Thought I'd see a AT deepdive (a whole page :) ) on S808 vs S810.. especially what S808 loses compared to S810 (memory, GPU, CPU ) and throttling, perf vs time.
The L3 G4 is really good, however the Moto X Pure Edition is rated slightly higher (see http://www.consumerrunner.com/top-10-best-phones/ for example), so I would consider that one instead if I were you.
I was also expecting to see some sort of a technical comparison here related to the SD 808 vs. the SD 810. I for one also think the 1440 screen is overkill, especially in a sub 6" device using the SD 808.
On the final page you went on to say the G4 and the S6 have a camera somewhat comparable to the iPhone 6+... and there you totally lost me. This is one of the things Anandtech can do without in the reviews, the iFanboyism.
@niva: Quit trolling Android fanboy, Anandtech and Josh are not ifanboy, they are stating the truth here, you can critic Apple for less ram or restrictive ecosystem but the latest iphone camera is amongst the best, only high-end Lumia phones can challenge or best Apple in this regard.
As an owner of three of the top 5; S6, Note 4, & indeed... The iPhone 6+, which raps the 'top 5' "Apples is (sic) 'rate' in the top five' The 6+ is indeed produced by Apple ...my subjective feelings are almost identical to Josh's. S6 Edge is an incredible camera. I love it. My Note 4 always has been, with micro SD it makes shooting 4k practical, but my low light shots are pretty sad in comparison to the 6+, as well as 'action' or fast moving shots. S6 shoots 4k, excellent 1080p, but the video stabilization and 60fps-240fps adjustments on the iPhone tump the other two, and I'm just realizing I've placed my response after the wrong reply of your dxo link. It's saying damn near what Josh concluded. DxoMark is specific to still photography, heavy on resolution and to those ends the sensors in the S6, N4 & G4 indeed play in the same field as the iPhone ...and in some cases beat it. That said, for simplicity point and shoot and nearly every time get an excellent shot without latency or buffering, the iPhone is hard to beat. Without G4 experience I'll hold judgement, but for video, the iPhone is it. For stills, I'm partial now to my S6 and the Note 4 has always been phenomenal Apple opening their 'souls' a bit with the ability to interact with the SoC ala their native apps, there are plenty of manual control, high resolution shooters (using the 8 megapixel, 4K sensor and its speed) as well as slow motion and video editing tools --- probably the biggest weight in the iphone's favor is the App Store, it's amazing selection of editing and shooting tools as well as continuous updates might just top the subjective list of top 5.
*i don't own a 4K TV but I've got the ability to playback 4K on my MacBook Pro -- looks amazing but it's limited in length of time you can shoot and heats the camera up nice and warm. The S6, all around, my favorite for everything and now my go to camera in most situations. It's smaller and easier to shoot --- but for video capture, my son playing baseball, or last weeks Mötley Crüe show, the iPhone and it's incredible stabilization, video processing and iCloud uploading, ....see where I'm going?
I own a business, have for two decades and with a dozen employees equipped with their choice, I pay for them ...and have iPhone as a personal - S6 personal and Note4 business only. Primarily the stylus and autographs for credit cards has a cool vibe with clientele. You mileage may vary but dxo mark scores in the mid 80s rivals and defeats many point and shoot cams under $300. A point or two difference isn't real world, nor the bible on what to buy. Iphone is ranked 5 & 6 (+ & standard) - can't seem to find the Experia in America and their separation of a couple points in the mid 80as -- without considering motion at all, I'm not sure ANY is the wrong choice and for many that don't want manual control, the iPhone with HDR is hands down the layman's favorite. Android, I'm with the S6, double tap home button to pop the cam and it's rare even as a DSLR shooter that I'm adjusting settings, modes or manually selecting ISO, Aperture or shutter speed S6 Edge, I love it. 6+, love it. Note 4, still awesome - bit heavier but easily used now with experience and the right case Take motion into the equation and the limitations on 4K, post processing there of and playback ...I think this is the reason Apple has put this much effort into their sensor as it's the perfect 'size' for non cropped, full sensor 4K shooting
Maybe I'm confused, but I'm ambidextrous, love both and have owned both since 07/08. Dxomark is a silly geek site for resolution of serious optics. Those scores and their differential is hardly a 'win' for any flagship mentioned
How does the handoff between clusters cope compared to the 810? Does it scale from 2>4 cores when stepping down, averaging the load across the A53 cluster?
My God. I thought this review would never come. I already lusted after the G4, bought the G4, owned the G4 for a while, and then bought a Nexus 6 to replace it haha. Still, it will be good to know the Snapdragon 808 lowdown seeing as the Moto X 2015 and Nexus 5 2015 will make use of it.
I liked the G4 (maybe even more than the Galaxy S6 I owned before it), but there were a couple minor annoyances that ultimately led me to buy a Nexus 6. I found that the G4 performed well most of the time, but as mentioned in the review, in some apps it would drop frames more often than the previous two phones I owned (Nexus 5 and Galaxy S6). Also, the touchscreen seemed to be less responsive than the previous phones I owned, which started to get on my nerves. Finally, there were a couple software annoyances like the inability to expand notifications in some circumstances, that were bothering me. I did like the screen on the G4 better than the Galaxy S6 and Nexus 6, and the manual camera controls were boss, but ultimately I prefer the Nexus software experience.
