Samsung team-up aims to improve your mobile payments

If you’ve ever tried paying with your phone at a store, you know that the experience is often only as good as the payment reader — a sketchy terminal could lead to you pulling out a credit card in embarrassment. Samsung thinks the industry can do better, though. It’s partnering with some of the larger point-of-sale device makers (such as Verifone and Ingenico) to guarantee “maximum compatibility and universal acceptance” for Samsung Pay. The hope is that this will boost the adoption of mobile payments simply by giving you a better time when you tap-to-pay, with fewer errors that make you rethink the whole concept.

While Samsung is naturally hoping that this gives its own payment technology a boost, the effort could also help competitors like Apple Pay and Android Pay. Right now, the mobile payment world is small in part because many stores just aren’t equipped for it — Samsung Pay’s trick of simulating a card swipe is more of a workaround than a permanent solution. If the partnership works well, it could improve the experience for anyone who wants to use their phone for shopping.

Source: Samsung Newsroom

The best portable vaporizer for most people

By Mark Smirniotis

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read the full article here.

After looking at 30 top models and testing eight, we chose the Grenco Science G Pen Elite as our favorite vaporizer for under $200. This pint-sized vaporizer produces vapor that will convert any smoker and is easy to use, thanks to high-end features like a combination of convection and conduction heating in a ceramic chamber, precision temperature control, a clear display, and Micro-USB charging.

Who is this for?

There was a time when cannabis was smoked in secret, in joints. Today, it’s bought in shops and it isn’t smoked at all—it’s “vaped.” A vaporizer doesn’t actually create smoke. Instead, it heats up material to the temperature just before combustion and releases active compounds for you to inhale without the carcinogens and tar of regular smoke.

If you’re completely new to cannabis, a portable vaporizer feels like something you can bring to a dinner party along with a bottle of wine. Compared to smoking, using a vaporizer will give you a cleaner taste, less lingering odor, and more efficient use of your material.

If you’re a patient looking to medical marijuana for symptom relief, portable vaporizers offer additional benefits over the alternatives. A vaporizer that works with ground material (i.e., cannabis flowers) offers the ability to reproduce dosages by way of precision temperature controls. Their effects are easier to control than with edibles, and the material they use is more universally available than vaporizers that use concentrates such as extracts or oils.

How we picked and tested

The vapes we tested, clockwise from bottom left: Grenco Science G Pen Elite, Vapium Summit, Kandypens K-Vape Micro DX, Grenco Science G Pro, Firefly 2, Pax 2, Crafty, Arizer Air. (Zippo lighter for scale.)

We set out to find a reliable, pleasing vaporizer that was easy to use and didn’t cost more than a casual user could rationalize. That meant finding the right blend of features such as heating type, size and style, controls, and overall design. We searched for convection heating, which transfers heat through the air and is generally preferred for better flavor without the risk of combustion, but kept in mind that conduction heat, transferred between two solids, can still do the job at a much lower price.

Our research also helped convince us that $200 was a crucial price threshold for less experienced users—but we didn’t consider the cheap, plastic models associated with the pen-style category. (In practice, we’ve found these sub-$100 models to be so unsatisfying that they make smoking seem like a better option.)

In downtown Los Angeles one Friday afternoon, we hosted a panel of five medical marijuana patients, all with different experience levels, to test our eight finalists and debate every aspect or flaw—for over five hours—before settling on our favorites.

Our pick

At about 4¼ inches long and 1¼ inches in diameter, the Elite is smallest of any vaporizer we tested except for the PAX 2.

Although the perfect portable vaporizer doesn’t exist, the Grenco Science G Pen Elite comes close. It delivers on key features we look for in a portable vaporizer: foremost, vapor quality good enough that you’d never think of smoking instead, along with pocketable size, universal Micro-USB charging, acceptable battery life, and easy cleaning and reloading with minimal disassembly. Plus, the device has features you rarely see in the under-$200 price range, such as a digital display for battery life and precision temperature control. In a test of our eight finalists among a group of Los Angeles Wirecutter contributors with a range of vaporizer familiarity, the Elite impressed everyone with its straightforward controls, attractive design, rich finish, and pleasant flavors. While its vapor quality can’t compare to models costing twice as much, it was the one our testers said they would be most likely to buy for themselves.

For reliable vapor but less intuitive controls

The Summit has a boxy design but has nice touches such as a magnetized oven cover attached with a short lanyard.

