The LG G3 and Sony Xperia Z2 both offer Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of
the box with a number of software tweaks by each parent company. As
usual, Sony's modifications are lighter while LG has modded the stock
Android head to toe as usual.
The LG G3 has the company's proprietary Knock Code feature that lets
you get straight into the homescreen via a series of taps on certain
places on the screen - even when the screen is off. Otherwise, the other
standard unlock methods as well as lockscreen widgets and shortcuts are
available on both devices.
Sony stayed closer to the vanilla lockscreen, the only real change is
the camera shortcut at the bottom. The Xperia Z2 lockscreen supports
widgets (one per pane).
The leftmost homescreen pane of the LG G3 is reserved for the
so-called Smart Bulletin, which is a special space similar Samsung's My
Magazine (except not as robust). Smart Bulletin posts at-a-glance info
from LG's Health app and Smart tips that highlight aspects of the
phone's technology and usage, but nothing else beyond that.
Sony has Socialife, which is an app instead. It merges Facebook and
Twitter accounts with news sources, but doesn't take up an entire
homescreen pane.
The Sony home screen, just like the lockscreen, is also very vanilla -
you start with 5 and you can add or remove panes. One Sony addition is
Themes, which pack a wallpaper and matching color highlights for UI
elements.
LG's notification area is more customizable. You can remove the
brightness and volume sliders, or any of the toggles in the topmost row.
Sony's notification area looks more stock but Sony did put tabs on it
to separate the notifications from the toggles. The toggles themselves
include some Sony add-ons like the Stamina mode.
LG provides a private mode called Guest mode, which lets you pick
apps the guest has access to, including a custom Guest gallery of photos
and videos, while restricting access to the settings or multitasking
features of the G3.
LG can also run split screen apps with their own Dual window feature,
which offers identical capabilities to Samsung's latest Galaxies.
Sony has its own multitasking feature, Small Apps. Instead of
splitting the screen, Small apps live in small windows that can be moved
around or minimized to a tiny icon. Like Dual Window, you need an app
that specifically supports the multitasking feature, but Sony's solution
can turn widgets into Small apps.
The two approaches are not really compatible. LG's approach assumes
both apps are equal, while Sony's has one main app and one utility app.
Performance
The LG G3 runs on a Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 chipset with
four Krait 400 cores clocked at 2.5GHz each. Graphics are powered by an
Adreno 330 GPU, and there is a hefty dose of RAM at 3GB (2GB on the G3
version with 16GB of internal storage). The QHD display should play a
factor here for two reasons - the processor and GPU will have to push
harder than their 1080p counterparts and most apps (including
benchmarks) haven' been optimized for QHD resolution yet.
The Sony Xperia Z2 is also powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
chipset, the MSM8974AB variety. This means the four Krait 400 cores are
clocked at 2.3GHz, the Adreno 330 GPU is identical and there is 3GB of
RAM too (across all models).
When it comes to CPU performance, the European LG G3 underperforms
like its South Korean version. Using Basemark OS II we see the LG G3 is a
hair faster than the Xperia Z2.
GeekBench 3
Higher is better
-
Oppo Find 7
3178
-
Oppo Find 7a
3093
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
3011
-
Sony Xperia Z2
2856
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
2687
-
LG G Pro 2
2585
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
2563
-
HTC One (M8)
2367
Basemark OS II
Higher is better
-
Oppo Find 7
1212
-
LG G Pro 2
1140
-
HTC One (M8)
1126
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
1126
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
1082
-
Sony Xperia Z2
1080
-
Oppo Find 7a
1057
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
945
The single and multi-core CPU scores turned out a surprise as well -
the Xperia Z2, whose CPU is clocked lower at 2.3GHz, did better than the
LG G3 (2.5GHz).
