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          Samsung Galaxy S7 vs LG G5

It's been quite an exciting year so far, from the outset 2016 has seen some really rather fantastic handsets launched and the vast majority have been part of the Android space. We've now seen the HTC 10 and the Huawei P9 (together with the Huawei P9 Plus) emerge as seriously compelling contenders, but things kicked off quite impressively at MWC in late February when both Samsung and LG unveiled their respective flagships. On the very same day, February 21, mere hours before the expo began, LG unwrapped the LG G5 with its modular base compartment, premium metal build, and a dual-sensor camera; while Samsung took the wraps off both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, fashioned from metal and glass, with waterproof construction and the best display technology on the market.

Of course the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge pack a lot of the same tech, hardware and features, but they're not completely identical; the Galaxy S7 edge is a bit larger with a curved edge display, and it packs a slightly bigger battery cell too. Here we'll be focusing on the regular Galaxy S7 though.

The LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 are arguably two of the biggest Android handsets of the year. As of April 4, reports have emerged from analysts in Asia who estimate Samsung has shipped as many as 10 million Galaxy S7 series handsets during March, the one month period since the phone launched onto the market. These are just estimates, of course, and Samsung is yet to release sales and shipping figures, and it has not commented on the reports yet either. However, assuming there's some authenticity here, that is an impressive bump up from earlier estimates of 7 million, and much more in-line with Samsung's own predictions from pre-order figures that it will outsell its earlier Galaxy S flagships. Analysts have now raised their 2016 forecasts for Samsung as a result, and the firm's shares have seen a bit of a boost too.

But which of these two handsets is the best? Let’s find out!

Samsung Galaxy S7 vs LG G5: Design & Display

We're getting pretty familiar with this scenario now: most of the rumours for both handsets were pretty much spot on, so design wise there aren't many surprises.

Starting with the Galaxy S7, as per the rumour mill the design is very similar indeed to last year's Galaxy S6, near identical, in fact, with just a few extra subtle curves on the back panel that you might miss if you blink. This is all fine, of course, you won't hear a peep of criticism from me about the aesthetics of the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S7 as I think they're both stellar looking devices with a very interesting shape, as well as being solidly well-made from high-end, premium feel materials; glass and metal. There are some differences though, and they're of the more hidden variety, such as the return of a microSD slot and full IP68 waterproofing. That latter is achieved through coating the components and ports with a protective layer, so there's no need for any of those daft port covers.

The Galaxy S7 is a 5.1in handset with a Super AMOLED display featuring a QHD (2560 x 1440 pixel) resolution at 577ppi. Samsung has also added an "Always On" display feature, allowing the phone to make full use of the ability of OLED tech to selectively power individual pixels to show a limited set of information on-screen. Basically, even when the phone is asleep it can show notifications, a clock, or a calendar in a low-power mode.

All of the above pretty much applies to the Galaxy S7 edge as well, although obviously this model has the curved edge display and design from the Galaxy S6 edge, giving it a slightly different look which is very refined and sleek. The Galaxy S7 edge is larger than its predecessor and its Galaxy S7 stable-mate, however, with a bigger 5.5in display at 534ppi. Samsung has also expanded the edge display screen functionality to allow for more apps, shortcuts and information to be stored and displayed on the edge panel.

The LG G5 is in some ways familiar alongside older LG models like the LG G4, but also quite distinct at the same time. For starters, the whole thing is fabricated from metal - magnesium, to be precise -  which is a first for LG, and almost the entirety of the thing is a sleek unibody design, with some elegant curves and refined angles here and there to spice things up. The only noticable break in the chassis is where the LG G5's mega-party-trick comes into play; a removable modular base segment which allows access to the battery and card slots, but has also been developed with modular accessories in mind. So far, LG has demonstrated some XXL battery packs, a Bang & Olafson audio unit, and a custom camera module with built-in physical keys, but this is open to third-party developers so the possibilities are quite tantalising.