Grayson. You are right. Speed and battery count. I liked the G4 specs but was disappointed when tried the phone out at T Mobile. Has a snag and the actual screen id not
Yeah, the touch response isn't as great as I'd like--but it's not horrid (nothing like the OnePlus One). I miss maybe one touch a day.
The framerate does jank once in a while (usually on websites in Chrome that have horrible overlay ads). I'm thinking about root to install Adaway but am reluctant for losing the 1-year warranty...
And yeah, the Nexus software experience is definitely superior. But I was done giving up good camera and battery swapping for the software. I'd rather have those two things in the end at the expense of software.
The great thing is, we have so many choices at competitive prices these days! It's really a blessing.
Thanks for the review! Did Motorola leave you with review units after the press event, so that you're able to start reviewing it now?
I'll be passing my S6 to my mom likely, and picking up a new phone. Ive had the battery life be way to inconsistent for me (everything from 3-5 hours of screen on time with the same uses). I'll probably get the G4, OP 2, or Moto X. Anandtech reviews make deciding much better :D
Yeah, 720p is fine, but 1080p is a noticeable improvement. Stuff is visibly sharper. Bigger battery + Better GPU would have also been needed to maintain parity.
Funny how the tone changes with the manufacturer instead of being proportional with the numbers. But even more amazing is that everybody when talking iphone camera fully ignores the resolution. The thing has 2-3 times fewer pixels that the "nermal"high res phone cams. No matter the methodology of factoring in the res , the iphone still starts with at least a 20-30% handicap in the final grade. But almost everybody just ignores the res, like it's not there at all. Granted,that's the norm for any iphone flaw or missing feature. Anyway, hope you guys stop being so lazy, get rid of every SoC banchmark you are using now and replace them with something useful.
Yeah, many websites give you a tldr, which appeals to a normal user: "the phone is fast blah blah" Then you have other websites that post benchmarks and stuff for "tech guys" : "octa core.. 1080p blah "
Aand then there's Anandtech. Don't get me started on their deep-dives.
Hmm, if it were something like 12mp vs 16mp+ I'd say it'd be fair to downplay res, but 8 vs 16 and beyond really does make a big difference when it comes to printing or even cropping for tighter framing online.
I am surprised that you say the LG G4 and jesusPhone+ have a better camera. Both DPreview and DXO mark says otherwise by a large margin for the S6 (except perhaps in manual mode on the G4 in low light). From my short time with a S6 Edge I would agree (also had 6 and 6+ for about 2 weeks)
I'm surprised too. I used the Galaxy S6 for 2 months and the G4 for 1 month and did several side by side camera comparisons. I thought the Galaxy S6 had a better auto mode and took better pictures in good lighting, and the G4 had a superior manual mode and took better pictures in low light. In auto mode in daylight, I found that the G4 was too hesitant to use HDR, probably because it is rather slow compared to the real time HDR on the S6. And the G4 often produced either overly soft or overly sharpened photos.
I had the original Optimus G, and it was a great phone hardware wise, but my biggest problem with LG has been their software support. It's getting better but still miserable. They move to new phones so fast that most are barely supported for software for a year. Meanwhile I think Samsung has done a better job of updating and supporting older phones, plus they're so popular the ROMs are more plentiful and well supported. I just couldn't get over the Samsung bloatware, but if you can, they're so close it would probably tip me toward the Samsung based on better software support long term.
For the software, if they would just allow for the notification toggles to be hidden by default and appear with a second swipe down, I think that would go a long way. Maybe also give us a normal lockscreen clock too.
That's my biggest complaint with LG's UI: the lack of usable space on the notification drop-down. There's a scrollable row of quick-toggles, then the volume slide, then the brightness slider, then the shortcuts bar for their quick apps (or whatever they call them), and then, using the last inch of the screen, the actual notifications list!
I've tried running the LG stock version of Android on my G2, and always get frustrated with it within a week. Tried the ported ROMs from the LG G3; same frustrations within a week. Even tried the latest ported ROM from the G4; didn't last more than 3 days.
The AOSP-based ROMs have some stability issues, and don't have access to all the camera features, but usability-wise, they are light-years ahead of LG. Even the minimalist ParanoidAndroid provides a better experience than LG, with BlissPop and AICP being even better.
As I bought one of these yesterday (once the Moto X was announced as 5.7"), this was a very interesting read. One of the other reviews mentioned that due to the thinness of the bezels its not that hard to hold, which I'd agree. I'd also say LG did a reasonable job on the OS side, most of the crap can be turned off (like taking the picture), and rest is useful (smart settings is a simple but capable 'automation' job. I have replaced the launcher with Google Now, mainly as LG's far left page didn't seem to really do anything useful. One thing I didn't see mentioned that their circle cases (with a watch'esq gap on the front) replace the back and Add wireless charging, BUT you can't get one of these cases in the leather.
Maybe, but sometimes you have to pay up from your own pocket and buy your own review samples, or get a loaner device from somewhere. I mean, GSMarena gets samples, as does arstechnica, so I don't see why AT can't.