Basemark OS II (single-core)
Higher is better
-
Oppo Find 7
2606
-
Oppo Find 7a
2580
-
HTC One (M8)
2428
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
2415
-
LG G Pro 2
2401
-
Sony Xperia Z2
2253
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
2213
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
1787
Basemark OS II (multi-core)
Higher is better
-
Oppo Find 7
10391
-
Oppo Find 7a
10256
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
10063
-
Sony Xperia Z2
10044
-
HTC One (M8)
9860
-
LG G Pro 2
9802
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
9611
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
8337
AnTuTu 4 tests the entire system - CPU and GPU, but also RAM and
storage. The Xperia Z2 managed to best both the European LG G3 unit with
2GB of RAM and the Korean LG G3 with 3GB of RAM.
AnTuTu 4
Higher is better
-
Oppo Find 7
38484
-
HTC One (M8)
37009
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
36018
-
Oppo Find 7a
33344
-
Sony Xperia Z2
33182
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
32780
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
30482
-
LG G Pro 2
29603
Graphics benchmarks was where we expected the G3 to struggle more
compared to other flagships. Indeed, in the onscreen Manhattan test the
high screen resolution and the high-quality graphics rendered account
for what seems to be poor performance.
Other than that, the Xperia Z2 is on par with the G3 on the
off-screen graphics tests, while it does better when it comes to
on-screen performance due to its lower resolution 1080p display.
GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
-
HTC One (M8)
28.4
-
Oppo Find 7a
28.4
-
Oppo Find 7
28
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
27.8
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
27.6
-
Sony Xperia Z2
27.2
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
27.2
-
LG G Pro 2
22.9
GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)
Higher is better
-
HTC One (M8)
30.1
-
Oppo Find 7a
28.8
-
Sony Xperia Z2
28.7
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
28.1
-
LG G Pro 2
24.1
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
20.6
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
20.5
-
Oppo Find 7
19.9
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
11.9
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
11.8
-
Sony Xperia Z2
11.7
-
Oppo Find 7a
11.4
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
11.4
-
Oppo Find 7
11.1
-
HTC One (M8)
11.1
-
LG G Pro 2
8.7
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
-
Sony Xperia Z2
12.2
-
HTC One (M8)
11.9
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
11.7
-
Oppo Find 7a
11.4
-
LG G Pro 2
9.2
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
7.4
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
7.2
-
Oppo Find 7
6.7
Real world graphics can be measured more effectively using the
benchmark feature of Epic Citadel. Here, the device is forced to run in
native 1440p resolution with Ultra graphics quality, where despite
scoring below other flagships, it's still able to achieve a respectable
score of 43.2 fps.
Epic Citadel (Ultra)
Higher is better
-
HTC One (M8)
59
-
Oppo Find 7a
57.7
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
53.7
-
Sony Xperia Z2
52.6
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
43.2
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
42.9
BrowserMark 2.1 looks at HTML 5 performance, while Mozilla's Kraken
1.1 is JavaScript-centric. The LG G3 scores well in both tests, which
should result in a great browsing experience considering the 5.5-inch
screen with 534ppi. The JavaScrpit performance of the Xperia Z2 is on
par with the LG G3, while the overall browsing experience is better only
on the EU LG G3 model according to the BrowserMark 2.1 test.
BrowserMark 2.1
Higher is better
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
1474
-
Oppo Find 7
1452
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
1398
-
LG G Pro 2
1346
-
Oppo Find 7a
1327
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
1254
-
Sony Xperia Z2
1224
-
HTC One (M8)
1069
Kraken 1.1
Lower is better
-
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
6043
-
Oppo Find 7
6363
-
LG G Pro 2
6578
-
Oppo Find 7a
6660
-
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, international)
6987
-
Sony Xperia Z2
7041
-
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
7610
-
HTC One (M8)
10296
Winner: Sony Xperia Z2. While the numbers are close, the G3 falls
behind in most of our tests, no matter which versions we tried (3GB and
2GB). Either the QHD screen really takes a toll on all aspects of
performance, or LG are having a hard time with this particular iteration
of Snapdragon 801.
