Samsung Galaxy S7 vs. LG G5: Flagship Face Off

Some of the world's largest names in mobile took to Barcelona in late February to announce their largest wares. With Samsung and LG unveiling their respective Galaxy S7 and G5 series handsets, the stage has been set for what we can expect from 2016's best flagships.

Both devices feature powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processors, copious amounts of RAM for fluid multitasking, crisp screens that always stay on and some of the best cameras on a mobile handset. These are arguably Android's best smartphones, though we still haven't seen this year's flagships from BlackBerry, HTC, Sony, or Google, and they're primed to give the iPhone plenty of competition.

If you're due for an upgrade this year, how do you decide between LG's and Samsung's latest efforts? Let's break it down.

DesignWhile Samsung is taking a more muted design approach this year, sticking mostly to last year's glass and aluminum aesthetics, LG is making a bolder change. LG has effectively replaced the plastic and leather-clad G4's case for an all-aluminum unibody shell on the G5, making the sleek phone feel similar to Apple's iPhone 6s and HTC's One A9.

Unlike its metal-adorned rivals, however, LG has a few tricks in its design. With a special treatment, the G5's body reveals no visible antenna lines that interrupt the smooth metal finish, giving it a more seamless appearance. Additionally, unlike the iPhone 6s, LG also managed to include prosumer features, like a removable battery, expandable storage and accessory modules, but we'll get into that more later on.

And like the recent LG V10 and LG-made Nexus 5X, the fingerprint reader is on the back of the phone. It's placement is convenient when you're holding the phone with one hand, but the downside is that you won't be able to access the reader when the phone is placed on a table.

Like last year's Galaxy S6 series, Samsung is staying true to its glass sandwich design, but doing the unthinkable. Unlike most smartphone manufacturers, Samsung made the Galaxy S7 thicker this year to accommodate a larger battery. Hopefully, this will be a welcomed change for Galaxy fans as, unlike the G5, you won't be able to replace a dead battery on the S7.

Unlike Google and it's latest line of Nexus devices and the Pixel C tablet, the futurist USB Type-C connector is still in a Galaxy far, far away. Samsung claims that the port, and the cables, still aren't mainstream enough for the GalaxyS7, and I'd agree. Finding a charging cable when I'm out with Microsoft's latest Lumia 950XL is next to impossible, especially how easy it is to find a friend or neighbor in a coffee shop with a micro USB and Apple's Lightning cables.

The Galaxy S7's curved back makes it look sleeker—and probably more slippery to grip—than the aluminum-clad G5, but both phones give a nod to premium materials in the design, eschewing their cheap plastic constructions of yore.

ScreenHaters of pixels will be relieved to know that LG and Samsung continue their use of high resolution QHD screens, which means that the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge and LG G5 all offer resolutions of 1440 × 2560 pixels.

On the 5.3-inch of the LG G5, this means that you'll have a pixel density of 554ppi. The 5.1-inch Galaxy S7 comes with a higher 577ppi, while the 5.5-inch Galaxy S7 Edge comes in at 534ppi.

Between Samsung's two new Galaxy phones, the LG G5, and the Galaxy Note 5 released late 2016, we have a nice spread of screen sizes from 5.1-inch to 5.7-inch. Your choice will largely depend on the features you seek and the size of your pocket. Like last year's Galaxy S6 Edge, the Edge variant of the Galaxy S7 offers curved side edges, giving it more of a futuristic look. Even though Samsung added software functionality for the edges, I am not entirely convinced that the curved screens deliver that much value, but they sure are pretty.

The nice thing about this year's flagships is that they come with always-on displays. This allows you to quickly see the time, date, notifications and alerts without having to turn on your phone. It's similar to Nokia's Glance display on Lumia smartphones, now made and branded by Microsoft, and unlike the similar Moto Active Display on the Moto X Pure Edition, you don't have to wave your hand over the screen to activate this ultra low-power screen mode.

Because the Galaxy S7 and its Edge variant utilize AMOLED screen technology, the entire screen doesn't need to be lit up, which further conserves battery life when used with the always-on display. Samsung executives claim that having this feature on will consume just half a percent of battery power every hour.

The G5 utilizes an IPS-based LCD screen for its display. Both LCD and AMOLED offer excellent viewing angles, though I personally prefer AMOLED screens for its deeper, dark blacks and high contrast display. A complaint with early AMOLED screens is that the tech can lead to oversaturated colors, but more recent panels render colors more accurately, and you can even adjust the saturation level to your eyes' desire.

Unique FeaturesLG thinks its smartphones are better with friends. In this case, friends come in the form of removable hardware accessories that plug into the G5's bottom port. Once you remove the G5's bottom cover, you'll not ony be able to swap out the battery and add more storage, but you'll also be able to add more features.

While this modular idea doesn't go as far as Google's Project Aria concept, it shows a lot of potential. Mobile photographers, for example, can add a camera sled, which gives you a physical shutter button, an enhanced grip and a bigger battery.

A limited number of friends accessories will be coming from LG, and LG is encouraging hardware manufacturers to create more accessories to plug into the G5. I am not sure that the modules and accessories will sell in large quantities—research still shows that not many consumers carry replaceable batteries for their phones to start with, a reason that both Apple and Samsung cite for not making this feature a part of their designs—but it's nice that LG is experimenting with different concepts to expand the appeal of its consumer flagships to different markets.On the other hand, Samsung opted to go with mainstream features on its Galaxy S7, re-adding many of the features it removed from the Galaxy S5 when it switched to the premium Galaxy S6 design to the chagrin of many customers.

This means waterproofing is back in an big way. With a special nano-coating layer to seal the electronics, the S7 no longer needs flappy covers to seal the ports. This makes it far more convenient to use, and the risk for water damage has been greatly diminished, as you no longer need to ensure that the ports are properly covered.

Even so, the micro USB port on the Galaxy S7 will seem superfluous. Unlike the G5, the Galaxy S7 features wireless charging, meaning you won't need to plug any cables in to juice up. Both handsets will support the Quick Charging standard, but LG used the newer Quick Charge 3.0 protocol, which can charge the G5 up to four times as fast as a regular charger. The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge only supports Quick Charge 2.0, which can charge your Samsung phones 75% faster than a regular cable.

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