Leading up to today's announcement, we saw leaks, teasers, more teasers, one leak to rule them all, and even more teasers. If there was anything you wanted to know about this phone, you already do. Only now, in big press event fashion, LG has made it official.

Okay, not everything was unveiled. One piece of information we were waiting to see confirmed was the processor. Rather than adopt the Snapdragon 810, LG has opted for the 808. It and Qualcomm boast that with this processor the device is able to get more than a full day of battery life. It probably won't overheat as much either. This processor is paired with 3GB of RAM.

One of the starkest changes over the G3 is the new Slim Arc design, a mild curve reminiscent of the LG G Flex that's noticeably less drastic. On the front there's an updated 5.5" QHD IPS Quantum display. Using no shortage of marketing speak, LG President and CEO Juno Cho pointed out how the pixels are gorgeous as always.

The LG G4 (right) next to the G3 (left).

That pretty screen is surrounded by a minimal amount of bezel on the sides, a logo on the bottom, and a single speaker grille on top. The power and volume buttons remain positioned on the back below the camera.

Speaking of which, the rear-facing shooter is a 16MP F/1.8 module with optical image stabilization and laser focusing. LG was happy to emphasize the phone's fast shutter speeds, the ability to save as RAW, and multiple shooting modes. Some new camera options include Quick Shot, which lets you take a photo by double tapping the rear volume key, even when the phone is locked, and Gesture Interval Shot, a burst mode for the 8MP front camera with lengthy pauses so that you can change your facial expression in between selfies.

The rear camera is surrounded by an optional leather back with a stitched seam running down the middle, the G4's other most noticeable visual change.

If you don't like this look, you're in luck, because LG is the one major Android manufacturer that still lets you swap out the rear panel, as well as the battery (which comes in at 3,000mAh). Backs are available in multiple colors. Plastic comes in gold, gray, and white. Leather options include beige, black, blue, brown, red, and yellow.

Altogether, the phone's dimensions come in at 149.1mm x 75.3mm x 8.9mm.

The G4 will ship with Android 5.1. Of course, a number of LG-specific software tweaks will ship as part of UX 4.0. Smart Bulletin, for example, puts notifications from multiple apps on the same screen. The Event Pocket gathers information from multiple sources and adds them to your calendar.

LG's design was already colorful and bright before the days of material everything, and that trend continues now.

The phone will come with up to 32GB of internal storage, supplemented by a microSD card slot. G4 buyers will also get 100GB of free Google Drive storage. We'll have more information for you over the course of the day.

T-Mobile's LG G4 intro

UPDATE: BY

All five of the largest US carriers have announced their intentions to marry sell the LG G4. Verizon sent out this tweet, and AT&T shared this one. T-Mobile appears to be aiming for late May. Sprint will offer the phone in June, and US Cellular intends to as well. We'll have to wait and see how much each carrier will want for the device.

[pr]

LG G4: THE MOST AMBITOUS SMARTPHONE YET

LG Invites Consumers to See and Feel How Great a Smartphone Can Be

SEOUL, April 29, 2015 ― LG Electronics (LG) unveils its eagerly anticipated LG G4 smartphone today, at launch events in New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Istanbul and Seoul. Approximately 1,000 guests around the world gathered to view the new LG G4, the successor to the G3, which exceeded all expectations in terms of sales and industry awards. Among the first users of the LG G4 will be 4,000 lucky customers who will receive the new smartphone as part of the company’s largest-ever consumer experience campaign.

With the G4, LG focused on delivering comfortable elegance, a great visual experience and a human-centric user experience. The LG G4 camera features a rare-in-smartphones F1.8 aperture lens which allows 80 percent more light to hit the image sensor than in the LG G3. The innovative camera module is paired with the new IPS Quantum Display that is better in every way than the innovative Quad HD display introduced to the world in the LG G3. The LG G4 embodies human sensibility that is clearly visible in its Slim Arc exterior design and graphical user interface.

“We are living up to our promise of Innovation for a Better Life with a fashionable, premium smartphone that is more focused on delivering a balanced user experience that can compete with the best of the best,” said Juno Cho, president and CEO of the LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We wanted to give consumers a truly human-centric device that combined the analog sensibilities with technologies that delivered real world performance. From the design to the camera to the display to the UX, this is the most ambitious phone we’ve ever created.”

Comfortable & Elegant Design

LG paid special attention to the materials utilized in its newest flagship. The LG G4 is available in handcrafted, genuine full grain leather in six beautiful colors. The vegetable tanning process employed is an age old tradition that requires skilled craftsmen to produce and dye the leather. The colors of the leather on the G4 are rich with warm tones that look authentic and change over time. Most importantly, vegetable tanned leather is environmentally friendly and can be recycled easily, since no harsh chemicals are used. Other material options for the G4 rear cover include pure Ceramic White with 3D patterns, artisan-forged Metallic Gray as well lustrous, Shiny Gold.