Also, it's worth noting that the LG G3 has some serious
overheating issues, and that the quoted benchmark numbers dropped
significantly after just a few minutes of active benchmarking. The
Xperia Z2 has overheating issues too, but they start to get noticed only
after prolonged use of the camera or in hot weather.
Multimedia
Sony and LG have respectable camera divisions and compete in image
quality but also value-added features. We'll see camera performance in
the next chapter, first we'll visit the multimedia apps each company has
preloaded.
Both gallery apps are custom jobs and feature extensive support for
online albums. Sony's Albums pushes its PlayMemories service along with
Facebook, Picasa and Flickr. It features Globe and Map views, great for
finding photos you snapped abroad, and a SensMe slideshow that groups
similar photos together automatically.
Sony's gallery features online album integration and map view
The LG gallery is a bit more pedestrian, and doesn't have as many sorting options. Editing is done through Google's Photos app.
Image editing on the G3 is done through Google Photos
Sony has deep roots in the music industry and uses the music player
on the Xperia Z2 to feature its Music Unlimited store, which can also be
a great tool for discovering music with Charts, New Releases and
Channel categories. It can also be completely disabled.
Sony's Walkman-branded music player
The music player features a neat trick - the infinity button allows
you to do quick lookups related to the song you're listening to. This
could be finding the video on YouTube, looking for lyrics, checking out
info about the artist on Wikipedia and more (it can be extended by way
of plugins from the Play Store).
Finding additional contetn with the infinite button • more options
As for audio quality settings, the Xperia Z2 features a 5-band
equalizer, a Clear Bass setting, Clear Stereo (it enhances the stereo
effect), ClearAudio+ (adjusts the audio settings to fit the song) and
dynamic normalizer (which levels out volume differences between tracks).
If you're listening music on the front-facing speakers on the Z2,
Clear Phase and xLOUD promise to improve the audio quality and boost the
volume respectively.
Various sound enhancement for headphones and the stereo loudspeakers
The Sony flagship also has an FM radio with RDS and TrackID
integration. Once TrackID recognizes the song, you can post an "I'm
listening to..." update on Facebook.
FM radio with RDS and built-in song recognition
The LG G3's music player, though looking beautiful, offers less
functionality. Yes, it comes with various sorting options and a good
enough Now Playing screen with support for lyrics. There are
customizable equalizers too, you can even change the pitch and speed of
the music.
The LG Music player with advanced equalizer settings
What's missing is manual search for lyrics and related content as
Sony's infinite button is offering. There aren't as rich sound options
as Sony's offering, too.
LG G3 offers FM radio only on the Euro version.
Sony video player suffers from relatively poor codec support. Notably
DivX is missing, though the XviD works. It also supports MP4 and MKV
files, which have overshadowed AVI in recent years - and both work fine.
Unless they have multi-channel audio that is, both players pretty much
only work with MP3 and AAC.
Sony's video player has an extra trick up its sleeve - much like the
song recognition engine in the video player, it can recognize a movie
and pull additional info including cast and plot summary.
HTPC-like video player from Sony
The video player on the G3 has a very simple interface, but is still
very powerful. It does play all sorts of file types and video/audio
codecs - virtually everything we threw at it.
The LG video player
It also supports subtitles and carry over the sound options from its
music player. LG G3 also has the QSlide function, which puts the video
in a small, resizable window with adjustable transparency if you want to
use another app while watching video.
Winner: Tie. LG offers robust video decoder support, but Sony's
image gallery has more sorting and editing options and the music player
is more feature-rich.
Loudspeaker
Sony Xperia Z2 offers front stereo speakers, but it didn't turn them into a calling card as HTC did with its BoomBox setup.
LG has an orthodox setup - one speaker, on the back. The company
seems to have decided to go with power over quantity and the speaker can
produce 1W of audio normally, 1.5W with its boost feature.
