Should you buy the LG V30 or the Pixel 2 XL? It’s a hard decision.
I was the last person to leave Google‘s Pixel hardware event in Toronto this week, the cleaning staff already entering the converted movie studio to remove the painstakingly crafted demo spaces for Google Lens, augmented reality, and the Pixel 2 camera’s Portrait Mode. I just didn’t want to give the damn phones back, them feeling so good and comfortable and right in my paw.
And gave them back I did, but not before I snapped some photos of the Pixel 2 XL next to the LG V30. I’m saying this both to hedge against the poor quality of the photos themselves (Lightroom’s Clarity can’t fix what isn’t in focus) but to emphasize that, Samsung flagships aside, I think this is the most interesting comparison to come out of the entire event.
See, the LG V30 goes on sale pretty much now — it’s already available at Verizon and AT&T, and will be next week at T-Mobile and Sprint — despite being announced in August and seeded to reviewers shortly thereafter. LG has a knack of announcing its phones well before they actually go on sale, which means that despite a great product, they tend to lose the momentum of public discourse in the weeks following.
Anyway, what that means is that the October 5 release date of the V30 is only two weeks before the LG-made Pixel 2 XL, which is astonishing if you think about it.
So which should you buy? Honestly, that’s a difficult question to answer. But let’s try to get you closer to that truth.
What’s the same
Both the LG V30 and the Google Pixel 2 XL share a number of hardware similarities, and while they don’t look the same, they are built on similar bones.
LG brought its Plastic OLED technology to the V30 first, but it appears that the Pixel 2 XL has either the same panel, or one very similar — they’re both six inches at 2880×1440 pixel resolution, with the increasingly-common 18:9 / 2:1 aspect ratio. I like this compromise between width and height; unlike the Galaxy S8+ and Note 8, neither the V30 nor Pixel 2 XL feels top-heavy or onerous to use in one hand. That’s not to say they’re one hand-friendly the way the smaller 5-inch 16:9 Pixel 2 is, but they’re easier to maneuver without risking a drop.
The panels themselves are excellent. These are OLED displays with vivid colors, perfect blacks, and awesome calibration; both LG and Google boast of full DCI-P3 color gamut support.
Those screens, curved at each corner, fit into chassis only slightly larger, making them practically bezel-less. But LG does a better job on the V30, mainly because it eschews front-facing stereo speakers for a single bottom firing port. The Pixel 2 XL is slightly taller, and a bit wider, as a result, but to me it’s not a dealbreaker — I haven’t heard them just yet, but I love the idea of phone speakers with actual impact.
Both phones are powered by the same underlying hardware, too: Snapdragon 835 SoC, 4GB of RAM, between 64GB and 128GB of storage (though only on the V30+, which is limited to Sprint and US Cellular), and a sizable battery — 3300mAh for the V30 and 3520mAh for the Pixel — along with IP67 water resistance. Thankfully, the rear fingerprint sensors are in the same (gratifying) place — though only the Pixel’s lets you swipe down to reveal the notification shade. Come on, LG!
On a high level, that’s where the similarities end. And that’s what makes this comparison so interesting.
What’s different
The LG V30 focuses on so many different things than the LG-made Pixel 2 XL, and that’s why I love Android. The V30 is a shiny slab of glass on the front and back, which supports wireless charging. The Pixel 2 XL is … not. It has a unibody metal chassis, but a portion of the back is covered in glass, which is both a design and signal benefit, since Google doesn’t have to break up the look with plastic antenna lines. The metal back is rendered slightly more tactile, and less slippery, thanks to a finish that can only be described as plasticky. When I first picked it up I had to be reassured the phone was indeed aluminum — it feels more like the Nexus 5X than the original Pixel XL.
Of course, the V30 has two cameras, one 16MP sensor with a wide-angle lens, and a 13MP sensor with an extra wide-angle lens. The two form the basis of one of the more interesting and fun camera experiences on the market, and as we’ve said before, no one does landscape photography better than LG. At the same time, many of LG‘s new video modes are substantially more robust than anything you’ll find on a Samsung or even Sony device, and far surpasses that of Google‘s simple camera app, which even lacks a dedicated manual mode.
At the same time, Google‘s focus (pun intended) on a single camera, which is lower-resolution with larger individual pixels than the V30‘s main sensor, allows for some incredible low-light shots. Google also boasts of a computational portrait mode, while its HDR+ capabilities bring out color and detail in situations that many other phones would fall flat.