Vapium Summit, priced similarly to the G Pen Elite, is a solid runner-up if our pick is out of stock. We prefer the Elite’s additional convection heating and ceramic chamber, but the Summit’s full-conduction metal chamber reliably produced a respectable vapor with good consistency and a warm, cooked flavor. The LED status lights display one of its eight temperature settings and change color to show the battery status—it’s readable, but not quite as intuitive as our pick. The Summit’s metal airway isn’t as easy to clean as our top pick’s, but the Summit does share the convenient inclusion of Micro-USB charging.

For great vapor and a no-frills design

The Arizer Air is seven inches long with the glass mouthpiece, and not exactly inconspicuous.

If you care more about vapor quality than portability, the best unit in this price range is the Arizer Air—it produced thick, flavorful vapor at a good temperature right out of the box, but the vapor is the only positive. The Arizer is bigger than our pick, with a flashlightlike metal-cylinder design that wouldn’t fit in most pockets. That’s topped by a two-inch glass mouthpiece that doesn’t look as subtle, feel as durable, or stay as clean as mouthpieces on other models we recommend. Two color-coded lights for temperature status and battery life made for the least intuitive interface of any vaporizer we tried. The Air recharges from a dedicated charge cord to a DC-in port (unlike our pick’s more convenient Micro-USB port).

A premium pick at a premium price

The Crafty’s twists off to reveal the chamber underneath.

The Elite, Summit, and Air are all in roughly the same price range, but if you can spend a lot more, the Storz & Bickel Crafty, which produces cool vapor with complex flavors every time, is a good choice. This was formerly our top pick—it’s still an excellent vaporizer, but newer products get results that will please most people at prices that are more than $100 less. The Crafty is bigger than the Elite, and while it can fit in some pockets, it’s more like a small smartphone than a large BIC lighter. The finned design and slim mouthpiece are eye-catching (which may or may not be a good thing). It also uses app-based controls that will have you searching for your smartphone just to check your vaporizer’s battery status—a feature that doesn’t add much and is inconvenient compared to the simple display and controls of the G Pen Elite. The Crafty is clearly the best vapor you’ll find in a pocketable package, but the drawbacks don’t quite justify the higher cost.

This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

Arduino clone is as small as an AA battery

What do you do if even the smallest Arduino boards (or their clones) are too big for your homebrew project? If you’re Johan Kanflo, you find a way to make them even smaller. His AAduino project turns the already miniscule Tiny328 Arduino clone into an even smaller computing device that’s about as big as an AA battery. Through creative wiring, it even fits inside a typical battery holder and draws power from the batteries in the remaining slots. He had to underclock the processor to extend to the battery life, but it’s otherwise as capable as its normal counterparts.

You aren’t about to buy a ready-made AAduino, but you don’t have to. Kanflo has posted instructions and schematics both on his own site and on GitHub, so you can replicate his invention yourself. This is mainly useful if you’re building an extra-compact gadget (Kanflo needed this for a radio node, for instance), but it shows that even daunting size requirements can be solved with a little ingenuity.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Johan Kanflo, GitHub

LeEco’s Latest Android Smartphones Beat Apple to Removing the Headphone Jack

Apple’s intention to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack from this year’s iPhone 7 has been a well-publicized rumor since last November, with the widespread belief that the company would use a Lightning port to provide both charging and as a source for audio output on 2016’s iPhone. Today, however, Chinese company LeEco announced a line of smartphones that will beat Apple’s rumored removal of the 3.5mm headphone port, instead opting for a USB-C input (via Engadget).

LeEco also has its hands in product categories like smart TVs and electric cars, with offices in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley, but the company keeps most of its smartphone business focused locally in China. The new line of smartphones — dubbed the Le 2, Le 2 Pro, and Le Max 2 — will run the Android operating system, and users will be able to purchase either in-ear or over-ear USB-C headphones to go with the new phones. No specific plans were divulged, but LeEco noted that it intends to bring “at least one” of the devices stateside in 2016.

Image via Engadget
Similar to other Android devices like the Nexus 6P and the Huawei Mate S, all three of LeEco’s new devices have a rear-facing fingerprint scanner to allow access into the smartphone. Each version has a slightly curved backside that flows into chamfered edges and an edge-to-edge, “borderless” display, all housed in a metallic body.

