Under the microscope - the LG G3

Getting up-close and personal with LG's latest flagship

I'm really digging the LG G3. It's everything Alex said it would be when he looked at the original Korean version, and more. If you already picked one up, you know what I mean. That means it's time to get a little nerdy with it!

We have a nice mid-range USB Microscope. We have a very high-end LG G3. The two must get together, don't you think?

A few notes:

• This is the AT&T model G3 you're seeing.
• These pictures are taken with the Celestron 5 MP Handheld Digital Microscope Pro at 200x magnification. We've found this to give a really good look at things while still keeping them recognizable.
• I used a broken piece of an R72 infrared filter to see the laser light. Never throw anything away.
• I cleaned the phone with rubbing alcohol and a clean microfiber cloth. It still looks filthy, because your phone is always filthy.
• As always, I had a load of fun looking at phones under a microscope.

On to the fun stuff ...

The G3 has an amazing Quad HD 534 ppi display. I love to use my microscope to peep at pixels and sub-pixels because they look cool and I like to see exactly what I'm dealing with. The pixel density on the G3 is so high that I don't get much to look at from the 200x magnification on my little microscope. I have to call this a pure win, because even at 200x, the screen still looks like a screen and not a bunch of multi-color dots.

Finally, we can't forget the lasers! The G3 uses a phase detection laser autofocus module to quickly and accurately focus the rear 13MP camera. Anytime the camera app is open, this is firing — you just can't see it. A quick look with a piece of an R72 IR filter placed on top of the laser module and the magic of frame capture, and we can see it firing. It's like a Rush concert.

The laser itself is in the top of the blackened glass "port" on the back of the G3 beside the camera. The bottom of the module is used to receive the reflections of the laser as it bounces off of the things you have it pointed at. The software can then use the time it took to bounce back to determine the exact (close enough to exact) distance to focus. Your point-and-shoot camera does the same thing. It makes a difference — this thing focuses fast.

Pretty cool how some of these parts look when you get a really close look at them, isn't it?

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