Introduction
Do we have a good one for you today – and I really mean it! This is more or less an overview to compare some of the current flagships with the new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the new Galaxy Note 5. All of these are worthy devices in their own way, but how do they stack up against the newest devices offered up by Samsung? We will look at 3 main areas – the displays, the processors/memory and the camera areas and then followup with any outstanding features one device has over the others.
Please take a look at the detailed Specifications Comparison chart below and here you will see just how these six great devices stack up against one another – click on the “View Full Comparison” link at the end of the chart to expand the details. After that, we will look at some individual areas and point out some of their pros and cons. There is no winner in this comparison, we just want you to see the differences and similarities between these six smartphones.
Specifications
Displays
All of these devices have beautiful displays and all of them are of the Quad HD (QHD) variety, which means they have a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels except the HTC One M9 that still uses the Full HD (FHD) resolution or 1920 x 1080 pixels. The HTC One M9 has a 5-inch display with 441 pixels-per-inch (PPI). The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge both have 5.1-inch displays with the highest density of 576 PPI. The LG G4 is sporting a 5.5-inch display and 538 PPI. The new Galaxy S6 Edge+ has a 5.7-inch display with 534 PPI and the new Galaxy Note 5 has a 5.7-inch display as well with 518 PPI. The HTC One M9 and LG G4 both use the IPS LCD technology and the four Samsung models all use their own Super AMOLED technology.
Some people enjoy the bold contrasts of the Super AMOLED displays on the Samsung devices and other like the LCD displays, which can sometimes look a little ‘dull,’ but with new technologies and some tweaking, the LG G4 display is much brighter than its predecessor. But like I said at the beginning, you really cannot go wrong with any of these flagship displays.
Processors/Memory
When it comes to processing power, all six models are using 64-bit processors and octa-core processors except the LG G4, which uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor with four cores clocked at 1.44GHz and two cores clocked at 1.82GHz. It comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory with a microSD card slot for additional memory. The HTC One M9 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor with four cores clocked at 1.5GHz and four cores clocked at 2.0GHz with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal memory and a microSD card for expansion.
The four Samsung devices all use the same homegrown Exynos 7420 octa-core processor with 14nm technology and four cores clocked at 1.5GHz and four cores clocked at 2.1GHz. The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge both have 3GB of RAM and an option for 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of internal memory with no means to expand beyond that fixed amount. The newest Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 both have 4GB of RAM and offer either a 32GB or 64GB of internal memory with no room for expansion. It must be noted that all of the Samsung models use the newer and faster DDR4 RAM and new UFS 2.0 Flash memory, which is also much faster in reading and writing data.
Cameras
When it comes to cameras, you are looking at some of the best, especially the LG G4 and the Samsung models, which all use the same camera and was rated the best camera on a smartphone in a recent study. Most reviewers like the camera software of the LG G4 the best, although Samsung has since done an update. Even the HTC One M9 takes decent photos, but they do not compare to the ones that the LG G4 or the Samsung models can produce. Remember too that there is a lot more to taking great pictures than megapixels, as the firmware and software have a lot to do with it.
The HTC One M9 uses a 20MP Toshiba sensor for the main shooter with autofocus and LED flash, but no OIS. It uses a 4MP UltraPixel sensor for the front-facing camera (FFC) which is used for social media selfies and video chatting. The LG G4 uses a 16MP sensor with Laser autofocus, dual-LED flash, a large f/1.8 aperture and OIS. For the FCC we are looking at a large 8MP sensor that also uses the f/1.8 aperture for great selfies and video chatting even in low light. The four Samsung models use a 16MP sensor with autofocus, LED flash, OIS and an f/1.9 aperture. The FCCs are 5MP with wide-angle lens and f/1.9 aperture for nice group selfies or video chatting.
Batteries/Miscellaneous
The batteries are all very close in size to one another – the HTC One M9 uses a 2840mAh battery, the LG G4 uses a 3000mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy S6 uses a 2550mAh battery, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge uses a 2600mAh, the newest Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5 both use a 3000mAh battery. The LG G4 is the only model that uses a removable battery, the rest are all non-removable. All models offer up a quick charge feature and the LG G4 has optional Qi wireless charging, while all four Samsung devices have built-in wireless charging for both formats.
All of these devices have the usual suspects – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC, and a microUSB port for charging or data transfer. All six devices offer a built-in IR Blaster and all four of the Samsung devices have a fingerprint sensor and are Samsung Pay ready. The Galaxy Note 5 also has the S-Pen and all of its functionality as well.
This was just a quick rundown on the devices. Please look in the extensive specifications found in the chart above. The state of smartphones is very good and the future looks exciting…your toughest decision will be deciding which one to buy.
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