LG G3 vs Sony Xperia Z2

Introduction

LG has started gaining steam in the Android flagship world with its last year's LG G2 and Nexus 5, and this year it tries to keep up the pace with the brand new LG G3. The G3 is the first phone from a first-tier brand to come with a Quad HD (1440 x 2560-pixel) display and it ups the screen size for a flagship phone to a large 5.5 inches. The Sony Xperia Z2, on the other hand, is one of the many flagship phones that compete directly against the G3, and it’s time we compared these two devices in-depth.

The two are different after all: LG’s G3, on one hand, has a plastic body, while the Xperia Z2 is made of glass; LG’s phone has got a 13-megapixel OIS+ camera, while the Z2 sports a 20-megapixel one with larger sensor; and while both run on Android 4.4 KitKat, their custom skins differ a lot.

Is one better than the other on the whole? Let’s find out.

UPDATE (Jun 25, 2014): This comparison was originally based on our experience with the Korean version of the LG G3. After testing the International (European) version of the phone, we've updated the story with our new findings, affecting the display, camera and battery performance.

Design

Both the LG G3 and Sony Xperia Z2 are large, but the Sony feels more premium, with a glass body, while the G3 has a ‘metallic’, but not metal body that’s made of polycarbonate.

In terms of design, the LG G3 is a refinement, but not a huge departure from its predecessor - it features those signature rear buttons, and very minimal bezel up front, but it has also grown larger, packing a 5.5-inch display that makes it nearly phablet-sized. While LG claims that the G3 is ‘metallic’, the phone actually has a polycarbonate shell with a brushed metal-like finish that might fool you into thinking this is metal from afar, but once you hold the phone, it becomes clear that you’re holding a plastic device.

The Xperia Z2 also builds up on a legacy of gradual improvements, perfecting further the stylish glass design it started with the original Z. With the Z2, Sony has refashioned the sturdy metal frame and added elegant edges on the side on the Z2, and the phone looks very stylish and well-built.

The size difference between the two is not that big, but it is there: the G3 is wider (2.94” on the G3 vs 2.89” on the Z2), and thicker (0.35” vs 0.32”). Still,both are very large flagship, not all that great for those wearing tight clothes with smaller pockets. The Z2 is not that easier to handle - even though it’s a bit thinner than the G3, it’s a blocky phone with sharp edges that are not all that ergonomic and comfortable to hold. To easen operations, the back of the G3 is curved, a more ergonomic shape that fits better in the hand. In addition, the Z2 is a bit on the heavy side, weighing 5.75oz (163g), heavier than the otherwise larger G3 (5.26oz, or 149g).

Display

The 5.5” Quad HD display on the LG G3 is technically sharper than the Z2, but it’s hard to tell the difference in real life.

The 5.5” Quad HD (1440 x 2560-pixel) display is probably the biggest highlight of the G3, and it’s indeed a super sharp, high-res screen with minimal bezel. In contrast, the Xperia Z2 has got a 5.2” display with a more traditional, 1080 x 1920-pixel resolution that still looks very sharp.

A Quad HD display has nearly 80% more pixels than a 1080p Full HD screen, and pixel density comes in at 533ppi on the G3, against 424ppi on the Z2. All those numbers might sound like a convincing argument in the superiority in sharpness of the G3 screen, but what they don’t tell, is that you’d hardly see any difference unless you have perfect 20/20 vision and stare at the screen from close. Looking at the two displays from a regular viewing distance (of around 10” to 12”), it’s hard to see much of a difference in sharpness at all.

Looking at colors, you’d notice that both the G3 and Z2 do very well in terms of color temperature: the G3 has a color temp valuation of 7100K and the Z2 – of 6900K, both very close to our reference value of 6500K, which means they both appear well-balanced and not too cold. Color accuracy, however, is not perfect on either one: the LG G3 fits in the sRGB color gamut, but it is slightly oversaturated, while the Xperia Z2 has a larger gamut and again - blown out colors. Color deviation (Delta E), though, sits at the fairly reasonable 2.86 for grayscale and 4.59 for rgbcmy on the G3.