We’ve spent a lot of time with pre-production versions of the V30‘s hardware and came away impressed, but I’m fairly confident that, when put head to head with the Pixel 2 XL, it won’t square up in most situations. The Pixel also has Google Lens, which further reinforces the company’s lead in using the camera for contextual gain; point it at a sign and get information about the words, or its location. Point it at a dog and (hopefully) find out the breed (it’s a Great Dane). That’s all very cool, but it remains to be seen if people will actually use the feature.
If you care about audio quality at all, the V30 isn’t just better than the Pixel — it’s the best out there.
LG also puts a tremendous amount of effort into shoring up its audio game; not only does the V30 have a headphone jack, but its Quad DAC and powerful amplifier ensures that all headphones, even high-impedance ones, sound excellent. It’s also possible to tune the phone’s sound to suit one’s individual ear, with additional filters and settings that even 2016’s V20 lacked. This is as robust an audio-visual experience as you can get on any phone today — but it requires a tremendous amount of tweaking to get there.
The original Pixel was renound for its awful Bluetooth performance, so it’s a bit concerning that its successor lacks a headphone jack. Sure, there’s a dongle in the box, but it’s one sure to be quickly lost or discarded. At the same time, Google is patterning with companies like Libratone to deliver “Made for Google” Bluetooth accessories, which consist of easy pairing and (we assume) consistently good performance. It really would be nice if Google were to deliver a phone that didn’t experience base-level problems for once.
LG also delivers some very decent headphones in the box, whereas Google delivers… well, that dongle.
The last two differences are obvious, but worth pointing out. Google‘s software is worlds ahead of LG‘s in many respects; not only does the Pixel 2 XL ship with Android 8.0 Oreo, but its interface and general aesthetic feels substantially more mature; LG, which has made strides in recent years, ships the V30 with Android 7.1.2, and though many of the more hard edges have been softened, it’s still easy to find nits to pick. For example, LG still insists on shipping its own keyboard, which is terrible, and its default launcher lacks an app drawer and hits icons with an ugly stick.
The Pixel 2 XL is sure to get more updates sooner, but LG‘s software is a lot better than it used to be.
At the same time, Android 7.1.2 is a known quantity, both mature and easy to understand, and LG benefits from this extended lead time; the V20 was one of the first devices to ship with Android 7.0 Nougat and experienced some awful bugs that took months to resolve. I’ve yet to experience a single show-stopping issue with the V30. The original Pixel on Oreo, on the other hand, has developed a cottage country of complaints since the update became available.
But updates are going to come to the Pixel must more quickly, and for longer, than the V30 can hope to see. For starters, Google updates the Pixels directly, and is promising three years of both security updates and, for the first time, platform updates. The V30 is being sold primarily through carrier channels, so it will have to go through approval processes that often take longer. We can hope that the V30 receives Oreo sooner than later, but it’s the next update, Android P, where that lead will lengthen on Google’s behalf.
Which should you buy?
The LG V30 costs between $800 and $840 at U.S. carriers, which works out to around $32 to $34 per month for 24 months. The V30+, which is available only at Sprint and US Cellular, runs closer to $920, or $38 per month. The Pixel 2 XL starts at $849, but can be had at Verizon or the Google Store for around $35 per month for the 64GB model and $39 for the 128GB version.
So the cost is a wash.
That leaves the features, and to my eyes the V30 has a more robust collection of experiences for the advanced user, especially when it comes to audio and photography. Not only does the Quad DAC provide better sound, but there’s a headphone jack with a powerful amplifier and plenty of adjustability. The dual camera setup is tons of fun, and the manual mode is just wonderful. The V30 has wireless charging, too, and the all-glass design keeps it lighter than the Pixel 2. The overall body is smaller, too, though you forgo front-facing speakers.
The Pixel 2 XL is a simple phone. It’s meant to be easy to understand and use, and accessible to any and all who buy it. It hides much of the complexity that Android is famous for. Its design is also sure to be divisive; it’s both whimsical and utilitarian, and while the larger Pixel doesn’t have the substantial bezels of its smaller counterpart, it probably won’t win any design awards.
it’s time to take the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 for a spin! We spent some time with both phones today and are ready to share some initial thoughts and run through a tour of each device.
My first major take away is that these feel like true Google phones. What I mean is the fact that these feel like phones Google actually designed, phones that weren’t just last-minute leftover parts from HTC’s iPhone knockoff department. Each phone is unique in this cluttered smartphone world, especially the Pixel XL 2.
