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Josh Miller/CNET
LG is trying to squeeze in one last bit of news about its marquee G3 handset before Apple has its big show later on Tuesday.
From today through September 22, customers who buy an LG G3 will automatically receive a free second battery and battery charging cradle, LG announced Tuesday. The offer is valued at approximately $70, and is available at any carrier or authorized retailer.
The LG G3 is the company’s latest flagship handset, featuring a 5.5-inch QHD display and Android 4.4.2 (KitKat). The rear-facing camera comes in at 13 megapixels, while the front-facing option has a 2.1-megapixel shooter. It comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
One of the key selling points for the G3 has been its removable battery — a feature that runs counter to the way many companies today build devices. LG bundles a 3,000 mAh removable battery with its device.
LG has argued that its battery life is “long-lasting.” However, in its LG G3 review , CNET discovered that the smartphone “is quite a power hog, so the phone will barely last you a day without a charge.”
“I wasn’t able to get the phone to last a full day between charges,” CNET senior writer Aloysius Low wrote about the handset. “In our CNET video test, the phone lasted 11 hours 24 minutes, far behind the Samsung Galaxy S5’s impressive 15 hours, 18 minutes in the same test.”
For its part, LG didn’t say what prompted the move to offer a free battery with the G3, though it’s possible that the complaints of battery life could have contributed to the decision.
CNET has contacted LG for comment on that, and will update this story when we have more information.