Personally, if I were in the US, I'd actually happily have sent in my Xperia Z and Z2 when they were freshly released and new for review... Hell, I'd even do it now if there is interest, but nobody wants to see the review for a phone over a year old (nevermind that none of the new flagships bring any useful improvements over it...).
You cannot expect Anandtech to buy devices as they review loads of things in different digital/tech sectors often costing thousands of dollars, so they stick to the single site-wide policy of review samples which every major company sends them, only Sony does not send devices to Anandtech.
It will be awesome if you can send new devices to Anandtech, i am sure they will appreciate it and even return after few weeks, hope you do send the next Sony xperia, specially the compact ones.
Geography is not a problem nowadays, even i don't live in USA, You can easily send phones by using Fedex Australia and DHL Australia, they will deliver within 3 days to USA, now we just have to wait for the upcoming Xperia Z5 and Z5 compact.
One request: Confirmation of PWM backlights in future reviews. This is important because some of us get migraines from devices like the 2nd gen Nexus 7.
I noticed you said " I'm not sure if LG will support anything higher than 9 volts at 1.3 amps."
I was hoping you guys would be able to do a test with the quick charger however. Over at XDA Forums, I think we found that even with the quick charger and the battery at 0%, the phone would only charge about 20% faster than with the stock charger. Somebody had some hardward that showed it really was pulling in 9V@1.2A.
Josh what happened to your Gundam Dynames gunpla photo shots? the dark greenish color of Dynames does help to show differences in dynamic (no pun intended) range and contrasts, although you could've built it a bit better...
To add to Josh's last sentence in his article, "I suspect that the real difference in the end simply comes down to size"...AND PRICE. I get the better overall build quality of the S6 is better than the G4, but with the price the G4 is selling at over at T-Mobile now, for example, along with getting another $48 off via a promotional code, and in addition to all of that a free leather back cover, extra battery, and battery charger via LG's promotion, and the LG G4 is a WAY better value proposition than the S6. The S6 is a very good phone, don't get me wrong, but it's overpriced in my opinion.
I get that Anandtech is US centric to an extent, but with a lot of people in the US opting for contract-less plans to save money it might make sense to start factoring price into the equation when it comes to flagships... I wouldn't even have a clue if there are any significant differences, last phone I bought was the N5 and that was the first and only phone I've paid for in full w/o subsidy.
Such a shame Qualcomm didn't make the 808's cores faster (say, 2GHz) and equip it with at least the adreno 420. I understand why they didn't, and given the 810's design wins, their strategy clearly worked, but it still leads me to wonder "what if". I wonder what's going on with their implementation of cci(assuming that's the culprit)? They've had enough experience by now to know how to properly implement a standard two tier cache system.
if they boosted the 808 to higher clocks, which I'm sure they could since all they've been doing since 801 is just overclocking the chips, that would give OEMs more incentives to choose the 808 over the 810. let's say this, if the 808 comes higher clocked A57s and adreno 420, how many people do you think would even consider the 810? After all the 810 is much more profitable than 808. It just sucks to see how many OEMs got burnt by 810. in a sense, OEMs only have themselves to blame rather than qualcomm for having to release junk phones all over this year. back in the old days qualcomm's SoCs suffered even worse overheating and performance and yet OEMs still persist to use their stuff, simply because they offered an integrated modem if they didn't spoil qualcomm so much back then, there wouldn't be so little choices in the SoC market with players like Texas instruments and others competing against qualcomm.
Don't NVidia and Intel have integrated modems at this point? They're still making SoCs, as is Samsung, seems there's still plenty of choices... We lost what, TI and Sony? I must be forgetting others, I remember lamenting the contracting SoC market too...
"It seems that these improvements have been enabled with the use of photoalignment technology, which shares similarities with photolithography but attempts to induce anisotropy in a photoresist analogue on a glass substrate..."
Well, you won't see a sentence like that in Gizmodo.com...!
Another excellent review. Thanks. I also love it when you include many other phones such as the Nexus 5 and Moto G in the benchmarks. Good thing the dual core has real life advantages over the 810. The 8 core spec is nothing but marketing advantage. As a camera enthusiast, I would also love the manual controls. Yet, I don't think I would use it too often as the control you could get doesn't add to much to the image quality. I mean, using HDR mode pretty much fixes the IQ weaknesses of smartphone cameras to dedicated, larger cameras. The worse noise in the corners probably indicates vignetting with the lenses, only it is fixed/lifted in processing.
Few months after release, the G4 is now slightly cheaper compared to S6 yet I don't think it is enough. The S6 still has a lot better value to G4 because of the display and SoC. The external build quality and video specs makes the S6 even higher. The only fault of the S6 is the small battery they included with it. The Note 5 surely will fix that but it's going to be much more expensive.
Nice review, although some phrases were a bit too strange for my taste...
"One of the major points of emphasis for us in the smartphone space continues to be display, as even though you can replace a display on a phone, the only real reason to do so is if you shatter the glass cover of the display."
And, of course, I fully disagree with the claim that "the GS6 is roughly equal to or slightly worse than the iPhone 6 Plus as a camera overall". In my personal experience, the S6 camera is the best all-around camera, at least with auto settings and I'm not a Samsung fan...