Samsung Galaxy S7 vs LG G5: Specs & Hardware

Samsung Galaxy S7:

Dimensions: 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9 mm, 152g (Galaxy S7 edge: 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7 mm, 157g) Display: 5.1in Super AMOLED, QHD 2560x1440 pixels, 577ppi (Galaxy S7 edge: 5.5in, 534ppi)
OS: Android Marshmallow
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820/Samsung Exynos 8890
Memory: 4GB
Storage Options: 32GB/64GB
SD-Support: Yes
Imaging: 12 MP, LED flash, f/1.7 aperture, 1.4um pixels, 100% dual-pixel phase detection
Battery: Non-removable Li-Po 3000mAh battery (Galaxy S7 edge: 3600mAh)

LG G5:

Dimensions: 149.4 x 73.9 x 7.7 mm, 159g Display: 5.3in IPS LCD QHD 2560x1440 pixel, 554ppi
OS: Android Marshmallow
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
Memory: 4GB
Storage Options: 32GB
SD-Support: Yes
Imaging: 16MP/8MP dual-camera, OIS, laser autofocus, dual-LED flash
Battery: Removable Li-Po 2800 mAh battery

Samsung has been a bit irritating this year by "pulling an Apple" on some of the hardware specs, that is to say; not fully disclosing them and instead selectively dropping stats it wants us to hear. The pre-launch rumours told us for some time that with the Galaxy S7 series, just as with previous models, there would be both Qualcomm Snapdragon-based and Samsung Exynos-based processor variants, with 4GB of RAM. Samsung hasn't officially talked about any of that, instead preferring to tell all that CPU performance is 30% faster, while GPU performance is 64% faster. Despite the lack of detail, these assertions, if true, are undoubtedly good news. What's also neat is the addition of a PC-style liquid-cooled heat pipe and heatsink to dissapate heat away from the processor when under heavy workloads. 

Samsung also didn't mention the onboard storage space, although earlier leaks have implied the base model is a 32GB setup. There's also no Type-C USB port, instead you get the old type (not exactly a deal-breaker, mind), but you do get up-to-date 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC, just as you do inside the LG G5. The Galaxy S7 handsets, as expected, don't have removable battery cells, but you do get a fairly hefty 3000mAh inside the S7 and 3600mAh inside the S7 edge.

Meanwhile, LG was pretty upfront about the use of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC with 4GB of RAM to power things along nicely, putting it on a similar footing to at least one of Samsung's device variants. The battery is smaller than Samsung's, and smaller than rumour implied at only 2800mAh, but you can remove and replace it - so swings and roundabouts.

Samsung Galaxy S7 vs LG G5: Camera

Cameras are really getting a makeover in many 2016 handsets and both Samsung and LG have gone to efforts to come up with something interesting.

Samsung has actually reduced its megapixel rating down to a 12MP sensor, but has tweaked things in other areas that count for more - like a world first dual-pixel sensor with 100% phase-detection autofocus, a very wide f/1.7 aperture, and a larger light-absorbing 1.4um pixel size. Reportedly the focus speed, image quality and low-light performance are all pretty special.

LG hasn't exactly slouched either though, with a dual-sensor setup featuring both 16MP 75° wide-angle and 8MP 135° wide-angle cameras on the rear with f/1.8 and f/2.4 apertures respectively, as well as a return of LG's now-familiar laser autofocus, optical stabilisation and 4K video recording. As with previous implementations of dual-cameras the idea here is capturing a LOT of visual data and then allowing plenty of clever post-processing and editing after capture.

