Design, Features, and Call Quality
Without a reference for scale, the 5.42-by-2.74-by-0.41-inch (HWD), 4.73-ounce prime G3 is almost indistinguishable from G3 valid. It is a great size for one-handed use and benefit from the same curved back and thin bezels of its larger sibling. See rear-mounted Power and Volume buttons and feel identical to the G3, and the removable plastic back has the same pleasantly textured feel. It is not a "mini" in the name, but it is one of the most faithful to the very very miniaturizations your saw.
Many Android Smartphone entry-level sacrifice clarity for the price, opt for the lower resolution of 960-by-540-pixel display. Not so here. The 5-inch, 720p LCD is one of the best you'll see at this price, right in line with the new Moto G display, but a touch dimmer and less punchy colors. There is a single speaker port on the back, which gets surprisingly loud, but it is easy to cover by accident and predictably missing depth.
The prime G3 supports Sprint's 3G CDMA (800/850 / 1900MHz) and LTE (850/1900/2500) networks. Sprint still lags behind AT & T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, as we saw in our latest test Fastest Mobile Networks, but the G3 strength is, at least, support the newer Spark Sprint LTE, that can be blazing fast where you can find. In my tests, call quality is excellent, the earpiece gets loud voice and came through clearly, while shipments by mic is clean and sound natural. Noise cancellation worked well in my tests, quieting repeated keyboard taps, although it did persist a bit louder with the atmosphere of the street.
New features Wi-Fi calling enabled Sprint G3 strength, allowing you to make and receive calls over Wi-Fi networks when mobile reception is poor or nonexistent. Call quality over Wi-Fi is very good, but the Achilles heel for the Wi-Fi calling Sprint is implementing a complete lack of ability handoff between Wi-Fi networks and cellular networks. For example, if you start a call over Wi-Fi at home, you can not leave the range of your network without Disconnecting. It is still useful sometimes considered Spotty coverage Sprint, but cripples the handoff issue this feature out of the gate.
In our testing, the removable battery 2,540mAh is good for 18 hours, 35 minutes of continuous talk time. That is on par with many times its very endurance the phone, putting the G3 strength in good company.
Also onboard are dual-band 802.11b / g / n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS, but no NFC. The G3 prime had no issues connecting to the 5GHz network and easily paired with an ERA by JAWBONE Bluetooth headset.
Performance and Android
G3 features the same 1.2GHz prime, Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC 400 marks found low-to-midrange smartphone today. With the same screen resolution and processor, synthetic performance benchmarks are nearly identical Moto G. Most of the activities this year, such as browsing the Web or switch between apps, run without a hitch. Loading the game up like Asphalt 8 usually do not slow down the G3 strength, but more hectic on-screen rendering can cause framerates to sputter.
The big difference between prime and phone G3 same equipment as Moto G is down to software, the prime G3 runs Android 4.4 with LG's Optimus UI slapped on top, while the Moto G has almost stock version of Android 4.4. LG has slimmed down and refined its Android skin, but it is still a resource hog bigger than stock. Bear this out occasionally choppy animation and home screen redrawing elements after the release of some apps. These are minor annoyances, but when it comes to good performance on lower-end hardware, some skins can match stock android. Thankfully some LG customizations prove much more useful. QSlide floating-window multitasking and QPair is useful; lets you sync the last SMS and other notifications between the two devices. The prime G3 also an IR-emitter, letting you use Quick LG Remote app to control home theater equipment; It worked with Sony and LG HDTV on my test.
Total of 8GB of internal storage, 3.77GB is available to users outside of the box. Going to be crucial if you want local media streaming services and games to your phone, titles like Asphalt 8 requires more than 1GB alone. There is a microSD card slot under the removable back, which worked fine with our 64GB card, but you can easily install apps on removable storage. Sprint loads a bunch of bloatware, but most of them are removable, so more of a nuisance than anything else.
Camera and conclusions
The 8-megapixel rear-facing camera is disappointing, churning out middling shot, especially in anything but perfect lighting. Outdoors, in good light, snaps off the G3 prime suitably sharp skew towards overexposed pictures. Focus is still incredibly fast, even in low light, but dropped off considerably image quality indoors and poorly lit scenes. White balance is regularly inaccurate with distracting pink cast, while noise image rendering images in grainy messes under typical indoor lighting. The quality of video same disappoints, with frames dropped and waxy details indoors.
Whether its 5-inch display is anything but small, the LG Prime is a miniaturized G3 is very specific in the same vein as the HTC One remix anyway. But not like the phone and older, options to small-screen like the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, G3 force carries an aggressive low price tag associated with some compromises. It is a reliable sing specs outmatch most phones its price class, such underwhelming $ 29 Kyocera Hydro Vibe. The G3 strength is an excellent choice for entry-level smartphone with Sprint. If you have a little more room in your budget, consider the $ 99 HTC One E8, which delivers real very specific specs and features at a reasonable price.