Until this day, I still have no idea why they keep designing phones with display off-centered, speaker on the back, protruding camera and overkill display resolution. And these retarded engineers/designers are getting paid in millions. I know my opinion never matter but there one thing I can do is never to spend my money on any phone with any of the defects above. Let these arrogant idiots die out and hopefully someone else with common sense to take their place.
Politic at work place is bad, LG. Keep having those retards design products for you and you'll lose more than just profit. 60% profit loss last time you say?
The company reported a net profit of 226.4 billion won ($195 million) for the April-June quarter, compared with 411.8 billion won a year earlier. A FactSet survey of analysts forecast 204.8 billion won profit.
Sales fell 8 percent to 13.9 trillion won and operating income declined 60 percent to 244 billion won.
I don't know how you call that camera performance equal /worse than Iphone 6plus. the day time photo is way sharper in both g4 and s6 while the iphone 6plus is filled by muddy details, just view the image in full resolution and tell me they are not far superior?
The difference is even bigger in night time photos, there is just no competition at all where iphone 6plus pretty much fail to capture to details and at least the g4 has some "leaves" shapes.
I bought the lg G4 on july 1.on 29 july morning i couldnt switch the phone on.immediately i took it to the nearest lg service centre .they said it was problem with the mother board.may b my bad luck but is it affordable.after spending 50000 rs i didnt use the phone even for one month.
The only benchmark I looked for was talk time as I use my phone everyday for my work phone where I give computer support. I didn't see a talk time benchmark - preferably with BT.
You guys should really start posting graphs of fps over time for a 20 minute run, so that we can get a good idea of performance degradation. Also the performance degradation chart values should be expressed as a ratio of [final run] / [cold run], otherwise it's pointless.
Dude! Aspect ratio for the camera can be changed between 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1 in the settings. Turning off the quickshot feature when double tapping the volume down button can also be turned off in the phone settings.
After owning a Note 2, 3 and 4 I really wanted to try something different (and smaller) for 2015. So I waited for the G4 especially after seeing the S6 but I ultimately went to the S6. That initial pick up and feel moment of the G4 had me thinking about the Note 2 which for me was a step backwards. It felt too light and cheap; things that I defended Note 2 and 3 for having. Plus 5.5" is still a phablet in my book no matter how much they strink the body. And I'm just not a fan of LG's UI look. So far the theme engine in the latest touchwiz is freaking awesome. It really helps when you just need a fresh coat of paint to liven up the phone again. It's only been about 4 weeks since owning the S6 and I'm still happy. If I really had to change anything it would be a slightly larger battery. But at the same time this phone charges very quick. I have 3 quick chargers (1 car and 2 wall) and so far I haven't run out of battery. So far the S6 has been my best phone to date. In saying that I can't wait for the 2015 Moto pure review. Like to see how much compromise when into a phone costing $200 to $300 cheaper than a big boy flagship. Ater reading this review I have a new respect for the SD 808. But with the SD 820 coming out it may be short lived
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hans_ober - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Throttling compared to S810?JoshHo - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Definitely less. S808 spends more time at higher frequencies than S810 even after 20 minutes.hans_ober - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Thought I'd see a AT deepdive (a whole page :) ) on S808 vs S810.. especially what S808 loses compared to S810 (memory, GPU, CPU ) and throttling, perf vs time.JoshHo - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I definitely hope to do that at some point.hans_ober - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Thanks a ton!LoganPowell - Friday, November 27, 2015 - link
The L3 G4 is really good, however the Moto X Pure Edition is rated slightly higher (see http://www.consumerrunner.com/top-10-best-phones/ for example), so I would consider that one instead if I were you.ThisIsChrisKim - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Looking forward to it :)niva - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I was also expecting to see some sort of a technical comparison here related to the SD 808 vs. the SD 810. I for one also think the 1440 screen is overkill, especially in a sub 6" device using the SD 808.On the final page you went on to say the G4 and the S6 have a camera somewhat comparable to the iPhone 6+... and there you totally lost me. This is one of the things Anandtech can do without in the reviews, the iFanboyism.
BMNify - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
@niva: Quit trolling Android fanboy, Anandtech and Josh are not ifanboy, they are stating the truth here, you can critic Apple for less ram or restrictive ecosystem but the latest iphone camera is amongst the best, only high-end Lumia phones can challenge or best Apple in this regard.bleached - Sunday, August 2, 2015 - link
Apple isnt rate in the top 5 best smartphone cameras (they haven't tested the G4) and Lumia isn't even close. This is from a camera specific website.bleached - Sunday, August 2, 2015 - link
http://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles/Column-right/Mobile...Arcetnathon - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
You point something really strange.Each review of tech website published month after release is worst than first tests.
Maybe big company doesn't play fair and send very specific smartphone that will never be in store...
akdj - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
As an owner of three of the top 5; S6, Note 4, & indeed... The iPhone 6+, which raps the 'top 5' "Apples is (sic) 'rate' in the top five'The 6+ is indeed produced by Apple ...my subjective feelings are almost identical to Josh's. S6 Edge is an incredible camera. I love it. My Note 4 always has been, with micro SD it makes shooting 4k practical, but my low light shots are pretty sad in comparison to the 6+, as well as 'action' or fast moving shots. S6 shoots 4k, excellent 1080p, but the video stabilization and 60fps-240fps adjustments on the iPhone tump the other two, and I'm just realizing I've placed my response after the wrong reply of your dxo link.
