The LG G3 vs HTC One M8 - Help me decide!

[ShAdoWSKy]

Thanks for all the input! I decided that I'll probably be going for the g3 ahead of the m8. The only thing that's really bugging me still is the heat issue. I went to two Verizon stores today and both g3 units started getting warm in the first few minutes while I was playing around with it. It didn't overheat but definitely felt a little uncomfortable.

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[ShAdoWSKy]

Re: Why the M8?

Everything is always blown out for me. Indoors too, trying to take a picture of a TV that's on? Not happening(blown out and streaky). A lamp in the room that's on? Blown out.

I know exactly what you mean. I took some time to play with the m8 at a nearby Verizon store and every shot was just blown up. Even the smallest light in the store just appeared as a big white for on the screen.

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[ShAdoWSKy]

Re: Why the M8?

I can seriously understand why this is a tough decision for you but it all boils down to a few things.

If you prefer a clean UI and an amazing design with better performance in apps and games go for the HTC One M8.

The LG G3 is nothing less than stellar however people have been reporting a lot of issues with the device and despite LG highlighting the 1440p display people have said that to increase the resolution they had to sacrifice better contrasts and colors.

Heating up is a pretty common thing and occurs on most phones however what worries me is that the LG G3 takes it a bit too the extreme and if the phone heats up too much it doesn't allow you to change brightness at all. In addition to this when 2K content becomes more mainstream the heat up and battery issues will become even more prominent on the LG G3.

The HTC One M8 is called the best device of 2014, while it's older brother the M7 was called the best device of 2013 but the only flaw with this phone is the camera...somewhat.

While 4 Megapixel shots may not allow for a whole lot of zooming but they do force a photographer to get closer to the subject, which is ideal. I've seen people take pretty amazing photos with the HTC One M8(and HTC One) so I believe the camera should be pretty good for everyday tasks.

Plus don't take what the reviewers say too seriously. I myself own a Nexus 5 and reviewers said that it had a lackluster camera, after improvements introduced in Android 4.4.1 this sensor is nothing short of amazing.

In short you can't go wrong with either device.



Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Yeah.. I'm starting to think the best way to deal with this is to just buy one and see if I like it or not.

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[specialsk]

Re: Why the M8?

Battery life is amazing. On top of everything else mentioned, the battery life is
what ultimately won me over. I

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[xocomaox]

Thanks for all the input! I decided that I'll probably be going for the g3 ahead of the m8. The only thing that's really bugging me still is the heat issue. I went to two Verizon stores today and both g3 units started getting warm in the first few minutes while I was playing around with it. It didn't overheat but definitely felt a little uncomfortable.

Posted via the Android Central App

They should be warm when you pick them up. They're running all day on loop tutorial at 100% brightness.

 

[gummyjelly]

I too love the m8 but the camera is a deal breaker for me. Like you I take a ton of pictures with my phone and need a good camera. I owned the m7 before and returned it because the pics were awful. I'm running the g3 on ART and it's running extremely smooth. The 5.5 in screen is stunning. I love this phone! I wonder if HTC will ever give their phones a better camera, that's keeping a lot of customers away from purchasing it.

Sent from my LG-D851 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[ShAdoWSKy]

One last thing that crossed my mind... I apologize beforehand if this is a stupid question since I don't really know much about the internal aspects of phones. Will the G3 battery life be able to keep its performance up when the app market becomes optimized for QuadHD? If the current applications are not optimized for the display then I'm assuming the processor isn't trying as hard as it would for a QuadHD optimized application. And if the processor does work harder, wouldn't it decrease battery life and slow down performance?

Thanks once again for all the answers! You guys helped me a ton in making this decision happen

 

[Tim Weatherby]

Why not the G3? No brainer. Get it

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[Tim Weatherby]

Don't know the answer to last question. Get the G3. Phone is great. Don't look at anymore nasayer posts.

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[ShAdoWSKy]

Re: Why the M8?