Moto G4 & Moto G4 Plus

Moto G4 & Moto G4 Plus

May 17 2016 is the day Lenovo, owner of Motorola, unleashed the first batch of smartphones for the year under the Moto brand with a revamp of the affordable Moto G series - there are actually two smartphones in this 2016 generation; the Moto G4 and the Moto G4 Plus. Contrary to the usual use of that naming convention, the Plus isn't a bigger phablet model, it is in fact the same size, but it features a few extra capabilities and a slightly higher spec. The Motorola and Lenovo names may be nowhere to be found on the handsets but rest assured that Motorola still exists as part of the Lenovo corporation and is still responsible for developing these phones. The Moto brand, it seems (shown by the "M" logo on the back) is being treated a bit like fellow Chinese firm Huawei's Honor brand, the only words you see are Honor, or in this case Moto, and they want the brand to stand very much on its own, but we known who is actually behind the devices at the end of the day.

You may have noticed we said "first batch". We were a little disappointed to only see the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus without any of the rumoured Moto X flagship models, but to be fair it wouldn't be the  first time the Moto series has undergone a staggered launch for the affordable and flaghip brackets. There's still no confirmation that a new Moto X (allegedly another pair, actually) is definitely coming, but we've seen enough evidence to believe that a launch isn't far off at all.

Anyway, back to the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus. We've been lucky enough to have some hands-on time with the duo so here is our first impression.

We'll mainly be talking about the Moto G4 Plus, because for the most part the two phones are the same, the Moto G4 just has a slighly lower spec in some very specific ways and loses a few features, such as the front-mounted fingerprint scanner.

Moto G4 Plus/Moto G4 Design & Display

A straightforward glance at the Moto G4 series and it must be said it is not exactly a spectacular looking phone, but then again anyone expecting it to be is perhaps barking up the wrong tree - this is an affordable handset ranging in its various iterations from the sub-£200 bracket. That said, there is a certain practical charm about it and it's not too surprising given Motorola's past affiliation with Google that there's more than a passing resemblance to the Google Nexus line. In some ways it's as if the previous generation of Moto handsets cross-bred with a Nexus 5 and this is what we got, it still has a distinctive sweeping curved design to the top and bottom ends but is now much larger, and the screen takes up a good proportion of the fascia.

Of course the entire build is plastic, but it seems to be of decent quality with a pleasing finish, and the phone has a solid feel in the hand. I was quite impressed at how thin and lightweight the handset seemed compared to previous Moto G models, which have always leaned on the chunkier side. The back panel has a textured finish which aids grip and it is removable to access the battery cell and card slots. 

There's a punched mesh speaker grille at the top of the handset's face and on the back we see a return of the familiar  pill-shaped camera and flash port array protruding slightly with the Moto "M" in a circle just below. It's all very neat and tidy.

True to previous Moto launches the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus will be available via the Moto Maker webstore where users can customise their device; there's eight back panel colours to choose from and five metallic accent colours, while the front panel is either black or white. Our hands-on time was with the regular non-customised black edition but we've seen images of a white and red handset and it does look far more impressive.

Both handsets feature the same 5.5in 1080p LCD display at 401 pixels-per-inch which is nice and sharp with impressive colour, viewing angles also seem very wide and the brightness levels are decent. This isn't the first time this series has had me wondering whether it was AMOLED until I looked at the spec sheet.

Moto G4 Plus/Moto G4 Hardware, Processor & Battery

Both handsets are equipped with the exact same processor and battery hardware - Qualcomm's Snapdragon 617 octa-core CPU (MSM8952) based around eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.5GHz, with an Adreno 405 GPU clocked at 550MHz, which is quite a lot of grunt for a budget-leaning model and twice as many cores as the previous generation. The battery is a sizeable 3,000mAh cell and supports rapid charging, while every model has microSD support for cards up to 128GB. The hands-on session was very brief, so I didn't get a chance to really put the handset through its paces, but with that said, the stock Android 6.0.1 sofware isn't bogged down by bloatware and it felt very smooth and responsive on both models. The Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus have different RAM setups depending on the storage model, but I'll cover that in a moment.

In terms of connectivity you've got a 3.5mm headphone jack, microUSB, micro-SIM with full 4G LTE support, 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth 4.1 LE.

