Getting a new phone can mean serious damage to our wallets, and there are still some viable options for those of us with budget constraints.

The LG G3 and Apple iPhone 6 have become budget models.

That being said, both of these offerings are still great phones and definitely worth a second look.

Let’s have a look at what makes them great. And different.

1. Looks and Design

The slippery uni-body design of the iPhone is beautiful, but a little tough to hold on to. Going for a case is probably more of a necessity than a choice.

On the other hand, the G3 offers a more ergonomic design – despite its slightly bigger size. It also has a removable battery, and that’s a big deal. You can have a spare or replace a worn battery cheaply.

The tiny bevels on the G3 lend it a sleek, sexy look (and a bigger screen size). Compared to the G3 the iPhone looks almost bulky, with its big top and bottom bevels.

The iPhone does feel more solid(1), and probably offers the better build quality.

The difference here boils down to a matter of choice. For sleek, sexy looks, it’s the G3. For build quality, it’s the iPhone.

• iPhone: 138.1x67x6.9mm @ 129g
• G3: 146.3×74.6×8.9 @ 149g

My personal choice would be the G3 (Yes, I’m superficial).

2. Display

The G3 offers a massive 5.5 inch screen at a resolution of 2560×1440. That means an impressive 538 ppi. That is really high, just short of the Samsung S7.

The iPhone offers a 4.7 inch screen at 1334×750, with a much lower ppi of 326. But that doesn’t mean this display is bad by any means.

Both displays are easy on the eye. The G3 seems a lot sharper, especially with text. Some users have even complained that the G3’s text is too sharp, and that it irritates the eye. (1)

With the iPhone you can just about make out the pixels, but you need eyes like an eagle. The big difference in ppi is somewhat offset by the difference in screen size, so the difference in quality isn’t all that noticeable. (1)

In the end it’s really about whether you want a bigger screen or not. For me, I’ll have to take the G3 on this one.

3. Performance

Regarding specs, Apple always seem to be a bit behind. With less processing power and less ram, you’d expect the iPhone to have trouble keeping up with the competition. (2)

This is clearly not the case.

The G3 boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 quad-core 2.5GHz processor and an Adreno 330 GPU. This, combined with the higher 2-3GB of ram, makes it an absolute beast (at least on paper).

The iPhone lags behind on paper with its Apple A8 dual-core 1.4GHz CPU and PowerVR GX6450 GPU. The 1GB of ram on offer doesn’t help.

In this real-world benchmark test, the iPhone outperforms the G3 by quite a comfortable margin. Surprising, right?

Not really. With Apple it’s never okay to trust the specs. Apple usually optimises their devices better and, therefore, gets better performance from lower specs. (3)

It is worth mentioning that the iPhone is available in 16, 64 and 128GB versions. The G3 is available in 16 and 32GB versions. The G3 does, however, come with an SD slot, which the iPhone does not.

The difference here is that the iPhone eats the G3 for breakfast in terms of performance, and I’ll have to trust the tests – it’s the iPhone for me.

4. Battery

Here’s where the iPhone takes another hit. The small 1810 mAh battery in the iPhone can’t compete with the 3000 mAh battery in the G3.

That is, until they’re tested.

According to a video loop test performed by trustedreviews.com, the iPhone lasted 10 hours at medium screen brightness. The G3 at medium screen brightness lasted for… 10 hours. (4)

Yes, again the iPhone discredits specifications. The battery does just fine. There is a reason for this, however. That big screen on the G3 really eats battery life.

In fact, at full brightness, you probably wouldn’t get half a day out of the G3.

The iPhone, unfortunately, would also have trouble making it through a full day with maximum screen brightness. Had the batteries been of similar size, the iPhone would have taken it.

Despite the big difference in battery there seems to be no clear winner in this department.

5. Sound

Something we could all use more of is front facing speakers on phones. I mean, the user is (usually) facing the phone, right?

Well, the iPhone has a fine little speaker that is loud and clear and quite a joy when you don’t have headphones handy. It’s placed at the bottom of the phone so the occasional finger mute is possible.

LG decided that a good location for their speaker on the G3 would be the rear. Yes, the speaker is in the rear of the phone.

I’ve never seen anyone using their phone with it facing away from them.

Okay, I get it. When you put your phone down on a table it frees the speaker up and your down-facing screen is safe from damage.

I get it, but I don’t like it.

Just because of speaker placement (and a slightly better speaker), the iPhone has the upper hand in this difference.

6. Camera

The iPhone has a 1.2MP front-facing camera, where the G3 has one at 2.1 MP. Unless you’re a selfie-holic, this shouldn’t matter too much, so let’s move on to more important matters.

The iPhone features an 8MP rear camera with digital image stabilization (DIS), dual led “True Tone” flash and an aperture of f/2.2.

The G3 has a 13MP camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and an aperture of f/2.4. It also has phase detection and laser autofocus.

The smaller aperture on the G3 should grant it more depth of field, but the difference is hardly noticeable.

The obvious difference is in the amount of megapixels, but this only affects cropping, so I’m going to ignore that. What we want to know is how well these cameras perform, and which takes the better photographs. (5)

The iPhone tends to slightly wash out some colours, as can be seen here. Both cameras do take amazing photos, however.

In low light conditions the iPhone trumps the G3, providing much better detail. If you want a darker effect, however, the G3 is your phone. (5)

The G3 takes video in 4k and 1080p at 30 fps, where the iPhone takes 1080p at 60 fps. The iPhone also features a 720p “slow motion” capture mode at 240 fps. I haven’t tried this feature on the iPhone yet, but I believe it is pretty neat.

With the higher fps, the iPhone will be better at capturing movement.

Personally I’m going to go with the iPhone in this difference. The cameras themselves are very close, but in video the iPhone takes it.

7. Price

Since we’re on a budget here I guess this is the big one. Arguably I should have put this first, but at least now we know what we’re paying for when we shell out our hard-earned money.

A quick search on Amazon tells me that you can get yourself a brand new Apple iPhone 6 for just over $300 on average.

You could get a G3 for around the $200 mark.

Explains a lot, doesn’t it?

 Conclusion

The iPhone 6, a leader in the last generation of smartphones. The G3, an absolute beauty.

How do the differences stack up? Well, the iPhone clearly provides better value. If it’s value for money you’re after, however, the G3 is the better option.

The only section in which the iPhone clearly demolished the G3 was in performance. They were pretty even in the rest of the categories, however.

In the end it’s all about budget. If you have just over $300, you could get the iPhone.

… or you could get the G3, and with the change buy a nice new outfit to go with your nice new phone.

Summary

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