Thank you everyone for the replies, but I decided to go ahead and get the G3 ahead of the M8. In the end, I just could not deal with the camera after trying the units in the store. It was good when I took the time to get the shot, but like I said in my original post, I use my camera on a daily basis and more often than not I just don't have the time to set up a shot. Megapixels aren't everything, but I need something reliable where I can just whip out and take a picture knowing I can crop, zoom, etc. later if I needed to.

The only major gripe that I have with the G3 now is the heating issue which, hopefully, won't be as bad as I have read about. Though the software is not as snappy as Sense 6 and the battery life isn't the best, I realized that those are two things that can be fixed with a software update and extra batteries. But who knows, if the heating issue is really that bad then I will gladly pick up the M8. Again, thank you everyone!

 

[mountainman15]

I bought the G3 last week and will be returning it.

I love the phone. It has a big, sharp screen in a beautiful, easy to hold body. Camera is excellent and performance it is pretty snappy especially when using a launcher like Nova. The UI is good, but not great...way better than Touchwiz, but not as good as stock Android or what you find on the Moto X. The phone is just fun to use and I don't want to return it.

BUT, on the third day of use I got the dreaded "overheating" warning. I was at the beach and decided to put the camera and video on my new phone to use. It was sunny and bright outside so I cranked up the brightness to 85%. I took a few photos and started recording a video. About 10-15 seconds into the video, recording stopped, the screen dimmed, and a message popped up about the heat and having to cool down. I didn't get a great look at the message because it was so quick and the screen was dim, but there was a message in the notifications panel about having to cool down.

This was incredibly disappointing as I have done this exact same thing in the same scenario with different phones, but had no issues with overheating. I haven't received any overheating warnings since then, but I have experienced some screen dimming while outdoors or in a car in warm conditions.

I love the phone, but the overheating and screen dimming really turned me off and I don't want to be stuck with a device that fails in moments when I want to take advantage of its features.

I really feel that if LG had gone with a 1080p screen, this would be the perfect phone I was hoping it would be. Unfortunately, I have to keep waiting!

Sorry that this is more of a "Why Not the G3," but I thought I'd share my experience.

 

[RHChan84]

I bought the g3 because of the screen size, build quality, removable battery, micro SD card, and the main reason.....because my old phone was pretty much on its last breathe of air and it just wouldn't hold a charge. I would be lucky with an hour of screen on time.

Sent from my VZW LG G3 (tapatalk)

 

[the tall guy]

Re: Why the M8?

Thank you everyone for the replies, but I decided to go ahead and get the G3 ahead of the M8. In the end, I just could not deal with the camera after trying the units in the store. It was good when I took the time to get the shot, but like I said in my original post, I use my camera on a daily basis and more often than not I just don't have the time to set up a shot. Megapixels aren't everything, but I need something reliable where I can just whip out and take a picture knowing I can crop, zoom, etc. later if I needed to.

The only major gripe that I have with the G3 now is the heating issue which, hopefully, won't be as bad as I have read about. Though the software is not as snappy as Sense 6 and the battery life isn't the best, I realized that those are two things that can be fixed with a software update and extra batteries. But who knows, if the heating issue is really that bad then I will gladly pick up the M8. Again, thank you everyone!

Good luck with the G3 - It does look like an amazing phone

 

[Tim Weatherby]

Looks like people get overheating some dont. I have had mine at pool in 95 degree weather and no issue. Great phone!

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[LeoRex]

Yeah... former Nexus 5 owner than moved to a G3 here...

I haven't hit any of the overheating issues either. I was at the beach recently, took a bunch of photos and some video while I was actively using the phone... never once did it feel hot, or even all that warm really.

