Phablet War: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 vs LG G pro 2!

The LG G pro 2 is a great device but is it good enough to defeat the king of the phablet line? Without wasting your time,  Let's find out which is the best phablet in this indepth comparison of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and LG G pro 2!

      


DESIGN AND BUILD.

If you are a Metal body lover, you are going to be disappointed here as both the devices feature a plastic build which is not really that great!

           

Both feel solid in the hands, but the Note 3 offers a little more grip, thanks to its faux-leather textured back. Opinion on Samsung's fake stitching is split, but some people will find it a little bit too tacky for their tastes. 

On the other side, the G pro 2 looks like the streched version of the LG G2 with the same button layout on the back which can take time to get used to but fortunately you can also unlock your phone by tapping the display.

The G pro 2 also features those LG slim bezels that look gorgeous and can be considered as a pro!

But choosing winner here is quite difficult as both the phones have something that the other just misses. The Galaxy note 3 has a better grip while the G pro 2 looks better. So, it is up to you here which one to choose.


DISPLAY.


Both the phones rock the 1080p resolution that looks great on either device.

      

Despite each stretching a 1080p resolution over more than 5 inches of screen, you'll have no sharpness complaints. Obviously the fact that the LG has the bigger display - 5.9in to the Samsung's 5.7in - means it has a slightly lower pixel density (373ppi versus 386ppi) but the difference is unimportant in daily use.

The important factor to look out for here is the Tech used for the display.

The Note 3 sticks to Samsung's preferred Super AMOLED tech, which means deep, true blacks and vivid colours. LG has instead retained the G2's IPS+ LCD screen; LCD displays tend to serve up purer whites and more realistic colours than their AMOLED counterparts.

While I do appreciate the Full HD display of the Note 3, colours on the G pro 2 look much more realistic in real life.

So, the winner here is the LG G pro 2.


HARDWARE.

Both the phones come with all the connectivity options and micro SD support, so you won't really have a problem in storage on either device.

But the one place where the Galaxy note 3 gets an advantage is the Stylus availability! Sure you can buy stylus from another source for the g pro 2 but it won't be deeply integrated in the OS and you miss all the Features that it brings with it.

On the battery side, Both the devices surprisingly come with a 3200mAh removable battery but they don't quite match up in the battery life.

While both the phones can get you period of a 1.5 days on little heavy usage, the Note 3 gives you a little more hours when we compare them together.


SOFTWARE.


Here, we have again two different android skins with different benefits and it won't be easy to choose one!

When we talk about the android versions they come with, the G pro 2 already comes with the Android kitkat while on the note 3, you get Android 4.3 jellybean which can be updated to android kitkat.

Whereas on the Skins department, both come with highly customized skins of their own and Both have their own quarks.

The Note 3 gets Samsung's TouchWiz interface in all of its cartoony glory, and if you can manage to forgive it the garishly in-your-face design it has plenty of nice features.


        

Probably you won't use this features after a while but as I am supposed to mention them, they include: a FlipBoard-powered stream of all your news and social updates which is not quite rapid and you would probably end up using Flipboard again; 

MultiWindow, which lets you view two apps simultaneously; a shrunken down display option for one-handed use; Smart Rotation, which automatically adjusts the screen's orientation to match that of your face; Quick Glance, which lets you wave your hand over the Note 3 when it’s locked to summon notifications; Story Album for arranging your snaps; S Health for tracking exercise.


On the G pro 2 however you get the popular KnockCode, The ability to customise shortcuts for the front touch buttons is also welcome, as are Smart Stay (which keeps the screen on while you're looking at it), Content Lock (which sets a second password for specific photos, videos and notes) and Dual Browser, which pretty much does what the Note 3's MultiWindow does. 

Slide Aside - which lets you access frequently used apps with a three-finger swipe - merely annoyed us a little. Oh, and like the Note 3 there's a Mini View mode which shrinks the display down so you can use it easily with one hand. Unfortunately, it won't shrink the handset at the same time.

The Winner here is also totally up to you with both coming with a features rich software and you won't regret choosing either.


PERFORMANCE.

Now when it comes to performance, both phones are great performers whatsoever.

The G Pro 2 and Note 3 both have identical quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 brains, along with 3GB of RAM to help them run hordes of apps simultaneously. These processors don't really sound the latest but they are not bad and can run anything hands down!


You won't really have a problem on either device and will have a lag free experience.

CAMERA.

Both the Note 3 and G Pro 2 have 13MP rear cameras. Both devices can record 4K video at 30fps, 1080 video at 60fps, and slow motion 720p video at 120fps.

Both really look same on paper but that's not the case in real life.

     

Both phones no doubt capture great images in good and sufficient light but the challenge comes in low light.