Both phones feel really nice in hand, though the Pixel XL 2 definitely feels more premium. They are similarly finished, but the smaller Pixel 2 just isn’t quite up to par, at least to my hands. That’s not to say that it won’t be a heck of a phone, it just isn’t the flagship of the two and that’s OK.
The software experience is what you expect. It’s clean and minimal still even as Google continues to add-on their own custom touches. The updated Pixel Launcher with Search buried down in the dock is going to take some getting used to, but this is Android, so launchers can be changed if it’s not your thing. The squeezy side gesture to launch Google Assistant works well, and no, you can’t change it to do anything other than launch Assistant.
The camera is as fast as you would hope. I know that DxoMark crowned it the king of smartphone cameras, but I just didn’t have enough time to test its quality. I’m expecting it to be pretty damn good, though, just like last year’s Pixel cameras. Who needs dual shooters, eh?
And that’s pretty much it for now. We (obviously) didn’t have time to test battery life or look at performance or setup the fingerprint reader or train Google Assistant either. We definitely didn’t get a superb grip on which phone will be the one for you. I’m certainly leaning towards the Pixel XL 2, if only because it feels like the it’s on trend, unlike the smaller Pixel 2. Either way, we can’t wait for more.
Google hasannounced a very limited beta program for Android Wear, allowing its flagship smartwatch, the LG Watch Sport, to test out some upcoming features based on Android 8.0 Oreo.
” Today, we are launching the beta of the next Android Wear update. As we mentioned at Google I/O, this will mainly be a technical upgrade to API 26 with enhancements to background limits and notification channels. “
The update is not significant from a consumer perspective at this point, since it doesn’t change the Android Wear 2.0 user interface that started rolling out earlier this year. Instead, it updates the core AW code to Oreo, giving it access to two important features phone users have been enjoying for some time: notification channels, and background limits.
The former lets apps on the watch follow the same rules as apps on the phone; if you limit a particular app from sending specific notifications, that behavior will be imitated on the watch.
” For notifications generated locally by Android Wear apps, users will be able to customise the notifications channel they want to see, right on their watch. “
Given that Android Wear is becoming more phone-independent, notification channels will likely benefit those who rely on apps that generate their own notifications rather than just forwarding them from the phone.
Background limits are battery-saving properties that should extend the battery life of some watches.
” There are increased restrictions on background services. Developers should assume services can no longer run in the background without a visible notification. In addition, the background location update frequency will be reduced. Battery-saving best practices such as using JobScheduler should be adopted to ensure your app is battery-efficient and able to perform background tasks when possible. “
There’s no word on when Google will make the Android Wear beta program available to more watches, but it’s good to see the company sticking with its development path nonetheless. You can sign up for the beta if you have the LG Watch Sport.
Google is set to announce the next generation of Pixel devices next week and despite already seeing a leak showing the rear of the device, this time a new leak reveals the specs of both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.
The Pixel 2 XL will feature a curved QHD screen and will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 processor with either 64 GB or 128 GB of internal storage, which we already suspected. It is said that the screen-to-body ratio will be around 80% and 85%, lending a similar look and feel to that of the Note 8. The Pixel 2 XL will also feature dual stereo speakers but no headphone jack.
It appears the Pixel 2 devices won’t see dual rear-cameras but instead retain the single front-facing and rear-facing cameras we’ve seen in previous models. These will be specifically called Pixel cameras though so that could lend some suggestion as to how much focus Google will be placed on the camera functionality.
The source also suggests that the Pixel 2 devices will come equipped with an E-SIM that would allow the device to connect to different carriers without the need for a physical SIM. The Pixel 2 XL will have IP67 water resistance and Gorilla Glass 5 and be powered by a 3520mAh battery.
The subtle differences of the Pixel 2 over its bigger brother are that it is likely to have a larger bezel and will be removing the headphone jack. The device will have an FHD screen instead of the curved QHD screen on the Pixel 2 XL and have a smaller 2700 mAh battery given the smaller profile of the device.
This is how the two devices lineup:
Some of these specs may be surprising while others seem spot on with exactly what we were expecting from the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. With only a few days left to the event, the devices are certainly shaping up to reveal some interesting features.
