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Note v G4

The Samsung Galaxy Notation 5 is a very dissimilar telephone compared with the Note 4 , but information technology as well stands apart compared to other flagships. Many of the features Samsung removed from the Note line go along to exist elsewhere, just you won't have quite the same experience. Accept the LG G4 every bit an example: It's more modular and lighter, only are the missing software features worth the tradeoff? Permit'southward run across how they stack up.

Pattern

Samsung and LG are taking fundamentally dissimilar approaches to making smartphones right now, and you tin can tell the instant yous pick one up. The Note 5 is a solid slug of metallic and glass, merely like the Milky way S6. There's no flex or requite anywhere in its frame, and the glass dorsum, while glace, feels and looks great. Samsung added a slight curve to the rear drinking glass panel to make information technology easier to hold equally well.

G4

The LG G4 still relies mostly on plastic for the frame and back embrace. The device is only a petty smaller than the Notation 5, merely it's essentially lighter (155g vs 171g). Information technology has a less subjectively "premium" feel because of it, but information technology tin exist more comfortable to utilise for long periods. LG's stab at a premium pattern element is the optional leather back encompass. It's the same as the plastic encompass, but there'south a (very) thin layer or genuine leather stretched over pinnacle. Information technology doesn't feel or look every bit prissy as Motorola'due south leather backs, but the G4's backs are removable. And what's dorsum there? So many wonderful things.

Note_5_2

LG has equipped the G4 with a removable 3000mAh battery and a microSD card slot behind the back cover. The Note v also has a 3000mAh battery, simply information technology's completely born. In that location'south likewise no microSD card slot. The Note 5 also has a wireless charging whorl born, but LG makes you purchase a clunky "Quick Circle" flip instance if you want to add wireless charging to the phone.

Samsung has also implemented the bully touch-based fingerprint sensor in the dwelling push from the GS6 on the new Note 5. The LG G4 doesn't accept an equivalent hardware characteristic — it uses software nav buttons anyway. The G4 does take a cool button layout that makes the phone convenient to employ. The volume toggle and ability button are in the center of the back encompass, right below the camera lens. That's correct where your index finger is likely to rest while property the phone.

Display

The Notation 5 uses a 5.seven-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2560×1440. Information technology's very like to the brandish on the Milky way S6, merely a petty larger. Information technology'southward the best screen on a smartphone right now. There are plenty of phones that have skillful screens, but cipher can bear on Samsung's most recent AMOLED panels.

LG isn't completely out of the running with the G4. This telephone has a slightly smaller 5.5-inch LCD display also at 2560×1440. It'southward equally as clear every bit Samsung's AMOLEDs, but some other qualities are defective. LG did a proficient task improving the LCD console in this yr's flagship compared to the G3, but you can tell next to an AMOLED that it'south dimmer and less vibrant. This is simply how LCD technology behaves at super-loftier resolution.

G4 display

Samsung is really into curved screens these days, but information technology'southward LG that has a curved screen in this comparison. They call it a "quantum brandish" merely let's not go crazy. Information technology's a nice high-resolution LCD with a slight top-to-bottom curve. I don't think it makes any functional deviation, only you can set the phone face downward on a table without worrying virtually the screen being scuffed.

The Notation five'south large trick is the S pen, which nests neatly in the slot on the bottom of the phone. The screen contains a special digitizer to accept advantage of this stylus. The G4 doesn't take any feature to match this, so if y'all desire stylus input, the Note 5 is the articulate victor. You lot can use a capacitive stylus on any telephone, but the Note's version is considerably more accurate and has pressure sensitivity built-in.

Internals

The Milky way Notation five has admittedly top-of-the line specs. There'south a 64-bit Exynos 7420 SoC, just like the 1 found in the Galaxy S6. To say this is a fast ARM bit would be a spectacular understatement. It destroys everything else in benchmarks, and even performs well in real life. This chip has a quad-cadre cluster of high-power Cortex-A57 CPUs and a second cluster of four efficient Cortex-A53 cores.

snapdragon

The LG G4 is a bit more than modest because the not-Samsung equivalent of the 7420 is the octa-core Snapdragon 810, which is decumbent to overheating. So LG went with the Snapdragon 808. This scrap has only two Cortex-A57 cores and four low-power A53s. On paper it sounds like a disadvantage, only there'southward very little performance bear on. The G4's GPU is a little weaker, though. The G4 is probably more stable than it would have been with the 810 anyway.

Samsung has opted to add another gigabyte of RAM to the Note 5, for a total of 4 GB. The LG G4 only has 3GB, only these devices will likely apply that RAM in unlike ways. If the Note five behaves like the GS6 (and it probably does), apps will exist closed in the background faster than they are on the G4 and other devices. That tends to brand Samsung's phones a picayune faster in general usage, but slower at multitasking. The RAM management scheme is probably something to practice with multi-window manner.

Exynos-7-Octa

Internal storage in the G4 is 32GB in all variants, just you can add a 128GB carte for not too much money. Information technology'll be slower, but it's fine for archiving media or photos. The Note 5 will come in 32GB and 64GB variants, and that's all the storage you get. Samsung accidentally listed a 128GB version of the device online concluding week, but that was an error. Samsung uses incredibly fast UFS 2.0 NAND in the Note 5. In sheer access speed, information technology leaves the G4 in the dust.

Software and Everything Else

Both phones have Android v.i right now, which is the latest version of the Bone for the moment (not for much longer, though). The Annotation 5 will accept an updated version of Samsung'due south TouchWiz UI layer. TouchWiz used to exist pretty terrible, but it has improved over fourth dimension. Samsung has pulled out many of the superfluous features and cleaned up the interface. In fact, I think TouchWiz looks more than modern these days than LG UX 4.0 on the G4. Samsung but made the transition to Lollipop a petty better — LG's software looks too bland past comparison.

air-commandThe arrangement-level alterations made for the Due south Pen are the main difference between the G4 and Annotation five. You lot can pull up Samsung'south floating tool panel at any fourth dimension with the stylus to capture a screenshot, accept a note, and and then on. The G4 has a born note app, but it'south nothing special. Samsung also has a very deep multi-window organisation in the Notation 5. LG has a similar feature in the Note iv (Dual Window), but it'southward not nearly as expert.

The Notation 5 will rely heavily on the aforementioned fingerprint sensor, but the G4 does at least have a cool software trick that makes information technology easier to unlock the phone. You lot tin can set a Knock Code lock method that lets yous but tap on the screen in a certain blueprint to both wake and unlock the telephone in 1 step. Both phones, of course, support all the standard unlock methods every bit well.

LG-G4 camera

The Note five has a 16MP camera with an f/1.ix lens. That'due south the aforementioned configuration as the GS6, which means information technology's very similar to the G4. LG's device has an 16MP sensor likewise, only the lens is slightly amend at f/1.8. The G4 does very well in depression-low-cal situations, and the camera app is incredibly powerful. You can tweak the exposure, focus, white residual, ISO, and even capture RAW files. Samsung has some of these more advanced options, only no congenital-in RAW all the same. The Note 5 is likely to continue Samsung's tradition of amazing HDR camera performance, though. No other OEM tin touch Samsung in this department.

Another divergence is price. Samsung is asking over $700 for the 32GB Note five, but LG has been dropping the G4'southward toll in contempo weeks to try and gains some ground on Samsung. You tin become this phone for effectually $450-550 depending on carrier.