The fashionable elegance of the LG G4 is a refreshing change from the uniformly flat, full metal designs that have been become standard across the industry. The LG G4’s design is defined by the Slim Arc, which runs along its entire body, highlighted by a display with a subtle curvature. More than just a design accent, Slim Arc offers 20 percent better durability than a flat smartphone in face-down drops and gives the smartphone a more comfortable and secure feel in the hand.

The exterior design is also reflected in the smartphone’s user interface, which includes simple, naturally intuitive graphics. In the LG G4, the icon colors are more vibrant with icons that have rounded corners, consistent with the Slim Arc design. What’s more, the Smart Notice widget automatically changes its background and text color based on the home screen image selected by the user.

Great Visual Experience

LG designed the 16MP camera in the LG G4 to capture beautiful images, even under less than ideal lighting conditions. The camera module features a wide F1.8 aperture lens that allows 80 percent more light to reach the sensor. LG improved low-light performance even further with OIS 2.0, which doubles the performance of the improved OIS+ by expanding the range of image stabilization from one degree to two degrees on the X- and Y-axis and adding a third axis for the first time.

New for G4, Manual Mode allows experienced photographers the ability to exercise more artistic expression by letting them directly control the focus, shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation and white balance for every shot. Advanced photographers can also save their photos in RAW format, in addition to JPEG, for more precise editing with no loss of details.

The advanced camera in the LG G4 is complemented by Color Spectrum Sensor (CSS), the first feature of its kind to find its way into a smartphone. CSS improves color accuracy by precisely reading the RGB values of the ambient light in a scene, as well as the infrared light reflected from objects. CSS uses this information to adjust the camera’s white balance and flash color to create images that are as close to what one would see with the naked eye. With Color Spectrum Sensor, no longer will reds appear as bright orange or whites as dull yellow.

For selfies good enough to frame, LG included an industry-leading 8MP front-facing camera for sharp, detailed portraits and group shots. Gesture Interval Shot improves on the original Gesture Shot feature by taking four shots spaced two seconds apart, increasing the chance of getting that perfect shot under the most difficult conditions. Triggering the shutter is as simple as opening and closing one’s hand twice in front of the camera.

Taking a quantum leap in display technology, the LG G4 is the first smartphone to use LG Display’s new 5.5-inch IPS Quantum Display, which offers 20 percent greater color reproduction, 25 percent improvement in brightness and 50 percent greater contrast. It is the first Quad HD display to employ Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT) technology, which combines the LCD and touch sensor into a single layer to provide better color reproduction and touch sensitivity. This new display is calibrated for DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) standards for color expression, championed by top Hollywood studios.

Power and Performance

With G4, the higher quality display doesn’t come at the expense of battery life. The LG G4 is equipped with a high-capacity 3,000mAh removable battery, a rare feature in today’s high-end smartphones. Combined with the benefits offered by the snappy yet energy-thrifty Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 808 processor with X10 LTE, the LG G4 has no trouble getting through a full day of normal use. In fact, the LG G4 is estimated to last 20 percent longer than the G3, from the same capacity battery.

To mark the first public unveiling of its Snapdragon™ 808 processor, Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, executive chairman of Qualcomm International joined Mr. Cho on stage in New York City with Qualcomm vice chairman Jim Doh attending in Seoul.

“LG and Qualcomm Technologies collaborated from the initial stage of the Snapdragon 808 introduction to expertly tune the technologies and make several of the LG G4’s unique features possible,” said Jacobs. “The resulting G4 smartphone is an ideal example of how the best optimized technologies come together to meet consumers’ needs.”

Human-Centric UX

The LG G4 is the first phone to utilize the new human-centric UX 4.0 that promises to be simpler and more intuitive to better understand and respond to the needs of each user. The improved UX eliminates unnecessary steps while providing more configuration options for advanced users.

Quick Shot allows customers to take pictures without opening the camera app by double tapping the phone’s Rear Key while the display is off. LG G4 also has an incredibly fast camera startup time of just six-tenths of a second.

The new Gallery makes it extremely fast to scroll through thousands of pictures and view them on a timeline. The Memories feature automatically organizes photos and videos into event albums based on the time and place they were taken, without having to upload to the cloud.

Event Pocket allows users to create one, unified calendar by dragging and dropping appointments and activities from multiple calendars and social media sites. After the initial setup, there’s no need to log into multiple calendars.

