The brand new LG G4 phone was released last Thursday, and this is one slick phone. With its amazing 16 MP camera, and beautiful 5.5″ IPS Quantum QHD display, it’s an awesome, cutting-edge phone for anyone who snaps a lot of photos and does a lot on the go…like, say, a blogger! Even better, the LG G4 is part of the T-Mobile network, which Jai and I already use. In fact, T-Mobile is the only cell network I’ve ever subscribed to, starting way back with my first cell phone in 2005. Living in a somewhat rural area as we do, it can be a challenge to get reception on many major cell networks, so T-Mobile is a winner for us because it works at home as well as when I’m traveling, along with being the most affordable option. A few other benefits to using T-Mobile include Simple Global International calling plans, Wi-Fi Calling, Data Stash, Music Freedom and At Bat for MLB fans!

Since Jai is our household’s resident Android fan, I couldn’t keep this phone all to myself. He has been testing it out pretty thoroughly, and this is what he had to say about it:

I’ve had several days to check out the new LG G4 and I’ve barely set it down this whole time. So far I love it. Every feature that I care about in a smart phone has been met or exceeded. At first glance, the leather back and rear navigation buttons certainly makes the phone stand out and both have a nice feel, but the first three features that got my attention were the display, the camera, and the built-in speaker. The display is large, sharp, and bright. So far, I haven’t had to turn the screen to over 60% brightness even out in the sun. Photos are vibrant and video playback is perfectly smooth. The 16 Megapixel rear camera has clarity and features that you normally associate with DSLR cameras rather than a smart phone. The fact that you can save pictures in .raw format and take 30 second exposures should say a lot. If that’s not your thing, then you can just keep it in auto-mode to have a very nice point-and-shoot camera. I can say for certain that I won’t be needing to bring my phone *and* a separate camera to events from now on. When I would show family and friends videos one thing that people noticed was how clear and full the sound was coming from the built-in speaker. The sound is clear and carries more like one of the external Bluetooth speakers I normally use with my other phones.

As I learned my way around the LG G4, I found several more features that I really appreciated. One of these is that the G4 has an infrared port at the top of the phone that, with he help of the “Quick Remote” app, can communicate with pretty much every device around your house that uses a remote control. I have not found a TV yet that couldn’t be controlled by this phone. It also has remote control support for projectors, stereos, cable boxes, and of all things, air conditioners. I’d also like to mention how much I grew to like the physical volume and lock buttons being on the back of the phone. This frees up real estate on the front of the phone for more screen space and the recessed buttons are easy to find by feel. The hand holding the phone can use these buttons, allowing your typing hand just that much more freedom of movement. Never once were any of them inadvertently pressed.

The battery life is pretty good. Even under heavy use it can last a full day, and moderate use will get you into a good part of a second day. The phone also features a “Battery Saver” mode. As I understand it, this kicks in when the battery level drops below 15%. However, I never saw my battery level drop below 20%. The thing I like most about the battery is how easy it is to access and change. Taking the back cover off to change the battery isn’t much harder than changing the battery in your TV remote. Once you have the back cover off you quickly see that there is a Micro-SD slot to expand the memory beyond the 32GB that comes built in. This is a great feature that you don’t see often enough and my first question was how large of a Micro-SD card can it handle. 64GB would be good and 128GB would be awesome. When I checked the specs I saw that it could handle a 2Tb (aka 2000GB) card! I thought that must be an error at first but sure enough it’s true. I’m not aware of any Micro-SD cards of that size existing at the moment but when the technology reaches that point it will find a home in my LG G4. That’s fine by me as I see myself using this as my primary phone for a long time.

Learn more about the new LG G4 and T-Mobile’s different plans by visiting T-Mobile.com!