LG's G2 was a bit of an oddball when it debuted late last year. It had all the makings of a standard flagship Android smartphone—top-of-the-line internals, a beautiful display, and a capable camera—but it also brought something unique to the table: volume and power buttons that were curiously placed on back of the device. Despite the peculiar hardware design, though, the G2 was generally impressive . But with handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC's fantastic One (M8) on the market, LG had little choice but to go beyond interesting button placement to make sure its new G3 smartphone doesn't fall by the wayside in the incredibly competitive market.

So what did LG do? It dropped in a larger display with an astounding 2,560 by 1,440 resolution and wrapped the phone in a new, metal-like casing. Other upgrades are also in tow, like redesigned hardware buttons, an improved camera with an infrared laser for quick auto-focus capabilities, and a new approach to its smartphone UI, and the results are nothing short of amazing. While other flagships can be portrayed as mere iterations of their predecessors, LG's G3 has managed to evolve from last year's model, making for an all-around, more complete package.Up from last year's 5.2-inch G2, the LG G3 is equipped with a 5.5-inch IPS liquid-crystal display. At this size, it would be easy to compare the phone to something found in Samsung's popular "phablet" line—the Galaxy Note II uses a screen of the same size—but like its predecessor, the G3's thin bezels mask the true dimensions of the display. In fact, the G3 is only slightly taller, wider, and heavier than the 5.1-inch Galaxy S5, with but a few millimeters and grams separating the two.Unfortunately, while the G3's design makes it easier to hold a phone with such a large display, it doesn't actually make the screen much easier to use. Like the Galaxy Notes, the G3 is difficult to use with one hand. Most of my thumb activity takes place on the lower half of the screen, which is fine for some things, but reaching the upper portion of the display requires a risky shift of hand placement. The thin body does make typing with a single thumb less of a hassle, although it isn't nearly as simple or efficient as using two hands to knock out emails and text messages.

LG G2 and LG G3

LG G3 Sample Photos 6 IMAGES

But real star of the show isn't the size of the the G3's screen, it's the technology behind it. Equipped with a Quad HD display, LG's latest is downright beautiful. Text and photos are clear and full of detail, and colors look great. But don't be mistaken, a 2,560 by 1,440 resolution on a small screen is completely overkill, and the visual differences between the G3 and the 1080p Galaxy S5 are negligible—at 534 ppi and 432 ppi, respectively, you'd have to be looking unreasonably hard to find individual pixels on either phone.When LG first revealed the display that would be included with its new flagship, there were reasonable concerns about performance and battery life. Fortunately, neither was a problem. My Korean review unit is equipped with a 2.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 chip and 3GB of RAM, making for one of the most powerful Android devices to hit the market. When running benchmarks, the G3 trailed behind the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3 in both Geekbench 3 and 3DMark's Ice Storm Unlimited tests, but beat out LG's own Nexus 5 in both instances.Gaming on the G3 was great, whether ridding the world of aliens in XCOM: Enemy Unknown or speeding through Asphalt 8: Airborne , and navigating around Android 4.4.2 KitKat was only met with minor problems—some animations when hopping between apps were slow from time to time. Thankfully, LG has both toned down its UI tweaks and made it less Samsung-like in appearance. The new design features flatter elements and less vibrant colors, and is all-around easier on the eyes. It looks clean while still offering a ton of optional features, which isn't something you can say for all manufacturer skins.Like the Galaxy S5, the G3 offers a large number of additions to Android, but they aren't nearly as gimmicky in LG's case. There isn't anything fancy like a fingerprint scanner or a heart rate sensor, but there is the inuitive KnockCode, which lets you unlock the device using a customized pattern of taps; LG Health, a lightweight activity tracker; and Smart Notice, a notification card system that isn't nearly as useful as Google Now. To make use of the larger display, the G3 can also split the screen between two apps, or open up windowed apps with Q Slide, although the selection of programs that work with these features is very limited.When the G3 was announced, LG also touted the phone's new keyboard, and it is easily one of the better stock Android keyboards you can find. In addition to standard features like predictive suggestions and swipe-typing, users can also customize a portion of the button layout, change the height of the keyboard, and choose whether or not they want a dedicated number row at the top of the keyboard. The software is also supposed to learn from your typing, although any new habits that the phone may have learned from my time with the device were not totally apparent.In terms of battery life, there is nothing to worry about with the G3, even with its large, high-resolution display. After spending some time with an identically-spec'd Verizon Wireless version of the G3, the phone's 3,000mAh battery was more than enough to get me through an entire day, taking advantage of LTE coverage in the process. Heavy users will likely need a mid-day top-up, but every one else should have little to no problems reaching their nightly recharge. Light users might even be able to get through multiple days on a full charge.In case you do need some extra juice, the G3 features a removable rear casing, giving access to the equally removable battery pack and a microSD card slot. The G2 had a closed case and no way to expand storage, so this is a huge improvement over last year's model that will surely make many Android users happy.The G3 also does away with the slippery plastic of its predecessor, instead opting for a brushed metal-like finish. It looks similar to the metal HTC One, and it does a fantastic job at staying free of fingerprints and smudges. After more than a week with the phone, the backing still looks completely flawless. It's still somewhat slick, but at least it looks and feels good while doing it.The rear side of the handset is also home to the G3's hardware buttons. In addition to volume and power / sleep controls, long pressing either volume button when the screen is off will quick-launch the camera or note taking app. The volume buttons are concaved this time around, and I actually found them easier to blindly locate than with the G2. Located in the lower left portion of the rear side is a single speaker, and even though its placement isn't ideal for listening sessions, it is surprisingly loud.Immediately above the rear keys is LG's new camera setup, which includes a 13-megapixel shooter with an LED flash on one side and an infrared laser on the other. The actual camera is one of the best attached to an Android phone, capturing a good amount of detail and color in just about any situation, and results are similar to that of the Galaxy S5.The G3's camera is boasted as having the fastest autofocus of any smartphone with the help of its infrared laser, which can actually be seen lighting up when the camera app is open. The laser is used to assist with identifying the depth and position of objects in your photo, which is said to decrease the time it takes to focus. In reality, the differences between the focusing time of the G3 and other high-end Android phones isn't noticeable—we're talking a matter a milliseconds here.The camera app itself has been slightly revised, and now features two viewing methods. One almost completely removes the viewfinder of any on-screen buttons, allowing the user to capture photos by a single tap to zoom and take the shot. With the menu button activated, standard shutter and video buttons are presented—tapping the screen now just focuses—as well as additional shooting options. LG decreased the number of shooting modes and options, which will be fine for people who like to keep things simple, but can be annoying for those who prefer to utilize manual settings.