I’ve been spending a lot of time with the LG G4 lately, which is a wonderful phone. It seemed natural that the first comparison should be with the LG G Flex 2.
After all, both phones are flagships in their own right. In fact, it really appears that the LG G Flex 2 should be the flagship. It has a better processor, a better camera, and, well, it’s more expensive.
I also did a written comparison if you want to check it out, but for the meantime, here’s the video.
I’ve been working with the LG Lancet for over two weeks now. It’s a very interesting phone. Then again, I find all non-Lumia Windows Phones to be very interesting.
Verizon sells two mid-range Windows Phones, the Microsoft Lumia 735 and the LG Lancet, both of which have only been with the evil carrier for a couple months. While the Microsoft Lumia 735 is a bit more expensive, coming in at $192 (which is an amazing price for such a device), the LG Lancet certainly has some advantages while it comes in at $120.
It seemed fitting to do a comparison. I also did a written comparison, which you can find here.
Continue reading LG Lancet vs Microsoft Lumia 735 Video Comparison: Verizon’s Windows Phones
I haven’t been able to confirm this, but it certainly appears that Lumia Camera Classic is going away in favor of the new stock Windows 10 Mobile Camera app. Now, keeping track of the four Lumia Camera apps is a bit confusing, so here’s a quick breakdown.
Continue reading Lumia Camera Classic vs Windows 10 Camera Comparison
The LG G4 came out a couple months ago now, but I finally got my hands on a review unit. The fact is that when given the choice between the G4 and the LG Lancet, I chose the Lancet since I know that a good portion of my loyal and fantastic readers are Windows Phone fans.
So now I’ve got my hands on the G4 and it seemed like the logical place to start was with the LG G Flex 2. After all, the G Flex 2 is, by all rights, a flagship phone. It uses a better processor than the G4, it uses a 1080p AMOLED rather than the 1440p IPS LCD in the G4, and it has that awesome curved screen. It would appear that the only thing better about the G4 is the camera, and boy, is the camera on the LG G4 pretty great.
Recently, I received the LG Lancet to review. It’s LG’s first attempt at a Windows Phone since Windows Phone 7. Well, let’s just say it’s LG’s first attempt at a modern Windows Phone.
So far, I’ve been pretty impressed with the LG Lancet. My first instinct was to compare it to the Microsoft Lumia 735. After all, those are Verizon’s two mid-range Windows Phones. As it turns out, the LG Lancet blows away the Lumia 735 in benchmarks, but not much else. Battery tests weren’t great, nor was the camera, which might not have been fair, considering how stellar the Lumia 735 camera is (first phone to have an f/1.9 aperture. That’s right, Galaxy S6 fans).
This is going to be the first installment in a three part series. It will be three comparisons and the third contender will be the Windows 10 Camera app, which is supposedly the replacement for Lumia Camera Classic.
Nokia Camera was a terrible camera app. I’ll say it again. Nokia Camera was terrible. We put up with it because the app took such amazing pictures. It took a long time to focus, there was no dedicated button to switch between front and rear cameras, no dedicated button for Settings, and so on.
Microsoft bought Nokia and Nokia Camera became Lumia Camera. Lumia Camera 5 came out and Lumia Camera became Lumia Camera Classic.
Lumia Camera 5 came with Lumia Denim, the firmware update that was bundled with Windows Phone 8.1.1. It’s only available on select Windows Phones, such as the Lumia 830, Lumia Icon, Lumia 930, and Lumia 1520. When Microsoft released the Lumia 640 and 640 XL, it was available on those as well.
Lumia Camera 5 solves just about all of the things that were wrong with Lumia Camera Classic, but it also takes different pictures. Here, we’re actually going to put those pictures side by side.
I would also note that I still have a beef with all of the Lumia Camera apps, which is that certain things can be edited from within the app and some are only in other Lumia apps, such as Lumia Creative Studio. I would love to see all of those features in the Lumia Camera app or even in the Photos app.
So let’s look at Lumia Camera Classic and Lumia Camera 5 side by side. Both photos were taken with the Lumia 930. To be fair with each other, they both used automatic settings. To enlarge the photo, click on it. To view the full size image, there is a link in the carousel.
| Lumia Camera Classic | Lumia Camera 5 |
|---|
Obviously, both cameras take similar photos. After all, they were taken with the same camera with the same firmware, but there are some differences.
Lumia Camera Classic - Lumia Camera 5
Lumia Camera Classic - Lumia Camera 5
Lumia Camera Classic - Lumia Camera 5
One thing that I noticed in some of my camera tests with the Lumia 640 is that the photos seemed to be oversaturated. I see now that that’s not the case. We do notice that the reds seem darker with Lumia Camera 5.
Lumia Camera 5 also comes with a feature called Rich Capture. It’s a wonderful feature, which is why it’s named after me. Here’s a video I did that shows off Rich Capture and what it does.