Outdoors, the Xperia Z2 does a bit better, even though the two phones are nearly equally bright. The Z2, however, is less reflective, and this makes it slightly easier to read under the bright sunlight. In terms of viewing angles, the IPS LCD displays on both are fine (although not great), but the G3 is a bit better, preserving more fully its color at an angle.

Interface and Functionality

The LG G3 brings a simpler UI with less clutter and modern, flat looks than before. Sony, in turn, builds up on the successful legacy of its earlier skins, and delivers a consistently good-looking UI.

Both the LG G3 and Sony Xperia Z2 come with the newest version of Android, 4.4.2 KitKat, on board, but they feature two very different custom skins that make the user experience differ as well.

The G3’s skin is a departure from the cartoon-y LG UI of before, coming with temperate colors and a mellow vibe, modern, flat and sharp-looking icons, and much less clutter in an orchestrated effort towards simplicity. Sony’s Xperia Z2’s UI, on the other hand, has not joined the ‘flat’ trends of modern design, but still looks very modern and stylish, plus it has had simplicity as a driving force from the onset. In the Z2, in particular, Sony’s UI has evolved just slightly, getting more polished looks and smoother animations.



Despite its crusade towards simplicity, the LG G3 custom skin is still much more packed with all sorts of features and apps. On the home screen - LG pounds large, nearly screen-wide widgets and a separate panel with information from its Health app and some tips, while Sony’s widgets are less intrusive.

Some of the new additions in the G3 - features like the Smart Notice assistant that is meant to remind you to take your umbrella before you go out on a rainy day, or prompt you to return a missed call - feel more subtly embedded, so that they don’t get in your face too much, but not all. Other neat features like the Knock Code sequence that you can tap on the lock screen to go securely and directly into the home screen are unique to the LG user experience. You also have Guest Mode on the G3 that you can access via a separate knock code - and that’s convenient for the times when people ask you to see something on your phone, but you don’t want them to see anything private.

Switching to apps, LG has joined the fitness craze with its Health hub that tracks your exercises and daily activity. Sony is also well equipped on the health front with its Lifelog application that does even more - it collects your fitness stats along with your phone usage stats, to create a fuller picture of your day, plus it even maps it all.

In terms of basic functionality, the phonebooks are similarly rich on both, but Sony’s simpler UI feels zippier in the core apps, while on the G3, just opening the dialer often happens with a hard-to-explain slowdown. For messaging, the G3 has a redesigned keyboard, matching the new flat UI, but it’s also very flexible and you can adjust its size. While such fancy options are not present on the Z2, typing is about equally quick on the two as keys on both are large and well-spaced.

Processor and Memory

The two have just slightly different flavors of the quad-core Snapdragon 801 on board: the G3 is a bit more powerful, but the sharper screen drags its performance below the Z2.

The LG G3 and Xperia Z2 are both new devices, a part of the wave of Snapdragon 801 flagships, and while there are some minor differences in their processors, they have roughly the same silicon muscle. The G3, however, has a heavier load with the extra heft from the higher-res display, and while it does not lag, some apps load a bit slower on it. The Xperia Z2, on the other hand, feels zippier in daily use, plus it also crunches benchmarks better thanks to its lower-res 1080p display.

Digging into the details, we see that the G3 runs on a Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AC, while the Z2 has the Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AB. Both are quad-core chips, with the most notable difference being the clock speed - the G3 gets to as high as 2.5GHz, while the Z2 can run at up to 2.3GHz. In terms of graphics, both are powered by an Adreno 330 GPU running at up to 578MHz. We did not see any lag in games that could have been caused by the added strain of the higher resolution on the G3, and both handled most titles with ease.

Interestingly, the G3 comes in two versions - a 16GB one with 2GB of RAM, and a 32GB one with 3 gigs, while the Z2 features 3GB of RAM even in the basic 16GB model. Both support expandable storage via microSD cards of up to 128GB.

Internet and Connectivity

Both feature 4G LTE connectivity and surfing the web is zippy and enjoyable.

LG bundles both its custom browser and Google’s Chrome to surf the web on the G3, while Sony has gone just with Chrome on board. Both LG’s custom browser and Chrome are zippy, but Chrome is the one that has cross-device syncing and the slightly better optimized card-based interface. Pages load and render quickly on both devices, though, and scrolling around and zooming in and out is practically free of lag.

