LG G3: Lasers, metallic skin, and the quest for cool

Mobile and pc world. takes a behind-the-scenes look at the last-minute scramble to create LG's latest flagship smartphone.

In the end, it was all about the lasers.
At least, it was to LG, which considered the laser-equipped camera -- supposedly able to focus on images faster than the standard smartphone camera -- to be one of the hallmark features of its G3 smartphone, the latest flagship product of the Korean consumer electronics conglomerate.
Its predecessor, the well-received if relatively modest-selling G2, proved that LG could stand with the big boys in the industry, namely Apple and Samsung and a design-minded HTC, with a different flagship phone. But with the G3, LG set out on a path to create a smartphone it could argue was superior to the competition, which meant injecting a little cool into the phone.
Enter the lasers.
"A laser sounds pretty sexy," Ramchan Woo, head of LG's mobile platform planning division, said in an interview with Mobile And Pc World. "A laser is one of the coolest items around the world."
LG can use all the cool that it can get. Having long played second fiddle to Samsung as the other large Korean conglomerate, LG lacks any real significant brand identity. Like Samsung, LG can tap into its various component units to create solid products, but it doesn't have the cult-like following of Apple or the marketing heft of its Korean rival. With a strong contender in the G3, the experimentally curvy G Flex, and the fan favorite Nexus 5, LG is starting to build a track record of noteworthy smartphones. Even so, many remain skeptical that LG can break out as a coveted household name.
"A lot of the G3's success will depend on how much LG is willing to invest in marketing -- consumers are familiar with the LG brand, but do not seek out its phones," said Avi Greengart, who covers consumer electronic products at Current Analysis.
LG ranked in the top five among global smartphone makers in the first quarter, although it ceded its No. 3 spot from a year ago to Chinese vendors Huawei and Lenovo, according to IDC. With a 4.3 percent share of the market, it lags far behind Samsung, which controls nearly a third of the market, and Apple, with 15.2 percent of the market.

Yet the company feels it has a legitimate shot to go after the competition with the G3. When it launched in Korea in June, the G3 reportedly outsold Samsung's Galaxy S5 by a 3-to-1 margin during their respective launch weeks, according to Korean publication ET News. The G3 debuted in the US on Friday with AT&T, but will be available at all of the national carriers over the coming days.
Critically, the G3 hasalready won praise. Mobile And Pc World senior editor peter coach called it the "perfect flagship phone for early adopters," and suggested that the G3 could cause a major upset over the Galaxy S5.Whether the G3's laser-power camera is a genuinely useful feature or a gimmick remains a little unclear. CNET senior editor Andrew Hoyle conducted a test of the camera vs. the Galaxy S5, and only found it slightly faster and better in low-light conditions.
Still, in an industry where most of the improvements come in the form of better specs and bigger displays, the G3's laser is at least different.
Last-minute laser
It was December, and Woo was starting to feel the pressure.
While most companies typically take a year in between flagship smartphones, LG was on an accelerated schedule. The predecessor G2 had just been released in September, and LG was looking to launch the follow-up a mere eight months later.
The planning had actually come together in 2012, and then LG worked with Qualcomm in May 2013 to optimize the new 801 Snapdragon quad-core processor for the phone. The design of the exterior and internal components of the G3 had been locked in.
Yet executives felt the G3 still lacked that cool factor -- that difference maker that would help the smartphone stand apart from its competitors. The camera, in particular, lacked any real improvement.
Woo found the answer in the unlikeliest of places: LG's Hom-Bot robot vacuum division.
He happened to be at an R&D coffee break with engineers from the division when they started talking about a laser sensor the robot vacuum team had considered using to help gauge distance. The team ultimately decided to use other sensors. But Woo was intrigued, and had the robot vacuum engineers set up a meeting with the outside supplier of the laser.
After one demonstration, Woo was sold.
"There's something about a laser," he recalled. "It can be cool."
But Woo faced a big problem. Adding a major element like a laser required a wholesale design of the G3's mold and internal components -- impossible under the company's normal schedule. Woo had to pitch the laser sensor to Jong-Seok Park, CEO of the mobile division, and convince him to sign off on a last-minute change to the smartphone. Park was instrumental in changing the production process to allow for the laser addition.
Somehow, Woo said, the hardware team managed to redesign the smartphone mold and internal printed circuit board by January.
"I'm still not sure how they did it," he said.
LG's secret weapon

Ramchan Woo, head of LG's mobile platform planning division

Woo felt that the laser-guided camera was the G3's ace in the hole, so he opted not to alert the marketing team.
"The laser was so sensitive -- it was so hot -- that we kept it a secret," he said, a reference to the excitement around it -- and not the temperature.
When showing off prototype units in February and March, LG covered up the hole where the laser sensor would be, with executives saying only that it would be an infrared blaster. ("It is a sort of infrared blaster, so we weren't lying," Woo said.) The actual laser is located in the black pill-shaped spot to the left of the camera, opposite the flash.
On the development side, work was going virtually nonstop. LG had a dedicated facility set up in Qualcomm's offices in San Diego, and the work would be handed off between LG in Korea and Qualcomm, so there was little downtime.

Ferrari's F12 is hellaciously fast yet impeccably civilized

The Good The Ferrari F12 Berlinetta offers breathtaking performance in a beautifully sculpted exterior. The attention to detail is legendary, and the JBL sound system offers great performance

The Bad Infotainment options are predictably sparse, and road noise can be a bit grating.

The Bottom Line The Ferrari F12 Berlinetta is a stunning car that is a thrill to drive fast and a pleasure to drive slow. It's lacking a bit when it comes to interior tech, but with Ferrari's CarPlay partnership, hopefully that will be changing in future iterations.