Shortly after Google launched their device trade-in program for Project Fi and the Google Store last week, we all noticed that the Pixeland Pixel XL were not listed as devices eligible to be traded in. This week, that changed and both are now listed, giving us an idea as to how much Google will give us as we consider upgrading to the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL in a few days.
For the regular Pixel with 32GB and in working condition, Google will give you up to $350. If you own the 128GB model, your phone will fetch up to $360. For the Pixel XL under those same circumstances, you are looking at $400 for 32GB models and $410 for 128GB models. Now, those are the prices if your phone turns on and has a display free of cracks. Should your phone have issues, the price will drop.
Pixel
Pixel XL
I’m no expert on trade-ins, but those prices don’t seem bad at all to me. Samsung, for example, is only offering up to $300 for a Pixel or Pixel XL in its Note 8 trade-in program. You can buy a refurbished (used) Pixel or Pixel XL for around $350 or $400 today as well. Google sure seems to be giving you more than market value for their own phones.
Assuming these trade-in prices stick through Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL orders, you could pay pretty affordable prices if you are willing to part with your original Pixel or XL. Remember, we gave you Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL pricing last week, so we already can do some simple math with these numbers:
Today is a big day for new Google device leaks. We already got a glimpse of the upcoming Google Home Mini and the Pixel 2 XL. Now, it’s time for the smaller Pixel 2 model. This is the Pixel made by HTC and it mostly looks like the XL. Again, it has glass on the top part of the back with the fingerprint scanner underneath.
The Pixel 2 will be available in three colors (all pictured): Kinda Blue, Just Black, and Clearly White. It will have 64 and 128GB options and start at $649. The landing page is already up at the Google Store, but nothing is there yet. We should know more very soon. What do you think about this Pixel?
Android Oreo while a small update it terms of visual changes brought some interesting new features. The new Autofill API paved the way to improve the way in which apps like LastPass interact with the OS, as well as things like Project Treble.
Another new feature enabled by Android Oreo is the Always on Ambient Display mode that seems to be reserved for the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 as it is currently disabled.
Despite the next generation Pixel devices only a month away, the always on display feature seems to be fully functional in Android Oreo and just needs activating. This means you don’t have to wait for the new Pixel 2 devices and can get started with any device that supports Android Oreo AOSP.
The new ambient display setting works pretty similarly to all of those other “always on display” modes from Samsung or LG that have included it with its devices for a few generations. When you receive a notification, it’ll display on the AOD for a few seconds before facing away leaving just the icon below the clock.
The method to enable this in Android Oreo AOSP is pretty simple and comes courtesy of XDA that found the “alwaysOnAvailable” code that is tagged as “false” can be reversed by simply changing the method to “true”.
Check out XDA Developer Mishaal Rahman’s post to try it out and see for yourself.
Earlier we reported that Google has confirmed the big reveal date for the new Pixel 2 smartphones will be October 4th. Thanks to a new entry spotted in the FCC database, we are now able to also confirm that LG is indeed the manufacturer of the larger of the two devices dubbed the Pixel XL 2. This is not really surprising as all signs up to now were pointing to LG being the manufacturer with this latest discovery merely making things official. The smaller Pixel 2 phone was spotted in the FCC database a few weeks ago with HTC as the manufacturer.
The FCC documents did not reveal much else of note regarding the forthcoming device, although one bit of disappointing news was discovered. In examining the bands to be supported by the Pixel XL 2, it appears the device will not work with T-Mobile’s new 600MHz spectrum. For those interested in model numbers, it appears the new Pixel XL 2 will be model G011C.
While many details about the new device are unknown, we do know that LG ended up sticking with a Snapdragon 835 for the processor instead of being upgraded to the now-delayed Snapdragon 836. We also anticipate the display should be similar to what LG developed for the LG G6 and the LG V30 devices that have screens with minimal bezels.
Apple’s 2017 iPhones will inevitably influence the top end of the smartphone market. Here’s how it looks at the moment, with a number of key launches expected soon.
Smartphones are the focus of most people’s digital lives these days, and are likely to remain so until computing becomes truly ‘ambient’ — probably involving some seamless combination of wearables (particularly augmented reality [AR] goggles), IoT devices, cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI).
Following the launch of the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X, it’s a good time to take stock of the current state of the smartphone market by examining the vital statistics of leading vendors’ flagship handsets.
Apple‘s new iPhones, and Samsung‘s Galaxy S8/S8+ and Galaxy Note 8, show the general direction in which top-end smartphones are heading: powerful, attractive (and expensive) handsets whose user experiences increasingly leverage AI and AR, integrated with an ecosystem of add-on devices and services in various sectors including gaming, AR and VR, smart home, healthcare, shopping and office productivity.
