Today we have the Samsung’s current flagship, the Galaxy S4 and LG’s first phablet – Optimus G Pro. Samsung’s Galaxy S4 was announced in March and has been available in the market since April while the G Pro was announced in February, but has been available in the market only since July. Both the devices pack powerful processors under their Full HD display. The Galaxy S4’s more fierce competitor is the newly launched LG G2 and we will be bringing you that comparison pretty soon.
Now lets check out how the Galaxy S4 and Optimus G Pro compete against each other.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufYx413YMzw
Design, Build Quality
Samsung Galaxy S4 is not much different from its predecessor in terms of design with the same all plastic build and similar design language. The Optimus G Pro, on the other hand, has a very solid build quality with glass front and textured glass back. Both the phones have curved edges which makes them easier to hold, but the Galaxy S4 has a plastic rim running across the device while the G Pro has a solid metal rim.
In terms of dimensions, the Optimus G Pro is taller, wider and thicker than the Galaxy S4. The Galaxy S4 weighs a mere 130g while the G Pro weighs 172g making it quite heavy.
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 both the phones, we have the front camera and the proximity and ambient sensors on the right side of the earpiece. On the Galaxy S4, there is a light sensor and LED notification light on the left side of the earpiece. The earpiece is along the top edge on the G Pro.
Below the display, we have a physical home button on both the devices flanked by capacitive touch keys on either side. On the G Pro, the home button is surrounded by a LED light.
The arrangement of keys is quite similar with only the power lock key on the right side of both the phone.
On the bottom, we have a microUSB port and microphone.
On the left side, we have a volume rocker on both the phones although there is an extra Q-slide key on the G Pro which is customizable for various uses.
On the top we have a 3.5mm audio jack, IR blaster and secondary microphone on both the devices.
The keys are made of brushed aluminum on the Galaxy S4, while they are made of plastic on the G Pro. The keys on the S4 are well accessible and offer better feedback when compared to G Pro.
The back of both the phones is different as the Galaxy S4 has a glossy textured plastic back while the G Pro has a textured glossy glass back. Both the devices become smudgy after a few minutes of usage and are fingerprint prone. The 13MP camera on both the phones are located at the top-center with the LED flash below the camera on S4 and the LED flash to the right of the camera in the G Pro. The speaker grill is located bottom left on the S4 while it is found to the left of the camera in the G Pro. Below the camera, we have the company branding on both the phones.
The back cover is removable on both the phones. Removing the back case, we find the battery compartment.
On the S4, the non-hotswappable microSIM card slot and the hot-swappable microSD card slot are above the battery while they are located below the battery on the G Pro.
Overall, the Galaxy S4 is nothing new in terms of design with the same Samsung design and all plastic build, but is quite handy and fits perfectly into the hand and is very light. The Optimus G Pro is solidly built, but is on the heavier side.
Display
Both the phones have a 1080p Full HD display. Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 5inch SuperAMOLED display while the Optimus G Pro has a 5.5inch IPS+ display. The Galaxy S4 has a pixel density of 441ppi while the Optimus G Pro has a pixel density of 401ppi.
In terms of brightness, both the displays were good, but the one on the Galaxy S4 seemed brighter. In terms of color saturation and contrast, the Galaxy S4 was quite good, but being a SuperAMOLED display, it was over-saturated. Both the displays had excellent viewing angles. Whites were good on the G Pro while blacks were darker on the S4. Images were more crisp on the S4 because of the higher pixel density
Overall, we liked the display on the Galaxy S4.
Hardware and Performance
Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the first devices to be powered by an octa-core processor and it features Samsung’s own Exynos 5410 , has 2GB RAM and graphics is taken care by PowerSGX544MP3 GPU while the Optimus G Pro is powered by a 1.7 GHz QuadCore Snapdragon 600 SoC, has 2GB RAM and Adreno 320 GPU. Despite the octa-core tag, the Galaxy S4 has two quad-core processors which work one at time depending on the load.
Both the phones come in 16/32GB variants while only the Galaxy S4 has a 64GB variant(we have the 16GB variant). Both the phones have microSD card slot for storage expansion. Out of the 16GB, Galaxy S4 has just around 8.90GB user accessible storage while G Pro has around 10.11GB.
Out of the 2GB RAM, both the phones have 1.8GB usable RAM and have 1.2GB free when the devices are idle.
Both the phones are extremely snappy in day-to-day tasks. Opening apps and switching between them is equally fast on both the phones.
In benchmarks, the Galaxy S4 beat the G Pro in most of the benchmarks while G Pro beat the S4 in a couple of benchmarks.
Camera
Both the phones have a 13MP camera at the back with LED flash and Galaxy S4 has a 2MP camera at the front while the G Pro has a 2.1MP snapper at the front. Both the phones are capable of recording 1080p Full HD videos with stereo sound from both the front and back cameras.
The camera UI is quite different on both the phones. Various shooting modes like HDR, Panorama and burst mode is available on both the devices. Galaxy S4 has around 12 shooting modes while the G Pro has just around 7. Both the phones have dual-camera mode which lets you use both the cameras at the same time.
In terms of image clarity, the images and videos of Galaxy S4 were just slightly better with less noise, more details and better contrast and saturation. You can check out the video below to know more about the camera quality of both the devices.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0l20Ge_tzk
Software features
Samsung Galaxy S4 runs on a more recent version of Android – 4.2.2 Jellybean while the G Pro runs on Android 4.1.2 Jellybean. Samsung’s TouchWiz not only adds eye-candy with UI, but has a ton of features that includes Multi-window, S-Beam, Air-view, Air Gesture, Smart Stay, Smart scroll, smart pause and pop-up videos. LG comes with Q-apps that are similar to Sony’s small apps, but can be used only two at a time. There is also a note-taking app from LG which reminds us of Note 2’s S-Note app. LG has a Q-slide key on the left side of the phone which can be configured to open any Q-apps or other apps directly.
In terms of software, Samsung Galaxy S4 is definitely ahead with lots of features and customizations.
Gaming
Both the phones are quite good for gaming. Both the phones have great processors and excellent displays. Almost all the games run quite smoothly on the phones and gaming is quite good on both the devices. Because of the bigger display on the G Pro, gaming is slightly better.
Battery and Connectivity
The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 2600mAh battery while the Optimus G Pro has a 3140mAh battery. In terms of battery life, the one on the G Pro is better.
In terms of connectivity, both the devices are equipped with features like WiFi(802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth, 3G, NFC, WiFi Direct, DLNA, USB OTG and microUSB(MHL) connectivity.
Conclusion
Samsung Galaxy S4 is meant to be Samsung’s flagship and it gets the job done. The Optimus G Pro on the other hand is meant to be more Note 2 competitor than the S4 competitor. However, both the devices are excellent in their own terms. Samsung Galaxy S4 retails for Rs. 37,200 while the Optimus G Pro is available for Rs. 32,999.
Advantages of Galaxy S4 over G Pro
- Better display
- Light weight
- Better software features
- Better camera
Advantages of G Pro over Galaxy S4
- Solid Build quality
- Relatively cheaper price point
- Better battery
- Bigger display