Moto G4 Plus/Moto G4 Software

As mentioned, the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow in a stock setup which is great for running speeds, but also as the UI is so attractive and intuitive just left vanilla. Plus it packs all the built-in features Google has squeezed into its latest builds, like a fantastic little drop-down settings menu, a great multitasking suite, battery optimisations via Doze, and much more besides. Also, being a Moto series device you can expect the support to be pretty good for some time to come as the family regularly gets updated to new Android builds in a similar timeframe to Google's Nexus range - as it's stock there's really not a lot to do other than roll it out the door!

Again we only had a brief bit of time with the Moto G4 range but it was really refreshing to see stock Android and it was simply a joy to whip around the various screens and menus with absolutely zero fuss or complication.

Moto G4 Plus/Moto G4 Camera

The camera on the lead Moto G4 Plus model is a significant upgrade on older Moto G handsets and quite far removed from what we've come to expect of "budget" hardware. We're looking at a 16MP sensor with phase detect autofocus and laser focus, an f/2.0 aperture (the kind that was aboard flagships only about a year ago), dual-LED flash, manual "Professional" mode and 1080p video capture. I couldn't get hold of the image I captured to publish here, but I was impressed by he clarity and richness of colour this camera produces. The Moto G4 model has a 13MP camera instead and with a shorter list of features, so undersandably imaging quality isn't going to be quite as impressive. Both handsets have a 5MP front-facing secondary with an f/2.2 aperture and an 84-degree wide-angle lens for group shots.

Moto G4 Plus/Moto G4 Price, Availability & Storage Options

The Moto G4 will be available from early June Sim-free from the Moto Maker webstore where it can be customised, or via Amazon, Argos, and Tesco in a selection of colour opions. The Moto 4G is only available in a 16GB storage model with 2GB of RAM with a price tag of £169.

The Moto G4 Plus will arrive in mid-to-late June via Moto Maker and as an Amazon exclusive starting at £199. There are three variants with 16GB storage/2GB RAM, 32GB storage/3GB RAM, and 64GB storage/4GB RAM, however, we heard from Lenovo/Moto reps that the 64GB edition will not be coming to the UK.

iphone SE

iphone SE

The new 4in iPhone SE officially ships on Thursday, but those journalists deemed worthy by Apple have already gotten a chance to play around with the new device. Of course, to be calling it “new” is a bit of a stretch. After all, the 4in iPhone form factor has been around for years and the body of the iPhone SE is much the same as the body of the iPhone 5. Yet inside it packs in killer specs: an A9 chip, a 12MP rear camera, 2GB of RAM—specs that were once reserved for Apple’s bigger iPhones.

According to a report from analysis firm Slice Intelligence, Apple's iPhone SE may not have caused mass hysteria or the frenzied opening of billions of wallets, but what it has done, allegedly, is tap into a new crop of buyers. Yup, apparently the kind of people buying the iPhone SE are largely NOT returning Apple fans but instead first-time Apple buyers.

The first weekend of iPhone availability typically sees a huge rush of purchases and record sales, and this occured with the iPhone 6s series. However, the iPhone SE sales were 94% lower than equivalent iPhone 6s sales for the device's debut weekend sales period. But these mega sales may not have been the intention of the iPhone SE at all, as it seems the handset had been positioned to bring in new blood - according to the report only 35% of iPhone SE buyers had bought an iPhone in the last two years, while 16% were switching from Android devices.

"By comparison, 49 percent of iPhone 6S buyers upgraded from a previous iPhone, and 10 percent replaced an Android device they bought online within the past two years," states thereport findings.

The survey also goes on to point out that the iPhone SE is appealing to new demographics - on the whole the iPhone SE buyer-base is much older than the flagship models, and a higher proportion of buyers are male than with other devices.

"More than one fifth of SE buyers are in the 45-54 age demographic, versus 18 percent for all iPhone buyers; and 77 percent of SE buyers are men, versus 69 percent," it said.

