Sorry Samsung: The LG G4 better fits what I’m looking for (editorial)

The year 2015 has now moved into its fifth month and in this time we’ve seen quite a few new Android devices including the HTC One M9, Huawei P8, Sony Xperia Z4, Samsung Galaxy S6, Asus ZenFone 2, and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. Personally I believe all the above-mentioned handsets have their own merits but there are three companies, in particular, that have stood out and intrigued me the most in 2015: Samsung, LG, and Asus.

The latter three of these companies mostly impressed me for delivering an affordable handset that still manages to pack a flagship-level punch — not to mention it is hitting the North American market later this month. Considering LG and Samsung are certainly the biggest giants out of the three companies, I want to focus most of my attention of their latest flagships.

There are three companies in particular that have stood out and intrigued me the most in 2015: Samsung, LG, and Asus.

I have long held mixed opinions about the Samsung Galaxy series, but with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, Samsung has certainly piqued my interest in a way the Galaxy S5, and even the Note series, hadn’t. An attractive design (especially with the edge), improved software, an exceptional camera; there’s a lot to love with the latest Galaxy S evolution.

Turning to the LG G4, you get a very familiar design, but this time with your choice of a leather back or a plastic one. The camera is upgraded. The UI is much more optimized, even if they haven’t scaled back the bloat at all and have even added some more to it. There’s also a slightly curved display that should help durability, and it is one of the only modern phones with both a removable battery and microSD slot.

But which one best meets what I’m looking for?

Samsung Galaxy S6 and edge: close, but not quite there

When the Samsung Galaxy S6 and edge first arrived, I’ll admit I was quite impressed. But as the dust has settled, there are a few concerns that keep me from pulling the trigger, none of which are necessarily bad things for most consumers — just aspects that don’t work for me.

Here’s some of the aspects that turn me off from the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge:

The glass design. It’s beautiful, yes. I won’t deny I find it to be a stunning looker, but I have two kids …. One in kindergarten and one is a toddler. Glass and kids, they don’t mix well, just ask my Nexus 4 (R.I.P.). Sure, there are extended warranties. Sure, I can hide away the beautiful device in a case. Bottom-line, I prefer naked phones even if I know it’s asking for trouble. When it comes to warranties, you still have to pay to send it in, etc.

No MicroSD slot. Coming from a Nexus 5, you think I’d be long over expandable memory, but I’m not. I am constantly deleting stuff or backing it up to the cloud or my PC. I want expandable memory, and the Galaxy S6 doesn’t offer it. As for removable battery? A nice extra, but not something I care about all that much personally.

Price. A minor thing, but I’m cheap. As mentioned, I have two kids. I’m also married, saving up for a new house, and I have a laundry list of responsibilities. That means I have to be more careful with my tech purchases than I did even just five or six years prior (no more buying that new Xbox and then worrying about if I have enough cash for the rent). While the LG G4 leather back model may end up costing similar to the Galaxy S6, the plastic model looks to be cheaper and more in line with the LG G3’s price tag.

I also considered putting TouchWiz down as a negative, but having had a little time with the Galaxy S6 recently, I could live with the UI. Now that it’s toned down, it still isn’t exactly to my tastes, but i don’t know if I’d call it a negative aspect.

As for what I really like about Samsung’s latest? I’ve already mentioned the design, and that’s arguably it’s biggest draw. I’ve also been very impressed by the camera experience offered by the phones, and there’s something absolutely compelling about the edge display. The new fingerprint scanner is great as well, as it should finally work more akin to what I get with my backup phone, the Huawei Mate7.

At the end of the day though, the Galaxy S6 comes close but isn’t the phone that I’m looking for.

LG G4: the better fit

As you probably have figured out by the title, I consider the LG G4 to best fit my needs. Before I get into the whys, I want to point out some of the things that turn me off about the LG G4:

The software. For all the reasons I’ve never liked TouchWiz, I have similar sentiments towards LG’s skin. It’s bloated and I prefer closer to stock. That said, it has been optimized significantly, and so perhaps it’s not as bad as I think. I’ll know more once I get my hands on it.

It looks a bit too familiar. While I personally believe LG did a much better job at brushing up its design language that HTC or Sony, I’ll admit that Samsung’s design changes are much more aggressive. The LG G4, leather back aside, looks very similar to the LG G3. Ultimately it is a good design, but I wish it had a bit more flair. Also, that middle stitching on the leather model kind of puts me off a tiny bit.

The LG G3, as you can see, looks quite similar to the new LG G4 on the back — though the G4 further refines the design.

A lack of fingerprint reader. Not a deal breaker by any means, but I really like the fingerprint reader on my Huawei Mate7 (my secondary handset). This is something I would have liked to see on the LG G4, but if it keeps pricing down, I suppose I can certainly live with the decision to omit it.

Snapdragon 808 … It’s a lower number! Okay, this isn’t a major gripe, but the power hungry spec nerd in my doesn’t like going backward. The LG G Flex 2 had a Snapdragon 810 after all. In reality? This point matters little, and I suspect the 808 will actually provide a better overall experience (battery, etc) than the 810 would have.

