The LG G3 surprised us when it was released earlier this year. It has useful design, with a removable battery and MicroSD options, and its metal-skinned finish sets the handset off with “premium” flare. It also has the most eye-popping screen on a smartphone with its almost bezel-less 5.5-inch 2560×1440 Quad HD display.
Of course, hardly any applications even scale up to take advantage of so many pixels — but that’s changing. On Friday, TalkAndroid noticed that LG owners were reporting a new 1440p option on YouTube, which is an addition to the traditional max offering of 1080p. This means you can hunt down high-resolution content or even 4K and stretch the G3 to its upper limit. Obviously, this option won’t pop-up for non-G3 owners, but if your next smartphone sports an equally flashy screen, you’ll also get the upscaled streaming experience. The timing is perfect for Google and YouTube as rumours suggest that more and more devices will be including QHD displays, one possibly being the Galaxy Note 4.
Obviously, PC displays have been able to take advantage of high-res YouTube content for a while, but this is a first for smartphones. The update is still rolling out to G3 owners, so if you’re brandishing a new LG flagship, you may have to be a bit more patient before you can lord it over us 1080 peasants. [TalkAndroid]