I second that the G3's UI is not all that far from the stock one. I switched out the launcher to the Google Now Launcher and tweaked some of the stuff in the notification panel (which is admittedly quite messy out of the box).... Outside of the lack of the Quick Tiles panel from my Nexus 5, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between my G3 and a Nexus 5 that has been themed with some of the CM11 themes I've seen kicking around. LG seems to have taken some inspiration from the new flat, colorful Material Design direction that Google is moving towards. Oh, yeah... the lockscreen transition stuff is pretty slick... the lockscreen kind of evaporates like fog... pretty cool.

I easily get a full day of usage out of the phone with plenty left in the tank, and I have no issues with the radios... I've noticed that the GPS gains and holds a lock far better than my Nexus 5; on my commute home, the 5 would drop out a few times and take a bit to re-aquire (sometimes just putting it on the passengers seat would drop lock)... The G3 doesn't.

I thought about the M8 as well, but the form factor looked odd to me... too tall and skinny with huge bezels. My wife makes a bunch of Shutterfly albums using the mountains of pics we take and often crops and fiddles with the pictures, so the lack of detail in that 4MP shooter would be a big liability. The G3 takes great photos and the auto focus is blazing quick. And OIS+ does a great job of reducing the jumpiness from videos (which look great btw). I'm not a big enough narcissist to need a 5.1MP front camera. This selfie madness is a scourge.

 

[Asterisk]

G3 over S5 over M8.

1. Form factor (screen/body ratio)
2. Specs (camera, memory)

Switched to T-Mo from Verizon Note 2.

P.S. Volume buttons in the back and knock on are just 2 best features I'd never imagined I'll love.

 

[LeoRex]

P.S. Volume buttons in the back and knock on are just 2 best features I'd never imagined I'll love.

I had a custom kernel on my Nexus 5 that enabled knock features (gestures too). And I LOVED it.... It's so much easier (too bad the Nexus kernels can't tap into the SD800's low power modes... prolly some licensing thing from Qualcomm)

The back buttons, yeah... When I first saw them on the G2, I thought they were a goofy gimmick. Now that I've used them, they are awesome. Much easier to fuss with the volume and there's no need to adjust the phone to hit any of the buttons.

But the M8 has knock stuff.... which is even more important since they put the power button on the top of what is already a tall phone.

 

[Wildo6882]

I'm not a big enough narcissist to need a 5.1MP front camera. This selfie madness is a scourge.

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS!!!! I knew I liked you for some reason!

 

[LeoRex]

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS!!!! I knew I liked you for some reason!

It's true... I mean, when I played around with the M8... I got the feeling that the phone was designed for the self centered type... "Why do I need a good main camera when the best pictures I take are the ones of myself?" Between that and the metallic case whose only function seemingly is to show off... and those massive speakers that will most likely annoy the hell out of everyone around you while you listen to your xibeifeng/dubstep fusion. Who cares if the other people around me are annoyed, DAT SOUND! Even their ads have this kind of pretentious hipster "I'm awesome and so is my phone" vibe.

Not saying everyone who owns a M8 is a royal twit, take no offense please.... just seems like the phone is geared towards one.

 

[Wildo6882]

It's true... I mean, when I played around with the M8... I got the feeling that the phone was designed for the self centered type... "Why do I need a good main camera when the best pictures I take are the ones of myself?" Between that and the metallic case whose only function seemingly is to show off... and those massive speakers that will most likely annoy the hell out of everyone around you while you listen to your xibeifeng/dubstep fusion. Who cares if the other people around me are annoyed, DAT SOUND! Even their ads have this kind of pretentious hipster "I'm awesome and so is my phone" vibe.

Not saying everyone who owns a M8 is a royal twit, take no offense please.... just seems like the phone is geared towards one.

I like a decent selfie cam, but it's not really for selfies. It's really for what my wife and I call "us-ies". It's good for taking pics of you and the lady friend or of you and your kids when no one else is around. But I take a grand total of ZERO pictures of just myself. I only use the front cam for me and other people. That's what I was referring to. The fact that people take a bajillion pictures of themselves is simply unnerving. And I think it's actually a psychological problem that probably needs professional help to fix.