LG G3 REVIEW

The good The LG G3 has solid call quality and LTE data speeds, a great camera, a brilliantly sharp display, a snappy quad-core processor, and a flat UI that makes Android 4.4 look good. LG's flagship has also improved on the previous model -- the new G3 comes with a removable battery and microSD card slot, both things the G2 lacked.

The bad The new QHD display with its 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution is quite a power hog, so the phone will barely last you a day without a charge.

The bottom line Possessing the right blend of features and design, the G3 finally gives LG the right phone with which to challenge Korean rival Samsung.

CNET REVIEW
Editors' note: This review has been updated on July 22, 2014, with further US carrier analysis.

LG has always played second fiddle to Samsung in the smartphone market, especially in Korea, but it looks like its latest flagship, the G3, could cause a major upset. Early reports from Korea show the G3 selling like hotcakes, outdoing Samsung's Galaxy S5 by three times in the initial launch period.

It's not hard to see why. Unlike the Galaxy S5 , which shows a more conservative approach in its design, LG's G3 goes bold with a new high-resolution "QHD" (2,560x1,440-pixel resolution) display, as well as adding a laser-guided autofocus for the camera.

That's not to mention the other design changes that address the issues of the previous flagship, such as the addition of a microSD card slot and removable battery. With a cleaner, toned-down redesign of the UI (it's running a reskinned Android 4.4 KitKat), the LG G3 has what it takes to be a top-ranked flagship smartphone for 2014.