In terms of connectivity, both the G3 and Z2 come with 4G LTE support, with download speeds of up to 150Mbps. Other connectivity options include dual-channel Wi-Fi, GPS, and NFC on both. The LG G3 also has an infra-red (IR) blaster located on the top that you can use as a remote control for your TV, or other electronics. It’s a neat addition for those times when you can’t find your regular remote, and it’s a feature that’s missing on the Z2.

Camera

There are two great cameras. The 13-megapixel shooter of the LG G3 snaps very detailed and sharp images that are just a bit too warm, while the Sony Xperia Z2 has more consistently great colors, but is not that detailed.

The LG G3 features a 13-megapixel camera with a two-tone dual LED flash, while the Sony Xperia Z2 comes with a 20-megapixel shooter. The difference in megapixels, however, does not tell the whole camera story - while the G3 sports an average-sized 1/3.06” sensor, the Xperia Z2 has the biggest sensor of any Android phone out there - a 1/2.3” one, nearly 30% larger than the G3. As for the optics, the Z2 features a wide 27mm G lens with f/2.0 aperture, while the G3 packs a 'slower' f/2.4 lens with narrower focal length of 29mm. However, the G3 has optical image stabilization system, allowing it, on theory, to use longer shutter speed without blur due to handshake.

In terms of ergonomics, the Xperia Z2 comes with a dedicated camera shutter key, so you can use the camera single-handedly, but since the button is closer to the edge of the phone, shooting is not perfectly stable. The G3 is a bit bigger, but having the volume down key act as a camera shutter, allows your hand to wrap around the phone fuller, resulting in more stable shots, and we find it easier and quicker to snap pictures on the G3.

The camera interface on the G3 is very plain, with almost no manual settings - it really is an all automatic camera with just a handful of options: you can change the resolution of recorded images and video, select whether or not to use the flash, but there’s no manual ISO, white balance settings or shooting modes (apart from the panorama). The Xperia Z2’s camera is simple in a similar way in the Superior Auto Mode, but it also has a manual mode where you can take manual control of fine settings, an option that photo-buffs would appreciate.



It’s worth noting that in the default Superior Auto shooting mode, the Sony Xperia Z2 shoots 8-megapixel photos made by pixel processing of the 20-megapixel feed from the sensor for better overall quality. We prefer having these high-quality 8MP photos instead of not-so-good 20MP ones, and they are smaller as well, so you can share them quicker. You can still shoot full 20-megapixel images (without this processing benefit) in Manual mode, but those images tend to have lackluster sharpness, more artifacts, and are also noisier than the 8-megapixel shots.

The actual quality of captured photographs on both is among the best you can get out of a smartphone. .The G3photos often have slightly warmer than we’d like colors, resulting in a slightly noticeable yellowish tint. The Z2 photos, on the other hand, have consistently impressive, vivid (although slightly oversaturated) colors and great contrast. LG G3 is the better camera in terms of details, though – its 13-megapixel photos are among the best in this respect. The Z2, on the other hand, has very sharp 8-megapixel photos, but they have some visible artifacts and rather soft edges.

Indoors, in low light, the optical image stabilization (OIS+) on the G3 allows it to shoot without firing the flash in even darker environments and without blurring images terribly. At the same time, however, the G3 has an aggressive stance towards noise, smudging detail and making images appear like an oil painting in lower-lit conditions. In our studio shots, it also miscalculates lights in a few occasions with warmer overcast, but this seems like an isolated issue, since in other indoor shots color balance is much better. The flash on the G3 is very powerful, and spreads rather evenly, illuminating the whole test scene from about 5 feet distance. Having dual-tone flash, also is a plus, as the image colors are preserved pleasingly natural even when the flash is the main light source. The Xperia Z2 acts in the opposite way in low-light - it tends to use the flash in even a relatively well-lit room, but it acts more as a fill light, so colors are not strongly distorted as well. It is also far less aggressive with noise indoors, resulting in noisier images, but ones without this artificial oil painting look. The flash on the Z2 is not all that powerful as the one on the G3, though.