With the OIS+, the LG G pro 2 captures great ( acceptable ) photos in low light with lesser noise and less grainy images. While on the other side, there is no OIS at all on the Note 3 and it's camera is no good in low light!

Like the Galaxy S5 and HTC One (M8), the G Pro 2 also lets you refocus on different parts of a shot after you've taken a photo. LG calls this Magic Focus, and in use it works pretty well. To get the most from it you'll need plenty of space between foreground and background - not to mention steady hands - but it's a nice feature to have. 

In the camera depart, LG G pro 2 clearly wins with better shots in all light conditions.


TO SUM UP..

Both the phones are a great deal in all aspects but on the LG G pro 2, you get better camera, screen and more premium build but on the Note 3, you get the S pen, a little better battery life and more importantly a cheaper price to pay!
Decision is on you now which one to choose as you know all the pros and cons.


Read Also: LG G Pro 2 review, Note 3 killer?


ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR READING, IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE SUGGESTIONS OR QUESTIONS ON THIS ARTICLE , COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED OR YOU CONNECT ME ON TWITTER@phonesoldier or Facebook!
 DO MAKE SURE TO HIT THAT SHARE BUTTON IF YOU LIKED READING IT! 

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LG G Pro 2 review, Note 3 killer?

The LG G PRO 2 as expected was launched at the MWC 2014 and a few days back, it was launched in India with the price tag of 50k competing with the Samsung Galaxy note 3 and the HTC one max. The specs of the LG G pro 2 as you would expect are top notch with no flaws whatsoever so what is in this phone that you should buy it for and ditch the others? Let's find out!

   


DESIGN AND BUILD.

  


The g pro 2 is a big device to carry as it is addressed as a phablet, not a normal phone but what concerns the customer or any mobile user is how the phone feels in the hand and is it comfortable or slippery?
The g pro 2 looks gorgeous at first glance but there's more to look out, The first thing you'll notice is that the bezel sparkles, thanks to a glitter-like paint that LG refers to as "pearl." The paint is featured on the black and silver models, but not on the white version, so you might wanna avoid the white version as those pearls look great!on the back, we have a polycarbonate textured finish whose mesh pattern is so fine that it feels like a thick canvas. But it looks great as you would expect and doesn't really attracts dust or sand as I feared!



The phone looks good but is not particularly comfortable to hold, the texture is a little slicker than it would have been if it were made of rubber or some sort of soft-touch material, and the actual edges of the phone are only 4.1mm thick at its thinnest point, which made it too easy for my fingers to slip off. I really want a big phone like this to be comfortable to hold all the time as you would probably use it for long time for gaming and other things that you would do on a big screen phone!


Speaking of finger placement, the back of the phone is completely flat, with the exception of a steep slope around the edges and back-mounted buttons, which were designed to be easy to reach even when you're using the phone one-handed which is nice once you get used to it especially on a big phone like this!
The design and build of the phone is great and looks much more premium that it's competition, not really comfortable but it is nice and you won't have any problems with it.


DISPLAY.





LG G Pro 2 rocks a 1080p Full HD IPS panel, which means it has the same resolution as the original G Pro. Unfortunately for pixel density lovers, this means fewer pixels per inch -- 373 vs. 401, to be exact. Arguably, this small difference in density doesn't make the viewing experience visibly worse unless you're looking at the two side by side, but we expect that most people would rather sacrifice a few pixels per inch for more screen real estate. We'd add, too, that the display itself is easy to see in the direct sunlight when it's cranked up above 80 percent brightness. Likewise, the viewing angles are great too.

Bottom line is the display is gorgeous and is a pleasure to look at whether you are watching movies or playing high definition games.


HARDWARE.


The device comes with all the connectivity options out there including NFC, Bluetooth v4.0 and basically everything you can think of.

This phone even comes with the HDMI port which is a nice addition if you want to show your media on a bigger screen!

When it comes to storage, the device comes with 16/32GB internal storage which the ability to increase the storage via a micro SD card up to 64GB for movies or anything else like the 4K videos you will be recording on this phone.

Underneath that back cover, the phone is running on a 3200 mAh REMOVABLE battery which will talk about later in this article.


SOFTWARE.


The g pro 2 ships with the android kitkat 4.4.2 with the not-so-great LG's UI that is not really appreciated by many but it is still untouched with few enhancements on this device.

The phone includes the popular KnockCode of LG that lets you unlock your device by tapping in different patterns on the display which sounds a little damaging but is not. The success rate of you passing the KnockCode Is actually only 80% but it is still a great feature to have.


















With the new G Pro 2, LG's introduced a new feature called Mini View designed to make one-handed use a little more feasible ( really a must on a 6-inches device) . In truth, Samsung already does something similar with the Note 3, but the implementation here is different. Swipe left or right on the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, and the interface will shrink into a 3.4-inch window that you can move around and even resize (it goes up to 4.7 inches).

