Early view: LG G3 vs LG G2

Design, display and power

The arrival of the LG G3 surprised nobody as we all knew it was in the works thanks to a volley of leaks and even LG itself confirming the handset on numerous occasions.

There's fierce competition at the top of the mobile market, with the G3 joining the Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z2 and HTC One M8 in the flagship enclosure.

Plus, with the likes of the OnePlus One and Huawei Ascend P7 peeking over the fence we're becoming spoilt for choice.

• Read our hands on: LG G3 review

With a brand new screen, larger body and extra power the good news is that the G3 builds on 2013's LG G2 in several areas.

We've gone through both handsets to see if the LG G3 is enough of an upgrade on last year's offering to see it tackle the burgeoning mobile market.

Design

The biggest visual difference between the LG G3 and the LG G2 is that while the G2 is unashamedly plastic the LG G3 has a body that looks and feels like metal. Don't be fooled, it's still every bit as plastic as the G2 but the metal effect is surprisingly convincing and the back cover is removable, which the G2's isn't.

As you'd expect the 146.3 x 74.6 x 8.9mm LG G3 is also bigger than the 138.5 x 70.9 x 8.9mm G2, but not enormously so and it's no thicker. At 149g it's a little heavier than the 143g LG G2 as well.

Both phones relegate the buttons to the back of the handset, but they've been re-designed on the G3 to be smaller and arguably more stylish.

Both phones also take a microSIM card, but there are a few other differences between them, as while the LG G2 has its speakers on the base, the G3 has them on the back and the G3 has a microSD card slot with support for cards of up to 128GB, which the G2 doesn't.

Display

One of the biggest selling points of the LG G3 is surely its display, which at 5.5 inches is pretty huge and at 2560 x 1440 is very high resolution, giving it a pixel density of 538 pixels per inch.

The LG G2 is no slouch in the display department either, but at 5.2 inches and 1080 x 1920, giving it a pixel density of 424 pixels per inch, it's both smaller and lower resolution than the LG G3. However both phones have IPS LCD screens.

Power

The LG G3 is a beast under the hood, thanks to a 2.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 2 or 3GB of RAM (depending on the internal storage capacity) and an Adreno 330 GPU.

The LG G2 has the same GPU, but it uses a 2.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and has 2GB of RAM, so while it was a top flight device last year it has decidedly lower specs than the G3.

Both phones have a choice of 16 or 32GB of built in storage.

Page 2: OS, camera, battery and price

Operating system

The LG G3 runs Android 4.4.2 and while the LG G2 launched with Android 4.2.2 it can be upgraded to the latest version, so there's essentially no difference there.

Both phones also use LG's Optimus UI, but the LG G3 comes with an updated version of it, with a new, cleaner look and some new features, the most notable of which is 'Smart Notice', which provides context sensitive information, reminders and suggestions.

Camera

Both the LG G2 and LG G3 have 13MP cameras, but while the LG G2 has a single LED flash and OIS (optical image stabilisation), the LG G3 has a dual-LED flash, OIS+ and a laser autofocus.

The laser autofocus allows the G3 to take shots quicker than the G2, meaning you're less likely to miss a special moment.

Sensitivity on the LG G3 has also been radically improved over the G2, so it's far better equipped to take sharper shots, and the inclusion of Magic Focus brings the now popular background defocus effect to the handset.

Both phones have 2.1 megapixel front-facing snappers and both can shoot video in 1080p, but the LG G3 can go one better and shoot in 2160p with the rear sensor.

Battery

Both the LG G2 and the LG G3 have 3000mAh batteries, but while you can remove the juice pack from the G3 it's locked into place in the G2.

In theory that gives the LG G3 a slight edge since it opens up the option of carrying a spare and swapping them when one runs low, but on the other hand with its QHD screen and high power innards it might be more battery hungry.

Price

Right now the LG G2 is available from around £300 SIM free, or from £21 per month on a two year contract with no upfront cost.

LG hasn't confirmed exactly what the G3 will sell for yet but we're expecting it to be around £550 SIM free, so almost twice as much as the G2. Contract prices are likely to be similarly pricey.

Early verdict

While we'll certainly need to put it through its paces the LG G3 sounds, on paper at least, like a substantial upgrade over the LG G2. The screen is better, it's more powerful, has a slightly more premium design, an improved camera, a revitalised interface and a few additions like a microSD card slot.

It's a bit of a shame that the battery hasn't been given a boost as it was one of the best things about the LG G2 and we can't help but worry that it might not hold up so well when coupled with the G3's retina-searing screen.

Plus the LG G3 is likely to cost nearly twice as much as the LG G2, but it's no more expensive than most other high end phones and if you want a true top tier flagship this looks like it might fit the bill.

• Samsung might have a super phone of its own on the way.

from Techradar - All the latest technology news http://ift.tt/1pgxIiR