As for why I consider the G4 the better fit over the Galaxy S6?

It’s going to hold up better against my kids. I may want a bumper or at least something to protect the front, but the back should hold up nicely. And if it gets scratched or scuffed, I can remove the back and get a new one. The slight curve on the LG G4 should also help with the durability.

I can expand that memory! No more having to rely on the cloud or on my PC backups. I still like cloud storage and will use it often, but it’s nice to have more options.

Price. Again, the whole “I like money, it’s shiny” angle comes into play. No I’m not ‘poor’, I just feel that spending money on my family and other responsibilities should be my first priority. That said, the LG G4’s price isn’t set in stone, so we’ll have to see.

The camera. Just like I find the Galaxy S6 camera very compelling, the same goes for the LG G4. At this point, anything would be an upgrade from my aging Nexus 5, but if I’m going to upgrade, might as well get a big jump when it comes to the cameras.

Battery life. While we’ve yet to get our hands on the LG G4 for a full battery run down, reportedly the G4 can easily make it through a day and some change. This reported solid battery is likely due to the more conservative nature of the Snapdragon 808, software optimization, and so forth.

Because the LG Nexus 5 worked out so well for me. A pretty minor point and not a major deciding factor in my decision to favor the LG G4, but I really enjoyed my time with the Nexus 5 and (before the rear broke) I was also quite impressed by my Nexus 4. LG has being doing better and better with each passing year and I look forward to what comes next later this year and into 2016.

None meet the mark 100%

As you can tell, both phones have positives and negatives when it comes to my own personal needs. Ultimately, no phone is perfect and it’s about finding the one that best fits what you need. Will I actually be buying the LG G4? I’m certainly considering it, but I will reserve final judgment on which phone better meets my needs until we get the opportunity to do a full review of the LG G4, as well as a full versus against the Galaxy S6.

It’s important to remember I’m not telling you which phone is better, only which one is better for me. I still consider the Galaxy S6 a hell of a device and am equally excited to see what Samsung does with the Note 5. For now though, the LG G4 is probably the closest 2015 flagship to meeting what I’m looking for, even if it doesn’t get everything right.

Curious about the opposing view? My colleague Matthew recently wrote a post on why he favors the Galaxy S6 over the LG G4. How about you? Which device better meets what you are looking for? Let us know in the comments.

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Sold on Samsung: why I won’t be getting a G4, at least not anymore (Opinion)

The shadow Samsung has cast over the LG G4 is not unlike that used on the new clock widget.

There’s an elephant in the room, and everyone knows it, even though said elephant looks more like a graceful swan, replete with slim sides, meticulous metal, and gorgeous glass. The animal trainer is now talking up numbers like 70 million. I’m talking of course, about the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, a powerful pair of devices that, in the infamous words of Apple, “changes everything”. It’s certainly changed the outlook for Samsung given that the company’s doom-and-gloom 2014 shortcomings were arguably already forgotten about before the products went on sale. What they also change, however, is just how well anyone else can do in their wake.

With this preface in mind, we turn to the LG G4, the other Korean giant in the smartphone world, and the company which despite seemingly weeks of hinting at what was coming (possibly a not-so-subtle attempt at trolling the launch of the Galaxy S6) LG finally, officially, unveiled the G4 yesterday.

Let’s take a look at what, for me at least, the problems are with the G4, and why I most certainly won’t be losing sleep having obtained a new Galaxy S6.

In and of itself: the G4 gives you more than before

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Despite the more negative overtones contained in this piece, let’s actually start by doing the opposite: just because I don’t like the LG G4, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. The phone is, in and of itself, a substantial improvement over the G3 which came before it. The CPU is better, it has more RAM (than some G3 variants), the screen is better and brighter, it has a removable battery and microSD card support, a luxurious leather back, and even a slight curve. It runs Lollipop and LG’s own software has been refined and optimized to take full advantage of it. The camera is supposed to be better than ever.

There is nothing wrong with the LG G4 at all, in truth. Granted the finished product might not be quite what the collective public was hoping for, but it’s still a very good product, and befitting of the Korean company’s flagship status.

LG’s rock and a hard place

The LG G3 was a big seller for the South Korean company last year, but still had some issues such as a relatively dim back-light.

Last year, LG had its best smartphone sales ever, perhaps in no small part thanks to the hype machine surrounding the G3’s QHD display. As the first major OEM in the world to make use of the tech, all eyes were definitely on South Korea’s other big company. Samsung’s mediocre performance certainly helped LG shine a bit brighter. Samsung’s so called “Galaxy S5 Prime” never materialized, with South Korea exclusively receiving a Category 6 Broadband LTE-A that made use of a QHD Super AMOLED display but which the world at large never saw. The oft rumored ” all metal” build was nowhere to be seen. Even when metal did finally make an appearance later in the year, it was on the Galaxy Alpha, a high end machine with a rather small 720p display resolution.