Now, let’s look at some samples:
Lumia Camera 5 without Flash - Rich Capture
Lumia Camera 5 with Flash - Rich Capture
Lumia Camera 5 without Flash - Rich Capture
Lumia Camera 5 with Flash - Rich Capture
Lumia Camera 5 without Flash - Rich Capture
Lumia Camera 5 with Flash - Rich Capture
The idea behind Rich Capture is to allow the user to adjust the exposure of an image after it’s taken. When you take the photo with a flash, it allows you to choose the image with a flash, without the flash, or anywhere in between, which is a huge benefit.
Then there’s the front camera. I don’t have my Lumia 640 XL review unit anymore, which is the only phone with a solid front camera that’s got Lumia Camera 5. Because of this, we’re going to do it with the 1.2 MP front camera on the Nokia Lumia 930. i’m not expecting to see big differences here.
It could be the lighting or a slightly different angle, but I think Lumia Camera 5 does a better job on the front camera.
Sadly, I don’t think this comparison is going to matter. As far as I can tell, Lumia Camera Classic dies with the birth of Windows 10 Mobile. Every phone I have running the Insider Preview doesn’t have Lumia Camera on it anymore unless it’s a phone with Lumia Camera 5, such as the Lumia 930 or the Lumia Icon.
I really wanted to get this comparison in before Lumia Camera Classic is gone forever.
When Microsoft bought Nokia, the firm made the pledge to open up all of the Nokia specific apps to all Windows Phones. They have not made good on that promise, even a little. Even apps such as Lumia Creative Studio aren’t available on non-Lumia Windows Phones. This is another reason why I think that Lumias ultimately hurt the Windows Phone platform, despite the fact that they’re amazing phones.
The new stock Camera app in Windows 10 Mobile is the first step toward that goal. After all, Windows Phone has always had a stock Camera app, which is pretty terrible. Big companies such as HTC, Samsung, and LG have their own camera apps, but smaller companies such as Blu and Yezz use the stock Camera app.
In Windows 10 Mobile, the stock Camera app will be much more similar to the Lumia Camera app. Let’s just hope it works as well. If you’re running the Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview, you know that the stock Camera app is far from complete.
Currently, Verizon sells two Windows Phones. Well, in the mid-range. They still sell the HTC One M8 for Windows. You can still find a Nokia Lumia Icon in some places, both of which are amazing phones.
But we have two brand new Windows Phones on Verizon now, the Microsoft Lumia 735 and the LG Lancet. The phones are very similar in that they use similar chipsets and have the same RAM and storage. They’re different since the Lumia 735 has a camera with better specs and the Lancet has a 64 bit processor, but we’ll get to that later.
I’m extremely excited about the LG Lancet. It’s LG’s first try at Windows Phone since Windows Phone 7 and so far, I think they’ve done a pretty good job.
Continue reading LG Lancet vs Microsoft Lumia 735: Verizon’s Two Windows Phones
By Rich W Woods
NOTE: I wrote this a long time ago when I was reviewing the Microsoft Lumia 640 XL. I found it in my drafts and thought I’d publish it.
You may be noticing that I’m comparing the Microsoft Lumia 640 XL to flagship devices. Actually, I started by comparing it to the Nokia Lumia 635, while piling on the Nokia Lumia 1320 and Lumia 830. The purpose of this was to show how superior the Lumia 640 XL is to its predecessors. The camera is, by all rights, a flagship camera. The next comparison was with the iPhone 6 and now, the LG G Flex 2.
The LG G Flex 2 was a camera that I just fell in love with. In fact, the LG G Flex 2 was a phone that I fell in love with. The curved display combined with the laser focused camera made up a stunning device. It’s honestly one of the best devices I’ve ever used.
Continue reading Microsoft Lumia 640 XL vs LG G Flex 2 Comparison
By Rich W Woods
A couple days ago, I posted a hands on video with the Android M developer preview. I pointed out that, as with all Android updates, there are really no new features. As Android fans love to point out, it’s all “under the hood”.
Even though I said it in the video, people still seemed to want a video where I show those “under the hood” performance improvements. For this video, I have two Nexus 9s, one with Android M and one with Android Lollipop.
Also, if you watch the whole thing, you get to see me TOTALLY eat my own words.
Continue reading Hands On with Android M Part 2: Performance Improvements
By Rich W Woods
This video was inspired by a post on WMPowerUser regarding whether or not Microsoft is ignoring dual core phones. I commented that people need to get over it. The dual core Snapdragon S4 Plus was a decrepit, old processor even when it was the only processor that was supported by Windows Phone 8. It really says something when your next generation low end phone outperforms your last generation flagship.
Of course, I got torn apart. I pointed out that a dual core 1.5 GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 Plus is far less powerful than a quad core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 200. Of course, I probably would have had the same response, that it’s not all about cores and GHz. People aren’t very nice on the Internet.
It doesn’t change the facts though. Watch the Microsoft Lumia 535 outperform the Nokia Lumia 1020.
Continue reading Microsoft Lumia 535 vs Nokia Lumia 1020 Speed Comparison