The Le 2 and Le 2 Pro are analogues of the iPhone 6s Plus, featuring 5.5 inch, 1080p displays, but coming in slightly above Apple’s 2750 mAh battery at 3000 mAh. Understandably, the Le 2 Pro stacks up better against the Le 2 in a few categories: it has a 21-megapixel rear-facing Sony IMX230 sensor and 4GB of RAM, whereas the Le 2 packs a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera and 3GB of RAM. The Le 2 will cost 1,099 yuan ($170), while the Pro version will run for 1,499 yuan ($230).

The Le Max 2 has a bigger screen than the other two devices at 5.7 inches, and includes Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 820 processor, a more “advanced ultrasonic” fingerprint scanner, and a bigger 3100 mAh battery. That’s in addition to optical image stabalization, increased storage capacity options, and a total of 6GB of RAM. A 32GB storage option of the Le Max 2 (with a lesser 4GB of RAM) will cost users 2,099 yuan ($325), while the increased storage of 64GB (and 6GB of RAM) will sell for 2,499 yuan ($390). Pre-orders for all three smartphones began today in China.

Although nothing has been confirmed this far out from the iPhone 7 event, which will most likely take place in September, recent rumors have suggested Apple could ship Lightning-enabled EarPods with the smartphone to ready users for a new shift in headphone inputs. One report suggested recently that the company might even adopt Bluetooth-enabled headphones for the iPhone 7 to free up the Lightning port when listening to music, but still be able to charge the wireless EarPods through the iPhone when they run low on battery.

Read More: JBL Announces Noise-Canceling Headphones Powered by USB-C

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Apple Seeds Second iOS 9.3.2 Beta to Developers With Night Shift and Low Power Mode Update

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 9.3.2 update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after the release of the first iOS 9.3.2 beta. iOS 9.3.2 beta 2 comes nearly a month after the launch of iOS 9.3, a major update that introduced Night Shift mode and other feature improvements, and three weeks after the iOS 9.3.1 bug fix update.

The second iOS 9.3.2 beta is available for download over-the-air or from the Apple Developer Center.

Like iOS 9.3.1, iOS 9.3.2 is a minor update that appears to focus mainly on under-the-hood performance improvements and fixes for bugs that have been discovered since the release of iOS 9.3. According to Apple’s release notes, the beta features “bug fixes and improvements,” including a possible fix for a major Game Center bug that has plagued iOS users for months. No outward-facing changes were found in the first beta, but we’ll update this post with anything new discovered in the second beta.

What’s new in iOS 9.3.2 beta 2:

Night Shift and Low Power Mode – iOS 9.3.2 beta 2 brings the return of a much desired feature, re-enabling the ability to use Low Power Mode and Night Shift at the same time. Early iOS 9.3 betas allowed Night Shift and Low Power Mode to work simultaneously, but it was removed in iOS 9.3 beta 4. With iOS 9.3.2 beta 2, you can turn on Low Power Mode when Night Shift is on.

Related Roundup: iOS 9
Tag: iOS 9.3.2
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Apple Seeds Second OS X 10.11.5 El Capitan Beta to Developers

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming OS X 10.11.5 El Capitan update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after releasing the first OS X 10.11.5 beta and a month after releasing OS X 10.11.4, the fourth update to the OS X 10.11 operating system.

The new OS X 10.11.5 update, build 15F24b, can be downloaded through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store or through the Apple Developer Center.

Like prior OS X El Capitan updates, the fifth update is likely to focus on security enhancements, performance improvements, and bug fixes to address issues that have been discovered since the release of OS X 10.11.4. No obvious outward-facing changes were found in the first OS X 10.11.5 beta, but we will update this post with any changes discovered in the second beta.

Related Roundup: OS X El Capitan
Tag: OS X 10.11.5
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Apple Seeds Second watchOS 2.2.1 Beta to Developers

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 2.2.1 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the first watchOS 2.2.1 beta and a month after releasing watchOS 2.2, a significant watchOS 2 update that introduced new features like multi-watch support for iPhones and Maps improvements.

The second watchOS 2.2.1 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on an iPhone by going to General –> Software update. To install the update, the Apple Watch must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the Apple Watch charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone.

It’s not yet clear what is included in watchOS 2.2.1, information provided by Apple in the first beta suggests it focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements, likely to address issues discovered since the release of watchOS 2.2. No obvious outward-facing changes were found in the first watchOS 2.2.1 beta, but we’ll update this post should any new features be found in the second beta.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 2
Tag: watchOS 2.2.1
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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​Snapchat’s emoji pins are crazy fun. Here’s how to use them – CNET

Snapchat sensed you might be getting bored with swapping faces, so you can now stick emojis on moving objects in your Snapchat videos instead.