The improved Smart Notice provides more personalized notifications for weather, travel and more by analyzing habits, such as how a user commutes to work. This allows Smart Notice to issue personalized messages such as, “Make sure to take an umbrella on your way to the subway.”

Quick Help allows users to search for instant answers to any questions about operating the LG G4, right in the Smart Notice widget. Quick Help can guide users through the LG G4’s settings and even schedule a call with customer service.

LG has sought out partnerships to enhance the overall user experience of the G4. Google Office comes pre-installed on the LG G4 for easy collaboration on-the-go and G4 owners will receive an additional 100GB of Google Drive storage free for two years. With MirrorLink and LG G4, owners of Volkswagen vehicles will be able to view a car-friendly version of the G4 interface on the in-dash display for full integration with contacts, navigation and music on the smartphone.

The LG G4 will start its global roll-out on April 29 in Korea and will eventually be available on approximately 180 carriers worldwide. Prices and carrier availability will be announced locally in each market.

Key Specifications:*

Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 808 Processor with X10 LTE

Display: 5.5-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum Display (2560 x 1440, 538ppi)

Memory: 32GB eMMC ROM, 3GB LPDDR3 RAM / microSD slot

Camera: Rear 16MP with F1.8 Aperture / OIS 2.0 / Front 8MP

Battery: 3,000mAh (removable)

Operating System: Android 5.1 Lollipop

Size: 148.9 x 76.1 x 6.3 - 9.8 mm

Weight: 155g

Network: 4G / LTE / HSPA+ 21 Mbps (3G)

Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 4.1LE / NFC / USB 2.0

Colors: [Ceramic] Metallic Gray / Ceramic White / Shiny Gold / [Genuine Leather] Black / Brown / Red / Sky Blue / Beige / Yellow

Other: Manual Mode / Gesture Interval Shot / Quick Shot

* Specifications may vary depending on the market.

[/pr]

[pr]

Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 Processor with X10 LTE Powers New LG G4 Smartphone

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Continues to Bring Advanced Camera, Multimedia, Audio and Connectivity Features to the Latest LG Devices

SAN DIEGO, April 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., is powering LG's latest flagship smartphone, the LG G4. The new smartphone is the first to feature the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 808 processor with X10 LTE, along with a broad set of mobile features from advanced camera, graphics and audio to enhanced connectivity and location, delivering breakthrough user experiences.

"LG and Qualcomm Technologies collaborated from the initial stages of the Snapdragon 808 introduction to skillfully tune the technologies to make many of the LG G4's unique features possible," said Reiner Klement, vice president of product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "The resulting LG G4 smartphone provides a highly refined user experience with exceptional call quality, advanced multimedia and fast connectivity to the Internet. We congratulate LG on the launch of this innovative new device."

"Our objective with LG G4 was to create a smartphone with the optimal balance of performance, functionality, efficiency and design innovation," said Dr. Ramchan Woo, head of smartphone planning, LG. "By working closely with Qualcomm Technologies on the LG G4 smartphone, we were able to deliver on this high bar of innovation that both companies set."

The Snapdragon 808 processor with X10 LTE, featured in the LG G4, is designed to enable amazing user experiences, including:

  • State-of-the-art camera: With Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.'s 12-bit dual ISP technology, the LG G4 camera offers innovative camera features resulting in a stunning visual experience with crisp images with life-like color, texture and brightness, even in low-light conditions.
  • Next-generation LTE Advanced: By featuring X10 LTE, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.'s most advanced integrated modem, the LG G4 offers enhanced, lightning-fast on-the-go connectivity for snappy app responsiveness, fast access to files in the cloud, and smooth streaming of high-quality video and music.
  • Enhanced Location: The LG G4 is the first smartphone to use sensor-assisted positioning with Qualcomm® IZat™ technology, which combines positioning data from satellites, WLAN and a variety of sensors already integrated into the LG G4 to provide accurate pedestrian navigation even in most challenging urban environments and inside buildings.
  • Advanced graphics and multimedia: The LG G4's quad HD display is supported by the latest Qualcomm® Adreno™ 400 series GPU, with features such as hardware tessellation, geometry shaders and programmable blending for superior graphics capabilities. The LG G4 also offers incredible video recording with the ability to capture rich and stunning content in 4K, made possible by the Snapdragon 808 processor.
  • Crisp, clear audio: The Snapdragon 808 processors' four-channel processing and audio-capture technology allows LG G4 users to easily record clearer video sound, even in noisy environments.
  • Increased battery life: Based on internal testing, the LG G4 boasts more than a full day of battery life, which is more than many of today's leading smartphones.

[/pr]