Now that every major Android smartphone manufacturer has released their flagship smartphones, except HTC, we can do thorough comparisons between the Titans. This article is about LG G5 Vs Galaxy S7 Vs Nexus 6P and how they measure up to each other. A lot of people are looking for their next Android smartphone and this comparison will help them in tracking it down. If you are confused between selecting any of the three devices and reading this LG G5 Vs Galaxy S7 Vs Nexus 6P comparison, I’m sure you’ll have a strong candidate by the end of this article. I have spent time with the LG G5, Galaxy S7, and Nexus 6P so I’ll be able to input my own personal opinion about the smartphones as well. One point to be noted here is that all three of them are amazing smartphones. Any of the smartphones you select among these three will provide you with exceptional performance and a great Android experience. Despite having very similar performances, they have vastly different feature sets and designs. So it really boils down to what you prefer between LG G5 Vs Galaxy S7 Vs Nexus 6P and what features you are willing to sacrifice. So without further ado let’s start with the comparison between LG G5, Nexus 6P, and Galaxy S7.
Size – Personal Preference
The size of the smartphone is generally up to one’s preference. Some people like their smartphones to be small and handy while others want them to be media consuming machines. Thankfully, three devices on this comparison are quite different in terms of size. The smallest one of the bunch is the Samsung Galaxy S7 that comes at only 5.1 inches. The second one is slightly bigger; the LG G5 has a 5.3-inch screen. The largest of the lot is the Nexus 6P, coming at 5.7 inches. While LG and Samsung smartphones are quite easy to use with one hand, the nexus 6P is a bit harder. The 5.7-inch screen on the larger smartphone makes it virtually impossible to reach the top of the phone for a normal person. But if you have large hands, the smartphone will be great for you. So it all boils down to what you want in a smartphone.
Aesthetics – Samsung Galaxy S7
All three companies have really stepped up their game when designing their respective smartphones. Samsung, LG, and Huawei didn’t fully embrace the premium build qualities until last year and they have really polished their flagship offerings. The LG G5, Nexus 6P, and Samsung Galaxy S7 all have great build qualities. That LG G5 is shrouded in metal and has a rounded look to it. However, the camera hump on the back looks a little jarring as compared to the rest of the smartphone. The Nexus 6P is a beautiful smartphone with chamfered edges, however, it’s unusually taller build makes it a little odd. Especially when you consider that the bottom bezel is quite large despite having on screen buttons. So in a way Samsung has affected their flagship design, it is a lot easier to pull thanks to the curved back and has beautiful colors. Of course, this is my personal opinion, but I have seen all three smartphones in action and the Galaxy S7 stands out among the crowd.
Cases and Backplates – Nexus 6P
None of the smartphones have moved back plates, so we can rule out changing back plates on the smartphones. Thankfully there are a ton of cases available for the smartphones on the market and most of them are remarkably beautiful. Personally, I find the cases for Nexus 6P to be a lot better than the ones found for LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7. The Galaxy S7 is a new smartphone so it’s a little bit behind in terms of variety. The LG G5 features a removable bottom panel, so using a case on it is quite uncomfortable if you are going to be changing attachments frequently.
Screen – Galaxy S7
All three smartphones have great screens with the same quad HD resolution. They are all incredibly sharp and look beautiful. However, Samsung has always fitted their smartphones with Super AMOLED screens that simply make the colors pop. You won’t even notice the difference if you use any of the smartphones individually, however when you check them side by side you’ll notice that the Samsung Galaxy S7 is not only brighter but also has a higher contrast. The LG G5 is much muted when compared with the other smartphones; it might be because it is using an IPS LCD panel. The Nexus 6P also has an AMOLED screen but it is not as sharp as the 5.1 inch one found on the Galaxy S7.
Processor – Tie B/w LG G5 and Galaxy S7
The processors used in the LG G5 and Galaxy S7 are the same ones. The QUALCOMM Snapdragon 820 is a powerful chip that allows the smartphones to almost top the benchmark scores. The Nexus 6P was released last year and it uses the QUALCOMM Snapdragon 810 processor which is now outdated by the latest models. In usage, all of the smartphones work identically in day-to-day tasks. You won’t be facing any lag on any of the smartphones so you won’t have to worry about Facebook not opening fast enough. However, point to be noted here is that the Samsung Galaxy S7 can produce that infamous TouchWiz “jitter” we have all grown to hate. It’s a minor occurrence and won’t even be felt by a lot of users. So in my opinion, the LG G5 edge is just a little bit ahead of the US version of Galaxy S7. The international version of the Galaxy S7 uses Samsung’s own Exynos 8 Octa 8890 processor which surprisingly is faster than the Snapdragon 820. So, if you are an international user, I highly recommend that you go towards the Galaxy S7.
Gaming and GPU – Galaxy S7
Even though the LG G5 and Galaxy S7 features the same GPU; Adreno 530, the Galaxy S7 was a bit ahead of the competition simply because it didn’t get warm. I played around with the smartphones for at least 25 minutes and the LG G5 became warmer to the touch. The Galaxy S7 remained at room temperature even while playing intense 3-D games. Sure, it may have become hotter by a few degrees but it is hardly noticeable. So I’ll have to hand it to the Samsung Galaxy S7 to deliver stellar graphical fidelity without making the smartphone uncomfortable to hold. The Nexus 6P struggles with some intensive games but it is not a bad gaming smartphone by a wide margin.