One of the hallmark features of the G3 is its laser-assisted auto-focus that is of help in low-light, as it works in concert with traditional contrast-based focus to speed up the focusing process.

The Xperia Z2 and G3 both have 2-megapixel front-facing cameras that are good enough to satisfy your urge for a selfie of fairly average quality.



In terms of video, both the G3 and Z2 can record at up to 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) resolution at 30 frames per second, along with the more traditional 1080p. 4K videos have an advantage in sharpness, and can come in handy for those who do post-processing, but since 4K TVs and monitors are not widely-spread just yet, the benefit of the feature is limited. Traditional 1080p recording happens at 30fps on the G3, while on the Z2 you can record at either 30fps or 60fps, the latter being useful for things like action scenes and post-processing.



And the quality of the actual footage? It’s smooth and sharp on both devices, but the Xperia Z2 has better, fairly accurate color reproduction and the much faster continuous auto-focus, while the G3 again tends to look a bit too warm. The new OIS+ system does a good job of stabilizing footage, but while the Z2 lacks optical stabilization, its digital one performs surprisingly well.

Multimedia

Quad HD is great on paper, but until we get more content in the new resolution, you won’t see much benefit from display of the LG G3. For music, though, the speaker on the G3 is much louder than the clean, but quiet speakers of the Z2.

Тhe super high-res and vivid display of the LG G3 is a great asset for enjoying videos on the go, and if you manage to find Quad HD-resolution videos, you can fully enjoy its 5.5” display. At the moment, though, this is not a trivial task, as most videos are released at 1080p, so you cannot fully benefit from the resolution bump. The video player apps differ in their visual style - the new flat and pastel-tone one on the G3 versus the different, but also eye-catchy one on the Z2 where a featured preview of the latest played video is running on top.



For music, the Z2 has the Walkman player, fitting nicely with the impressive visual style of the Sony UI, but also rich in options. The G3’s music player looks more simplistic, but is equally capable of playing back and categorizing your music.



The Sony handset, however, comes with dual front-facing stereo speakers that sound cleaner (with even some depth to the sound) than the G3, but they are no match for it in terms of volume - the LG speaker is much louder.

Call Quality

Call quality is above the average for both handsets. The LG G3, however, sounds a bit better: with a crisp and clear sound output in the earpiece, allowing you to easily recognize callers’ voices in their natural tonality and with little other distortions. On the other end of the line, the microphone output of the G3 is also a great performer, clear and loud enough. The Xperia Z2, on the other hand, also sounds perfectly audible, but it does have a slight unnatural metallic rumble to voices in the earpiece, with annoying side noise, while output from the mics is slightly better.

Battery

Both the Xperia Z2 and G3 come with large, long lasting batteries: the Z2, however, has the slightly larger, 3200mAh battery, while the G3 has a 3000mAh one. It’s maybe no surprise then, that the Xperia Z2’s score is 8 hours and 10 minutes on our real-life usage simulation test, at the top of our ranking. What about the LG G3? It seems that adding the stress of a Quad HD display takes its toll, and the G3’s battery life is good, but not great, as it scores 6 hours and 14 minutes on our battery test.

How does this translate to real-life usage? If you don’t put the LG G3 under the heaviest of tasks like intense gaming, it can easily last you a full day without needing a recharge. The Z2, on the other hand, has no issues lasting through a full day, and even a bit more, but two days off the charger still seem like a stretch for it.

The LG G3 key feature here is that its battery is easily user-removable, while the Xperia Z2 is sealed and there’s no way to swap batteries on the go.

Conclusion

All in all, the LG G3 brings a lot of improvements to the flagship table: it’s got a sharper-than-before, Quad HD display, a well-performing optically-stabilized 13-megapixel camera, and a solid build that is also flexible with an easily removable back cover.

The Sony Xperia Z2, however, does not fall far behind - its 1080p display appears practically as sharp as the Quad HD one from regular viewing distance, and it has the more premium body, a great battery life, plus it’s water-proof. But best of all, the Z2 also has a great camera that captures impressive images.

At this point, it’s time to call it a draw in terms of specs, and you can safely choose the one with the style and interface that you like better, without worrying that it might disappoint in terms of hardware performance.