The LG G3 wins in terms of raw sound volume, which is great for
notifications and ringers. The stereo speakers on the Sony Xperia Z2 are
more conductive to listening to music, but since they are on the front
they are less likely to get muffled too.
Check out more about our tests and
our loudness test in particular.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Pink noise/ Music, dB | Ringing phone, dB | Overall score |
| LG G2 | 65.7 | 62.2 | 66.2 | Below Average |
| Sony Xperia Z2 | 66.7 | 64.6 | 75.7 | Average |
| HTC One (M8) | 65.8 | 64.7 | 75.7 | Average |
| Samsung Galaxy S5 | 66.9 | 66.6 | 75.7 | Good |
| HTC One | 69.3 | 66.6 | 75.9 | Good |
| LG G3 | 70.2 | 66.6 | 80.2 | Good |
| Oppo Find 7a | 71.3 | 72.5 | 75.7 | Very Good |
| LG Optimus G | 74.6 | 71.3 | 82.7 | Excellent |
Winner: LG G3. Its speaker is louder - simple as that. Bear in
mind that when the G3 lies on a table, the loudspeaker gets muffled
slightly. However, the Z2 is no stranger to speaker muffling either.
When you hold it in landscape position, it's really easy to place both
your thumbs on top of the two speakers.
Audio quality
The LG G3 results in the first part of our audio quality test are
nothing short of amazing. The smartphone produced the best numbers we've
ever seen including a perfect -100 on the stereo crosstalk score. The
Sony Xperia Z2 also delivers excellently clean audio output worthy of
its flagship status, though couldn't quiet match the LG G3.
Plugging in a pair of headphones tells a similar story - the
output is great on the Xperia Z2, but still not quite up to the G3
standard. Sadly, neither of the two contestants lived up to its high-end
billing when it came to volume levels - both falling well short of the
average.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic
range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| LG G3 | +0.02, -0.08 | -99.4 | 98.9 | 0.0016 | 0.035 | -100.0 |
| LG G3 (headphones attached) | +0.02, -0.09 | -93.7 | 93.3 | 0.0060 | 0.032 | -78.5 |
| Sony Xperia Z2 | +0.02, -0.08 | -88.2 | 90.1 | 0.0063 | 0.013 | -88.9 |
| Sony Xperia Z2 (ClearSound) | +0.02, -0.08 | -84.1 | 87.1 | 0.0077 | 0.055 | -46.2 |
| Sony Xperia Z2 (headphones) | +0.08, -0.05 | -89.8 | 91.4 | 0.307 | 0.320 | -64.1 |
| Sony Xperia Z2 (headphones - ClearSound) | +0.08, -0.04 | -84.7 | 87.6 | 0.120 | 0.066 | -60.2 |
LG G3 frequency response
Sony Xperia Z2 frequency response
Winner: LG G3. While the majority of users will be perfectly happy
with the output of either smartphone, the LG G3 produces some of the
cleanest audio we've heard on a smartphone.
Photo quality
The Sony Xperia Z2's camera has the wider field of view (FoV) when
using the entire frame, and while the Superior auto mode crops photos to
16:9 aspect ratio, the FOV still remains wider.

Superior Auto takes the 20.7MP frame from the Sony sensor, crops it
to 16:9 and downscales the result to 8MP. Conveniently, that's just the
resolution of a UHD TV so the photos will fit perfectly. The mode does
some special post-processing along the way, which improves what are
otherwise disappointing results at full resolution in Normal mode.
The images produced by the Xperia Z2 are very soft, most of which can
be attributed to intense noise reduction. High-contrast areas like the
white letters on a blue background appear like a smudgy mess even though
the sensor has resolution to spare. Lower-contrast areas like the ad
above the gas prices are even worse.
The LG G3 is resolving the small type - you can clearly read the word
Motion. You can spot some oversharpening artifacts in that area, but
it's not something you'll notice unless you view the image at 100%.
