Re: Trying to decide. 5s or lg g3.
I was in the same boat as you earlier this year. I had narrowed my choices down to either the Galaxy S5, HTC One M8, and LG G3. I nixed the M8 after seeing pictures taken with it's 4MP camera. They looked great for nighttime shots but daytime shots lacked detail and were generally just OK, no better than my Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet (which has just a 5MP shooter on the back). I mainly take photos in well-lit areas so I decided against the M8.
I played with both the G3 and S5 before making my decision to buy the S5. Here are the initial reasons I went with it over the G3:
1. I think the S5's screen looks better when it comes to color reproduction. The resolution of both phones are already extreme so pixel densities really don't matter. The size of the G3's display is nice but I preferred the way colors looked on the S5.
2. The S5 has better battery life.
3. The S5 is water resistant. I work in a water research lab so this is crucial for me. I take advantage of this feature on a daily basis even when I'm at home. I no longer have to buy a $90 case just to worry about my phone getting splashed with water.
4. There are more accessories that are easier to buy for the S5. I can walk into any electronics store, Walmart, Target, or cell shop in my area and have a choice between at least 10 cases for my S5. I have to specifically go online or to a Verizon store to find more than 2 case selection for the G3.
5. The S5 has dedicated buttons for the task manager, home, and back functions. I don't want virtual buttons on my smartphone at this point and Samsung is one of the only companies to continue using physical buttons. I like that. I know it's not the direction that Google is pushing towards but I wanted (and still want) a smartphone with those physical buttons.
Those are the reasons why I initially chose the S5 over the G3. I can't really say that I have had buyer's remorse except now I want an even bigger smartphone (even bigger than the G3). I have really only experienced two issues with my S5 after owning it for 8 months now. The first issue was with Bluetooth audio playback. It was stuttering no matter what app I used to playback audio with. I tried Samsung's music player (which is absolutely terrible), the Google Play Music app, Poweramp, and a few others. I later found out that the Verizon version was specifically having a bunch of Bluetooth audio problems. The update to Android 4.4.4 helped fix that and Verizon/Samsung later released a patch specifically addressing Bluetooth audio. I haven't really had any problems since that update.
The second issue is with the S5's charger. It uses a micro USB 3.0 connection and Samsung put a cover over it. The cover is annoying to open and it now refuses to close on my fiance's S5. I know someone else with an S5 and they just removed the cover all together. I haven't had any other long-term issues come up.
There were some other, smaller issues too like Samsung's software and pre-installed Verizon apps but all of them can be removed or disabled. The only thing that can't completely be disabled is TouchWiz but using a different launcher pretty much eases that pain.
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