Gadgetory

what a LG's latest innovation and Samsung's most popular smartphone have in common not a whole lot but we're gonna compare them anyway I'm Taylor Martin this is PocketNow and this is the LG G flex versus a samsung galaxy s4 if you look at both the LG G flex and the galaxy s4 in a vacuum they're not entirely different they don't have a lot in common but they're sort of the same in the sense that the s4 at launch with Samsung's peek into the future of mobile through software innovations likewise the G flex is LG's take on the future except in Hardware yes the note 3 and Galaxy round are more direct comparisons which make more sense but bear with us here should you choose the more logical safe smartphone or should your cash be spent on what could be just another fad in a long line of fleeting innovations let's take a look if you were to completely flatten out the G flex it in the galaxy s4 honestly wouldn't look all that different the G flex looks like an odd mixture of the older Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy Note 2 except for the rear power and volume buttons both the Galaxy s4 and G flex have flat trim around the edges centre fixed rear cameras and minimal bezel one might call their designs unremarkable if it weren't for the curved nature of the G flex which is its entire allure of course it's notably a noticeably larger and heavier than the Galaxy s4 it's a hundred and sixty point five millimeters tall 81 point six millimeters wide and eight point seven millimeters thick compared to the modest dimensions of the galaxy s4 it's undeniably large it also hits the scales at 177 grams or 47 grams more than the s4 and that's where these two devices diverge quite a bit the Galaxy s4 is manageable with just one hand without any sort of curvature it's a moderate size with plenty of display real estate foremost at 6 inches the G flex is like many other recent smartphones gigantic with more display than some might know what to do with LG claims the curved nature of the display not only makes such a large phone easier to manage it conforms to your face when talking on the phone provides a more cinematic experience in multimedia playback and its lack of rigidness might make it slightly more durable from your typical bumps and drops we're certainly not sold on the ergonomic factor though we still find ourselves struggling with wielding at one handed once the newness of the curved display wears off it feels more like a novelty than a feature in the name of science and sadistic entertainment however our own michael fisher put the self-healing backside and flexibility of the G flex to the test and that aspect of the G flex is praise worthy the design and build of the Galaxy s4 as we've covered time and time again is unmoving after months on the market it feels generic and still hasn't lost that toy like feel that said it's reliability and resilience alone go a very long way on the inside the G flex has a slight advantage over the Galaxy s4 it has call comes much-loved Snapdragon 800 chipset composed of a 2.3 gigahertz quad-core Krait CPU and Adreno 330 GPU the CDMA galaxy s4 we have bares the Snapdragon 600 chip though the s4 is also available in both Exynos octa-core and 800 variants in other regions around the globe outside that both have 2 gigabytes of RAM 13 megapixel cameras bluetooth 4.0 Wi-Fi AC infrared NFC and LTE support the G flex has a 3500 milliamp hour battery only comes in a 32 gigabyte variant and comes equipped with LTE advanced capabilities though that's currently useless unless you're in South Korea as is the DMV antenna the galaxy s4 s removable battery is rated at 2600 milliamp hours and it comes in 16 32 or 64 gigabytes storage options globally we're all familiar with the Galaxy S 4 s 5 inch 1080p Super AMOLED display it's a tad oversaturated but it looks fantastic with great contrast brightness viewing angles color reproduction and clarity it's one of the sharpest best-looking displays out there with a density of 441 pixels per inch LG instead went with a P OLED display in the G flex like the s4 s display it's quite saturated and blacks look great as they typically do on any LED style display the curvature also makes for decent viewing angles but with the resolution of 720p on a 6 inch display the visual experience of the G flex is nothing exceptional at full brightness the display looks pretty nice but under close inspection there is some noticeable pixelation if you drop the brightness at all the low points of the display become visible the further you take the brightness slider down the worse the display gets at roughly 50% brightness whites appear gray and almost like parchment and highly saturated solids and gradients become noticeably grainy with faint signs of image retention or ghosting pull the notification shade down leave it for a second or two and swipe it back up the elements from the shade such as toggles or cue slide apps are still faintly visible and quickly fade away it's not the worst display we've ever seen it has some great qualities but once