Color-wise, the two cameras are very accurate, although when looking
at side-by-side samples, the Xperia Z2 has a slightly more neutral color
tone that we liked better than the LG's warmer tint. The Z2's samples
looked the more natural of the two.
The resolved dynamic range was slightly in the favor of the Sony Xperia Z2, but contrast goes in favor of the LG G3.
The 8MP Superior Auto shots from the Sony Xperia Z2 look noticeably
sharper but the lower resolution does cause some loss in detail.
This crop also has the three primary colors visible - Red, Blue and
Green. Neither phone hits the mark with the rendering - the contrast are
a bit too much in the LG G3 photo and a bit too little in the Xperia Z2
Normal mode photo. The Superior auto mode seems to be closest to the
truth.

The Sony Xperia Z2 struggles with foliage. The grey roof in the
center of the image also shows a clear oversharpening halo. The Sony
Xperia Z2 in Superior auto renders the tree better than Normal mode
though not better than the LG G3. The fire escape in the background also
improves with Superior Auto though again not enough to beat the G3.

Here go the full res samples, if you feel like performing your own comparisons.
LG G3 camera samples
Sony Xperia Z2 Normal mode camera samples
Sony Xperia Z2 Superior Auto samples
When it comes to HDR, both devices tell a much different story. The
dynamic range gets higher and you get to keep the detail and get more in
the shadows. The Sony Xperia Z2 is capable of taking HDR shots only in
8MP (or below) and it is more conservative on the expansion of the
dynamic range mostly because it resolves more than the LG G3 in the
first place. On the other hand, the lower dynamic range on the G3 gets
insanely high in the HDR mode bringing out more detail from the shadows
but making the shots look quite unnatural.
Sony Xperia Z2 Normal • Sony Xperia Z2 HDR • LG G3 Normal • LG G3 HDR
We moved to a dark room to try the low-light performance of both
phones. This is the Xperia Z2's time to shine - it has a wider f/2.0
aperture and a larger 1/2.3" sensor, compared to LG G3's f/2.4 lens and
1/3" sensor. The super sampling performed by Superior Auto will also be
of great help.
The first test is with the flash off. The Sony Xperia Z2 photos were
taken at 1/32s shutter speed. There is lots of noise and very little to
none effort for noise reduction. The LG G3 chose to shoot at 1/12s. It
has a better noise reduction, it manages to keep lots of detail and the
white balance looks more natural.

Next, we enabled the LED flashes (which only work at relatively short
distances) and took more photos. The camera samples of both shooters
have clear traces of camera shake. The Xperia Z2 retained its shutter
speed but dropped the ISO from 800 down to 500, capturing a better level
of detail.

The LG G3 features a dual-tone flash, which is meant to produce more
natural white balance in flash photography as the color of the flash
output changes to match the ambient light of the scene.
With the flash on, the G3 shot at half the ISO, but also at a slower
shutter speed at 1/16s. While the produced images once again offer more
detail and little noise, the color temperature of the shots of the G3
now leans to red, which means that the true tone flash doesn't really do
what it's supposed to.
Again, a LED flash really isn't effective beyond 2m/6ft.
LG G3 low-light samples: flash off • flash on
Sony Xperia Z2 low light samples, Normal mode: flash off • flash on
Sony Xperia Z2 low light samples, Superior auto: flash off • flash on
Finally, we took both phones outside again to test their panorama
capabilities. The LG G3 offers 180-degree pano shots and can snap those
in both portrait and landscape modes. If you opt for the portrait
orientation you'll get bigger field of view and higher resolution -
about 20,000 x 4,050 compared to 20,000 x 2,250 px in landscape. The
quality is great, and the stitching is near perfect.
LG G3 panorama shots in landscape and portrait orientation
Sony Xperia Z2, just like the rest of the Xperia lineup, is capable
of snapping panoramas at the measly resolution of 4,912 x 1,080 pixels.