You’ve always been able to add emojis to your photo or video snaps, but now those emojis can move along with whatever face — or thing — you tie it to.

The end result makes something like this possible:

Fun, right? As you can see with the taco emojis (below), the emoji pins don’t have to cover the selected object — they can move around it too.

How to use Snapchat’s emoji pin feature

To pin an emoji in Snapchat, record a video, ideally one that focuses on a moving object. It could be someone dancing or a dog running around (see above). Once you’re happy with the video, tap the emoji icon at the top of the preview screen and select the one you want to use.

Twitter user @NoPattern used the new feature to fill his world with emoji tacos.

Twitter user @NoPattern.

I suggest re-sizing the emoji at this point. Once you pin it, it’s harder to re-size it without having to re-pin. Next, long press on the emoji until the video pauses. Drag the emoji to the item you want it to follow. Snapchat will reload the video, and the emoji should follow along.

In testing, it’s taken me a few tries to get Snapchat’s tracking feature to work properly. I captured another video which started with my dog further away, but Snapchat couldn’t track him until he got much closer. The new feature is easiest to use on videos that feature objects moving closer to the camera.

While you’re learning new Snapchat features, read about the five hidden features that every Snapchat user needs to try.

Enclave Audio Cinehome HD 5.1 review – CNET

The Good The Enclave CineHome HD is an easy-to-install “wireless” 5.1 surround speaker system that sounds better than most sound bars. The rear bi-poles are a nice touch. The subwoofer is large and provides the sound with real guts.

The Bad Performance and build quality don’t come close to wired systems. We wish the Enclave CineHome HD had tone controls, and adjusting the volume of the subwoofer isn’t straightforward.

The Bottom Line The Enclave CineHome HD may not look or feel like a $1,000 home-theater system, but the sound, at least by wireless standards, is pretty good.

Visit manufacturer site for details.

The future may be wireless, but today’s home AV systems still require a rats’ nest of wires.

Plenty of wireless audio and video schemes have appeared in recent years, but none have come close to dethroning the mighty copper strand. They include the “line-of-sight” dependent Wireless HD, which was supposed to take over from HDMI, but unsurprisingly, didn’t. Bluetooth was more successful, but it has its drawbacks, too. The latest is promising technology called WiSA, which stands for Wireless Speaker and Audio.

The Enclave is the second system based on WiSA we’ve seen in recent weeks, and unlike the too-expensive Klipsch Reference Premiere, it keeps the price relatively low while still managing to get rid of the speaker wires. Aesthetically it’s pretty ugly, and some of the functions are hard to find — turning down the sub is difficult for example. However, it’s a likable system and sounds decent for the money.

Design and features

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Sarah Tew/CNET

Rather than some far-future wireless tech tour de force, the CineHome looks like your standard, boxy collection of compact 5.1-channel speakers. It’s finished in matte-black.

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Sarah Tew/CNET

The remarkable part is that the system is wireless and controlled by the “Smart Center” speaker, using the WiSA standard. Each of the speakers plugs into a standard AC power outlet and communicates over the 5GHz band to the Smart Center. The top of the Smart Center features a small control panel (finished in piano black), and the remote control is also finished in gloss.

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Sarah Tew/CNET

The Center houses three HDMI inputs for your gear, and one output for your TV, as well as an optical port and 3.5mm stereo input.

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Sarah Tew/CNET

The mains are less compact at a foot tall and feature dual drivers and a soft-dome tweeters. The rears are bipoles, which are designed to give a more diffuse sound. The system is completed with the addition of the 8-inch wireless sub.

Like the Klipsch WiSA system, the Enclave doesn’t support DTS:HD or Dolby TrueHD, but it will read PCM soundtracks (as well as standard Dolby and DTS). While we thought the lack of HD sound processing was an oversight on the $5k Klipsch system, it’s a little more forgivable here.

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Sarah Tew/CNET

If you’re looking to stream music from your phone the Enclave includes a Bluetooth connection. The company also offers an Enclave smartphone app designed to emulate controllers from the likes of Sonos and Sony. While it compiles several streaming apps into the one place, it’s no substitute for a real Wi-Fi solution like Sonos or even Chromecast Audio.

Setup

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True “wireless” is still a pipe dream for most home cinema systems, including the Enclave

Sarah Tew/CNET

CineHome HD’s hookup is straightforward. Plug each of the five speakers into a wall outlet, connect your sources — Blu-ray player, satellite/cable box, games, etc. to the center channel speaker — and you’re ready to go.

