Gadgetory

LG's latest Android flagship is available on America's two largest wireless carriers starting today but so is a device that we called one of the best Android smartphones ever just a few months ago which one should you buy let's find out I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is LG g2 versus HTC One with so many glaring contrasts between these phones we hardly need a preamble so let's just jump right into hardware the HTC One which we covered extensively several months back continues to set the standard for how a premium smartphone should look and feel it's aluminum unibody construction with polycarbonate accents and machined speaker grilles continues to stand out from the pack of plastic phones that makes up the remainder of the Android landscape a landscape the LG g2 seems custom-made to blend in with the g2 is almost exactly the same mass as the one but LG has ditched the glass construction of its earlier Optimus G in favor of a glossy plastic build we're familiar with and frankly tired of but the g2 isn't without some tricks up its sleeve in contrast with the ones conventional side mounted volume rocker and top mounted power standby key LG has placed the g2 star go around back directly beneath the camera that's resulted in a smooth casing free of side penetrations and bumps and it's also allowed LG to slim the bezels flanking the g2 s display it's one of the thinnest bezels we've ever seen anywhere at 1/10 of an inch to a side bringing the g2 much closer to the all screen face coveted by many so if you're looking for a larger display the g2 will be the way to go the 5.2 inch versus 4.7 inch Gulf is a pretty big one but in terms of display quality these panels are pretty close to equal which is to say they're both amazing while white tones are just the slightest bit more pure on the g2 colors on both of these screens are incredibly vibrant with excellent viewing angles and comparable performance in direct sunlight so they're both LCD they're both 1080p with pixel density north of 400 PPI and they're both outstanding screens if you're more concerned with the spec sheet the comparison gets a little muddier while the HTC one is no slouch with its Snapdragon 600 running at 1.7 gigahertz the Snapdragon 800 under the hood of the g2 is one of the newest smartphone processors available it runs at the higher clock speed of 2.2 6 gigahertz sports a newer GPU and incorporates support for smart power saving and other features backing that up on the g2 is the same 2 gigs of ram you'll find on the HTC One and the g2 comes in 16 or 32 gig storage options but not in the 64 gig flavor of some HTC ones neither phone offers expandable storage beyond this and neither includes a removable battery but each offers Wi-Fi 802.11 silicon activity options and each builds in an IR transmitter if you want to draft your smartphone into clicker duty for your TV it's in software that even more major differences emerge and they start right at the lock screen while the one requires you to push the power standby button in conveniently located at the top of the device to unlock a phone the g2 provides an alternative a double tap on the screen will wake the device and put it back to sleep LG calls this feature knock-on and it really is quite handy on a device this big even if it's sometimes inconsistent getting under that lock screen you can see just how different the philosophies are in the design of the software skins running atop Android HTC Sense on the one is a model of simplicity and understated design sheathing the entire experience in a muted gray that it manages to look classy without seeming dull or drab by contrast the g2 is none of that it's an explosion of colors options icons and what can only be called cruft and chrome we come down pretty hard on Samsung for its cartoonish TouchWiz UI but LG really takes the cake in terms of making you feel like you're inside a freakishly over-engineered anime version of Android I mean just look at that notification area it's crazy this seems to be a side effect of a broader philosophical disconnect while HTC treats the one as a smartphone and a smartphone only LG seems to want the g2 to be part phone and part phablet the memo functionality is here again despite the g2 s lack of a stylus and there are no fewer than three separate ways to multitask only one of which is routinely useful in our experience fortunately LG's inclusion of everything up to the kitchen sink hasn't affected responsiveness the g2 is at least as responsive as the HTC One and you know that's saying something since the latter is one of the most reliable devices we've encountered in this aspect neither of these phones seems to know what lag is and for that both HTC and LG deserve kudos what's more LG's g2 offers seemingly limitless options for customizing the software experience from glitzy lock screen and home screen animations to changing the position and function of buttons in the home tray and so much more if customization is something you value in your Android experience it's really hard to top the g2 for sheer flexibility right out of the box HTC built its so-called ultra pixel camera technology into the one in order to produce better low-light photos which it does via optical image stabilization paired to a four megapixel sensor with larger than usual pixel size LG has built some of the same innovations into the g2 but here it's paired optical image stabilization with a 13 megapixel sensor along with many more options in the viewfinder which is tricked out with options just like the rest of the software load particularly notable here is manual focus which we don't see much outside of Nokia's offerings and it's great to have here putting the still images side-by-side the g2 superiority becomes apparent in medium light the cameras produce similar results with the HTC one even gaining a slight edge in utility thanks to its wider field of view but get the phones into the dark and the one just tries too hard its photos are blown out and noisy making text unreadable in some cases while the g20 toes aren't without their own share of noise the results are much sharper and the colors much closer to life that remains true indoors where the g2 consistently produces the cleaner crisper shots even in its default out of box shooting resolution of only 10 megapixels the put simply the g20 is much better than the ones in still mode the video performance in 1080p resolution is a little harder for us to judge so we'll leave it up to your own eyeballs here's some samples comparing the video recording capability of the HTC One and the LG g2 the global unbranded version both these devices feature optical image stabilization of the utilization that the HTC One has a 4 megapixel ultra pixel camera the LG g2 packs at 13 at megapixel unit settings are out of box defaults on each as we tested the g2 and the one on two different networks in the Greater Boston area we won't compare them directly in terms of network performance you'll have to wait for our full review for our thoughts on the g2s quality but it's worth noting that historically the one has bested almost every other smartphone in this regard that's a period us entrace 8 - endurance however we got over twenty seven hours of mixed use out of the g2 on its first charge before it gave up the ghost the HTC One has never given us endurance anywhere close to that again wait for our full review of the g2 for more detailed battery info but between these two devices the g2 is the hands-down winner and that holds true in most of our benchmark results as well if you've got room in your heart for one more reversal though the HTC one turns right around and spanks the g2 in terms of external audio boom sound is called boom sound for a reason the front firing speakers on the one delivered louder sound than the bottom mounted speakers on the g2 and the sound is also richer fuller bass here than the somewhat tinny output on the LG phone the HTC One remains the device to beat despite the individual strengths each of these devices brings to the table this comparison yields a very straightforward result of these two phones the g2 is the one for the power user it's cutting-edge internals are backed up by excellent battery life and a solid camera along with the software load packing nearly every feature LG has ever cooked up if you're looking for an alternative to Samsung's Galaxy family the g2 brings the heat but it does so at the expense of simplicity its UI is colorful but overdone one might almost call the g2 a phablet trapped in a smartphone's body if that doesn't sound appealing to you if you're looking for something a little more finely honed and a little more cohesive the HTC One is your ticket it's camera does not hold a candle to the g2 s and many of its specs fall short of the LG even monsters but it's got incredible build and call quality the best speakers you can get on a smart phone and software that's both attractive and simple to use we think it manages to deliver a better Android experience on the whole to those outside the power user category your mileage as always may vary so we encourage you to check out these phones side-by-side on your own at your local carrier store well we talked about it in this video but it didn't make an appearance we will be comparing the LG g2 to the samsung galaxy s4 we're also going to take a little bit deeper look at some of the carrier variants of the LG g2 in addition to the double unboxing we've already done and the full review of course will be up quite soon and pocket down before you go anywhere please like this video if you did enjoy it leave a comment down below if you have something to say follow us on social media where we make a lot of noise and thank you sincerely for watching well next time which one should you choose let's find out I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is LG g2 vs. HTC one damn it