It's saying damn near what Josh concluded. DxoMark is specific to still photography, heavy on resolution and to those ends the sensors in the S6, N4 & G4 indeed play in the same field as the iPhone ...and in some cases beat it. That said, for simplicity point and shoot and nearly every time get an excellent shot without latency or buffering, the iPhone is hard to beat. Without G4 experience I'll hold judgement, but for video, the iPhone is it. For stills, I'm partial now to my S6 and the Note 4 has always been phenomenal
Apple opening their 'souls' a bit with the ability to interact with the SoC ala their native apps, there are plenty of manual control, high resolution shooters (using the 8 megapixel, 4K sensor and its speed) as well as slow motion and video editing tools --- probably the biggest weight in the iphone's favor is the App Store, it's amazing selection of editing and shooting tools as well as continuous updates might just top the subjective list of top 5.
*i don't own a 4K TV but I've got the ability to playback 4K on my MacBook Pro -- looks amazing but it's limited in length of time you can shoot and heats the camera up nice and warm. The S6, all around, my favorite for everything and now my go to camera in most situations. It's smaller and easier to shoot --- but for video capture, my son playing baseball, or last weeks Mötley Crüe show, the iPhone and it's incredible stabilization, video processing and iCloud uploading, ....see where I'm going?
I own a business, have for two decades and with a dozen employees equipped with their choice, I pay for them ...and have iPhone as a personal - S6 personal and Note4 business only. Primarily the stylus and autographs for credit cards has a cool vibe with clientele. You mileage may vary but dxo mark scores in the mid 80s rivals and defeats many point and shoot cams under $300. A point or two difference isn't real world, nor the bible on what to buy. Iphone is ranked 5 & 6 (+ & standard) - can't seem to find the Experia in America and their separation of a couple points in the mid 80as -- without considering motion at all, I'm not sure ANY is the wrong choice and for many that don't want manual control, the iPhone with HDR is hands down the layman's favorite. Android, I'm with the S6, double tap home button to pop the cam and it's rare even as a DSLR shooter that I'm adjusting settings, modes or manually selecting ISO, Aperture or shutter speed
S6 Edge, I love it. 6+, love it. Note 4, still awesome - bit heavier but easily used now with experience and the right case
Take motion into the equation and the limitations on 4K, post processing there of and playback ...I think this is the reason Apple has put this much effort into their sensor as it's the perfect 'size' for non cropped, full sensor 4K shooting
Maybe I'm confused, but I'm ambidextrous, love both and have owned both since 07/08. Dxomark is a silly geek site for resolution of serious optics. Those scores and their differential is hardly a 'win' for any flagship mentioned
J
Pissedoffyouth - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
How does the handoff between clusters cope compared to the 810? Does it scale from 2>4 cores when stepping down, averaging the load across the A53 cluster?nikaldro - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
The S808 throttles about as much as the exynos 7420.nikaldro - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
The S808 throttles about as much as the exynos 7420.grayson_carr - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
My God. I thought this review would never come. I already lusted after the G4, bought the G4, owned the G4 for a while, and then bought a Nexus 6 to replace it haha. Still, it will be good to know the Snapdragon 808 lowdown seeing as the Moto X 2015 and Nexus 5 2015 will make use of it.ThisIsChrisKim - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I bought the G4 and I'm really liking it--camera is just superb. UI is meh, but not annoying enough for me to get something else.Nice seeing this review, nonetheless!
grayson_carr - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I liked the G4 (maybe even more than the Galaxy S6 I owned before it), but there were a couple minor annoyances that ultimately led me to buy a Nexus 6. I found that the G4 performed well most of the time, but as mentioned in the review, in some apps it would drop frames more often than the previous two phones I owned (Nexus 5 and Galaxy S6). Also, the touchscreen seemed to be less responsive than the previous phones I owned, which started to get on my nerves. Finally, there were a couple software annoyances like the inability to expand notifications in some circumstances, that were bothering me. I did like the screen on the G4 better than the Galaxy S6 and Nexus 6, and the manual camera controls were boss, but ultimately I prefer the Nexus software experience.Fitnesspro - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Grayson. You are right. Speed and battery count. I liked the G4 specs but was disappointed when tried the phone out at T Mobile. Has a snag and the actual screen id notFitnesspro - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Will keep my NEXUS 5 for now. Still under warranty. Will see the nee NEXUS 5, 2015, then decideThisIsChrisKim - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Yeah, the touch response isn't as great as I'd like--but it's not horrid (nothing like the OnePlus One). I miss maybe one touch a day.The framerate does jank once in a while (usually on websites in Chrome that have horrible overlay ads). I'm thinking about root to install Adaway but am reluctant for losing the 1-year warranty...
And yeah, the Nexus software experience is definitely superior. But I was done giving up good camera and battery swapping for the software. I'd rather have those two things in the end at the expense of software.
The great thing is, we have so many choices at competitive prices these days! It's really a blessing.