     

Meanwhile, there are plenty of options for those of you who enjoy the extra screen space which you should be as you are paying a lot for it! Dual Browser is LG's version of the Galaxy Note's Multi Window, which lets you view more than one app at the same time. Hold down the back button to bring up a small menu of apps, and you just drag apps to either side of the screen. There's also QSlide, a suite of apps that appear as floating windows. While hovering over the rest of the screen, you can choose to make them as transparent as you'd like in order to make sure they're not distracting you when you need to focus. It is not as laggy as on Samsung's phones but it still freezes sometimes.



The G Pro 2 also marks the debut of LG's new Content Locker feature, which lets you hide photos and other files from view, and the only way to access them is by entering a password. Now you won't have to download third party apps for that!

Finally, LG threw in a few audio enhancements. The G Pro 2 comes with 1W Hi-Fi sound, which, according to LG, offers "studio quality sound" without any loss to the original audio. The idea is to add clarity and improve the high notes, while the speaker setup handles the mid to low end of the spectrum. It is not particularly louder than HTC one or older LG devices but it still increases the quality which is useful when you are watching movies!

LG's also added in a couple new tools as part of its Smart Music Player, including the ability to change the pitch and speed of your music in real time.
The software is feature rich and great, however I still hope LG updates the look as soon as possible.


PERFORMANCE.

When it comes to performance the specs are not really top notch and latest but they are capable enough of making your life lag free!

The new G Pro comes decked out in full Snapdragon 800 glory, which means you're going to get a quad-core 2.26GHz CPU and Adreno 330 GPU, not to mention 3GB of RAM to keep things running smoothly. This sounds like a fantastic setup, but it's technically not the best of the best. That honor now belongs to the Snapdragon 801, which is really just the 800 with a higher clock speed. Frankly, you get an additional 0.19GHz CPU speed and 128MHz higher maximum GPU speed. 



That minor speed bump won't be apparent to most users (hardcore gamers aside), which means even with a slightly slower chip, the G Pro 2 is still powerful enough to handle anything you throw at it whether it is gaming or heavy multi-tasking.


CAMERA.


The G pro 2 features the same old 13MP camera with the addition of some features and better image quality.

     

The G pro 2 features the OIS+ that takes the normal OIS to a whole new level and gives great images even if your hand is shaky at times!

It also consists the Natural Flash, which is LG's implementation of Qualcomm's Chroma-Flash technology. Taking pictures using an LED flash normally results in image usually coming out overexposed, but with Natural Flash, the camera takes two pictures at a time -- one with flash, one without -- and then the software merges them into an image that looks more balanced. In comparison with the G2 and iPhone 5s,  the flash is not only stronger on the Pro 2; it also does a better job reproducing colors.


Even when it comes to low light, the camera performs great thanks to the f/2.4 aperture that results in great images, I won't say it's the best but it is sufficient and acceptable. The only issue you would come across will be the camera's inability to snap moving objects in lower-light situations; this typically resulted in blurry shots more often than I would have liked.

Low light shot from the LG G pro 2.

 

Fortunately, the camera performs great in daytime with fast focus and accurate color reproduction. The images are not overexposed and truly come out great as one would expect from a 13MP camera.

Daylight sample from the LG G pro 2!

One by one, each phone maker seems to be adding the ability to change focus in post-production, Lytro-style. Nokia introduced the Refocus Lens a few months ago, and last week, Samsung announced a similar feature in the Galaxy S5. LG's doing the same thing on the G Pro 2 with something called Magic Focus; the company once again recruited Qualcomm for help, taking advantage of its Ubi-Focus technology. Magic Focus doesn't do anything we haven't seen before: It lets the user take a picture and then specify which objects you want in focus, and you can even choose to bring everything in the picture into focus if you'd prefer.

Video recording is also great on this device with faster focus and LG added some features too like 4K recording and recording slow motion videos at 120fps.


BATTERY LIFE.

Now, the most important part of a phablet that it should have long battery life, let's see how this phone performs here!


The device as I said before comes with a removable 3200mAh battery life that is great and can get you a full day on heavy usage and you can always carry a spare thanks to the removable feature of the battery.


TO SUM UP...

The LG G Pro 2 is a great phablet with almost no flaws in any aspects, however you will miss the S Pen from the Note 3 but that's the only thing you will miss and in exchange of that, you get better build and a better camera.




I will do an in depth comparison of the LG G pro 2 and Note 3, so stay tuned for that.




ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU FOR READING, IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE SUGGESTIONS OR QUESTIONS ON THIS ARTICLE , COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED OR YOU CONNECT ME ON TWITTER@phonesoldier or Facebook!
 DO MAKE SURE TO HIT THAT SHARE BUTTON IF YOU LIKED READING IT! 

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