablet also falls within the Verizon Edge plan for eligible customers.

This tablet sports a 10.1-inch screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution (149 PPI). The tablet also includes a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 1.5 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot for up to 64 GB of extra storage. Powering all of this is a 6800 mAh battery promising up to 14 hours of continual use.

The specs list also shows that the tablet provides a 3MP camera on the back and a 1.3MP camera on the front. There's also dual-band Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, a SIM card slot for using Verizon's 4G LTE network, and Android 4.4 KitKat.

"When the screen of a tablet isn't quite big enough, use the Galaxy Tab 4 as a universal remote," states the product page. "With its IR blaster and the WatchON app, use the tablet to channel surf or browse through a program guide to find just the right show to watch on compatible TVs or set-top boxes."

The XLTE-ready tablet provides a multi-user mode, meaning family members can set up their own accounts on the tablet. That way one individual isn't complaining about all the apps that have been installed or erased had the tablet provided just one account. The tablet is also capable of running two apps side-by-side, allowing users to watch a movie and surf the Internet at the same time.

This tablet costs $279.99 with a new two-year contract, or $379.99 without. The hardware includes a quad-core chip clocked at 1.2 GHz, 1.5 GB of memory, 16 GB of internal storage, Android 4.4 "KitKat" and more.

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On Wednesday Sony Mobile announced the launch of the Xperia Z2 Tablet LTE, a Verizon Wireless exclusive featuring 4G connectivity. Customers looking for a slick tablet with LTE can pre-purchase the device beginning July 10 and receive a MDR-NC31EM Noise Cancelling headset for free (while suppliers last). The tablet won’t hit retail shelves until July 17.

According to the specs, the Xperia Z2 tablet sports a 10.1-inch TRILUMINOS screen with 16M colors and a resolution of 1920 x 1200. This screen is backed by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor clocked at 2.3 GHz, Adreno 330 graphics, and 3 GB of RAM. Storage consists of up to 16 GB internal and a microSD card slot for up to 64 GB.

This tablet also packs an 8.1MP camera on the back featuring an 8x digital zoom, and a 2.2MP camera on the front for taking great selfies. Other hardware highlights include an FM radio with RDS, a TV launcher, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wireless AC connectivity, GPS, MHL 3.0 support, IPX5/8 (Waterproof) & IP5X (Dust-resistant) certification, a 6000 mAh battery promising 10 hours of multimedia use, and more. Android 4.4 "KitKet" is the OS of choice.

Sony’s new device is also PlayStation certified, meaning you can play a number of games on PlayStation Mobile. The PlayStation App will also be pre-loaded, which offers PlayStation 4-focused features like second screen gaming, direct access to the PlayStation Store, and access to the PlayStation Network for chatting with friends.

"At just 0.25-inches slim and weighing less than a pound, the Xperia Z2 Tablet is so slim and lightweight, you will forget you’re holding it," states the PR. “Even with its sleek build, you do not have to give a second thought about where you use it, since the Xperia Z2 Tablet is designed with a display that is scratch resistant and a body that is waterproof."

By purchasing the tablet through Verizon Wireless, customers will receive six "blockbuster" movies. They will also receive an exclusive early access pass to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 when it becomes available for digital download, and 90 days of free music streaming through Sony’s Music Unlimited.

The 16 GB version of Sony’s new Xperia Z2 Tablet costs $499.99. The tablet will be made available nationwide at Verizon’s retail stores, select national retailers and dealers, and online starting July 17.

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