Pissedoffyouth - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Can't you unroot it and then you have warrenty? Or do they have knox like system?jvl - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I thought the Nexus 5 2015 will use a 820? Is that benchmark-leak-rumor where it crushed all outdated?grayson_carr - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Some people now think that benchmark is from another LG flagship that is expected to launch this fall.ThisIsChrisKim - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
SD820 seems unlikely to launch in the fall.toyotabedzrock - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Looking at the performance Google would be disappointed with sales if the Nexus 5 2015 uses the 808.tipoo - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I like the style of pictures in this and the Apple Watch review Josh!Pissedoffyouth - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Cheers Josh.Looks like this may be my next phone considering no other major phones have a removable battery I can swap with Zerolemon one
Drumsticks - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review! Did Motorola leave you with review units after the press event, so that you're able to start reviewing it now?I'll be passing my S6 to my mom likely, and picking up a new phone. Ive had the battery life be way to inconsistent for me (everything from 3-5 hours of screen on time with the same uses). I'll probably get the G4, OP 2, or Moto X. Anandtech reviews make deciding much better :D
hans_ober - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Hoping the Moto G review comes out in the next 2 days!Flunk - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
It's a shame this doesn't have a 5" 1080p display, then it would be perfect.hans_ober - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Yeah, 720p is fine, but 1080p is a noticeable improvement. Stuff is visibly sharper.Bigger battery + Better GPU would have also been needed to maintain parity.
jjj - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Funny how the tone changes with the manufacturer instead of being proportional with the numbers.But even more amazing is that everybody when talking iphone camera fully ignores the resolution. The thing has 2-3 times fewer pixels that the "nermal"high res phone cams. No matter the methodology of factoring in the res , the iphone still starts with at least a 20-30% handicap in the final grade. But almost everybody just ignores the res, like it's not there at all. Granted,that's the norm for any iphone flaw or missing feature.
Anyway, hope you guys stop being so lazy, get rid of every SoC banchmark you are using now and replace them with something useful.
boostern - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
There are other websites that already do that. We are here reading Anandtech because we like "every SoC benchmark", for us it is useful.hans_ober - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Yeah, many websites give you a tldr, which appeals to a normal user: "the phone is fast blah blah"Then you have other websites that post benchmarks and stuff for "tech guys" : "octa core.. 1080p blah "
Aand then there's Anandtech. Don't get me started on their deep-dives.
Impulses - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Hmm, if it were something like 12mp vs 16mp+ I'd say it'd be fair to downplay res, but 8 vs 16 and beyond really does make a big difference when it comes to printing or even cropping for tighter framing online.Nerdy Geek - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I am surprised that you say the LG G4 and jesusPhone+ have a better camera. Both DPreview and DXO mark says otherwise by a large margin for the S6 (except perhaps in manual mode on the G4 in low light). From my short time with a S6 Edge I would agree (also had 6 and 6+ for about 2 weeks)grayson_carr - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I'm surprised too. I used the Galaxy S6 for 2 months and the G4 for 1 month and did several side by side camera comparisons. I thought the Galaxy S6 had a better auto mode and took better pictures in good lighting, and the G4 had a superior manual mode and took better pictures in low light. In auto mode in daylight, I found that the G4 was too hesitant to use HDR, probably because it is rather slow compared to the real time HDR on the S6. And the G4 often produced either overly soft or overly sharpened photos.phoenix_rizzen - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Took them a couple years and several phone iterations, but it looks like they may have finally come out with an upgrade for the LG G2.djc208 - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I had the original Optimus G, and it was a great phone hardware wise, but my biggest problem with LG has been their software support. It's getting better but still miserable. They move to new phones so fast that most are barely supported for software for a year. Meanwhile I think Samsung has done a better job of updating and supporting older phones, plus they're so popular the ROMs are more plentiful and well supported. I just couldn't get over the Samsung bloatware, but if you can, they're so close it would probably tip me toward the Samsung based on better software support long term.djw39 - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
For the software, if they would just allow for the notification toggles to be hidden by default and appear with a second swipe down, I think that would go a long way. Maybe also give us a normal lockscreen clock too.phoenix_rizzen - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
That's my biggest complaint with LG's UI: the lack of usable space on the notification drop-down. There's a scrollable row of quick-toggles, then the volume slide, then the brightness slider, then the shortcuts bar for their quick apps (or whatever they call them), and then, using the last inch of the screen, the actual notifications list!I've tried running the LG stock version of Android on my G2, and always get frustrated with it within a week. Tried the ported ROMs from the LG G3; same frustrations within a week. Even tried the latest ported ROM from the G4; didn't last more than 3 days.
The AOSP-based ROMs have some stability issues, and don't have access to all the camera features, but usability-wise, they are light-years ahead of LG. Even the minimalist ParanoidAndroid provides a better experience than LG, with BlissPop and AICP being even better.