Following last year’s well-publicised Galaxy Note 7 debacle and strong fourth-quarter performance from Apple, Samsung briefly ceded first place to its main rival in the Q4 2016 smartphone market. However, the Korean company swiftly returned to the number-one spot in 2017 (see chart). Apple‘s new iPhones face stiff competition from Samsung, Huawei and other top-five vendors, and from several manufacturers in the ‘Others’ category — including Google, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, OnePlus and Sony — that also offer premium smartphones.
“Despite some key launches in the second quarter from some well-known players, all eyes will be on the ultra-high-end flagships set to arrive this fall,” said Anthony Scarsella, research manager with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, when the Q2 2017 figures were released at the beginning of August. “With devices like the iPhone 8, Pixel 2, Note 8, and V30 in the pipeline, the competition will be fierce come September. We expect all the key players to promote their latest and greatest flagships with an assortment of deals, bundles, and trade-in offers across a variety of channels in most key markets,” he added.
Here’s how the flagship smartphone market looks following Apple‘s 2017 iPhone launch, presented as far as possible in graphical form. (Note: we’ll update this article as new handsets from Google, Huawei, LG and any other leading vendors are released.)
DESIGN
Screen size & Pixel density
Screen size — measured in inches across the diagonal — is a smartphone’s defining design characteristic, and the range on offer from leading vendors is now very wide. BlackBerry‘s 4.5-inch keyboard-equipped KEYone is the smallest, while Samsung‘s Galaxy Note 8 currently leads the field at 6.3 inches, with 16 out of the 25 handsets covered here falling between 5.5 and 6 inches. Display technologies are split between IPS LCD (Apple, BlackBerry, Huawei, HTC, LG [G6], Sony) and various species of OLED (Apple [iPhone X], Google, HP, Huawei [Mate 9 Pro], LG [V30], Motorola, OnePlus and Samsung).
Recent developments in smartphone displays include curved minimal-bezel screens with on-screen home buttons, 18:9 aspect ratio, Gorilla Glass 5 screen protection and — in the HTC U Ultra — a small secondary screen for notifications and other useful information (an idea recently dropped by LG when updating the V20 to the V30). Samsung‘s Note 8 is the only handset covered here that offers a stylus (the S-Pen). Apple‘s 2017 iPhones add True Tone technology (first seen in the 2016 9.7-inch iPad Pro) that automatically adjusts colour temperature and intensity to the ambient light, while the iPhone X made more space for the screen by removing the home button (and Touch ID) altogether.
The other key statistic here is pixel density, measured as pixels per inch (ppi), which factors in the display resolution. The graph below shows that Samsung (Galaxy S8) and LG (G6) lead the mainstream field with pixel densities of 567 and 564ppi respectively. The outlier is Sony‘s 5.5-inch Xperia XZ Premium, which offers a maximum 4K resolution of 3,840 by 2,160 for a massive 807ppi. This looks extremely impressive, but note that, for much of the time, the Xperia XZ Premium works at 1,080p resolution to save battery life, resulting in a much more mundane 403.5ppi.
Not everyone is comfortable with a large-screen handset, but if you want a leading-edge device, that’s increasingly what you’re being offered. If you’re happy with a large screen (>5.5in.) and also want high pixel density (>500ppi), you should be looking at Samsung‘s Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8+, LG‘s V30 or, if you’re happy to run Windows 10 Mobile, the HP Elite x3. If your hands are on the small side, the 5.3-inch Nokia 8 offers a good combination of moderate screen size and high resolution (550ppi).
Screen-to-body ratio & Thickness
Another key smartphone design metric is the screen-to-body ratio, which measures how much of a handset’s fascia is occupied by screen compared to non-display elements like bezels, camera lenses and control buttons.
If low screen/body ratios are ‘old-fashioned’, then Apple’s 2016 iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were showing their age at 65.5 percent and 67.5 percent respectively — and their 8 and 8 Plus successors have done nothing to change that. Apart from BlackBerry‘s KEYone, only four other handsets have sub-70 percent ratios: Google Pixel, HTC U Ultra, Nokia 8 and Sony Xperia XZ Premium. The 4.5-inch KEYone is an outlier at 55.9 percent because, of course, it has a hardware keyboard, which decreases the screen-to-body ratio (and also increases the thickness compared to touchscreen-only handsets — see below).