Memory and Storage – Tie B/w LG G5 and Galaxy S7
The LG G5 and Galaxy S7 both come with 4 GB of RAM. The Nexus 6P with its three GB of memory cannot compete in this comparison. It’s a same type of RAM so there won’t be any differences between LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7. In normal day-to-day usage, 4 GB RAM won’t make much of a difference. The three GB found on the Nexus 6P is quite sufficient for daily tasks.
When it comes to storage, there are some key differences between the smartphones. For one, the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 only come in 32 GB variants. Sure the Samsung Galaxy S7 is being offered at 64 GB but it will be coming to US or Europe. On the other hand, the Huawei Nexus 6P comes in three different flavors, 32, 64 and 128 GB. That is a lot of storage space for apps and games. 32 GB while is enough, will be able to accommodate all of your high production value Android games. Thankfully, both LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 come with a microSD card slot so you can easily upgrade your storage space. Those 4K videos that you record will be stored easily on the expandable microSD card. Samsung has unfortunately removed the latest Android feature called Adaptable Storage. Basically, this feature allows you to install apps and games on your microSD card. So LG G5 is a bit ahead in this comparison.
Cameras
It is impossible to compare three different cameras on a simple basis and clear winner. So we looking at different aspects of the cameras and explaining why one phone is better at doing a certain thing.
Megapixels – LG G5
We all know that simple megapixel count is not sufficient to gauge the quality of the camera. However, if you are going to print the pictures in a larger format, this definitely comes into play. A larger pixel count means more detail when you zoom into a picture. The LG G5 comes with a 16-megapixel camera making it an excellent option for those who want to print their pictures on posters.
Pixel Size – Nexus 6P
The larger pixel size of the Huawei Nexus 6P allows you to capture more light and does bring great low light photos. However, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is not far behind with its 1.4 µm pixel size compared with the 1.55 µm ones found on the Nexus 6P. Both of the smartphones are great at capturing low light photos.
Low Light Pictures – Galaxy S7
Even though that the Nexus 6P has a larger pixel size, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is still the best at low light photography. This is simply because of its larger aperture size of F1 .7. This allows more light to shine through the lens and into the sensor so that the camera is able to capture a lot more detail. In fact, this is the best smartphone camera I have used in terms of low light picture quality. There is very little grain and a lot more detail in the pictures taken with this camera.
Focusing – Galaxy S7
The Samsung Galaxy S7 uses something called Dual Pixel autofocus technology. It basically uses hundred percent of the pixels to focus on an object. As a result, the focusing is extremely fast. In some cases, I was surprised to see the smartphone already focused just as my hand stopped moving. This is a really amazing feature and Samsung has outdone themselves in this department.
Wide Angle – LG G5
LG G5 features a secondary 8-megapixel camera on the back. That camera is a wide-angle one and is able to capture a lot more of the scene than the standard 16-megapixel one. It has a 135° field-of-view so you can get more of the scene in one photo.
Selfies – LG G5
The LG G4 was one of my favorite selfie smartphones of last year. And the LG G5 also remains one of the best ones in the market. The 8-megapixel camera has a great way of making your ordinary selfies look beautiful. One of the best things about this camera is that it doesn’t over sharpen or beautify your face. The Samsung Galaxy S7 lags really behind in this competition simply because of the plastic looking photos it takes with its front facing camera. The Huawei Nexus 6P is a close runner-up.
Battery – Nexus 6P
This is not a fair comparison simply because the Nexus 6P is a larger smartphone. As it is a big smartphone, it also packs a larger battery than the other two smartphones in the comparison. The 3450 mAh battery of the Google giant allows it to last longer in almost any direct comparison. However, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is still a great smartphone if you consider that it has a noticeably smaller battery.
Sound – Nexus 6P
There is no comparison here; the front facing Stevia speakers featured on the Huawei flagship makes it a clear winner. The LG G5 comes in at the second place simply because they don’t sound tinny in any way. The Samsung Galaxy S7 is a waterproof phone, but that feature has made the sound quite muted. As in addition, Samsung Galaxy S7 features a bottom mounted speaker that can be obscured by your fingers while gaming.
Unique Feature – LG G5
This was a close competition between the LG G5 and the Samsung Galaxy S7. However, we have already seen some quality waterproof smartphones; some even made by Samsung themselves, so the Samsung Galaxy S7 doesn’t feel that unique. The LG G5, on the other hand, has come out guns blazing with the uniqueness. Check out the best features of LG G5 article to learn more about how you can swap attachments on the smartphone. It is a great way to expand the usability and test the waters. Even though I’m not going to use any of those attachments, I feel obligated to complement LG on trying something unique and moving the industry forward.
Conclusion
This concludes our LG G5 Vs Galaxy S7 Vs Nexus 6P comparison article. All of the smartphones look enticing to me so making a personal choice will be quite hard. I really do hope that the comparison between the smartphones have highlighted some of the features that you want in an ideal Android phone. What do you think about these phones? Do tell us about your personal choice of the comments below. Chart credit
