LG G4 vs Apple iPhone 6: the weigh-in

LG is clearly aiming to differentiate itself from the other smartphones with the G4.

The G4 comes in an unusual choice of material – leather – and offers interesting UI tweaks through its new features. The most significant changes, however, come in the build quality and camera departments.

And guess which other smartphone is also well-known for performing in those areas? That’s right: the Apple iPhone 6.

We pit the two against each other in an epic showdown of specs, to find out once and for all whose numbers add up to be the best.

Material world

he LG G4 has gone with the curious choice of leather. Not that fake-feel pleather mind you – we’re talking real leather for its back. Unusual it might be, but unfashionable it definitely isn’t. The hand-stitched leather lends a distinguished feel to the phone.

And it’s not all cosmetic either; leather gives a good grip, unlike the all too smooth aluminium body of the iPhone 6 – which you’ll want to clad in a case for fear of scarring its good looks.

But given that leather has the habit of developing a patina thanks to the elements and the natural oils on your fingertips, only time will tell if choosing a leather back over a polycarbonate metallic shell was a smart choice. Fortunately for you, the leather back is easily removable should you change your mind after some time.

Plastic by any other name is still plastic. Even when you gloss things over with a metallic coat and a dimpled texture. So while the leather-backed G4 wins over the aluminium-clad iPhone 6, the other option of the G4 in metallic polycarbonate definitely loses out to Apple’s phone.

The LG G4 also has a slight curve running through its body. The Slim Arc, so named by LG, is more of a gentle bend than a sharp turn and what it does is apparently prevent the G4’s screen from shattering should it do a faceplant onto a pavement. The iPhone 6, as we all know from Bendgate, can’t boast the same.

an LG twist. Just to name a couple of new features they’re adding: Event Pocket will let you drag and drop events into your calendar, while Smart Notice becomes a lot more human-seeming than the automated system that it actually is.

Swipe to the left of your home screen and you get a personal feed called Smart Bulletin that will give you all your activity tracking data from apps, your schedule for the day, and other information you deem significant to you in one smooth feed.

But when it comes to the sheer variety of apps and simplicity in operation, iOS 8 still sets the standard for all operating systems to aspire to. The opening of the system to incorporate third-party apps is an indication of Apple’s growing willingness to play nice and offers customisation without complicating it.

Plus, the timeline feature that the G4 just added into its gallery to sort its photos according to days, months and years, looks more than a little familiar. Now, where have we seen this before…? (*cough*iOS8*cough*)