Helpfully each speaker is labelled (left, right, etc.) so there is no configuration step. You just have to make sure each speaker is placed properly.

LG G5 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

The dust hasn’t quite settled and two of the best smartphones of the year are still going face to face in this harsh mobile race. We are talking about the LG G5 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Today we are giving you a thorough comparison of these two, so keep reading if you are still wondering which phone to buy next.

Recommended reading: 

• LG G5 review
• Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review
• LG G5 and Galaxy S7 in 20 seconds

This year LG decided to go in a completely different direction with its new flagship. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge takes a familiar design approach we saw introduced with last year’s Galaxy S6, refining it to fit the needs of 2016.

Design & hardware

Let’s start with the G5, which was redesigned completely from the ground up. For starters, the device is wrapped with an aluminum body and features a chamfered edge that runs all around the back of the phone. It may not feel like metal, though. LG has coated the phone in a primer and paint through a process they call microdizing, which is supposed to make the phone look more seamless, but as a consequence it feels less premium.

We can talk about the body all day long, but what really matters here is what you will find once you pull on the bottom part of the phone. The bottom chin is completely removable, and it’s an essential design factor in this case, because it makes the phone modular. You can swap in different modules like the camera grip or the HiFi DAC from Bang & Olufsen.

This is something completely different, not only for LG, but for the whole industry. It’s nice to see a company take bold moves like this one, but the feature certainly needs some refinement.

Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is made of the same glass and metal materials we saw last year. This makes for a mighty gorgeous smartphone, but also for a fingerprint magnet and a slippery body. It’s also bigger and a bit thicker than what we are used to, but the curved back and frame have been rounded off to make for a more comfortable grip.

As far as one-handed usability goes, LG definitely has the upper hand. It’s a much smaller phone. But it is also true that the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge feels a lot nicer, despite being bigger. And if size is really what matters, you could always go for the smaller Galaxy S7.

Specs-wise, the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge are nearly identical. Both are powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor, Adreno 530 GPU and 4 GB of RAM. These phones are both super fast and powerful; we are sure you won’t notice much of a difference in real world use.

Also similar is the addition of a fingerprint reader in both handsets. The only difference is placement. The LG G5 has it on the back, while Samsung has decided to integrate it to the home button, on the front of the device. Which one you prefer is  matter of preference, as both are fast and accurate.

I will say I like LG’s more, though, as their fingerprint reader can be set up faster and doesn’t require you to actually press a button to turn on the screen.

Where the Galaxy S7 Edge does have a leg up is with construction. This phone is both water and dust-resistant. It may not seem like it at first glance, as there are no protective flaps. This is because all the sealing is done from the inside of the phone. Regardless, if what you want is more peace of mind, the Galaxy S7 Edge is the obvious winner.

Battery

Both phones support Quick Charge 3.0, thanks to that Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, but only the Galaxy S7 Edge users will be able to enjoy wireless charging. The LG G5 does keep the removable battery, though, which is an important factor in keeping your phone alive: once you run out of juice it’s possible to swap batteries in a second.

And while we are on the battery subject, let’s talk about the actual units running the show here. The LG G5 carries a 2800 mAh battery, while the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge’s is a little bigger at 3600 mAh. The Galaxy S7 does have a smaller 3000mAh unit and while the Samsung units are larger than the Galaxy S6 family, the LG G5 is actually slightly smaller than the 3000mAh unit inside the LG G4.

Both will last you all day, as far as my experience goes. I have enjoyed both devices and neither has failed me to stay alive until I go to sleep. But if you value screen-on times, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge will win by a significant margin. On average, the LG G5 achieves between 3 and 4 hours screen on time, while the Galaxy S7 Edge is much higher, ranging anywhere from 7 to 10 hours.

Display

Taking a look at the displays, the LG G5 is the smallest of the two with a 5.3-inch IPS LCD panel, sporting a 2560×1440 resolution. It truly has everything you would want in a high-end smartphone display. IPS LCD screens are known for their accurate colors and great viewing angles. And QHD resolution makes it super sharp, at 554 pixels per inch, compared to 534 ppi for the Galaxy S7 Edge.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has the same 2560×1440 resolution, but on a larger 5.5-inch screen. The panel technology is also different. In usual Samsung fashion, this phone sports a Super AMOLED display. This means blacks will be amazingly deep and colors much more vibrant. Let me tell you this phone has one of the best screens in the market, if not the best.

