The New Galaxy S8: A Flagship that Stacks Up Against the LG G6

Hey guys, this is Austin. The new Galaxy S8 is a flagship that stacks up against the LG G6 in terms of performance, camera capabilities, and overall design.

Both phones are running Android 7.0 Nougat with their own skins. I prefer what Samsung has done a little bit more this time around, it's a cleaner interface and while they have included things like Bixby, which I'm just not going to use because Google Assistant exists, for the most part, both phones are completely fine.

One of the biggest differences between the two phones is specs. While the LG G6 has the older Snapdragon 821, the Galaxy S8 has the brand new Snapdragon 835. This means that it definitely wins on the multithread side and on the single thread side, but there isn't a huge difference. However, because it's the 835 and it's based on a newer process, in theory that should help battery life.

Cameras might actually be the biggest difference between these two phones. While the Galaxy S8 has the same 12 megapixel camera from the S7 with just a few software tweaks, the LG G6 has dual 13 megapixel cameras. What's cool about this dual camera on the G6 is that while it was available on the G5, there was a huge difference in quality between the two cameras.

Whereas on the G6, yes the standard camera is a little bit higher quality, but it's not a huge difference and both cameras have the same 13 megapixels sensor behind them. When we jump over to the Galaxy S8, it is not a bad camera by any means, you can get some really killer shots.

The big downside though, is that it just isn't a huge upgrade over the S7. Samsung is doing some additional image processing, essentially just like the Pixel, they're constantly taking stills and using the best bits of each one to combine into a final image and it does look really nice. I do think the S8's camera is a little bit more natural, it's not quite so sharp and that bigger sensor actually does give you just a little bit of depth of field.

One of the big advantages of the Galaxy S8 though is that new 8 megapixel front-facing camera. Not only is this fairly wide, but it also looks really nice, especially in video. And this is what the G6 front-facing camera looks like, not bad, but it does not even come close to the S8.

Even for stills, the G6, it's fine, but I think the S8 does win out. This is what video looks like on the LG G6. It looks a little bit oversharp to my eye, but it is still shooting in 4k. However, one of the cool things is you can seamlessly switch between the two cameras.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S8 video looks pretty impressive. Not only is saturation nice, but because it does have the bigger sensor we do get some depth of field here. Also, the stabilization seems to be reasonable, you can see it maybe trip up just a little bit when you make a big move, but it is hard to argue with this camera.

I mean sure, it's not a huge upgrade over the S7 and G6, especially having the wide angle, both cameras look great, especially for stills. When you look at the whole package, I think it's gonna be really tough to beat this S8. And that kind of tells the story, I'm afraid.

