LG G3 vs Sony Xperia Z2 - Quick Look

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enin this quick look we look at the LG G3 versus the Sony Xperia Z2 in terms of design both of these smartphones retain quite a bit from their previous iterations more so for the xeria Z2 but it does have a few subtle changes in refinements overall the Z2 boast the angular design that is something you'd pretty much only get with Sony devices the All Glass design the signature Sony button layout with the silver power button and dedicated camera button and of course the dust and water resistance features all make a return with the Z2 on the other hand the G3 moves away from the glossy plastic of the G2 to a still plastic but beautiful metallic finish back cover LG's push towards a bezeless phone continues here with the ultra thin bezels and thin top and bottom borders allowing for a relatively Sleek device the rear button layout is back as well but is a lot flatter this time around but still has a nice refined feel with a more meaty click to the buttons in terms of Dimensions the G3 is actually a touch shorter and just a smidge wider than than the Z2 which is certainly impressive when you realize that the G3 has a 5.5 in screen and is one of the best handling ones of that size with similar sizes the handling experience is actually what you would kind of expect then uh one-handed use is definitely pushing it on either device more often than not especially on the G3 um but this is uh definitely something that you're going to have to get used to in either phone anyway so the design aspect is definitely up to Personal Taste but we do have to say that you're getting a beautiful premium phone no matter which one of these you choose Sony's improved movements upon the Experia Z2 display comes in at a 5.2 in IPS LCD display with a 1080p resolution resulting in a pixel density of 424 pixels per inch Sony managed to address a lot of the issues that plagued the previous versions before the Z2 now offering a fantastic display experience with good brightness and viewing angles but as good as that may be the edge does have to be given to the G3 courtesy of a great 5.5 in IPS LCD display with a resolution of Quad HD that's 2560 x440 and a pixel density resulting in 534 pixels per in the signature brightness and great viewing angles of the G3 screen are available here and the display which is in a lot of ways the hero feature of this device really does shine through in terms of performance the G3 and the Z2 feature the best processing package currently available with the Snapdragon 801 clocked in at 2.5 GHz for the G3 and 2.3 GHz for the Z2 backed by the adreno 330 and 2 GB of RAM for the G3 and three for the Xperia Z2 as you would expect performance is about as smooth as it could ever be helped along with the minimalistic UI of Sony's device and in this case the revamped and far smoother software experience found on the new version of LG's Flagship on the hardware front a lot Remains the Same with both of these phones offering internal storage that is further expandable via micro SD cards of up to 128 GB the G3 also does have a 32 GB version available which will have the added benefit of 3 GB of RAM so that is a bit of a change up there the full Suite of connectivity options also make their way here with everything ranging from Bluetooth to NFC to LTE mobile network connections but when it comes to the speaker Sony has changed things up a bit by introducing front-facing speakers on the Z2 the quality is quite good but it's not mindblowing but it definitely gets quite loud and has quite a bit of clarity to them uh the speakers of the G3 remain at the back and I wasn't able to really test them but they should still be a little bit more impressive than what was found in previous LG iterations the xeria Z2 does pack the larger 3200 mAh battery compared to the 3,000 Mah unit of the G3 and considering that the G3 needs to power a larger display and a higher resolution the battery life out of the Z2 is probably going to be a bit better at least on paper it's entirely possible that LG's optimizations will still make battery life on the G3 at least average uh so we're going to have to see what the battery life tests are like once we get our hands on a review unit when it comes to the cameras the xeria Z2 features the same 20.7 megapixel camera of the Z1 with some improvements across the board now talking about the app you get a ton of new features like time shift 4K and selective focus modes the picture quality is quite good uh without any of the smudgy in the dark areas that we originally saw in the Z1 definitely improved here uh the level of grain is still pretty high though and sharpness could use a little bit more refinement but the colors are captured quite well and you still get a pretty good photo what is really kind of a downer at least for me in the Z2 is that you're limited to 8 megapixels to be able to use all that it has to offer and the 20 me 20.7 megapixel photos rather um are really just a novelty more than ultimately useful for plenty of users out there the G3 features a camera setup that is quite similar to what we found on the G Pro 2 with a 13 megapixel rear shooter with ois plus as we've seen before this camera should perform quite well and the newly added autofocus laser should also make a big difference in allowing for quick autofocus especially when compared to the G2 when it comes to the software Sony does Believe In keeping things pretty simple and elegant and that's something we really like about the xeria UI it is pretty much a stock likee experience with Sony quintessential style and their own additions like the Walkman the gallery and the small apps ultimately what we like about the Sony UI is that when you keep it simple you keep it fast and they happen to do that quite well on the Xperia Z2 on the other hand LG is kind of looking to go in that direction it seems as they're uh doing away with the more bloated operating system from before and now is leaning and now they're leaning towards a flatter smoother cleaner and therefore faster interface LG still packs a ton of features in though like the Q slide apps uh the multitasking with the multi- window the knock code which we saw originally in the G Pro 2 and new additions like LG's own version kind of of the Google Now card system uh it's like a concierge service with a lot of smart abilities that allow you to get your information in a in a nice uh and clean way a revamped keyboard and even the ability to use a quick Circle feature that can be seen inside of the quick Circle uh case that you can get as an accessory and so there you have it for this quick look at the LG G3 versus the Sony Xperia Z2 these are two of the best phones out there and then again all of the flagships are looking really great this year and once we get our hands on the review unit of the LG G3 we will be pitting that phone against uh all of the flagships including the Z2 in more in-depth coverage so stay tuned to Android Authority for all of that and future coverage of the LG G3 