LG G2 vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 vs. Sony Xperia Z1: The triumvirate

Performance

We'll now analyze the performance of the three Snapdragon 800-wielding beasts. Here are the profiles of the competitors.

Only minor differences are to be expected - the Galaxy Note 3 and G2 have slightly higher clock speed at 2.27 GHz and 2.26 GHz, respectively, while the Sony Xperia Z1 has its four Krait cores running at 2.2 GHz.

The RAM is 2 gigs for the Sony and LG flagships, while Samsung has made the world's first smartphone with 3GB of RAM, which should give the Galaxy Note 3 an edge when it comes to multitasking. And finally, due to it being a Jelly Bean 4.3 smartphone, the Galaxy Note 3 has OpenGL ES 3.0 support so it should show better graphics performance for apps and games that are designed to take advantage of that.

We'll start with BenchmarkPi, which measures the calculative performance of the CPU cores. The Galaxy Note 3 and G2 tie for first place here, probably due to their higher clock speed, while the Xperia Z1 is close behind.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  99
• LG G2
  99
• Sony Xperia Z1
  115

Linpack is able to test multi-threaded CPU performance. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 scored a win here, followed closely by the LG G2, with the Sony Xperia Z1 in tow.

Linpack

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  1081
• LG G2
  1054
• Sony Xperia Z1
  1004

Quadrant and AnTuTu 4 gauge the overall device performance instead of just the CPU. The Samsung flagship topped AnTuTu but finished second in Quadrant, trading places with the Xperia Z1. The LG G2 cames up last on both occasions, although differences weren't huge.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  31109
• Sony Xperia Z1
  30850
• LG G2
  30245

Quadrant

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z1
  20388
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  20052
• LG G2
  19815

GeekBench 3 is a test of CPU and memory. The Galaxy Note 3 secured the first place here, followed by the Xperia Z1. The LG G2 was some way behind, indicating that its memory may not be quite as fast as that of its two competitors.

Geekbench 3

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  2937
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2638
• LG G2
  2243

In the graphics test, the Galaxy Note 3 topped both GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt and 2.7 T-Rex benchmarks, followed by the Sony Xperia Z1. The LG G2 posted excellent scores on both, but couldn't match its rivals.

GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  68
• Sony Xperia Z1
  60
• LG G2
  54

GLBenchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  26
• Sony Xperia Z1
  23
• LG G2
  22

In the on-screen Epic Citadel the Sony Xperia Z1 placed first, followed by the LG G2, while the Galaxy Note 3 surprisingly sunk to third place.

Epic Citadel

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z1
  54.9
• LG G2
  51
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  47.7

Now it's time to look at browsing performance. SunSpider tests out JavaScript performance, while BrowserMark 2 focuses on HTML 5 and Vellamo is an all-round benchmark. JavaScript saw the Galaxy Note 3 well in front with the Xperia Z1 and LG G2 in second and third place, respectively. HTML 5 performance saw the LG G2 and Sony Xperia Z1 trade places as the Galaxy Note 3 retained its lead.

The Galaxy Note 3 failed to impress in the Vellamo test, dropping to third, even if it was close to the Xperia Z1 and the G2 in front.

SunSpider

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  587
• Sony Xperia Z1
  845
• LG G2
  908

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  3041
• LG G2
  2718
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2398

Vellamo

Higher is better

• LG G2
  2908
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2904
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  2853

Keep in mind that scores aside, all three smartphones are in a league of their own when it comes to performance. There's no lag to be found anywhere, pages load quickly, animations are super fast, games start in an instant and run perfectly and all those pixels are being pushed to the screen effortlessly.

Whichever of the three you go with, you'll never feel like it's slower than the other two - Snapdragon 800 and Android Jelly Bean will see to that.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The extra gig of RAM and the newest Android version saw the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 dominate most benchmarks and when it wasn't in the lead it wasn't too far behind.

Runner-up: Sony Xperia Z1. The Sony Xperia Z1 has a minor disadvantage in terms of clock speed, but managed to edge out a victory thanks to its GPU and memory performance, which was a tad better than that of the LG G2.

Third place: LG G2. A stellar performer in its own right, the LG G2 come a tad short of its rivals here.