The G6 is a good phone and if the S8 didn't exist, it would be a great phone. But the problem is, this just does so many things so well that it's going to be hard to argue with.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin.The new Galaxy S8 is promisingto shake up the smartphone game,but LG might just havesomething to say about that.Big shout out to LG for hooking us upwith the G6 a little bit early.Now they are not sponsoring this video,but I am curious to see how it stacks up.Take a look inside thebox and we have the G6.Now while the Galaxy S8is getting all the hypefor having essentially nobezel on a giant screen,if you take a look at this,it's not actually that far off.There's not a lot in the box,we have the power adapteras well as as a USB-C cable.Now this is in comparisonto the Galaxy S8,which comes with a really nice pairof AKG headphones in the box.When you look at the G6 next tothe Galaxy S8 Plus and the iPhone 7 Plusyou'll see that, well,this just sticks out.The idea of having much thinner bezelsjust gives you more screenin the same footprint.While the G6 does have thin bezels,it can't quite touch the S8.This is a little bitmore of a blocky phone,so it's got a completely flatdisplay compared to the S8which has curved glassboth front and back.If you look closely, you'll see the G6has a slightly more pronounced chin,but generally speaking theydo look fairly similar.They both do have those slight curvesaround the edges of the display,and with so much screenwith so little bezelit does feel like a newgeneration of smartphone.This isn't a perfect comparison.The Galaxy S8 Plus is alittle bit bigger than the G6,but if you have a standard S8it's going to be about the same size,but what really separatesboth of these phonesfrom other devices is the aspect ratio.So the G6 has a 2880 by 1440p IPS display.Where the Galaxy S8, an S8 Plusbumps it up to 2960 by 1440.What that means is thatthese are much taller screensthan what you're probably used to.So if you open a normalapp such as YouTube,all this means is thatyou get a little bitof extra vertical real estate,but if you're watchingsomething like video,what that means is that you end up gettingblack bars on either side of the video.Now this is not exactly a huge deal,I think that the extra screen real estatein 95% of your apps isworth the trade off,but it does mean that video's notgoing to fully eat up the screen.It should be no surprise that these aretwo of the best smartphonedisplays out right now.So the LG G6 has a couple cool features,like it supports HDR10as well as Dolby Vision,so as HDR video becomesmore and more popular,the G6 is ready to handle it.The S8 might not be a hugeupgrade over the last generation,but it is still a terrificlooking AMOLED display.So the contrast is absolutely on point,it's nicely saturated andit gets really bright.So out of the box, it actually runsat a slightly lower2220 by 1080 resolution.Now there's nothingnecessarily wrong with that,it's still reasonablysharp and they're doing it,I presume to save battery,but when you buy a super high resolutiongreat looking display on a smartphone,you kind of wanna, you know,run it at full resolution.As flagships in 2017, build qualityisn't an issue with either phone,but I do prefer thedesign of the Galaxy S8.What's cool here is thatbecause it has glasson front and back and theyboth have the same taper,it's a very seamless sort of design,especially with the verythin frame that goesaround the edges, it reallydoes feel great in the hand.Now, it's not perfect, it would be niceif this had better speakers insteadof one small one on the bottom,and the fingerprint sensoron back is not quite ideal,but taken as a whole this isan absolutely killer design.I love it.In comparison, the G6 just feelsa little bit more old school,so with the flat sort ofedges around the side,it just doesn't feel as thin in the handand it's not exactly a badphone, don't get me wrong,it does have nice glass on front and back,and if I had not touchedthe S8, this would be great,but in comparison it justdoesn't quite hold up.But there are some thingsI do prefer on the G6and probably the biggestone is the power button.Not only does it doubleas the fingerprint sensorwhich puts it in a much better locationthan on the Galaxy S8, butit just feels like a cleveruse of space sort of combiningyour fingerprint sensorwhich already has to be there anywaywith a physical button toturn on and off the phone.One area where they are the sameis with the IP68 water resistance.So no, you shouldn't go swimmingwith either of these phonesbut I feel like for a flagship in 2017there is no reason not to haveat least some sort of water resistance.It's just nice to know thatwhen you spend this much moneyon a phone the little bit ofsplash is not going to kill it.Both phones are also running Android 7.0Nougat with their own skins.Now I prefer what Samsung has donea little bit more this time around,it's a little bit of a cleaner interfaceand while they haveincluded things like Bixby,which I'm just not going to usebecause Google Assistant exists,but for the most part, bothphones are completely fine,you can live with either skinand of course, you know,launches are a thing.One of the biggest differencesbetween the two phones are specs.So while the LG G6 hasthe older Snapdragon 821,the Galaxy S8 has thebrand new Snapdragon 835.So I'm curious to see how they perform.(groovy music)That's actually pretty close.So one of the big advantagesof the S8 is that it's anocta-core processor insteadof quad-core on the G6,which means that it definitelydoes win on the multithread sideand on the single thread side,it's actually not a huge difference.However, because it's the 835 andit's based on a newer process,in theory that should help battery life.Cameras might actually be the biggestdifference between these two phones.So while the Galaxy S8 hasthe same 12 megapixel camerafrom the S7 with justa few software tweaks.The LG G6 has dual 13 megapixel cameras.So what's cool about thisdual camera on the G6is that while it was available on the G5,there was a huge difference in qualitybetween the two cameras.Whereas on the G6, yes the standard camerais a little bit higher quality,it looks a little bit nicer,but it's not a huge difference.And a big part of thatis that both camerashave the same 13 megapixelsensor behind them.Now when we jump over to the Galaxy S8it is not a bad camera by any means.You can get some really killer shots.The big downside though, is that it justisn't a huge upgrade over the S7.So Samsung is doing someadditional image processing,so essentially, just like the Pixel,they're constantly takingstills and using the best bitsof each one to combine into a final imageand it does look really nice.I do think the S8's a littlebit more of a natural image,it's not quite so sharpand that bigger sensoractually does give you just alittle bit of depth of field.One of the big advantagesof the Galaxy S8, thoughis that new 8 megapixelfront-facing camera.Not only is this fairly wide,but it also looks reallynice, especially in video.And this is what the G6front-facing camera looks like.It's not bad, but it does noteven come close to the S8.Even for stills, the G6, it's fine,but I think the S8 does win out.So this is what videolooks like on the LG G6.So it looks a littlebit oversharp to my eye,but it is still shooting in 4k.However, one of the cool things isyou can seamlessly switchbetween the two cameras.So this is what the wide angle looks like,and then we can jump rightback into the standard.On the other hand, the Galaxy S8video looks pretty impressive.So not only is saturation nice,but because it does have the bigger sensorwe do get some depth of field here.Also the stabilizationseems to be reasonable,you can see it maybe trips upjust a little bit whenyou make a big move,but it is hard to argue with this camera.I mean sure, it's not ahuge upgrade over the S7and the G6 camera, especiallyhaving the wide angle,both cameras look great,especially for stills.When you look at the whole package,I think it's gonna be reallytough to beat this S8.And that kind of tellsthe story, I'm afraid.The G6 is a good phone andif the S8 didn't exist,it would be a great phone.But the problem is, thisjust does so many thingsso well that it's goingto be hard to argue with.So what do you guys thinkabout the G6 and the Galaxy S8?Let me know in the comments belowand I will catch you in the next one.