At the other end of the scale, Samsung‘s Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 handsets, with their curved Infinity Display screens and on-screen home buttons, lead the field with screen/body ratios of 83-84 percent. LG‘s V30 and Apple‘s new iPhone X are the only other flagship handsets with screen/body ratios over 80 percent.
Smartphone vendors often make much of the slimness of their handsets, and it’s clear from the chart below that Huawei is particularly keen on this design feature. Conversely, Samsung and Google (and BlackBerry) deliver notably thicker handsets:
Motorola‘s modular Moto Z2 Force, at 6.1mm with no Mods fitted, is the thinnest handset here. There are trade-offs though: the camera lens housing protrudes from the rear, and the device’s body is too thin to accommodate a 3.5mm headset jack. With the increasing use of glass on both the front and back of premium handsets (to accommodate wireless charging), most people immediately put their expensive and shiny new handset in a protective case, which renders the quest for extreme slimness somewhat pointless.
Volume & Weight
As you’d expect, there’s a clear relationship between a smartphone’s physical volume and its weight, although the variation around the trendline is interesting.
For example, the handsets that are thick for their screen/body ratio — notably the HTC-designed Google Pixel and Pixel XL, HTC U Ultra and U11 — are also relatively light for their volume, suggesting that there’s plenty of room for components inside the case. Another handset that’s below the weight/volume trendline is Samsung‘s Galaxy Note 8 — evidence, perhaps, of design changes following the Note 7 debacle (especially as the Note 8 also packs a smaller-capacity 3,300mAh battery than its ill-fated predecessor, which ran on a 3500mAh unit). Conversely, it’s noteworthy how Apple‘s iPhone 8 Plus is particularly heavy (at 202g) for its volume, that the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are slightly bulkier and heavier than their predecessors, and that the 5.8-inch iPhone X is considerably lighter and more compact than Samsung’s 6.3-inch Galaxy Note 8.
Dust and water resistance
Another key smartphone design factor is resistance to the ingress of foreign matter, as commonly indicated by a two-digit IP rating: the first number describes dust resistance on a 1-6 scale, while the second describes water resistance on a 1-8 scale. The highest rating among the flagship handsets covered here is IP68, where ‘6’ indicates that the device is ‘dust tight’ and ‘8’ signifies that it can withstand immersion in water (usually at least 30 minutes to depth of at least 1m).
An IP rating of 5 for dust means the device is merely ‘dust protected’, while 7 for water means it can withstand immersion in up to 1m for 30 minutes, 4 means it can resist ‘splashing water’ and 3 means it can handle ‘spraying water’, both of the latter for at least 10 minutes.
IP ratings are not available for the BlackBerry KEYone, Huawei (and Honor) handsets, HTC U Ultra, Motorola Moto Z2 Force (although it does claim a ‘water repellent nano-coating’) and OnePlus 5. However, two of the flagship smartphones — the LG V30 and HP Elite X3 — also boast a military-grade MIL-STD 810G ruggedness certification.
Somewhat surprisingly, Apple‘s 2017 iPhones did not bump up their IP ratings from IP67 to IP68, to match Samsung‘s Galaxy S8/8+/Note 8. Looking ahead, it will be surprising if Google‘s second-generation Pixel handsets don’t move beyond IP53.
PLATFORM
Chipsets, CPU & GPU performance
A flagship smartphone should do its job — launching, running and switching between apps, and displaying on-screen content — quickly and smoothly, without any delays or glitches that would mar the user experience. It shouldn’t become uncomfortably hot in operation either — or, of course, burst into flames.
Chipsets from four main vendors power the handsets covered here:
Apple‘s 4-core A10 Fusion (iPhone 7/7 plus) and 6-core AI- and AR-optimised A11 Bionic(iPhone 8/8Plus/X)
Samsung‘s 8-core Exynos 8995 in the Galaxy S8/S8+/Note 8 (worldwide versions)
Qualcomm’s mid-range 8-core Snapdragon 625 (BlackBerry KEYone); 4-core 820 (HP Elite x3) and 821 (Google Pixel/XL, HTC U Ultra, LG G6); and top-end 8-core 835 (HTC U11, LG V30, Moto Z2 Force, OnePlus 5, Galaxy S8/S8+/Note 8 [US/China versions], Sony Xperia XZ Premium)
HiSilicon’s Kirin 960 in the Huawei and Honor handsets.
