What's up Prizefight fans?
I'm Brian Tong and it's a big screen phone-tablet battle between two fabulous phablets.
It's a Prizefight punch-out between LG's Optimus G Pro and Samsung's Galaxy Note 2. Our judges for this fight, our Senior Editor, Brian "Boom Shakalaka" Bennett, Associate Editor, Lynn "Eat to Win It" La, and myself, Brian
"Too Strong" Tong.
Now we'll take all three judge's blind scores and average them out to the nearest 10th of a point.
The final Prizefight score will be an average of all rounds in the same system.
Let's get busy-- round one is design.
The LG Optimus G Pro US version brings sort of the more refreshing big screen designs to the table with the front that looks pretty generic but a clean metal accent around the edges and a cool geometric fishnet like pattern on the back and I like fishnets.
Now it has a slightly
slimmer profile and it's also not as wide which makes this the easiest phablet to hold.
The Galaxy Note 2 brings Samsung's familiar design, but it's larger and more awkward in your hand compared to the Optimus G Pro.
Its Aspen Stylus also slides right into the Note's body so you'll always have it with you.
Both phones have vibrant 5-1/2-inch screens, but LG brings a full 1080p resolution and 400 pixels-per-inch that best the Note 2's 720p resolution with 267 pixels-per-inch and
you could see the difference.
The Optimus G Pro gets a 4.3 and the Note 2 gets a 3.7.
Next round is user interface and controls.
LG brings a really fresh and snappy UI that's really one of the fastest we've seen.
It's biggest UI feature is Q-Slide, which enables you to use specific apps like it's video player or notes to float anywhere on your screen and change the transparency while doing other functions.
It's nice to have but it's not as useful as Samsung's multi-screen feature
and the US version of the phone omits the web browser as a Q-Slide app.
Now the Note 2 can be great if you wanna keep it simple with its classic touch with its interface that runs smoothly as well.
But the biggest difference between these two is the Aspen that opens up even more features and functionality, but at times it can seem like there's a little too much going on here.
Its multi-screen feature takes advantage of all its real estate and allows you to run two apps like web browsing and watching a YouTube video at the same time
and it's the best feature by far.
On top of that, throw in specific features for the Aspen, like Air View for hovering over items to preview them or cycle through your home screens.
LG takes another round with a 4, and Samsung gets a 3.7.
So, after averaging two rounds, the Optimus G Pro has a slight lead.
Round three is all about features.
Both phones bring a lot of Android signature features like Google Now services, Android's unmatched voice search and commands,
NFC capabilities, and tracing characters on the keyboard to enter into words.
Both phones also bring their own level of multi-tasking and TV remote functionality.
Now the LG Optimus G Pro is loaded with a blazing fast 1.7 quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor that's really one of the fastest out there right now with 32 gigs of storage.
They even added the look away to pause video feature from the Galaxy S4.
Now it also has a programmable quick bun
that sets the quickMemo app that lets you create notes or even draw on top of the current screenshot.
It doesn't come with a stylus so all your notes will be done by finger.
Now, Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 brings a quad-core 1.6 gigahertz processor with 16, 32, and 64 gig storage options.
You also get their motion gestures like swipe it across the screen to take a screenshot or tilting to zoom in to a picture.
But its biggest feature is its Aspen Stylus that brings a whole new level of functionality to a device that already acts like a
phone like cropping pictures from your screen and being able to access multiple brushes by selecting them on the Aspen and really showing off your artistic skills.
You can jot down note ideas and even add voice memos on top of notes and this is, hands down, the most productive phone of phablet we've seen if you're willing to learn the system.
Samsung takes this round with a strong 4.7 and the Optimus G Pro gets a 3.7.
Next round is web browsing and multi-media.
We've talked about how amazing LGs Optimus G Pro screen looks and both phones look great, but LG's takes it up another level.
The Chrome browser runs great on both platforms and it's still the best mobile browser out there, but LG brings a 13-megapixel camera, and we know megapixels don't always matter, but most of our judges preferred the more natural muted looks from the photos it took compared to Samsung's 8-megapixel camera that brings a little more saturated colors that I preferred.
1080p video capture
is on both phones, but if you're watching movies on these devices, it have to give the edge to the Optimus G Pro as well and also it has a variety of more multi-function video shooting.
The Optimus G Pro gets a 4 and the Note 2 gets a 3.7.
So after averaging 4 rounds, LG has a slight lead.
The final round that decides it all is called quality and performance.
These two phablets are big, but let's not forget, they're still phones.
Now overall call quality was great on both of them, but will depend on your carrier location and data speeds were excellent as well.
Both phones performed well, but we talked about the Optimus G Pro's Snapdragon processor and in the Quadrant benchmark test that measures CPU, memory, and 3D graphics performance, the G Pro was a beast with a score of 11,745 that dominates pretty much every Android phone on the market compared to the Note 2 score of 5,763 and that's a huge difference.
Now on the flipside, if we talk about
battery life, using our own in-house CNET battery drain test, the G Pro came in at over 8 hours of video playback while the Note 2 gave us 12-1/2 hours and that's a huge difference as well.
Now our judges all didn't agree anywhere in this final round and the final round ends up being a tie at 4.3 points apiece.
So, let's average out all 5 rounds and in a Prizefight where the G Pro edged out the Note 2 in several rounds, Samsung had a huge round 3, but it just wasn't
enough, and the LG Optimus G Pro takes this battle 4.1 to 3.9 and is your Prizefight winner.
These are two of the best phablets on the market but let's ignore the score for a second and the real decision comes down to whether you want a stylus or not-- and if so go Galaxy.
But, in case you didn't know, the G Pro is $100 cheaper.
I'm Brian Tong.
Thanks for watching and we'll catch you guys next time for another Prizefight.
