I'm buying an S5 because I'm a toddler's dad.

[hellodmo]

I'm writing this hoping to help others having an existential crisis between the S5 or G3.

I'm a longtime iPhone user, starting with the iPhone 4, but lately, I've been bored. I want something I can tinker with. I want a larger screen. I know Apple will (probably) release a new iPhone this year with a larger screen, but still, I'm bored. Therefore, Android.

When I started doing research trying to figure out which phone I wanted to purchase, the flagships were the HTC One (M8), the LG G3 and the Samsung S5. I eliminated the HTC on account of it's camera, leaving the G3 and the S5 as possibilities. It took me a few weeks, but I've made my decision. Here are the few things that I saw as the most important pros and cons, as well as the things they seem to do equally well.

How I use my phone

• Web browsing
• Reading books
• Email
• Checking Facebook
• Taking pictures of my son

I know that's a boring list, but that's pretty much it.

Strengths of Both Phones

• Camera - 13 and 16 MP respectively. That's good enough.
• Ergonomics - They both felt great in my hand.
• Expandable Memory - I love music. I have 80 gigs of it. I want to keep it all with me all the time. 128GB SD card, here I come.
• Speed - Both phones use the same processor.

Where the G3 won

• Screen Size - I LOVE the size of the G3 screen. It's so big!
• Sound Quality - The LG G3 is an "audiophile's" phone.
• Looks - There's no denying that the G3 is a prettier phone than the S5.
• Resolution - The resolution of the G3 is INSANE. I used "Rockefeller's View" from InterfaceLift (sorry, I don't have enough points to post a link) as a "reference photo" between the two phones. The detail on the LG was incredible. I could see each individual window!
• Cleanliness of UI - I generally liked the cleanliness of the Android skin that LG had created. It seemed less cheesy, and a more "grown up" than Samsung's.
• Internal Memory - I live in the US. Land of the 16GB Galaxy and the 32GB G3.

Where the S5 won

• Contrast Ratio - I can't speak highly enough of the contrast ratio. Blacks are black.
• Brightness Range - And by brightness range, I don't only mean how bright the phone gets, but also how dim it gets. The G3 is brighter at it's low end than the S5, so it'd likely blind me in the middle of the night.
• Headphone jack on top - I can now start using my smartphone stand again, and keep my headphones plugged in.
• One Handed Operation - Their implementation of One Handed Operation is far superior to the G3, reducing the ENTIRE screen to a smaller size, as opposed to simply reducing the keyboard or the number pad.
• Multitasking - Samsung opted to allow developers to build apps that can be multitasked. LGs multitasking is limited to their select applications.
• Water resistance - Did I mention I'm a dad? I have a toddler at home, and when he flushes my phone, I don't want to worry.
• Kids Mode - I hear that it wasn't released with the phone, but it's available as an add-on after the fact. Either way, I want it.

Conclusion

In the end, the deciding factors for me were the one-handed operation, brightness capabilities, contrast ratio, and water resistance of the G3. Being a father to a small kid means sometimes having only one hand to work with. Samsung makes that very easy for me with the one-handed operation. When I'm cradling a child trying to get him to go to sleep, and I want to read, I don't want a phone that will emit so much light that it distracts from the task of napping. Seeing as how I can turn down the brightness pretty far, I shouldn't have much of an issue with the S5. When I go to the splash pad, or when my son decides to see what happens when he drops Daddy's phone into a cup of water, I don't want to worry.

 

[the tall guy]

I'm mainly writing this hoping that if someone else is having the same dilemma choosing the S5 or G3, perhaps this will help with the decision.

I'm a longtime iPhone user, starting with the iPhone 4, but lately, I've just been getting bored with iOS, and with iPhones in general. I want something more configurable and a larger screen as well. I'm aware that Apple will probably release a new iPhone within the year that will have a larger screen, but I'm bored enough with the ecosystem to start branching out. Therefore, Android.

When I started doing research trying to figure out which phone I wanted to purchase, the flagships were the HTC One (M8), the LG G3 and the Samsung S5. I eliminated the HTC pretty quickly on account of it's camera, so that left the LG G3 and the S5. It took me a few weeks, but I've made my decision. Here are the few things that I saw as the most important pros and cons, as well as the things they seem to do equally well.

How I use my phone

• Web browsing
• Reading books
• Email
• Checking Facebook
• Taking pictures of my son

I know that's a boring list, but that's pretty much it.