ThisIsChrisKim - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
At least on the G4, you can disable all but the quick toggles row. That's how I have mine configured.cjb110 - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
As I bought one of these yesterday (once the Moto X was announced as 5.7"), this was a very interesting read. One of the other reviews mentioned that due to the thinness of the bezels its not that hard to hold, which I'd agree. I'd also say LG did a reasonable job on the OS side, most of the crap can be turned off (like taking the picture), and rest is useful (smart settings is a simple but capable 'automation' job. I have replaced the launcher with Google Now, mainly as LG's far left page didn't seem to really do anything useful. One thing I didn't see mentioned that their circle cases (with a watch'esq gap on the front) replace the back and Add wireless charging, BUT you can't get one of these cases in the leather.ZeDestructor - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
And still no Xperia Z* review :(piroroadkill - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Heh, right? I'd /still/ buy a Z3 Compact over anything else.BMNify - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Sony does not send review samples to Anandtech, so you won't get Xperia reviews.ZeDestructor - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Maybe, but sometimes you have to pay up from your own pocket and buy your own review samples, or get a loaner device from somewhere. I mean, GSMarena gets samples, as does arstechnica, so I don't see why AT can't.Personally, if I were in the US, I'd actually happily have sent in my Xperia Z and Z2 when they were freshly released and new for review... Hell, I'd even do it now if there is interest, but nobody wants to see the review for a phone over a year old (nevermind that none of the new flagships bring any useful improvements over it...).
BMNify - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
You cannot expect Anandtech to buy devices as they review loads of things in different digital/tech sectors often costing thousands of dollars, so they stick to the single site-wide policy of review samples which every major company sends them, only Sony does not send devices to Anandtech.It will be awesome if you can send new devices to Anandtech, i am sure they will appreciate it and even return after few weeks, hope you do send the next Sony xperia, specially the compact ones.
ZeDestructor - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
Geography is the main issue for me, else I'd have done so for my Z2 already: I live in Australia.BMNify - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
Geography is not a problem nowadays, even i don't live in USA, You can easily send phones by using Fedex Australia and DHL Australia, they will deliver within 3 days to USA, now we just have to wait for the upcoming Xperia Z5 and Z5 compact.Jodiuh - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Excellent job!One request:
Confirmation of PWM backlights in future reviews. This is important because some of us get migraines from devices like the 2nd gen Nexus 7.
hans_ober - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Checkout this site: laptopmedia.comThey're already out with the Moto G3 review, and have probably reviewed the G4.
They do display tests + PWM tests on phones & laptops.
misteroh - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Great review!I noticed you said " I'm not sure if LG will support anything higher than 9 volts at 1.3 amps."
I was hoping you guys would be able to do a test with the quick charger however. Over at XDA Forums, I think we found that even with the quick charger and the battery at 0%, the phone would only charge about 20% faster than with the stock charger. Somebody had some hardward that showed it really was pulling in 9V@1.2A.
superflex - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
It's summertime and you're wearing fleece?I guess having little hands causes one to get cold.
Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
He does supposedly have a lack of hair on his arms to keep them warm...Buk Lau - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Josh what happened to your Gundam Dynames gunpla photo shots? the dark greenish color of Dynames does help to show differences in dynamic (no pun intended) range and contrasts, although you could've built it a bit better...onmitt - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Would be great if you start mention headphones output audio quality and presence of DAC chip in smartphone reviews.FlyBri - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
To add to Josh's last sentence in his article, "I suspect that the real difference in the end simply comes down to size"...AND PRICE. I get the better overall build quality of the S6 is better than the G4, but with the price the G4 is selling at over at T-Mobile now, for example, along with getting another $48 off via a promotional code, and in addition to all of that a free leather back cover, extra battery, and battery charger via LG's promotion, and the LG G4 is a WAY better value proposition than the S6. The S6 is a very good phone, don't get me wrong, but it's overpriced in my opinion.Impulses - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I get that Anandtech is US centric to an extent, but with a lot of people in the US opting for contract-less plans to save money it might make sense to start factoring price into the equation when it comes to flagships... I wouldn't even have a clue if there are any significant differences, last phone I bought was the N5 and that was the first and only phone I've paid for in full w/o subsidy.tuxRoller - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Such a shame Qualcomm didn't make the 808's cores faster (say, 2GHz) and equip it with at least the adreno 420.I understand why they didn't, and given the 810's design wins, their strategy clearly worked, but it still leads me to wonder "what if".
I wonder what's going on with their implementation of cci(assuming that's the culprit)? They've had enough experience by now to know how to properly implement a standard two tier cache system.
Buk Lau - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
if they boosted the 808 to higher clocks, which I'm sure they could since all they've been doing since 801 is just overclocking the chips, that would give OEMs more incentives to choose the 808 over the 810. let's say this, if the 808 comes higher clocked A57s and adreno 420, how many people do you think would even consider the 810? After all the 810 is much more profitable than 808. It just sucks to see how many OEMs got burnt by 810.in a sense, OEMs only have themselves to blame rather than qualcomm for having to release junk phones all over this year. back in the old days qualcomm's SoCs suffered even worse overheating and performance and yet OEMs still persist to use their stuff, simply because they offered an integrated modem
if they didn't spoil qualcomm so much back then, there wouldn't be so little choices in the SoC market with players like Texas instruments and others competing against qualcomm.
Impulses - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Don't NVidia and Intel have integrated modems at this point? They're still making SoCs, as is Samsung, seems there's still plenty of choices... We lost what, TI and Sony? I must be forgetting others, I remember lamenting the contracting SoC market too...whiteiphoneproblems - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
"It seems that these improvements have been enabled with the use of photoalignment technology, which shares similarities with photolithography but attempts to induce anisotropy in a photoresist analogue on a glass substrate..."Well, you won't see a sentence like that in Gizmodo.com...!
zodiacfml - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Another excellent review. Thanks. I also love it when you include many other phones such as the Nexus 5 and Moto G in the benchmarks.Good thing the dual core has real life advantages over the 810. The 8 core spec is nothing but marketing advantage.
