When comparing LG G5 vs Samsung Galaxy S7, the Slant community recommends LG G5 for most people. In the question“What are the best smartphones releasing for Spring/Summer 2016?” LG G5 is ranked 1st while Samsung Galaxy S7 is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose LG G5 is:
There are 2 rear cameras on the LG G5 - a primary (regular style) 16MP camera, and a secondary wide-angle 8MP lens. This dual-setup allows for a few things - using the 8MP camera you'll be able to fit a whole lot more into the frame, and the 16MP camera is better at focusing on a certain point with crazy detail. Also, there's a feature where you'll be able to use both cameras and stitch the images together. This will create a high resolution mid-section to images, but still include much more in the frame than any other phone camera would allow.
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Pros
Pro Rear camera captures more scenery
There are 2 rear cameras on the LG G5 - a primary (regular style) 16MP camera, and a secondary wide-angle 8MP lens. This dual-setup allows for a few things - using the 8MP camera you'll be able to fit a whole lot more into the frame, and the 16MP camera is better at focusing on a certain point with crazy detail. Also, there's a feature where you'll be able to use both cameras and stitch the images together. This will create a high resolution mid-section to images, but still include much more in the frame than any other phone camera would allow.
Pro High amount of RAM
The LG G5 comes with 4GB of RAM, so multitasking should be no issue at all considering the amount of RAM available.
Pro New reversible port
USB Type C is the new charging/data transfer standard that has just begun rolling out in 2015. It offers faster data transfer speeds, and a reversible port as well as a more durable connector. It should stick around for the next 5-10 years.
Pro Modular bottom port
The bottom of the G5 can be removed, which allows access to the removable battery. You can also change out the physical connector to add different modules. Currently there are two replacement bottom ports that add modular functionality. The first (and arguably more exciting) is the camera grip. It adds a zoom wheel, shutter button and dedicated video buttons, as well as a secondary battery (1100mAh). The second is a high-end Bang & Olufsen module which will allow for Hi-Fi audio output through the embedded headphone jack. This will allow for higher quality 32-bit audio output.
Pro Good screen
The 5.3" 1440p Amoled display takes up 70.1% of the front of the phone, and it looks really nice. It's very sharp, and colors are life-like (not super punchy like Amoled displays). It also gets ridiculously bright at 900 nits.
Pro Really bright screen
The screen has a maximum brightness of 900 nits which will be easily legible in even the bright afternoon sun.
Pro First device with Snapdragon 820 CPU
The LG G5 is the first Android device to use the high power Snapdragon 820 CPU, which means very high end performance. It is ever so slightly beaten by the Exynos 8890 in computing power, however the Snapdragon 820 offers a better GPU which leads to better in-game performance.
Pro Unique feeling metal casing
The metal used for the case of the phone is created by LG themselves in a fashion that is still unknown that they are calling microdizing, but it does make for something that feels a bit different. It also allows for the antenna to be used without needing slits in the back of the casing, a first for smartphones.
Pro Long battery life
the 3000mAh battery combined with the efficient SoC (system on a chip - CPU and GPU on the same chip) and Amoled display offer great battery life. Users on Reddit have been reporting 5+ hours of screen on time
Pro Industry leading camera
The camera may only be rated at 12MP, but it uses 'dual-pixel' technology which means there are actually two sub-pixels for each pixel. These dual-pixels will be able to capture much more detail than a regular 12MP camera. Each pixel has also been enlarged, allowing more light to enter. This means that lowlight photography will be drastically improved.
Pro Waterproof
The Galaxy S7 is rated IP68 for water and dust resistance. This means that it can be totally submerged in 1.5m (nearly 5 ft) of fresh water for 30 minutes. There are no flaps - just don't use the charging port until it has had enough time to dry out.
Pro Fantastic display
The 5.1" 1440p Amoled display is the best display ever put on a phone. The Amoled display technology allows individual pixels to turn off (IPS LCDs have the whole backlight either fully on or fully off which is why they still produce light on a totally black image), meaning that black colors truly are black. Colors appear to pop out of the display as well.
Older generation Amoled panels used to suffer from screen burn-in, however this issue was addressed last year and should no longer cause any issues.
Pro Fast performance
In America the S7 uses the Snapdragon 820 processor, the worldwide edition uses the Exynos 8890. Both of these processors are brand new as of 2016, and will offer great performance for years to come.
The Exynos version is about 10% faster when it comes to loading apps, and performs 44% better when loading recent apps
Pro Expandable storage
The Galaxy S7 has brought back the SD card slot (the Galaxy S6 didn't have the slot), which allows for 2TB of theoretical storage. The only problem is the largest micro SD card on the market currently is 200GB, but that's still a lot of storage. Because there is a SD card slot, you can add more storage after buying the phone - something not all phones offer.
Pro VR available
The Galaxy S7 is compatible with Samsung Gear VR. It costs $99, but sometimes can be bundled with the phone for less. It is a great affordable introduction to virtual reality, although it isn't the best solution available.
The phone clips into the headset, and connects via the USB port to act as the brains and display for the unit.
Pro Great design
Cons
Con Poor battery life
The battery capacity is a bit small at 2700mAh, and it has a strange idle battery drain (up to 20% of the battery can be devoted just to 'idle' each day - perhaps the always-on display is included here instead of the screen battery stats). Most users will need to charge the battery, or swap out batteries thanks to its removable slot.
When the screen is on 100% brightness looping a video for 90 minutes, it only drops by 9% battery which is very impressive. GSMArena rates the battery at 60h, which is about average.
Con The missing B&O module in the U.S.
Worldwide there will be a modular attachment branded Bang & Olufsen that will allow Hi-Fi audio through a secondary headphone jack, however this won't be available in America,
Con New charging port
USB-Type C is the next standard which is starting to phase in - it allows for faster data transfers, and is reversible and more durable than the current Micro USB standard. It's a con right now because it's just emerging - it isn't compatible with many devices yet. As it becomes more common, it will start to become a pro.
Con Poor speaker placement
The single speaker is on the bottom of the phone, which is easy to block just by holding it. Because it's facing downwards, you'll want to cup your hand around it or put it in a cup to direct the sound better.
Con Most of the reviews of this on the Internet are sponsored
Samsung pays a lot for 'loving' his phone
Con Rather expensive
Con TouchWiz software
TouchWiz isn't as bad on the S7 as it has been in the past, however it's still one of the most bloat-ware (apps that come pre-installed that don't really serve a purpose) filled UI skins out there. In this iteration at least TouchWiz doesn't make the phone lag
Con Battery life is not that great
Although it's not a small battery, and it charges really fast with a fast charge, you get the feeling it won't last a full day. Having to disable a lot of stuff to get through the day, especially if you are going out at night can be a compromise many do not want to make.
Con No USB-C port
For a cutting edge phone this is an oddity. It may because the old style non-reversible USB port is needed to use it with the Gear VR but wouldn't it have made more sense to update the Gear VR to the new standard?