because we are your source for all things Androidin this quick look we look at the LG G3 versus the Sony Xperia Z2 in terms of design both of these smartphones retain quite a bit from their previous iterations more so for the xeria Z2 but it does have a few subtle changes in refinements overall the Z2 boast the angular design that is something you'd pretty much only get with Sony devices the All Glass design the signature Sony button layout with the silver power button and dedicated camera button and of course the dust and water resistance features all make a return with the Z2 on the other hand the G3 moves away from the glossy plastic of the G2 to a still plastic but beautiful metallic finish back cover LG's push towards a bezeless phone continues here with the ultra thin bezels and thin top and bottom borders allowing for a relatively Sleek device the rear button layout is back as well but is a lot flatter this time around but still has a nice refined feel with a more meaty click to the buttons in terms of Dimensions the G3 is actually a touch shorter and just a smidge wider than than the Z2 which is certainly impressive when you realize that the G3 has a 5.5 in screen and is one of the best handling ones of that size with similar sizes the handling experience is actually what you would kind of expect then uh one-handed use is definitely pushing it on either device more often than not especially on the G3 um but this is uh definitely something that you're going to have to get used to in either phone anyway so the design aspect is definitely up to Personal Taste but we do have to say that you're getting a beautiful premium phone no matter which one of these you choose Sony's improved movements upon the Experia Z2 display comes in at a 5.2 in IPS LCD display with a 1080p resolution resulting in a pixel density of 424 pixels per inch Sony managed to address a lot of the issues that plagued the previous versions before the Z2 now offering a fantastic display experience with good brightness and viewing angles but as good as that may be the edge does have to be given to the G3 courtesy of a great 5.5 in IPS LCD display with a resolution of Quad HD that's 2560 x440 and a pixel density resulting in 534 pixels per in the signature brightness and great viewing angles of the G3 screen are available here and the display which is in a lot of ways the hero feature of this device really does shine through in terms of performance the G3 and the Z2 feature the best processing package currently available with the Snapdragon 801 clocked in at 2.5 GHz for the G3 and 2.3 GHz for the Z2 backed by the adreno 330 and 2 GB of RAM for the G3 and three for the Xperia Z2 as you would expect performance is about as smooth as it could ever be helped along with the minimalistic UI of Sony's device and in this case the revamped and far smoother software experience found on the new version of LG's Flagship on the hardware front a lot Remains the Same with both of these phones offering internal storage that is further expandable via micro SD cards of up to 128 GB the G3 also does have a 32 GB version available which will have the added benefit of 3 GB of RAM so that is a bit of a change up there the full Suite of connectivity options also make their way here with everything ranging from Bluetooth to NFC to LTE mobile network connections but when it comes to the speaker Sony has changed things up a bit by introducing front-facing speakers on the Z2 the quality is quite good but it's not mindblowing but it definitely gets quite loud and has quite a bit of clarity to them uh the speakers of the G3 remain at the back and I wasn't able to really test them but they should still be a little bit more impressive than what was found in previous LG iterations the xeria Z2 does pack the larger 3200 mAh battery compared to the 3,000 Mah unit of the G3 and considering that the G3 needs to power a larger display and a higher resolution the battery life out of the Z2 is probably going to be a bit better at least on paper it's entirely possible that LG's optimizations will still make battery life on the G3 at least average uh so we're going to have to see what the battery life tests are like once we get our hands on a review unit when it comes to the cameras the xeria Z2 features the same 20.7 megapixel camera of the Z1 with some improvements across the board now talking about the app you get a ton of new features like time shift 4K and selective focus modes the picture quality is quite good uh without any of the smudgy in the dark areas that we originally saw in the Z1 definitely improved here uh the level of grain is still pretty high though and sharpness could use a little bit more refinement but the colors are captured quite well and you still get a pretty good photo what is really kind of a downer at least for me in the Z2 is that you're limited to 8 megapixels to be able to use all that it has to offer and the 20 me 20.7 megapixel photos rather um are really just a novelty more than ultimately useful for plenty of users out there the G3 features a camera setup that is quite similar to what we found on the G Pro 2 with a 13 megapixel rear shooter with ois plus as we've seen before this camera should perform quite well and the newly added autofocus laser should also make a big difference in allowing for quick autofocus especially when compared to the G2 when it comes to the software Sony does Believe In keeping things pretty simple and elegant and that's something we really like about the xeria UI it is pretty much a stock likee experience with Sony quintessential style and their own additions like the Walkman the gallery and the small apps ultimately what we like about the Sony UI is that when you keep it simple you keep it fast and they happen to do that quite well on the Xperia Z2 on the other hand LG is kind of looking to go in that direction it seems as they're uh doing away with the more bloated operating system from before and now is leaning and now they're leaning towards a flatter smoother cleaner and therefore faster interface LG still packs a ton of features in though like the Q slide apps uh the multitasking with the multi- window the knock code which we saw originally in the G Pro 2 and new additions like LG's own version kind of of the Google Now card system uh it's like a concierge service with a lot of smart abilities that allow you to get your information in a in a nice uh and clean way a revamped keyboard and even the ability to use a quick Circle feature that can be seen inside of the quick Circle uh case that you can get as an accessory and so there you have it for this quick look at the LG G3 versus the Sony Xperia Z2 these are two of the best phones out there and then again all of the flagships are looking really great this year and once we get our hands on the review unit of the LG G3 we will be pitting that phone against uh all of the flagships including the Z2 in more in-depth coverage so stay tuned to Android Authority for all of that and future coverage of the LG G3 because we are your source for all things Android\n"