S4 or G3??

[Benholder90]

So i have choice between samsung galaxy s4 and lg g3. Please give me your opinions and advice i cant decide which to get. S4 is around

 

[Hadron]

What are your criteria?

Handle them both and see whether you like one more than the other.

 

[nickdalzell]

The S4 is inferior on the hardware dept, runs an older TouchWiz (and stutters a bit) and lacks features in the S5. a better comparison would be the Galaxy S5 compared with the G3. the S4 is more on par with the LG G2.

Depends on a lot of things though. do you prefer the oversaturated unnatural colors of the SAMOLED display? or the more accurate yet muted colors of an IPS LCD?

Do you like the skeuomorphic elements of TouchWiz Nature UX found on the S4 or the flat UI (and it's completely flat) found on the G3?

Do you desire features exclusive to Samsung phones such as S Health, S Voice, Galaxy Apps? or do you like the more stock looking and limited bloat of the LG G3?

Do you like the hardware buttons found on Samsungs or the rear-mounted options on the LG phones?

Tons of things to consider. i usually test demos out many times before i settle on just one.

The G3 does a lot of things that Samsung does (S-Voice = Voice Mate, Multi-Window = Dual Window, WatchON Remote = Quick Remote) so you won't lose any features you like, although some may not be to your liking (i do like Quick Remote better than WatchON, but S-Voice works a lot better and sounds nicer than Voice Mate which uses the AOSP voice engine and sounds robotic and has a lot less functions). most of your standard Samsung fare remains on any LG phone, earlier models seemed to blatantly copy the Samsung equivalent.

What i like about the G3 is the much faster UI, zero lag, and far superior battery. i had a Note 3 that barely made it through a 12 hour work day in my pocket (no screen on time). came home with less than 30% at the end of the day. my G3 comes home with over 80%, same use, and is besting the iPhone i use at work (which comes home at around half.)

 

[Shocky]

The S4 is inferior on the hardware dept, runs an older TouchWiz (and stutters a bit) and lacks features in the S5. a better comparison would be the Galaxy S5 compared with the G3. the S4 is more on par with the LG G2.

Depends on a lot of things though. do you prefer the oversaturated unnatural colors of the SAMOLED display? or the more accurate yet muted colors of an IPS LCD?

Do you like the skeuomorphic elements of TouchWiz Nature UX found on the S4 or the flat UI (and it's completely flat) found on the G3?

Do you desire features exclusive to Samsung phones such as S Health, S Voice, Galaxy Apps? or do you like the more stock looking and limited bloat of the LG G3?

Do you like the hardware buttons found on Samsungs or the rear-mounted options on the LG phones?

Tons of things to consider. i usually test demos out many times before i settle on just one.

The G3 does a lot of things that Samsung does (S-Voice = Voice Mate, Multi-Window = Dual Window, WatchON Remote = Quick Remote) so you won't lose any features you like, although some may not be to your liking (i do like Quick Remote better than WatchON, but S-Voice works a lot better and sounds nicer than Voice Mate which uses the AOSP voice engine and sounds robotic and has a lot less functions). most of your standard Samsung fare remains on any LG phone, earlier models seemed to blatantly copy the Samsung equivalent.

What i like about the G3 is the much faster UI, zero lag, and far superior battery. i had a Note 3 that barely made it through a 12 hour work day in my pocket (no screen on time). came home with less than 30% at the end of the day. my G3 comes home with over 80%, same use, and is besting the iPhone i use at work (which comes home at around half.)

Nope, no stutter on latest firmware on S4. But the LG G3 is the better device .

When did you try an S4 last out of curiosity?

 

[nickdalzell]

I owned an S4 for a month or two. it had the usual TouchWiz stutter (scroll through screens, or in the Browser and it stuttered enough to be noticed). it also didn't last long on a charge.

Compared to the G3, both in specs on paper (1GB RAM vs 3GB RAM, 8MP Camera vs. 13MP Camera ) the Galaxy S4 is largely inferior. it's hardly as snappy as a Note 3 or 4, much less an S5 or G3.

It's generation is around the time the LG G2 was released. so that would make a more accurate comparison.

Other gripes had little to do with the software. the glossy rear cover was a dirt/fingerprint magnet and difficult to keep clean. the G3's back is fingerprint resistant. the S4's S-View cover has less than half the features of the same case for the G3.

Thing is, around here the price of a Samsung Galaxy S4 off-contract is $699--the same price as the current LG G3. for the money, the G3 beats the S4 on all counts. for that money, you not only get a larger screen, but Quad HD resolution, 3GB RAM, Laser Auto Focus, lighter skin than TouchWiz, a much snappier speed, better battery (i think the S4 had a 2,000 (?) mAH battery where the G3 has a 3,000 mAH battery?) and so on.

 

[Shocky]

I owned an S4 for a month or two

When? 3 months ago? 6 months? a year? this information is relevant

 

[nickdalzell]

I am not sure how, i mean it got KitKat right after i got it. obviously i was not satisfied enough, got a Note 3, and it didn't work very well either so i eventually dropped my love of Samsung for an LG G3. I got the S4 outright in July this year, and replaced it soon after with the Note 3 a couple months later. i got my G3 in late September. it had just arrived at Best Buy that day (we get everything late)

 

[chanchan05]

^Weirdly, my Note 2 lasts from 6am100% to 6pm at around 20% even after using it quite a bit through the day for voice recording, specimen pictures, playing Clash of Clans and Boom Beach, sometimes Subway Surfers. I am also online 24/7 on 4G/LTE (that's what I get when being on call), and all that. I heard the Note 3 has better batteries?

Anyway, I've handled a G3 and it is snappy and all that. Just really not a fan of the back buttons and I like the hardware home key on the front. However if my choice was the G3 or S4, I'd pick the G3 because the hardware is superior. Any difference of taste can be overcome with enough usage.

 

[nickdalzell]

The Note 3 does have an excellent battery, but a bad radio. The Verizon model struggles with one bar or less at work making it run quite hot, and eating the battery. In the battery stats cell standby was using like 80% and had roughly three hours without signal. Oh, it made it through the day, but came home so low on power that it was often already chirping low battery at me. So any feature I wanted to use it for, such as the remote control ended up useless as it spent the remainder of the day on the charger. The other thing eating the battery was the AMOLED screen, so if I was reading books from Google Play, you could see it draining a percent every minute or two. On the G3 I can read one chapter or two of Tom Sawyer with it still showing 100%.

The G3 seems to hold better with a weak signal and doesn't run hot.

I used to be dead set on the hardware keys but I love what LG did with the navbar. It can be customized, even turned off in specific apps.

 

[Benholder90]

Thanks for the replies and discussion i went with the g3 in the end and feel happy that i did ive read so much good about it. Now im just hoping delivery will all go smoothly!