When it comes to engine placement, Enzo Ferrari famously said "The horse doesn't push the cart, it 

The look

pulls it." In other words: the proper place for the engine in a sports car is in the front, not the back. That mantra would take years for his engineers to finally overcome and start putting engines behind the driver, considered a more optimal place to reduce weight on the front and enable quicker turning. Still, Ferrari (the company) has always maintained a fondness for cars with engines up there ahead of the driver. That fondness is doubly grand when we're talking about a big V12 slung between the front wheels.

Of all the cars Ferrari has built with this configuration, the F12 Berlinetta is the fastest. In fact, before La Ferrari came along, the F12 was the fastest production car the company had ever made. With 730 horsepower on tap, a relatively trim curb weight of 3,362 pounds, and seating for just two, the F12 is a rocketship disguised as a grand tourer. It's brutally quick when it wants to be, yet mostly civilized when it needs to be.

The word "berlinetta" means "little limousine" in Italian, but memories of bachelor parties and prom will likely be far from your mind the first time you see the F12 in the flesh. It has the same long, low, dramatic silhouette as its predecessor, the 599 GTB. That shape looks amazing from outside, and just as good from within, where you're situated low and gazing out over that long nose, looking between the two flares on the hood, making room for 20-inch front wheels.

You might be surprised to learn, however, that perhaps the most beautiful portion of the car is hidden. Now, there are certainly plenty of engine compartments out there that have received plenty of detail. Polished chrome and anodized aluminum and extraneous carbon fiber have all been used in the past to dress up the lumps in cars of all sorts -- but never have I seen something like this. Lift the hood on the F12 and you're greeted by a breathtaking temple to horsepower. Lovers of big-displacement will have a near-religious experience the first time they gaze on the 6.3-liter V12 under the hood. More casual automotive fans will merely be left speechless.

OK, that's slightly hyperbolic, but the engine compartment here is a truly stunning thing to behold. I opened the hood for many a curious onlooker and not a one could retain their glee. Of course, it helps that the rest of the car looks great. Angular in places, curvaceous in others, it's a nod to many of the best parts of the 599 GTB, yet a clean step forward at the same time. The most dramatic piece is the so-called Aero Bridge, a gaping cut-out in the fenders that channels air from the hood to the sides of the car, filling the turbulent void created by the front wheels. Tweaks like this give the car significantly more downforce than the GTB, yet lower aerodynamic drag.

The interior

The interior, likewise, is a mix of new and old -- especially in the model we tested, which featured the same shade of tan hide we've been seeing in Ferraris for decades. However, beyond that and the cross-drilled pedals, everything else is thoroughly modern. The optional "Leaf" seats here are thin with backs of exposed carbon fiber. They look dramatic and racy and offer a good support, but lack adjustment. Shorter drivers will want to opt for one of the multitude of other seats Ferrari has on offer.

The steering wheel is the same as found on the Ferrari FF and 458. I'm usually not a fan of parts sharing, but this part is so good it's hard to mind. Everything you need to drive and drive fast is at hand, including the manettino for changing drive modes, buttons for wipers and turn signals, another to lift the suspension, and even the shiny red one labeled "Engine Start." Carbon-fiber shift paddles aren't far behind, though you can just reach down to the "Auto" button in the center console if you can't be bothered.

Many of the rest of the less-critical functions of the car are controlled through a twistable four-way joystick mounted on the dash, just to the right of the wheel. Things like navigation and infotainment are controlled here. It's a comfortable reach for the driver, but a bit of a stretch for the passenger. They needn't worry, though, as the display controlling all those functions is integrated in the dash just to the right of the large, central tachometer. In other words: a quick glance down for the driver, but impossible to see for the passenger.

The best way to completely wipe your Android device

The default data wipe tool in Android may not be enough to permanently eliminate personal data on your old device.

A study from security software vendor Avast has suggested that the factory reset option built into the Android operating system isn't effective in eradicating your personal data from old devices. The firm purchased 20 used Android smartphones on eBay and was able to recover more than 40,000 photos, 750 emails and text messages, and 250 contacts, along with the identities of four of the previous device owners, and even a completed loan application. To make matters worse, Avast employees were using readily available data recovery software to get the job done.

While Avast and other companies like it offer data deletion tools, there are other steps you can take to securing your personal data when performing a factory reset.

Step one: Encrypting

I recommend encrypting your device before you are getting ready to wipe it. The encryption process will scramble the data on your device and, even if the wipe doesn't fully delete the data, a special key will be required to unscramble it.

To encrypt your device on stock Android, enter settings, click on Security, and select Encrypt phone. The feature may be located under different options on other devices.

Step two: Perform a factory reset

The next thing you will want to do is perform a factory reset. This can be done on stock Android by selecting Factory data reset in the Backup & reset option in the settings menu. You should be aware that this will erase all of the data on your phone and that you should backup anything you don't want to lose.

Step three: Load dummy data

Following step one and two should be enough for most people, but there's an extra step you can take to add another layer of protection when erasing your personal data. Try loading fake photos and contacts on your device. Why you ask? We will address that in the next step.

Step four: Perform another factory reset

You should now perform another factory reset, thus erasing the dummy content you loaded onto the device. This will make it even harder for someone to locate your data because it will be buried below the dummy content.

Still feeling a little paranoid? Repeat steps three and four as many times as you like. As I mentioned above, though, for most people simply following steps one and two should be enough. Without the encryption pin, which is overwritten in the initial factory reset, it will be almost impossible to unscramble your data.

Then again, you could always take a hammer to your phone or toss it in the toilet. You know, if you aren't interested in selling it.