Here’s how these platforms shape up in terms of processor and graphics performance, as measured by the Primate Labs’ multi-core Geekbench 4 (Gb4) and Futuremark’s 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (ISU) benchmarks respectively:
The top-performing chipset — on these measures at any rate — is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, with Gb4 and ISU scores of up to 6500 and 40000 respectively. Note that the Exynos 8995 versions of the Samsung S8 and S8+ deliver better CPU results but weaker GPU performance (benchmarks are currently only available for the Exynos 8995 version of the Galaxy Note 8).
Apple‘s A10 Fusion-powered iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were strong performers, with scores of around 5400 (Gb4) and 37000 (ISU), and the new A11 Bionic-powered iPhones are sure to see a significant speed bump when benchmarks appear (here’s a leaked report). At the 2017 launch, Apple claimed that the A11 Bionic’s two performance CPU cores are 25 percent faster than the A10, while its four high-efficiency cores are 70 percent faster. Apple‘s 2nd-generation performance controller is reportedly 70 percent faster for multithreaded workloads, while the A11’s GPU is 30 percent faster and delivers A10-level performance at half the power, according to Apple.
Also prominent are the Kirin 960-powered handsets from Huawei and Honor, which cluster around the 6000 (Gb4)/27000 (ISU) mark. Again, we expect to see a performance boost when the AI-optimised Kirin 970 chipset becomes available in the Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro in October.
The remaining Snapdragon 821-powered smartphones on this chart — notably Google‘s Pixel and Pixel XL — are well behind the 2017 curve, and will certainly be updated with the 835 chipset in due course. Very much in last place in this company is BlackBerry‘s KEYone, which is powered by Qualcomm’s mid-range 8-core Snapdragon 625 SoC.
RAM & Storage
When it comes to memory, the clear leader of the pack is the OnePlus 5, which is currently unique in offering 8GB or 6GB of RAM. Next come seven flagship handsets with a maximum of 6GB, all of which bar the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 also have a 4GB variant. The most common RAM complement is 4GB, which is the only choice with 11 handsets and the maximum for BlackBerry‘s KEYone (which also comes with 3GB).
Apple has always fitted less RAM in its iPhones than the Android competition, and that hasn’t changed with its 2017 handsets: the iPhone X and 8 Plus have 3GB (like the iPhone 7 Plus), while the iPhone 8 has 2GB (like the iPhone 7).
As far as internal storage is concerned, Apple‘s 2017 iPhones stand out with their maximum complement of 256GB — a feature that betrays the company’s disdain for external storage expansion via a MicroSD card slot. Samsung‘s Galaxy Note 8 also offers a maximum of 256GB (in some territories), but has a MicroSD card slot too, making it the top choice for the data-hungry.
Google‘s Pixel handsets and the OnePlus 5 also lack MicroSD expansion and, like the previous-generation iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, provide up to 128GB rather than 256GB of internal storage.
The most common maximum internal storage complement is 128GB, which is offered by 13 of the 25 handsets covered here.
CAMERAS
Rear cameras
Cameras have become a key battleground for smartphone makers, and several approaches are currently on view among the flagship population. Although it wasn’t the first to do so, Apple kick-started a trend last year by offering dual rear cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus: a primary 12-megapixel (MP) camera with an f/1.8 wide-angle lens and optical image stabilisation (OIS), and a secondary camera with an f/2.8 telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom but no OIS.
As well as adding telephoto capability, Apple‘s dual-camera system allowed depth information to be calculated, enabling features like bokeh — sharp foreground and blurred background — to be supported on portrait shots that were previously the province of expensive digital SLR cameras with high-end optics.
Apple‘s 2017 dual-camera phones, the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, remain at 12MP but the sensors are bigger, faster and deliver better low-light performance, according to Apple. The iPhone 8 Plus has the same basic lens specs as the 7 Plus (f/1.8 wa + OIS, f/2.8 tele), while the iPhone X has an f/2.4 aperture on the telephoto lens and implements OIS on both cameras. Apple also takes advantage of A11 Bionic chip’s machine-learning optimisation and custom ISP to deliver a (beta) Portrait Mode feature called Portrait Lighting: here, depth sensing and facial mapping are combined to deliver real-time analysis of the light on a subject’s face and provide alternative lighting schemes — either pre- or post-capture.
For dual-camera handsets, the top bar is the wide angle or colour camera, while the bottom bar is the telephoto or black-and-white camera.
