Help me decide which phone to get: Samsung Galaxy S5 or LG G3?

My Samsung Galaxy S4, which I loved, developed some weird hairline fracture/crack under the screen (probably from beating it up/dropping. I didn't drop it when it stopped working/crack developed) and now the display won't turn on. It works, just that the screen won't show (I think the LCD/digitizer broke). I am up for a renewal on my contract. Buying a new phone would cost me as much as repairing the phone or sending it in against insurance it seems (150 vs 200 for a new phone with contract renewal). I have one of the best plans ever, and can't really move away to another carrier because of it (unlimited everything). I was looking at these two phones to pick up. I was totally set on just continuing with the Samsung Galaxy S line until I looked at the LG G3. It really blew me away in terms of software, screen, camera etc. but after reading around online I have found that the biggest  detriment to that phone is the battery and this is due to the impressive display it has. Coming from prior phones where the battery was a big issue for me, I was wondering how big a deal is it. The person in the store and online said that it should still make it through the day, just that I would need to charge at night, and I always have a car charger or charger with me to charge my phones. I also don't mind picking up an extra battery. so if this is the situation, should I just go for the LG G3? The S5 just didn't seem like as big an upgrade over the S4, and while it did have some nice features, it seemed just to be a jack of all trades type phone, while being a master of none.. 

BTW, if I didn't need a phone immediately, as in yesterday, I would wait for Android L and the updates soon to come out. As it is, I'm in a weird position where I'm right in between generational (potential big) updates, but close enough to where a new flagship phone just came out. I usually just updated every couple years in the spring right around when most phones came out like the Galaxy s line. I have no other phone and I rely on this for work, school, etc.

Anybody have a better clue in regards to the two phones?

I love the Samsung line of Galaxy phones. Not sure how much of an upgrade the S5 is over the S4 but it is my understanding that right out of the box it is waterproof and that would be a selling point for me.

I don't really need a screen that is "4x better then HD" or whatever the selling point of the LG phone is since I have bigger/better screens to watch media on. 

My biggest thing is just functionality and how quickly I can change between apps and the Samsung phones have always been great at that. Either way I think you'll end up with an excellent phone. Nice dilemma to have

I would probably recommend the G3 at the moment, my friends have the G3 and it's a great phone.  My wife has the S5 and it's had some funky software issues where it will lock up and you'll have to do a hard reset to get it working again.

G3 Fo shOo!!!!!!!

A couple of reviews of the LG G3 to read, if you've not ran across reviews yet:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/06/lg-g3-review-a-great-phone-with-way-too-many-pixels/

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/05/lg-g3-review/

The screen is one thing that stands out in the reviews that I've read (including these two and some others as well), plus speed and software.

I know that I have the LG G3 on a list of phones I'll be replacing my Note 2 with by end of the year, though the other ones that I'd be looking at aren't out yet:

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Google Nexus 6

EDIT:  There's been rumors of a Galaxy S5 Prime / Galaxy Ace (currently in Korea as the Galaxy S5 LTE-A) with the same screen resolution as the LG G3, plus 3GB of RAM, higher clockspeed CPU, with the possibility of a metal case on the phone.

Both seem to be solid phones. Check androidcentral.com for comparisons. Anyways hopefully by late this year we will see a rise in 64bit phones, which I hope the S6 will be next year.

shrike4242 said:

A couple of reviews of the LG G3 to read, if you've not ran across reviews yet:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/06/lg-g3-review-a-great-phone-with-way-too-many-pixels/

http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/05/lg-g3-review/

The screen is one thing that stands out in the reviews that I've read (including these two and some others as well), plus speed and software.

I know that I have the LG G3 on a list of phones I'll be replacing my Note 2 with by end of the year, though the other ones that I'd be looking at aren't out yet:

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Google Nexus 6

EDIT: There's been rumors of a Galaxy S5 Prime / Galaxy Ace (currently in Korea as the Galaxy S5 LTE-A) with the same screen resolution as the LG G3, plus 3GB of RAM, higher clockspeed CPU, with the possibility of a metal case on the phone.

Click to expand...

Do you know how the battery life on the Galaxy S5 Prime/Galaxy Ace is? I'm wondering if they are having a lot of problems maxing out battery life due to the high resolution on these screens.

I'm in your same boat. My upgrade is in September and I'm deciding between these two phones. It may come down to whichever one will be like $50 cheaper at the time. This is the first I heard of the S5 prime, so I hope there's some more info on that by the time I get my upgrade.

Not sure who your upgrade is with, but at sprint the g3 is 200 and s5 is 250 with some $50 rebate thing. Sorry of a toss up. Leaning towards the g3 while getting a battery pack through amazon and maybe another battery. It seems to point in that direction

sero?

hiccupleftovers said:

Do you know how the battery life on the Galaxy S5 Prime/Galaxy Ace is? I'm wondering if they are having a lot of problems maxing out battery life due to the high resolution on these screens.

Click to expand...

The Galaxy S5 Prime / Galaxy Ace isn't an announced product, it's a rumored product. Samsung is supposed to be having a launch event for two smartphones on 09/04/14 with one of the two smart phones being the Note 4. The other one is rumored to be the G5 Prime / Galaxy Ace, though we won't know more for a couple of weeks at least, if not right before the event.

If you need something now and you like the LG G3, you have 14 days to decide on something else from Sprint if the G3 doesn't work out for you.

I'd go for the Galaxy.

I've got the LG G3.  I'm enjoying it so far.  Very nice screen, videos look amazing on it.  Camera is awesome also as well.  Battery has to be charged by the time I go to bed at night after using all day though.  I got it at Best Buy for $99 on my upgrade.

I have an S5, the battery is pretty average from what I've read. My 4s was on its last legs so the battery life was garbage, it's nice to have a phone that has a decent battery. I'm a moderate user and it has yet to fully die on me. I love it.