Together, the two handsets represent the quad-core Android phone elite, so we just had to pit them against each other to decide who's the best. We kick off with the most prominent advantages that each of the contenders holds over its opponent.
LG Optimus G over Samsung Galaxy S III
- Next generation chipset, with new CPU and GPU architectures
- Sharper screen
- 13MP camera on some models (others have 8MP cameras)
- More compact
- LTE and 2GB RAM on all models (international S III only has HSPA+ and 1GB RAM)
Samsung Galaxy S III over Optimus G
- Better sunlight legibility
- microSD card slot
- User-replaceable battery
- Already updating to Jelly Bean
- Better battery life
- Lower price
Having a next-generation chipset is a great advantage for the Optimus G, as it should give it both performance and power efficiency advantage over the Galaxy S III. On the flipside, the Galaxy S III and its Exynos 4 chipset have the optimizations of Jelly Bean on their side, so it might not be a walk in the park for the LG flagship.
LG also brought the best that its display divisions had to offer - the Optimus G is betting on a True HD-IPS+ LCD. The Samsung Galaxy S III on the other hand didn't stay in the R&D lab long enough to get a three-subpixel-per-pixel AMOLED like the Galaxy Note II, so it has to settle for a PenTile matrix. However, the AMOLED technology has some key advantages over LCD, so again we'll have to do some testing before we find out who comes on top.
The camera sensors on both smartphone beasts are Sony-made, but while LG thought ahead and secured 13MP unit, Samsung used 8MP sensor. And while LG does have a theoretical advantage here, lens and image processing might make a big difference, too.
The LG Optimus G and Samsung Galaxy S III just before they go into the ring
In theory, the LG Optimus G should walk away with the win here. Having spend a few extra months in development and managing to snag newer components, the LG flagship is the clear favorite in this fight. However, the Galaxy S III won't give up the crown without a fight. After all, there's a reason why Samsung is the world's largest smartphone manufacturer with a near two-fold advantage over the second-placed Apple.
Strap on your seat belts, as it might get rough...
The LG Optimus G and the Samsung Galaxy S III are the best Android can currently offer. Picking between a smartphone that came to the market five months ago and one that is just arriving might have seemed easy at first, but after the somewhat surprising finding in this review, things are less clear cut.
The LG Opttimus G chipset is so vastly powerful that we expected it to swim laps around the Galaxy S III Exynos, but the smartphone was obviously let down by its software support. The LG flagship managed to win on many occasions, but the differences were pretty minor.
The only place where the Optimus G was able to give its competitor a real trashing was GPU performance at 1080p resolution. On the other hand, the LG Optimus G lost the web browsing performance battle, which is one of the most common applications of smartphones these days.
The 13 megapixel camera came as another disappointment to us. LG made quite a big deal about it, but as we found out it's not able to offering any real life advantage over the Samsung Galaxy S III 8MP shooter. Even worse - the Optimus G video recording comes seriously short of the Galaxy S III footage. Don't get us wrong - the LG Optimus G does some pretty good photos and decent videos, but if we had to pick one of these two for its overall camera performance it would probably be the Galaxy S III.
Where the LG Optimus G comes out on top is design. It's all subjective, of course, and it might be that the Galaxy S III has been around longer so we are getting a bit bored with it, but we find the LG smartphone to be better looking than it. The extra gig of RAM is also a nice thing to have and makes the Optimus G more future-proof than its competitor.
So on which of those two should you spend your hard-earned cash? It depends what you are looking to get from the deal really.
If you are going SIM-free and it's value for money you are after, then by all means go for the Galaxy S III. Judging by the current pre-order prices the Optimus G will cost notably more than its competitor when it launches. The Galaxy S III will let you save about 150 euro and still give you impressively solid smartphone experience and even treat you to a newer Android release. Not to mention that the microSD card slot allows for extremely cheap memory expansion.
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
On the other hand, if money is no object for you (which is usually the case with those looking for high-en smartphones) or your carrier has helped even the field with its subsidies things are looking far more favorable for the LG flagship. It might not be able to assert its dominance over its competitor now, but once LG releases its Jelly Bean update, it should become a real beast.
LG Optimus G E973
There's just no way the Galaxy S III can fend off the attacks of the newer chipset forever. The LG Optimus G has a sharper screen of slightly higher resolution too, which while lacking the wow factor of the Galaxy S III AMOLED, is far better for productivity and can really help put those four Krait cores to good use.
So it seems we are one software update away from the moment when the Galaxy S III finally gives up its throne and the LG Optimus G succeeds it. It up to LG to deliver that quickly and make its flagship the power user's dream device before the holiday shopping spree begins.