These also add up for 180-degree view and the portrait orientation does
offer bigger field of view, but the quality is just awful. To make
things even worse, of you decide to end the shooting process before
reaching the end of the panorama slider, you'll also get the same
resolution image completed with gray space. Not good, Sony, not good at
all!
Sony Xperia Z2 panorama shots in landscape and portrait orientation (with cropped gray area)
Also, check out our Photo comparison tool that pits the two phones against each other.
LG G3 and Sony Xperia Z2 in our Photo Comparison Tool
Both phones offer some playful effects. The Xperia Z2 can overlay an
imaginary 3D world over the photo with the AR effect (at a meager 1080p
resolution) or use the GPS and compass to overlay info about your
surroundings whit Info-eye. It has a dedicated Vine mode too. You can
also stream content from your camera straight to YouTube.
LG has a simpler interface, but still offers the dual-shot mode. It
does have the nifty magic focus feature that lets you choose an object
to focus on after you take the picture. It requires some setup and a
steady hand, however.
Winner: LG G3. Although the dynamic range and the white balance
weren't as good as the Xperia Z2, the daylight shots still were
superior. It also resolves more detail on the low-light shots no matter
if you are using the LED flash or not. And the true-tone flash
eventually allows for natural flash shots.
Conclusion
The phone that opened the season of flagship debuts and the one that
makes it a full circle. If done right, a full circle in this business is
a level up on an ascending spiral. It looks like LG did it right, to
find themselves perched at the top in terms of screen resolution. Then
again, Sony of course will tell you that a QHD screen can't buy you
love.

It's not who you trust. It's what you want in a phone. Sony and LG
obviously have different takes on Android, phone design, imaging. They
even differ on the value-added apps and services. That's what these
articles are for. You should know better by now than to expect us to
declare a winner. We try to help you instead make the most of the choice
you're given. We compare, we look for the tradeoffs you'll be making.
A QHD display is a luxury, the ultimate bragging right. The best
screen to enjoy high-res content on - of which we'll only be having more
and more. The overall system speed is a casualty, as you can see in the
benchmarks we ran. Battery life is another.
The Xperia Z2 has by far the better battery backup - but the LG G3
has a user-replaceable battery. This means you can double your battery
life in places where a power outlet is a luxury. Then again - if you're
likely to find yourself in such a place, wouldn't you be better off with
a waterproof device?
The LG G3 has no water and dust resistance rating - which is a major
disadvantage against an IP-certified rival. It's a rival too that's one
of the hottest looking pieces of hardware around. Yet, the LG G3 can
stand as an equal - one of the select few, which don't give plastic a
bad name. And those insanely slim bezels.
LG G3
The LG G3 is the better cameraphone - a great feat considering it's
competing against a bigger sensor and more raw resolution. Things like
OIS and phase-detect auto-focus do make a difference after all - but not
if slow-mo videos are a must. And the Xperia Z2's 1080p videos at 60fps
are quite good actually.
The Xperia Z2 bets on a clean, almost vanilla user interface, which
is fast but offers little customization and fewer extra features beyond
pure Android. The camera quality is questionable and the shooting modes
are confusing, though.
Sony Xperia Z2
The highly-customizable Optimus UI on the LG G3 is loaded with extras
such as Guest Mode, Smart Bulletin and the Dual Window mode. Sony has a
response to some of them but the G3 has the richer software package
overall.
It's worth noting too that while they were busy putting together one
of the first QHD screens on a smartphone, LG had the time - and good
sense - to fix the things that needed fixing in the previous generation.
Expandable storage and a user-replaceable battery in a better looking
body are a major win in our books.
Sony took a more conservative approach this time around and, although
there were fewer things for them to address, some may've felt a slight
disappointment. Yet, with a reduced interval between launches, Sony is
the one to watch for the next big flagship announcement.
Needless to say, this is to be continued. There'll be more battles
like this and hopefully we'll be around to help you make up your mind.
As for the winners and losers, the one that has the answer is you.
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