Home > Android Phone Reviews > LG G3 vs. Samsung Galaxy S5 Comparison

LG G3 vs. Samsung Galaxy S5 Comparison Smackdown

Posted July 20, 2014 by Lisa Gade, Editor in Chief (twitter: @lisagade)

These two Android phones, from Korea's two largest mobile companies are direct competitors in terms of price, wide carrier availability and horsepower. The G3 is the new kid on the block and it brings some compelling features to the table including a significantly larger and higher resolution display, rear camera laser guided auto-focus and a relatively compact design. The Samsung Galaxy S5 hardly needs an introduction as Samsung's mainstream size flagship Android smartphone for 2014. It has a host of features, strong performance and a great looking screen.

Design

LG and Samsung are both famous for their plastic phones that look... well, like plastic. Samsung's addressed that with soft touch faux leather backs, be it leather grain or the stippled finish used on the Galaxy S5. In black, the faux finish is somewhat convincing, but not so much in the other available colors. Still, it doesn't look like a cheap phone and it's remarkably slim and light for a 5.1" phone.

LG abandoned shiny, greasy plastics with the G3, and the phone has a plastic back that's made to look like metal. They did a decent job of it and the silvery black version could pass for brushed metal at first blush. I particularly like the minimalist, clean front face: no trim rings or design embellishments that quickly become dated. It's a good looking phone even if it doesn't reach the iPhone 5s and HTC One M8 level of design. The curved back feels good in hand, and LG did an impressive job of fitting a 5.5" display into a phone that's not significantly bigger than the 5.1" GS5.

Both phones have removable back covers that grant access to the removable battery, microSD card slot and micro SIM card slot.

Horsepower and Performance

We're on even ground for CPU and graphics: both phones run on a 2.5GHz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 with Adreno 330 graphics. Here in the US, the LG G3 pulls ahead with 3 gigs of RAM vs. 2 gigs on the Samsung and 32 gigs of internal storage vs. 16 for the Galaxy S5.

Benchmarks

Water and Dust Resistance

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is water resistant for immersion up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. It's also dust resistant. The LG G3? Nope.

Display

You'd think this one would be a slam-dunk for the LG G3, but it's not. The G3 has a bigger and higher resolution display: it's 5.5" and 2560 x 1440. That's called quad HD and it's the same resolution you'll find in recent very high res laptops and tablets. It's a great looking IPS display with wide viewing angles, keen sharpness, good contrast and natural colors.

The Samsung Galaxy S5's 5.1" Super AMOLED display is 1920 x 1080 with a lower pixel density, but still much higher than needed to prevent the eye from discerning individual pixels. It's much more color saturated (better than life, some might say) and it's brighter too. To many folks, particularly those accustomed to Samsung's Super AMOLED panels, it's more vibrant and eye-catching. Both displays are viewable outdoors, but the GS5 has the edge when auto-brightness is enabled. Auto-brightness enables a higher max brightness level than manual brightness. The drawback is that Samsung's auto-brightness seems like auto-dimness in some indoor settings.

There are many more points to cover, so watch our LG G3 vs. Samsung Galaxy S5 Comparison Smackdown video to see them all.

Samsung Galaxy S5 vs. LG G3 Comparison Video

Related:

Samsung Galaxy S5 Review

LG G3 Review

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Samsung Galaxy S5 Specs:

Display: 5.1" Super AMOLED HD display with Gorilla Glass 3. Resolution: 1920 x 1080. Has ambient light sensor, accelerometer and proximity sensor.

Battery: 2800 mAh Lithium Ion Polymer rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. Supports latest version of Qualcomm quick charging.

Performance: 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad core CPU. 2 gigs DDR3 RAM. 16 gigs internal storage with ~11 gigs available.

Size: 5.59" x 2.85" x 0.31" inches. Weight: 5.1 ounces.

Phone: GSM quad band world phone with EDGE 2G, 3G and 4G LTE for AT&T and T-Mobile. CDMA dual band digital with EV-DO Rev. A 3G and 4G LTE for Sprint and Verizon.

Camera: 2MP front camera and 16MP rear camera with LED flash, BSI, HDR mode, 4K video recording. Supports simultaneous use of front and back camera.

Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack.

Networking and GPS: Integrated dual band WiFi 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and NFC.

Software: Android OS 4.4 KitKat with Samsung TouchWiz UI and software.

Expansion: 1 SDXC microSD card slot under back cover.

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LG G3 Specs:

Display: 5.5" IPS display. Resolution: 2560 x 1440. Has ambient light sensor, accelerometer and proximity sensor.

Battery: 3000 mAh Lithium Ion Polymer rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. Supports latest version of Qualcomm quick charging.

Performance: 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad core CPU. 3 gigs DDR3 RAM. 32 gigs internal storage (2 gigs RAM with 16 gigs storage available in some markets outside the US).

Size: 5.8" x 2.9" x 0.40" inches. Weight: 5.4 ounces.

Phone: GSM quad band world phone with EDGE 2G, 3G and 4G LTE for AT&T and T-Mobile. CDMA dual band digital with EV-DO Rev. A 3G and 4G LTE for Sprint and Verizon.

Camera: 2MP front camera and 13MP rear camera with LED flash, BSI, HDR mode, optical image stabilization and 4K video recording. Supports simultaneous use of front and back camera.

Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack.

Networking and GPS: Integrated dual band WiFi 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and NFC.

Software: Android OS 4.4 KitKat with LG Emotion 2.0 UI and software.

Expansion: 1 SDXC microSD card slot under back cover.

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