LG G4 vs Motorola Droid Turbo: first look
When the Droid Turbo landed last year, it was the best-spec'd flagship out there, with impossible pixel density, gigantic battery, and a 20 MP shooter. Well, it still has those things, that's why we are clashing Moto's best, the Droid Turbo, against LG's flagship that just got announced, the G4.
Design
Believe it or not, but the Droid Turbo is thicker and heavier than the 9.8mm LG G4, but that's for a good reason, namely the 3900 mAh battery pack inside. Being a phone with a 5.2" screen, however, it is easier to handle with one hand, compared to the G4. The LG G4 has onscreen navigation keys, which contributes to the better screen-to-body ratio it has over the Droid Turbo. Moreover, you can remove the cover and swap the battery of the G4, plus LG has a more exclusive leather version of its newest flagship. The power/lock key and the volume rocker are comfortable placed on the back of the phone, too, and it is slightly curved overall, making it win the ergonomics round against the Turbo.
Display
Motorola placed a 5.2" Quad HD AMOLED display in the Droid Turo, whereas the G4 sports a 5.5" Quad HD LCD one, but you can't call it orthodox by any means, as it features a Quantum Dots technology for richer color presentation. The 1440p AMOLED screen of the Turbo sports the second highest pixel density on a phone, at 565ppi, but the G4 returns "only" 538ppi, so both can't show you individual pixels visible with the naked eye. Moreover, as last-gen AMOLEDs go, the Droid Turbo panel is dimmer, and less color-accurate than the LCD piece of the G4, and it shows in the pictures, where the G4's panel looks much brighter and credible than the Turbo's window to the world.
Interface
The newest LG UX 4.0 interface seems lighter, but overall seemingly unchanged much from the previous UX version of LG, in terms of looks. LG doesn’t follow the trend of providing themes that we’ve been seeing of late, and LG's UX 4.0 looks as squarish and edgy as ever. It is, however, stuffed to the gills with functions, toggles, and settings options for the smallest thing, despite the lack of theming choices.
Motorola has moved on from offering customized Android experiences with its premier devices, and has instead, opted to provide us with a mostly stock Android experience. That’s obviously what we were given with the Moto X (2014), and that’s exactly what we have here yet again with the DROID Turbo. Out of the box, it was running Android 4.4.4 KitKat, but the company has pledged to upgrade it to Lollipop very quickly.
When it comes to chipsets, the LG G4 rules compared to the Droid Turbo, as it flaunts a 64-bit Snapdragon 808 with six cores, while the Droid makes do with a "only" a quad-core Snapdragon 805. The 808 was a safe choice for LG, considering the overheating issues with Snapdragon 810, though Qualcomm said this decision had been made long before the production problems with 810 hit the airwaves. Granted, it is a hexa-core chipset, but there's barely an app or game out there that will use even four cores at once, let alone six. Both have 3 GB of RAM of the DDR3 variety, so you can rest assured that you can line up many apps at any given time. The Droid Turbo sports 64 GB of internal memory, while the G4 starts you off at 32 GB, but also offers a microSD slot for expansion.
A generous 20 MP camera sensor on the back of the Turbo is not necessarily a better deal than what you are getting with the G4, despite its 16 MP resolution "only". LG threw the kitchen sink of sensor, focus and light-assisting technologies in its newest flagship, offering OIS, color spectrum analyzer, and LaserAF. Both the Droid Turbo, and LG G4, will keep you entertained with 4K video recording, HDR and all the rest of the camera aficionado dreams, but, as usual, the Motorola camera app leaves plenty to be desired in terms of usability.
The LG G4 actually gives way to the Droid Turbo in many aspects on paper, save for the camera resolution - Motorola's phone has the much larger battery, better pixel density, and higher-res camera. That is on paper, though, as LG G4 offers a larger, brighter, more accurate display, a flexible design that lets you swap the battery or add more storage on the fly, a superior camera, and a more premium design that includes classy leather versions, compared to the generic chassis of the Turbo. One thing is certain, though - that Droid will last you much longer on a charge than the G4, yet this claim could be held against any other flagship out there, too.
Processor and memory
When it comes to chipsets, the LG G4 rules compared to the Droid Turbo, as it flaunts a 64-bit Snapdragon 808 with six cores, while the Droid makes do with a "only" a quad-core Snapdragon 805. The 808 was a safe choice for LG, considering the overheating issues with Snapdragon 810, though Qualcomm said this decision had been made long before the production problems with 810 hit the airwaves. Granted, it is a hexa-core chipset, but there's barely an app or game out there that will use even four cores at once, let alone six. Both have 3 GB of RAM of the DDR3 variety, so you can rest assured that you can line up many apps at any given time. The Droid Turbo sports 64 GB of internal memory, while the G4 starts you off at 32 GB, but also offers a microSD slot for expansion.
Camera
A generous 20 MP camera sensor on the back of the Turbo is not necessarily a better deal than what you are getting with the G4, despite its 16 MP resolution "only". LG threw the kitchen sink of sensor, focus and light-assisting technologies in its newest flagship, offering OIS, color spectrum analyzer, and LaserAF. Both the Droid Turbo, and LG G4, will keep you entertained with 4K video recording, HDR and all the rest of the camera aficionado dreams, but, as usual, the Motorola camera app leaves plenty to be desired in terms of usability.
Expectations
The LG G4 actually gives way to the Droid Turbo in many aspects on paper, save for the camera resolution - Motorola's phone has the much larger battery, better pixel density, and higher-res camera. That is on paper, though, as LG G4 offers a larger, brighter, more accurate display, a flexible design that lets you swap the battery or add more storage on the fly, a superior camera, and a more premium design that includes classy leather versions, compared to the generic chassis of the Turbo. One thing is certain, though - that Droid will last you much longer on a charge than the G4, yet this claim could be held against any other flagship out there, too.
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