The S7 Edge also features that curved glass that spills over the sides (hence the “Edge” moniker), so when you’re looking at videos or playing games, it creates an awesome looking waterfall effect that you don’t get with any other smartphone currently on the market.

Really, these screens couldn’t be any more different, but they do have a similar always-on feature you will likely enjoy. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has a much more fleshed out version that can be customized to show the time, calendar, notifications and more. It is brighter and “out there”, so to speak. The LG G5’s always-on display is much more subtle and quiet. Regardless, this isn’t exactly a make or break deal for either phone.

Camera

What people really want to learn about is the cameras in these handsets. LG and Samsung (and Apple) are always fighting over who has the best smartphone camera out there. Which one is the winner here?

Assimilating the V10, the LG G5 is rocking a dual-camera setup. The main camera features a 16 MP sensor, OIS, laser auto-focus and an f/1.8 aperture. The secondary camera clocks in with an 8 MP sensor, but it’s a wide-angle lens that will allow for taking awesome photos the Galaxy S7 Edge is simply incapable of achieving.

See also: Best Android smartphone cameras (March 2016)30

This time around Samsung decided to lower the MP count in exchange for better low-light performance (similar to what Google did with the Nexus phones). The pixel size in the sensor has been increased to 1.4 microns, which is why the sensor size has to be reduced to 12 MP. The aperture is also larger at f/1.7, and the main camera is aided by optical image stabilization. The S7 Edge is also utilizing a new dual pixel autofocus system that’s extremely fast – noticeably must faster than the G5’s laser auto-focusing, especially in low light.

LG’s camera software is very simple and intuitive, but at the same time offers a variety of different shooting modes. These include slow motion, time lapse, 4K video, the ability to shoot in RAW and DSLR-like manual controls. The same can pretty much be said about Samsung’s camera software. It’s simple, easy to use and offers a lot of the same features that LG does, like 4K video, shooting in RAW and manual controls with Samsung’s Pro mode. However, Samsung does include some unique features like hyper-lapse and YouTube live streaming.

LG G5 test shots:

Both cameras are magnificent, and really deciding which one is “best” will take more testing. What we can say is that the LG G5 shots tend to stay more towards the warmer side, while Samsung’s photos are more often cooler in tone. Another noticeable difference is how over-sharpened the Galaxy S7 Edge’s images can be. This can sometimes work in Samsung’s favor, but other times it just looks too processed and unnatural.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge test shots:

Even though the Galaxy S7 is supposed to do amazing in low light, somehow the LG G5 manages to beat it. The photos are sharper, more detailed, and there’s significantly less noise reduction in comparison to the S7. The S7 does however handle highlights a lot better than the G5. They’re a lot more blown out on the G5, whereas the S7 is able to keep them in check. Overall, the low light and night time shots generally look much better on the G5.

Software

The LG G5 comes with Android Marshmallow out of the box. The latest version of LG’s UI skin does offer plenty of improvements. It is generally a much cleaner interface and feels more fluid. LG has also dialed back on software features… or at least they managed to hide them more and keep them discrete.

The biggest change you will see in the LG G5 software is obviously the lack of an app drawer. You will either love it or hate it, but this is Android, so it’s super simple to install another launcher or even go to LG’s own Home 4.0 Launcher.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge also comes with Android Marshmallow. I am basically going to be repeating myself, as Samsung also decided to clean up its software. This is probably the best TouchWiz version you have ever seen. It is clean and fluid. Animations are much nicer and the UI no longer feels slow.

With the S7 Edge you’re also getting those Edge specific features, like the apps edge, people edge, tasks edge and the edge panels that let you see a variety of information such as sport scores, stocks and weather.

See also: Best Android phones (April 2016): our picks, plus a giveaway171

Conclusion

The biggest question of them all is: which one should you buy? Obviously, you can’t really go wrong with either one because they both do the typical things that we expect out of a smartphone extremely well. They’re both fast, have great cameras, sport great displays and enjoy from good battery life.

For me, I prefer the S7 Edge because it’s a much more refined smartphone experience, whereas the G5 feels like a first-generation product… and in a lot of ways it is. Surely, LG will have it all figured out in the next version, but if you feel really compelled by the G5’s modularity, then give the phone a shot. If you’d rather play it safe, the S7 or S7 Edge are the safest bet money can buy.