So just what are the audits saying about Apple’s mixture of old and new? Here’s a roundup of their reviews (we’ll have our own iPhone SE review shortly, btw).

Engadget:

“If you loved the iPhone 5s — as I and apparently many others did — the iPhone SE will feel like a compelling blend of old and new. For once, we’re getting a small iPhone that doesn’t feel like a second-class device. (I’m looking at you, iPhone 5c.) In fact, the SE might in some cases run even better than the 6s and 6s Plus since the A9 has fewer pixels to move — the SE’s screen runs at 1,136 x 640.”

The Daily Mail:

“Although we've only been using the phone for a few days, one thing is clear - it's blazingly fast. Playing several high intensity games show that this really is as powerful as the current flagship, the 6s. 

It's powered by the A9, the same chip found in the iPhone 6s, and Apple says the iPhone SE has 2x faster CPU and 3x faster GPU performance compared to the older iPhone 5s - and this is something you notice right away, with a far snappier feel the the handset even when its not playing games.”

TechRadar:

“The exterior is svelte and sleek — every inch an iPhone, as we’re surmising Apple would say. The same exemplary precision found on the high-end iPhones is also found on the iPhone SE. At last, you don’t have to feel as if you’re settling just to get a phone that’s easier to handle.

Handling the iPhone SE is a lovely affair, particularly if you’re coming from the iPhone 6s Plus. It’s dainty — cute, even — and though it obviously feels exactly as if you’re handling the iPhone 5s, there’s something extra novel about it now. It’s no longer the norm; the 4-inch form factor is now the exception.”

Mashable:

“The best thing about the iPhone SE might just be its price. Selling for just $399 for a 16GB version and $499 for a 64GB version, this is a tremendously competitive phone. Most $400 phones are not going to give you the latest-generation processor and camera technologies. I really can't underscore how well I think this product will do, simply based on its price. 

Consider that the iPhone 6S starts at $649 for a 16GB version. Yes, it has more features -- including 3D Touch, a better front-facing camera and a larger display -- but the price point Apple has set will be very compelling.”

SlashGear:

“This device feels by all means to be a clone of the iPhone 5s – even its weight feels similar. You’d be forgiven for seeing one and mistaking it as the other. That’s not the point here. The point is that you’re getting a classic design with a set of innards that’s prepared for the future.

It’s snappy. The iPhone SE feels significantly faster than the iPhone 5s, and not just from years of use. We’ve used a newly manufactured iPhone 5s just last week – it’s not quite ready to roll with this iPhone SE. They’re in different leagues.”

Business Insider: 

“The logo designs have been slightly tweaked from the iPhone 5S with new materials. Apple says it’s less likely to scratch now… The edges also have a matte finish instead of the shiny finish from the iPhone 5S. It’s a good look.”

The Wall Street Journal:

“The standout news is battery life. Unlike many other recent Apple products, the iPhone SE's is a significant improvement over its predecessors'. In my lab stress test, which cycles through websites with uniform screen brightness, the SE lasted 10 hours--more than two hours longer than both the iPhone 6s and iPhone 5s, and nearly three hours longer than the Galaxy S7. [...] 

The iPhone SE is a win for ergonomic choice, but Apple doesn't score any points for originality. The new phone is nearly indistinguishable from the three-year-old iPhone 5s, which is a hair thicker and less pleasantly rounded than Apple's more recent designs.”

The Independent:

“Apple claims this is the most powerful four-inch screened phone anywhere, and it’s hard to disagree (even if part of the reason for that is the company’s rivals have been focusing near-exclusively on phones with a bigger display). The styling is compelling, a gentle refinement of an already elegant design. And much of the rest is the same tech that you’ll find in a handset like the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus – and they’re both much pricier. If small is beautiful as far as you’re concerned, this is a highly effective, appealing smartphone at a great price.”