Things have changed. Samsung took drastic steps to ensure that the Galaxy S6 would be a success, and by all accounts it is. The Dual Edge variant as well. Where then, does this leave a company like LG, who has lofty goals for 2015? And who has yet to release its hardware, but is already at risk of it being lost in the Samsung hype train, something even the Apple Watch is arguably experiencing.

The G4 will have both of the “missing” features of the Galaxy S6.

Lack of excitement: I’m just not hyped up

For me, nothing about the G4 seems really… exciting. Granted there are some interesting design changes, such as the slightly curved display that, while subtle, is said to significantly reduce the likelihood of cracking the screen should the phone drop. It’s a problem of perception, perhaps.

I just can’t accept these two phones as real rivals.

Accepting the G4 as a legitimate competitor to the Galaxy S6 is something that I have trouble with. The specs, while nice, simply don’t compare. I’m not particularly interested in why the G4 doesn’t have a Snapdragon 810. At the end of the day it doesn’t, and absolutely nothing will change that. And while this doesn’t necessarily matter for many people, the lack of fast charging with the Snapdragon 808 is definitely a sore point for me.

Accepting the G4 as a legitimate competitor to the Galaxy S6 is something that I have trouble with

While many are viewing Samsung as having finally created a product that is the “Android iPhone,” I really have trouble seeing the G4 as on the same level. People criticized the Galaxy S5 for looking too much like the S4, and for me the same holds true of the G4 and the G3 before it.

I’m also not taken on LG’s Lollipop skin (and it’s not the first time I express this sentiment) and despite the claim it’s better optimized with this device, I’ve yet to see anything that breaks the mold solidified by the G Flex 2.

The G4 was a chance for LG to outshine its long-term rival

Despite the glorious glint, of metal there is not even a hint.

As much as I personally like LG (perhaps more so in the pre-G3 days admittedly), I think there is indeed some truth to the idea that LG has long been trying to “out Samsung” the Galaxy’s maker. But LG does try to stand out on its own. For instance, I’ve always liked how LG lets you long-press on any home screen icon and gives you the option to alter its appearance or replace it entirely. Likewise, the “Knock On” double-tap-to-wake gesture is nice, even if it does drain the battery a bit. I’ve also been partial to the company’s ability to let you customize the position and presence of navigational soft keys.

What bothers me about the G4, then, is that it’s seemingly a wasted opportunity for the company to have outshone its rival. It could have been something totally original and made for a legitimate claim that LG wasn’t just a Samsung follower. Sure, the product was being planned long before the S6 was ever announced, but given the flop of the S5, it’s not as if LG didn’t already know what it would have taken to make something marvelous. Aside from that, just why couldn’t it have moved onto metal of its own volition?

Luxurious leather: is it really something better?

For me, this leather design looks more appropriate on a catcher’s mitt or pair of jeans than it does on a phone.

As it stands, the only truly premium element of the G4 is the leather back. Putting aside my own personal dislike of the in-your-face stitching placement, it just comes across as a last-minute decision to make the phone more unique. Mind you, it’s possible LG was planning a back panel of this nature from the get-go, but the fact that it’s removable just kills the benefit for me. Technically speaking, there is no reason why someone couldn’t simply buy the (likely cheaper) plastic “ceramic” unit and then buy the leather back afterwords. Or a third-party one for that matter. At least if the panel was sealed like on  the Moto X, it would definitely give the feeling of a permanent fixture. On a positive note, once the leather cover is “distressed” to the point of looking and feeling awful, you can at least replace it.

The leather back comes across as a last-minute decision to make the phone more unique

Speaking of the back panel, I’m not too excited by the “ceramic” coating on the plastic pieces, either. It’s not self-healing. Why is this? LG made headlines across the globe for its use of such material on the original G Flex, and then again when it released the G Flex 2 and claimed the propensity to protect and repair was even better than before.

How is it that, again, the G Flex line has seemingly more cutting-edge features than LG’s flagship?

Wrap up

We will have to wait until our official review to see just how well this new technology stacks up against the Galaxy S6.

Samsung, like it or not, has produced a pair of products that truly bring the Galaxy S line up-to-par with the Apple iPhone from a build quality standpoint, and serve to surpass it from a feature one. Whereas Samsung once was king of the court for simply having the best, most comprehensive product out there, it’s now back at the top of the hill thanks to a truly vibrant appearance.

The LG G4 is a nice phone. A great phone even. It’s a solid effort put forth by a company that has been slowly but surely building a brand that has attracted more and more customers. While the most spec-focused skeptics will instantly write it off for the presence of the 808, it’s really not the end of the world. Assuming it launches at a lower price point than the Galaxy S6 (which by all indications it will), there will inevitably be a large number of customers who will buy it.

Unfortunately, I will not be one of them. LG arguably lost me last year when it released the G3, though I did still get it upon release. This year however, I have absolutely no intention of buying the LG G4 given that – for me – it lacks any feature or propensity to do something more than the Galaxy S6.

But enough about me, what do you think? Does the LG G4 have enough “premium points” to earn your seal of approval? Does the removable battery and ability to use microSD translate to an instant win? Can it help LG achieve its continued success in 2015? Please leave a comment below and let everyone know what you think!