Need to Switch from LG G3

[tko_49]

I recently moved from using iOS for the past 5 years to Android. I have to say I am really enjoying Android and feel I more productive than I was with an iPhone. I really don't want to go back to an iPhone. However, the phone I originally went with was the LG G3, which is a great phone, but it is not meeting my needs. The battery drains too quickly for moderate to heavy use, I always need to recharge during the day. (my iPhone would last all day with about 15% remaining by the time I went to bed). Also, a biggie for me is that Microsoft Office Mobile is not compatible with LG G3. I tried other apps as a work around, but none met worked well enough. This is important since my organization subscribes to Office 360 and we are always sharing documents to edit. Looking at available Android phones the Galaxy S5 seemed to be the next best option. I have some questions that some of you may be able to answer.

How is the battery? Does it last throughout the day?

Is Office Mobile compatible? I searched online but could not find an answer.

Since the phone has been out for sometime now, is it still a good buy?

I read in some reviews call quality is not great. Anyone have problems with this? I am on Verizon.

Thanks for any help you can provide to a newbie.

 

[ScottsoNJ]

I recently moved from using iOS for the past 5 years to Android. I have to say I am really enjoying Android and feel I more productive than I was with an iPhone. I really don't want to go back to an iPhone. However, the phone I originally went with was the LG G3, which is a great phone, but it is not meeting my needs. The battery drains too quickly for moderate to heavy use, I always need to recharge during the day. (my iPhone would last all day with about 15% remaining by the time I went to bed). Also, a biggie for me is that Microsoft Office Mobile is not compatible with LG G3. I tried other apps as a work around, but none met worked well enough. This is important since my organization subscribes to Office 360 and we are always sharing documents to edit. Looking at available Android phones the Galaxy S5 seemed to be the next best option. I have some questions that some of you may be able to answer.

How is the battery? Does it last throughout the day?

Is Office Mobile compatible? I searched online but could not find an answer.

Since the phone has been out for sometime now, is it still a good buy?

I read in some reviews call quality is not great. Anyone have problems with this? I am on Verizon.

Thanks for any help you can provide to a newbie.

Some people might not agree but probably the best phone for you would be the LG G2. It has a great screen,awesome battery life,great camera but it is a year old already. I don't think any phone out can match everything. S5 is a great phone also but I know from experience that touch wiz can be laggy. HTC One M8 is also great but the camera is no where as good as the G2. Moto X 2014 is also a great phone but again the camera is crap compared to the G2. This is just my opinion. Most reviews say the G2 has a very good to great camera,awesome battery,great display. So that's my 2C
I forgot to add the Nexus 5 would also be a great choice and probably cheaper

 

[tko_49]

The LG G2 is a bit too old. I'm not sure if I would want to be stuck in a two year contract with a phone that is already a year old. Plus the updated LG os on the LG G3 is much better than the G2.

Camera is not that important to me. I may take 10 pictures a year. If I am going away on vacation or to an important event I use a regular camera.

I liked the Moto X 2nd generation, but the only option for in store purchase is 16gb versions. I like to keep music on the phone so I don't have to stream. With the iPhone I only had the 16gb version and streaming always caused me to go over my monthly data. I know you can order 32gb through the Moto store, but I need a phone to use. I liked that both the G3 and the S5 has an SD card option. A little lag doesn't bother me too much. As long as it is not extreme lag.

 

[Parham Goudarzi]

Galaxy S5 is quite good, but I recommend you Sony z3. Its bateery life is awesome. The same display of S5, and the same chip of S5. And the other thing is I recommend you to wait a bit and buy the Note 4. That's a great phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Jdroids]

Sony Z3 has great battery life but its screen color is too cold white, too much blueish on white screen. You can see that on phonearena review.

I think S5 is better phone than G3. It's got better battery life and screen except resolution. Moto X 2nd gen is good phone but its battery life and camera is sub par to other flagships.

 

[Allenhardiman]

I have a verizon gs5 right now and battery life has been excellent for me.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[psp1232171]

My battery is outstanding. I have no problems with my S5.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[tko_49]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I exchanged the G3 for the Galaxy S5. So far the battery definitely seems to be better. The phone also seems easier to hold. Mobile Office works, which was important for me. The G3 had a cleaner interface compared to TouchWiz. I think this phone will work well for me.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

There's something wrong with your G3. I never get less than 12-13 hours on a battery charge. Today, which has been fairly light, I'm at 11 hours with 41% left, and 2 hours screen on time.

The S5 is a very good phone, but so is the G3. Rather than spending a bunch of money on a new phone, I'd suggest you try to figure out what's wrong with your current phone.

FWIW, my son has an S5, I have a G3. Battery life seems comparable. I think the screen on the S5 is better in some respects (daylight visibility and angle of view), the G3 feels much better in the hand. Can't help with Office 365, but it should be fine. My son hasn't noticed any issue with call quality.

 

[AZgl1500]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I exchanged the G3 for the Galaxy S5. So far the battery definitely seems to be better. The phone also seems easier to hold. Mobile Office works, which was important for me. The G3 had a cleaner interface compared to TouchWiz. I think this phone will work well for me.

Take a look at the NOVA launcher, I feel that will resolve your issues about TouchWiz.

