Samsung has a wide range of Android smartphones in the form of its Galaxy series and it even touched the 6inch+ phablet territory with its Galaxy Mega 6.3. LG announced the Optimus G Pro with dimensions similar to Samsung’s yesteryear phablet champion – the Galaxy Note 2.
Samsung announced their Galaxy Mega 6.3 at the end of May earlier this year and it has been available since June. LG announced the Optimus G Pro way back in February, but it was launched in India only in India to very little fanfare. The Samsung Galaxy Mega is on its way to become the most wanted big phone while Optimus G Pro tries to succeed as a LG smartphone.
Lets check out how they perform.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiC7pYpMYCM
Design, Build Quality
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 looks like any other Samsung Galaxy phone and has an all plastic build with a plastic aluminum running across the device. The LG Optimus G Pro, on the other hand, has a solid glass front and back supported by a solid and heavy metal rim at the center . The Optimus G Pro feels quite solid and feels extremely premium than the huge and sturdy all plastic Galaxy Mega 6.3.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 is taller and wider than the Optimus G Pro, but is considerably thinner. The Galaxy Mega 6.3 weighs around 200 grams while the Optimus G Pro weighs around 170 grams.
On the front of the phones, we have the display above which we have the earpiece and front cameras along with ambient and proximity sensors on the right side. The earpiece on the LG Optimus G Pro is along the edge.
Below the display, we have a physical home button with capacitive touch keys on either side on both the phones, but the home button is surrounded by LED light only on the G Pro. The LED notification is found on the left side of the earpiece in the Galaxy Mega.
The positioning of keys is similar with only the power lock key on the right side.
The bottom of both the phones have the microUSB port and the microphone.
On the left side, the Galaxy Mega has just the volume rocker while we have the volume rocker and a special Q-Slide key that is customizable for various functionalities.
On the top, we have the IR blaster and 3.5mm audio jack along with secondary microphone on both the phones.
Moving to the back side, the 8MP camera on the Galaxy Mega is at the top center along with the LED flash while we have the 13MP camera on G Pro with LED flash and speaker grill on its sides. Both the phones have a very glossy textured back, however, we liked the glassy finish on the G Pro.
The back cover is removable on the both the phones and removing it, we have the 3200mAh battery along with the microSIM and microSD card slot in the Galaxy Mega while we have a 3140mAh battery and microSD and microSIM card slots.
Overall, the LG Optimus G Pro has a very premium finish and solid build quality while the Galaxy Mega has a more common all plastic build which makes it less solid.
Display
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a 6.3inch HD(1280×720 pixels) SC LCD display with a pixel density of 230ppi while the Optimus G Pro has a 5.5inch Tru IPS+ Full HD display sporting a pixel density of 401ppi. The Optimus G Pro is way ahead of the Galaxy Mega in terms of pixel density. The display on the LG Optimus G Pro is better than the Galaxy Mega in almost all factors like Contrast, viewing angles, color reproduction and sunlight legibility.
Hardware and Performance
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 is powered by a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 400 SoC with two Krait cores, has 1.5GB RAM and graphics is taken care by the Adreno 305 GPU while the LG Optimus G Pro is powered by a 1.7 GHz QuadCore Snapdragon 600 SoC, has 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 GPU.
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 comes in two variants ( 8GB/16GB variants – we have the 16GB variant) and the Optimus G Pro has 16/32GB variants(we have the 16GB variant). Out of the 16GB, both the phones have around 12GB user accessible memory and have a microSD card slot for expansion.
Out of the 1.5GB RAM in Galaxy Mega 6.3, only 1370MB is usable and when the device is idle, there is 700MB available. On the Optimus G Pro, out of the 2GB RAM, 1.8GB is usable and when the phone is idle, there is 1.3GB usable RAM.
The faster processor and more RAM give the LG Optimus G Pro a big upper hand in terms of performance. The G Pro is smoother and faster in opening apps and switching between them.
In benchmarks, the Galaxy Mega 6.3 is no competition to the LG Optimus G Pro.
Camera
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a 8MP camera at the back and 1.9MP camera at the front while the Optimus G Pro has a 13MP camera at the back and 2.1MP camera at the front. Both the phones can record 1080p videos at 30fps with stereo sound from the rear camera while only the Optimus G Pro records 1080p videos from the front camera as well.
The camera UI is different on both the phones as it is always the case with Samsung and LG phones. The camera app on the Galaxy Mega 6.3 is borrowed from Samsung’s Galaxy S4, but it does not have all its shooting modes. The LG Optimus G Pro’s camera app is better than it was on the Optimus G and has more shooting modes. It can record dual videos(both front and rear camera) and there is a HDR mode for videos as well.
In terms of image clarity, the Optimus G Pro was much better with less noise, more details, better contrast and true colors.
Software features
Galaxy Mega 6.3 has the Samsung’s custom TouchWiz UI on top of it while LG Optimus G Pro has LG’s own UI. Underneath, the Galaxy Mega runs on a more recent Android 4.2.2 Jellybean while the G Pro is still stuck on Android 4.1.2 JB. So, features like quick toggles in the notification bar, lockscreen widgets and other under the hood optimizations are currently restricted to Galaxy Mega until Optimus G Pro gets a software update from LG. The Galaxy Mega has a lot of Samsung software goodies like Smart Stay and Multi-window, Samsung’s Beam while the Optimus G Pro comes with its own version of those features like Q-Slide. There are small floating apps that can be used in LG’s phone which reminds us of Sony’s small appss.
Galaxy Mega 6.3 is better in terms of software features.
Gaming
Both the phones are quite good for gaming and the Galaxy Mega was mainly good because of its bigger screen. All the games ran smoothly on both the devices although there were a few occasional glitches on the Galaxy Mega, but the gameplay experience was good. The Optimus G Pro is an excellent device for gaming as all the games ran lag free and very smooth. After continuous gaming, we noticed that the Optimus G Pro got heated up near the home button.
Battery
The Galaxy Mega 6.3 has a 3200mAh battery while the Optimus G Pro has 3140mAh battery. In terms of battery life, the bigger battery in the Galaxy Mega is definitely better as it has to power a relatively low resolution display and less power hungry chipset.
In terms of connectivity, both the devices are equipped with features like WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, NFC, WiFi Direct and microUSB(MHL) connectivity.
Conclusion
LG Optimus G Pro was meant to be LG’s bet in the phablet market and it pretty much gets the job done. The Samsung Galaxy Mega on the other hand was not Samsung’s flagship with top of the shelf features, but it was meant to be a huge phone with decent specifications and it does pretty well.
Advantages of Galaxy Mega 6.3 over Optimus G Pro
- Bigger display
- Relatively cheaper price point
- Better battery
- Better software features
Advantages of Optimus G Pro over Galaxy Mega 6.3
- Solid build quality and premium feel
- Pocketable size
- Better performance
- Better camera
- Better gaming performance