you see the ghosting ingrained it's difficult to unsee as far as hardware goes however we like the unprecedented curb display and self-healing backside of the G flex we give the edge to the G flex mainly for creativity and on a quality level the G flex feels more solid but honestly the practical differences are few and far between oddly enough both the G flex and Verizon Galaxy S 4 are running the same versions of software Android version 4.2.2 jelly bean and while LG has done wonders to improve the appearance of his custom software with the Flex theme the core differences between TouchWiz and LG's custom software are surprisingly slim both come with eye tracking software to keep the display on when the users eyes are panning the display both have split pane true multitasking software accessed by long pressing the back button the notification shades and settings applications look surprisingly similar and wealth busy visually the two are different but from the overbearing symphony of noises touch with an LG software play on every touch to the bevy of additional software features over the stock Android experience the two devices have incredibly similar software offerings despite a few differences here and there surprisingly performance wise these two are very similar you might initially want to give the G flakes a leg up due to the Snapdragon 800 but lest we forget just how powerful the Snapdragon 600 truly is sure in benchmarking and at various tasks the G flex probably seems significantly more powerful and faster than the Galaxy s4 but it's honestly negligible while one stutters while opening an app the other is blazing fast and vice versa both may provide a smooth experience most of the time but their heavily-laden interfaces are to blame for intermittent lag and hang-ups that wouldn't otherwise be there the G flex feels more comfortable and roomy for gaming and multimedia playback and it does have a little additional horsepower to food but honestly both of these phones will slice through just about anything you can throw at them without too much trouble the loudspeakers on both devices are quite large and loud they're quite literally as comparable as it gets their rear-facing provide an acceptable balanced sound and they're both equally loud if anything the G flex provides a slightly more full sound we weren't able to test data speeds or call quality on the Verizon Galaxy s4 as we do not have an active sim that fits you can however check our several galaxy s4 reviews for more data on that but the supported bands of the G flex limits it to 3G on AT&T here in the States call quality is modest but data speeds aren't the greatest battery life is a landslide victory for the G flex as it epically is for larger smartphones the 3500 milliamp hour battery inside manages to power the G flex through a full day of heavy usage quite easily it manages to power through six and seven hours of screen on time the Galaxy S 4 stamina isn't anything to scoff at but it's in an entirely different league averaging three to four hours of screen on time through roughly the same amount of usage both cameras are rated at 13 megapixels and neither are optically stabilized through snapping a handful of photos throughout the day we couldn't help but lean towards the galaxy s4 the colors may air a bit on the vibrant side after making them look surreal but images taken when the G flex appeared washed out and low on contrast the s4 seems to have sharper focus and we had fewer issues with shutter speed and shaking us on the galaxy s4 for what it's worth both cameras performed poorly in low-light situations but the s4 squeaks out a small victory in image sensing so what can we make of all this it's quite simple really the Galaxy s4 is a solid option for just about anyone in the smartphone game the performance is reliable the hardware is decent and it provides one of the most balanced experiences available today it's a safe bet but it's ageing technology old news the G flex is a gamble of sorts it's bag of tricks may be nothing more than a gimmick you have to ask are the sparse benefits of a curved smartphone worth the additional money until the G flex sees a more widespread launch it's only available through limited channels for a whopping $1,000 if you're a gung-ho early adopter the G flex is the perfect way to get your hands on cutting-edge technology and show it off but this technology comes with its caveats namely the display quality is nowhere near comparable to other flagships for now we recommend most stick to the Galaxy S 4 but a year from now and another iteration of each that recommendation just might change that's going to wrap up this comparison if you enjoyed it let us know by clicking the thumbs up button below and subscribe to the channel to see more videos like this one in the 2 be sure leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions and follow us in all the usual places Twitter Facebook and Google+ at pocket now I have Taylor Martin you can find me on Twitter it has protection and I will see you next time