Nova Launcher has the added benefit of being able to make backups of the Home Screens retaining all of the folders like you want them. You can send the backups to yourself via email so you have an "off the phone" backup. If the phone is ever reset, any backups stored on the phone will be lost. You can also have Nova store the backups on the SDcard if you have one.

The battery on my S5 has always done well for me. Very easy to get a full day's use w/o it going dead.

 

[Rmedy21]

I never had an LG phone so I can not speak upon that. Now I've had iPhone and Samsung phones. I currently have two S5 I gave up my iPhone for another S5. I also had the note 3 but I got rid of it It a great phone but I never really use the s_pen features. But nonetheless S5 has been good to me I couldn't complain. It is very rare that I get lag on the phone. The battery life is good to me. I just bought Samsung charging kit so I have a spare battery. But you can always get an extended battery if you wanted to. I'm not KNOCKING the iPhone, its a good phone. However, just be prepared to adapt back to a locked eco system. GS5 is a good phone period.

Posted via Verizon Galaxy S5

 

[klutz02]

I'm probably going to be the odd person out but I have the S5 and I HATE it. I had an LG G2 and loved it but it was on the ATT network and i wanted to switch to Verizon. So I got the S5 and have had nothing but trouble with it. I am on my third phone and nothing is changing. I am a very light user, just the occasional fb browse and message and that is all I use it for during the work day. I unplug the phone at 7 AM. Right now it is at 54% battery life with 5h 13 min on the battery and 1h 33m screen time. With my LG G2...I would never drop below 60% by the time I would get home from work at 4:30...even using messenger all day long. Maybe I've just had really crappy luck with them and gotten 3 bad phones but I can't wait to trade this sucker off. I'm either going to the LG G3 or the new Droid Turbo.

 

[Crimsonforce]

I'm probably going to be the odd person out but I have the S5 and I HATE it. I had an LG G2 and loved it but it was on the ATT network and i wanted to switch to Verizon. So I got the S5 and have had nothing but trouble with it. I am on my third phone and nothing is changing. I am a very light user, just the occasional fb browse and message and that is all I use it for during the work day. I unplug the phone at 7 AM. Right now it is at 54% battery life with 5h 13 min on the battery and 1h 33m screen time. With my LG G2...I would never drop below 60% by the time I would get home from work at 4:30...even using messenger all day long. Maybe I've just had really crappy luck with them and gotten 3 bad phones but I can't wait to trade this sucker off. I'm either going to the LG G3 or the new Droid Turbo.

You have to tweak the GS5. Out of the box battery life is terrible. This is what I'm getting. Over 6 hours SOT. No gaming or videos though..

 

[robsawalker]

Just goes to show, horses for courses! I traded my xperia Z2 for my S5 and I absolutely love it. I've had sony, Apple, htc, and always come back to Samsung in the end. I love the screens and the plastic body makes them light and easy to hold. Replaceable batteries, sd card slot, water resistant, great camera, love it! Battery is not as good as the xperia but it's pretty good. Just over 7 hours screen time though, and wireless charging and swappable batteries soon sorts any heavy usage.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Allenhardiman]

How do you tweak your s5 to get those screen on time? Is it rooted?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Rmedy21]

Yeah I am a heavy user sometimes I feel the need to buy a third party battery. I only get 6 hours at most with this phone. That medium to heavy usage. It's just that this software system uses so much in the background.

Posted via Verizon Galaxy S5

 

[Crimsonforce]

How do you tweak your s5 to get those screen on time? Is it rooted?

Posted via the Android Central App

Google Galaxy S5 Bloatware list and disable all those apps (unless there are ones you use). Then go through the all apps list and disable anything you don't use. We shouldn't have to do this but that's just how it is with Galaxy phones. Other than that I just keep my brightness around 20% or so. That's plenty bright for me. Again those times are with no streaming videos or games. Mainly just reading forums/text/email/web browsing and stock market. The SOT would obviously be less with any CPU/GPU intensive apps or games. I have location off also unless I am using GPS. I don't toggle data on and off or anything like that. And I haven't used ultra power saving mode yet either..

 

[Jdroids]

I'm probably going to be the odd person out but I have the S5 and I HATE it. I had an LG G2 and loved it but it was on the ATT network and i wanted to switch to Verizon. So I got the S5 and have had nothing but trouble with it. I am on my third phone and nothing is changing. I am a very light user, just the occasional fb browse and message and that is all I use it for during the work day. I unplug the phone at 7 AM. Right now it is at 54% battery life with 5h 13 min on the battery and 1h 33m screen time. With my LG G2...I would never drop below 60% by the time I would get home from work at 4:30...even using messenger all day long. Maybe I've just had really crappy luck with them and gotten 3 bad phones but I can't wait to trade this sucker off. I'm either going to the LG G3 or the new Droid Turbo.

I have both S5 and G2 on at&t and battery life is very similar between two. The G2 is a little better on standby drain rate but S5 seems to get a little longer screen on time.

Both phones are on auto brightness and location off most of time. Also make sure to disable, turn off carrier, samsung bloats. Some of them are known battery hogs. Battery drain on S5 could be bad if you just leave it at out of box state.