Will LG manage to stir customers away from the new Samsung?

May 1, 2015 22:42 GMT  ·  By

LG finally pulled the veil off its highly anticipated G4 flagship a few days ago. The device received a lot of positive initial feedback, but will it manage to stack up to one of the best Android devices out there, the Samsung Galaxy S6?

The Galaxy S6 was released back at MWC 2015 and LG abstained from taking the stage during the event and presenting the world with a flagship of its own, because it did not want to be overshadowed. Eventually, it chose a date two months later to show the world its latest achievement in terms of mobile technology.

While the LG G4 can be considered a minor increment compared to the G3, the handset still brings a few subtle improvements into the picture. After all, the G3 is a great phone, so LG had a solid ground to build upon.

Like most flagships released these days, the LG G4 arrives into the wild with a 5.5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen that supports Quad HD resolution (2560 x 1440 pixels) and features Corning Gorilla Glass coating for protection.

Interestingly enough, LG abstained from utilizing Qualcomm’s greatest piece of silicone, the Snapdragon 810, for its latest flagship. As Qualcomm itself explains, the decision was made because the phone maker wanted its new top-tier phone to be able to offer longer battery life, refuting claims that the Snapdragon 810 was still plagued by overheating issues.

On the other hand, LG has been rumored to be working on a second flagship line which will supposedly be placed above the G4, so maybe the company is saving up the best offer from Qualcomm for the new line of phones.

Even if it hasn’t been out long, the LG G4 is already faced with tough competition from flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9.

Samsung has been receiving a lot of praise for its Galaxy S6 handset, which has been called its best effort to date. Luckily, LG has a few tricks up its sleeve to convince customers that the LG G4 is worth their while. And here are a few reasons why you should actually be considering purchasing the G4 instead of the Samsung Galaxy S6.

The availability of a microSD card

Samsung managed to build a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing flagship, but it did so at a cost. Which for many seemed a bit too much.

Samsung Galaxy S phones have been known to offer the possibility to expand internal storage by virtue of a microSD card.

Well, on the Galaxy S6, this is no longer the case, so those who know they need a lot of storage should be purchasing a variant with more embedded free space.

Luckily, things are a bit different on the LG G4, which arrives with 32GB of internal storage that can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card slot. So users don’t have to decide right off the bat the capacity they want to have on board their new phone.

Removable battery (which is larger overall)

We all have been through one emergency situation when we desperately needed to use our phones. Well, what if the battery pack inside your phone happens to be devoid of life during your greatest time of need?

If you’re the owner of a Samsung Galaxy S6, you’ll probably have to resort to a quick wireless charging session, but what if your emergency can’t wait that long?

When using a phone that comes with a removable battery, one can easily swap out the battery from the device, replace it with a fresh juice box, and they are immediately good to go.

Apart from the microSD card functionality, Samsung also renounced offering a removable battery with its latest Galaxy S6. But LG didn’t follow the same road.

The G4 packs a 3,000 mAh battery which users can remove and replace when needed. The phone also takes advantage of wireless charging (Qi technology) and fast battery charging (60% in 30 minutes).

We should also point out that battery capacity is larger for the G4 than for the Samsung Galaxy S6, which bundles only a 2,550 mAh one.

Larger lens aperture

Samsung really improved things in the photography department with the Galaxy S6. The main snapper boasts f/1.9 lens aperture which allows the phone to perform quite well in terms of low-light photography.

But LG doesn’t disappoint either, as it added a camera aperture of f/1.8 on its new G4. We should also mention that the 16MP frontal camera features phase detection (laser) autofocus, OIS (optical image stabilization), dual-LED flash and 4K video recording. So in theory, users should be quite satisfied with the G4 camera.

8MP selfie camera

The main camera isn’t everything on a smartphone. Our selfie addiction dictates that device makers implement more and more advanced selfie camera gear.

It’s the case of the G4, which sports a pretty advanced 8MP frontal camera with a bunch of alternate editing options and enhanced modes of shooting.

By contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S6 only offers a 5MP selfie snapper. So if you’re looking to use the front-facing shooter to frequently capture vanity photos, you’ll probably want to go with LG on this one.

Improved screen-to-body size ratio

LG’s G4 is a tad larger than the Galaxy S6, but the former device has a better screen-to-body size ratio (75.97%) than Samsung’s latest achievement (70.48%).

This means that utilizing the G4’s front estate is better than what the Samsung Galaxy S6 is offering.