LG G3 Beat (LG G3 S) Officially Announced: 5-inch Screen and Mid-range Specs

The rumor mill has speculated that the folks at LG are planning to introduce a “mini” version of their LG G3 flagship and now the said device is finally official. Except that is not as “mini” as it was first believed, because it boasts about a 5-inch display. The smartphone is called LG G3 Beat and it will be marketed in Europe as LG G3 S.

Even though the technical specifications recommend the LG G3 Beat as a mid-range smartphone, we are glad to announce you that the new handset retains some of the features of its bigger brother such as the laser autofocus, the brushed metal back, and the G3 software features.

As I was mentioning above, the LG G3 Beat packs a 5-inch screen so it’s not appropriate to fit the terminal in the “mini” range. The HD IPS display has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and a pixel density of 294 ppi. LG mentions that the thin bezels offer a screen to body ratio of 74.1%, the highest on mid-range smartphone market. The smartphone is 137.7 mm tall, 69.6 mm wide, 10.3 mm thin, and has a weight of 134 grams.

The new mid-range is underpinned by a quad-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, integrates 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of native storage, and support for microSD cards. G3 Beat is kept alive by a 2,540 mAh battery while the rear-mounted camera has an 8 MP sensor. As I was mentioning above, the new device borrows the laser-assisted focusing system from its bigger brother, the LG G3. On the brushed metal back you will be able to notice the said laser autofocus module and the volume and power keys.

Connectivity-wise, the LG G3 Beat arrives with 4G LTE, HSPA+, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS/Glonass, NFC, and microUSB 2.0.

As you may see in the gallery below, the G3 Beat borrows most of the design elements of the G3 flagship. Given the G3 Bit and G3 have similar dimensions it would be pretty hard for users to tell the two smartphones apart which is not necessarily bad since G3′s design received a lot of positive reviews.

The LG G3 Beat runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box, also sporting most of G3′s software features including Touch & Shoot camera mode, Smart Keyboard, Knock Code, and Knock On.

LG officially revealed that the G3 Beat will debut on the South Korean market on July 18th and that it will be available in Metallic Black, Silk White, and Shine Gold. The Europe and CSI countries will start selling the G3 Beat (it will be marketed as LG G3 s there) in the next few weeks.