As a camera enthusiast, I would also love the manual controls. Yet, I don't think I would use it too often as the control you could get doesn't add to much to the image quality. I mean, using HDR mode pretty much fixes the IQ weaknesses of smartphone cameras to dedicated, larger cameras. The worse noise in the corners probably indicates vignetting with the lenses, only it is fixed/lifted in processing.
Few months after release, the G4 is now slightly cheaper compared to S6 yet I don't think it is enough. The S6 still has a lot better value to G4 because of the display and SoC. The external build quality and video specs makes the S6 even higher. The only fault of the S6 is the small battery they included with it. The Note 5 surely will fix that but it's going to be much more expensive.
Mugur - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Nice review, although some phrases were a bit too strange for my taste..."One of the major points of emphasis for us in the smartphone space continues to be display, as even though you can replace a display on a phone, the only real reason to do so is if you shatter the glass cover of the display."
And, of course, I fully disagree with the claim that "the GS6 is roughly equal to or slightly worse than the iPhone 6 Plus as a camera overall". In my personal experience, the S6 camera is the best all-around camera, at least with auto settings and I'm not a Samsung fan...
victorson - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Hey Josh! You're fired.neo_1221 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I got a laugh out of that too. :Dmpokwsths - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
These ridiculous nand/storage benchmarks...sonny73n - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Until this day, I still have no idea why they keep designing phones with display off-centered, speaker on the back, protruding camera and overkill display resolution. And these retarded engineers/designers are getting paid in millions. I know my opinion never matter but there one thing I can do is never to spend my money on any phone with any of the defects above. Let these arrogant idiots die out and hopefully someone else with common sense to take their place.Politic at work place is bad, LG. Keep having those retards design products for you and you'll lose more than just profit. 60% profit loss last time you say?
sonny73n - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Let me clarifyThe company reported a net profit of 226.4 billion won ($195 million) for the April-June quarter, compared with 411.8 billion won a year earlier. A FactSet survey of analysts forecast 204.8 billion won profit.
Sales fell 8 percent to 13.9 trillion won and operating income declined 60 percent to 244 billion won.
Maxpower2727 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I assure you that their engineers and designers are not making millions of dollars.phoneasDAP - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I don't understand why websites don't evaluate headphone out quality. I don't think any site does.bug77 - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
gsmarena.com always does.Kildras - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I don't know how you call that camera performance equal /worse than Iphone 6plus.the day time photo is way sharper in both g4 and s6 while the iphone 6plus is filled by muddy details, just view the image in full resolution and tell me they are not far superior?
The difference is even bigger in night time photos, there is just no competition at all where iphone 6plus pretty much fail to capture to details and at least the g4 has some "leaves" shapes.
hari s - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
Not a good one at allhari s - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
I bought the lg G4 on july 1.on 29 july morning i couldnt switch the phone on.immediately i took it to the nearest lg service centre .they said it was problem with the mother board.may b my bad luck but is it affordable.after spending 50000 rs i didnt use the phone even for one month.boe - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
The only benchmark I looked for was talk time as I use my phone everyday for my work phone where I give computer support. I didn't see a talk time benchmark - preferably with BT.ileben - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
You guys should really start posting graphs of fps over time for a 20 minute run, so that we can get a good idea of performance degradation. Also the performance degradation chart values should be expressed as a ratio of [final run] / [cold run], otherwise it's pointless.Fidelator - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
The 6+ doesn't even come close to either the S6 or the G4, that is some bs right thereMattzerminater - Friday, August 7, 2015 - link
Dude! Aspect ratio for the camera can be changed between 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1 in the settings. Turning off the quickshot feature when double tapping the volume down button can also be turned off in the phone settings.cdm283813 - Sunday, August 9, 2015 - link
After owning a Note 2, 3 and 4 I really wanted to try something different (and smaller) for 2015. So I waited for the G4 especially after seeing the S6 but I ultimately went to the S6. That initial pick up and feel moment of the G4 had me thinking about the Note 2 which for me was a step backwards. It felt too light and cheap; things that I defended Note 2 and 3 for having. Plus 5.5" is still a phablet in my book no matter how much they strink the body. And I'm just not a fan of LG's UI look. So far the theme engine in the latest touchwiz is freaking awesome. It really helps when you just need a fresh coat of paint to liven up the phone again.It's only been about 4 weeks since owning the S6 and I'm still happy. If I really had to change anything it would be a slightly larger battery. But at the same time this phone charges very quick. I have 3 quick chargers (1 car and 2 wall) and so far I haven't run out of battery. So far the S6 has been my best phone to date.
In saying that I can't wait for the 2015 Moto pure review. Like to see how much compromise when into a phone costing $200 to $300 cheaper than a big boy flagship. Ater reading this review I have a new respect for the SD 808. But with the SD 820 coming out it may be short lived
EagleX - Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - link
How did you get 6.6 hours in pcmark battery work test? I got 5.51, exactly as the average appearing in Pcmark's website. Is it just me?