The Mobile World Congress has always been an exciting event for mobile enthusiasts. Tons of new phones, tons of new devices and a whole lot of people. But smartphone manufacturers have begun to hijack the crowd that will be going to MWC and have their own launch event just before it.
Two tech giants have done exactly that — LG and Samsung — but while it was very likely the LG G5 would be revealed on 21 February, we never had any confirmation…until now. LG USA has released three teaser images featuring the number 5 plus a caption reading #LGG5, February 21st. #MWC2016″. #Hype?
Worth noting that LG USA has since removed the tweet. Was it a blunder or an intentional tease?
This means the G5 and Samsung’s dynamic Galaxy S7 duo will go head to head on the same day. While we’ve heard a lot of exciting specs about these two devices, we want to know is, which would you get?
Power, power, power
On paper, these 2016 flagships clearly have not skimmed on power. The LG G5, for example, is said to sport the latest next-gen processor from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 820 — a quad-core chip with their latest Kryo CPU architecture — plus 3GB (some say 4GB) of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
Samsung’s latest flagships will allegedly feature similar specs to the LG G5. According to popular leakster @evleaks, the upcoming Samsung devices will feature either a Snapdragon 820 or an Exynos 8890 processor (depending on the region) coupled with 4GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage.
However, while the S7 and S7 edge are supposed to have a larger 3,000 mAh and 3,600 mAh battery respectively compared to the LG G5’s small 2,800 mAh unit, the LG G5’s battery is removable.
Display
Here is where Samsung has the slight edge though as their S7 will likely come in two variants — the 5.1-inch regular version and the 5.5-inch edge version. They will also be Quad HD Super AMOLED displays and we know just how fantastic Samsung’s panels are. Plus, the edge variant will probably have all of Samsung’s nifty edge features to boot.
The LG G5, though, allegedly has a smaller 5.3-inch screen (down from the G4’s 5.5-inch panel. Why did LG decide to go with a smaller display? Well its allegedly because they want to make room for a secondary ticker display (think LG V10) which can house notifications, updates, quick settings among other things. The good thing about cramming a Quad HD panel on a 5.3-inch screen though is that the dots per inch (dpi) value will be off the charts. 640 dpi actually.
Camera
Details on the LG G5’s camera are a little all over the place at the moment. Some say that the device will come with a 21-megapixel Sony sensor while others place a 16-megapixel shooter with a secondary camera on the back of the G5 which will help it achieve a wide 135-degree field of view. Either way, with how good the G4 and V10’s cameras are, we don’t think LG will let us down with the G5.
Samsung, on the other hand, has pulled out all the stops, introducing their new BRITECELL camera technology that will not only reduce the size of the camera hump but also improve low light performance. Pair that with a 12-megapixel sensor with an f/1.7 aperture lens and we’ve got what looks like a very capable camera.
Both devices will obviously feature a front-facing selfie shooter, with the LG G5’s one suspected to be an 8MP unit while the S7 gets a 5MP snapper.
Other goodies
Samsung’s new flagships have a host of extra features that were missing on the Galaxy S6. Waterproofing is supposed to be one of them. A microSD card slot is also supposed to be another, which will undoubtedly put a smile on Sammy’s fans.
LG though, seem to have baked something rather interesting into their G5. While rumours of an iris scanner have been floating around, there has been no solid confirmation on whether or not this is true. What does seem to keep popping up is something called the “Magic Slot” which is supposed to allow for modular hardware upgrade — some examples include different types of cameras.
While there is no word on how this will be implemented exactly, it is something to look out for. However, there is no hard confirmation on whether the smartphone will come with a microSD card slot.
Round 1: FIGHT!
While these devices do look fairly good on paper, keep in mind that these are only rumours and nothing has been officially confirmed yet so we’ll have to wait until the 21st of February to see. Still, this is shaping up to be a pretty interesting fight.
What do you guys think? Which is the worthier flagship? Let us know in the comments below.