Strengths of Both Phones

• Camera - 13 and 16 MP respectively. That's good enough.
• Ergonomics - They both felt great in my hand.
• Expandable Memory - Carrying my whole music collection with me is important. I have about 80 gigs, so the expandable memory on the phone is a great thing for someone who has previously been limited to 64GB total in the past.
• Speed - Both phones use the same processor. It's good enough for my purposes.

Where the G3 won

• Screen Size - I LOVE the size of the G3 screen. It's so big!
• Sound Quality - The LG G3 has one of the best sounding phones, as far as music.
• Looks - There's no denying that the G3 is a prettier phone than the S5. As a consumer used to the build quality of the iPhone, I wanted something that would be at least close to the iPhone in quality, and the S5 most certainly falls short in that category. Believe it or not, this was a major consideration for me. The tiny bezels on the G3 really make you feel immersed in any videos you might watch. I liked the fact that the G3 has software buttons instead of hardware buttons on the front. It really cleans up the overall look. Samsung, on the other hand, has that ugly silver bezel around the whole phone. Seriously? Nothing that can't be hidden with a case, but still. I used to carry my phone "naked" because in Apple-land, adding a case by definition adds ugliness to the phone. The same can't be said for Samsung.
• Resolution - The resolution of the G3 is INSANE. I used "Rockefeller's View" from InterfaceLift (sorry, I don't have enough points to post a link) as a "reference photo" between the two phones. The detail on the LG was incredible. I could see each individual window!
• Cleanliness of UI - I generally liked the cleanliness of the Android skin that LG had created. It seemed a little less cheesy, and a little more "grown up" than the S5.
• Internal Memory - I live in the US. Land of the 16GB Galaxy and the 32GB G3.

Where the S5 won

• Contrast Ratio - I can't speak highly enough of the contrast ratio. I used to have a Zune HD years ago, and one of my favorite things about the device was that blacks were black. This is very true of the Samsung, and I applaud them in the quality of their screen. As a result of the contrast, overall, I would have to say the screen looks much better, even with the reduced ppi.
• Brightness Range - And by brightness range, I don't simply mean how bright the phone gets, but also how dim it gets. I did some comparisons in store with the dimmest that the G3 backlight would go, and then the next day I set my iPhone to a similar brightness when I woke up. It was kind of absurd how blinding it was. 9 nits is too much in the middle of the night. Samsung can go much lower, and, in combination with the AMOLED, it still means that blacks are black, emitting NO light. That's nice. Of course, there's also the fact that it's brighter in the sun than the G3.
• Headphone jack on top - Yes. The headphone jack is on the top. I like that. I was sad when Apple moved the headphone jack to the bottom. It sounds silly, but it makes the difference between using my phone stand, and not using my phone stand.
• One Handed Operation - Their implementation of One Handed Operation is far superior to the G3, reducing the ENTIRE screen to a smaller size, as opposed to simply reducing the keyboard or the number pad.
• Multitasking - Samsung opted to allow developers to build apps that can be multitasked, as opposed to restricting users to only those apps that they choose, which is the case with the LG.
• Water resistance - Did I mention I'm a dad? I have a toddler at home, and when he decides to flush my phone down the toilet, I don't want to worry too much.
• Kids Mode - I hear that it wasn't released with the phone, but it's available as an add-on after the fact. Either way, that sounds awesome to me.

Conclusion

In the end, the deciding factors for me were the one-handed operation, brightness capabilities, contrast ratio, and water resistance of the G3. Being a father to a small kid means sometimes having only one hand to work with. Samsung makes that very easy for me with the one-handed operation. When I'm cradling a child trying to get him to go to sleep, and I want to read, I don't want a phone that will emit so much light that it distracts from the task of napping. Seeing as how I can turn down the brightness pretty far, I shouldn't have much of an issue with the S5. When I go to the splash pad, or when my son decides to see what happens when he drops Daddy's phone into a cup of water, I don't want to worry.

It's a shame that you dismissed the M8 very early on - I think the camera is amazing. It's main plus feature for me is the super fast shutter speed. It ticks all the boxes from your above requirements with the exception of the water proofing. The S5 is a good phone, but just like you mentioned above - I returned my G5 as it was boring, too similar to the g4

 

[sweetypie31]

I'm glad u found the phone that will work for u and your situation.

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