The war is well and truly on to find out which handset will come out on top and win the title of the best Android flagship of 2016. This year has seen a flurry of new high-end Android handsets hit the market so as a consumer you are well and truly being spoiled when it comes to choice.
In this article I am going to compare some of the most important features of these high flyers, their design, camera’s and software. I ‘ll also include as general specifications comparison table for you.
So let’s get started:
Design
With clearly different approaches to how they, Samsung, HTC and LG approach the design of their high-end devices it is clear that the major manufacturers are beginning to move away from the who can build the biggest handset race and have started to return to more manageable sizes.
In terms of size, the Galaxy S7 is the smaller of the three, followed by the soon to be launched (expected in May) HTC 10. The LG G5 is the largest of the three with its 5.3-inch display.
In my hand the S7 is in my opinion the device that feels the best, its metal frame with curved edges is not only easy on the eye, but the silver version is seriously beautiful.
Software
Moving on to software each is running on Android Marshmallow and has its own skin, basically the software a manufacturer installs on an Android device to make it stand out as its own product. Some consider this to be kin to bloatware however, over the last few years the size and how obtrusive it can be with regard to a handsets performance has been seriously worked on.
The Galaxy S7 runs with TouchWhiz, HTC 10 runs on Sense8 and the LG G5 is running on UX5.0. Each with a different approach however, the skins on the LG G5 and Galaxy S7 look fairly similar and in my opinion are not much fun and just don’t stand out from the display.
If you’re a fan of a near stock Android experience, apart from some rearranging of menus the HTC 10 with its Sense8 skin sticks as close to stock as I have seen.
Camera
As for the cameras on these handsets again there are different approaches, the Galaxy S7 has a 12 Megapixel camera that offers better in door shots in low light conditions. The HTC 10 also has a 12 Megapixel camera and is being called the Ultrapixel-2 camera however, in low light conditions early tests have revealed that the S7 outperforms the S10.
Moving onto the LG G5, LG has given us something different with a dual camera setup a 16 Megapixel sensor and an 8-Megapixel sensor, which is a wide angle lens. On this handset it’s the wide angle camera which stands out as it produces some great images.
HTC 10 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 vs LG G5 specs compared
Final Thoughts
Of the three, do I have a clear favourite? I would have to say no. Yes, if you can get your hands-on a Galaxy S7 with an Exynos chip rather than the Snapdragon 820 it will easily outperform the LG G5 and HTC 10 although a large amount of Samsung’s handsets are shipped with the Snapdragon 820 so it’s unlikely that you will be lucky enough to get your hands-on one.
Where software is concerned its early days, but I would choose the HTC 10 with its near stock Android skin, as I prefer less software which doesn’t get in the way.