Huawei‘s Leica-branded camera system pairs 12MP RGB and 20MP monochrome sensors with 27mm f/2.2 lenses (f/1.8 in the P10 Plus), supporting OIS on the primary colour camera. As well as enabling true monochrome shooting and adding detail to blended RGB/mono shots, the 20MP secondary camera supplies depth information for bokeh-style images. The Honor 8 Pro has a similar (non-Leica-branded) system, but the secondary mono camera is 12MP rather than 20MP and there’s no support for OIS.
LG uses two 13MP sensors on the G6, one coupled with an f/1.8 autofocus lens with OIS and the other with an f/2.4 wide-angle lens lacking both OIS and autofocus. The LG V30 takes a similar approach, but uses a 16MP primary sensor with an f/1.6 lens (with AF and OIS) and a 13MP secondary sensor with an f/1.9 lens (no AF or OIS).
Both Motorola and Nokia take the Huawei approach, with colour and monochrome cameras: the Nokia 8’s Zeiss-branded system supports OIS on the colour camera, but the Moto Z2 Force does not offer OIS on either.
OnePlus and Samsung (Galaxy Note 8) go for the wide-angle/telephoto dual camera design, OnePlus with 16MP (wa) and 20MP (tele) cameras and electronic image stabilisation (EIS) rather than OIS, and Samsung with two 12MP cameras, both with OIS. Samsung also introduces a couple of neat dual-camera features: Live Focus lets you adjust the bokeh effect pre- and post-capture, while Dual Capture simultaneously captures photos from both the wide-angle and telephoto cameras.
Single rear cameras are an increasing rarity among the flagship population, but are headed (in resolution terms) by Sony and HP, with 19MP and 16MP units in the Xperia XZ Premium and Elite x3 respectively.
Front cameras
The fashion for ‘selfies’ and authentication via face recognition means that front-facing cameras, once something of an afterthought with a nod to video calls, have seen significant recent evolution.
Samsung, for example, offers both face recognition and iris scanning on its Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 handsets, as well as a capable 8MP camera, while the Nokia 8’s Dual Capture feature lets you take pictures with the front and rear camera simultaneously (a.k.a. ‘Bothies’). Even more recently Apple more than matched Samsung’s functionality with the front-facing TrueDepth camera system and Face ID on the new iPhone X:
Apple’s True Depth camera system occupies a notch at the top of the iPhone X’s OLED screen.
To analyse your physiognomy, the flood illuminator detects your face, the infrared camera takes an IR image, and the dot projector places than 30,000 IR dots on your face. These data are fed into a neural network (in the A11 Bionic chip) to create a mathematical model of your face, which is then checked against the stored model on the handset — all in real time. The True Depth camera also enables Portrait Mode selfies with Portrait Lighting, and animated emoji called ‘Animoji’.
Here are the front camera megapixel counts for the 25 handsets under consideration, 12 of which are 8MP units:
Video
Video capture is becoming an increasingly important smartphone camera feature — witness the fact that all bar one of the handsets covered here can record 4k (2160p) video with at least a frame rate of 30fps. The exception is BlackBerry‘s KEYone, which doesn’t support 4k video capture at any frame rate. Apple‘s new iPhones just upped the ante by supporting 4k video at 60fps, which will doubtless kick off another round of feature catch-up.
Slow-motion video is another popular feature, and Sony‘s Xperia XZ Premium leads the field here, supporting HD (720p) video capture at a startling ‘super-slo-mo’ 960fps. The current ‘standard’ for slo-mo video is 720p at 240fps, although Apple has again pushed the boundary by supporting full HD (1080p) video at 240fps in the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X.
As resolutions and frame rates rise, image stabilisation — either optical or electronic — will become ever more important. It’s noticeably absent from Motorola‘s Moto Z2 Force, for example.
BATTERY
Battery capacity
As flagship smartphones pack in faster processors, more memory, larger and higher-resolution screens, and ever more functions, so the toll on the handset’s battery increases. There are multiple trade-offs here: no smartphone user wants to have to recharge during a typical day’s usage, but manufacturers cannot simply fit ever higher-capacity batteries into designs that need to be as lightweight and elegant as possible in order to keep buyers interested. Get it wrong and a vendor can have a Galaxy Note 7-style debacle on its hands.
The state of the art in smartphone batteries is currently around 4,000mAh, while 14 of the 22 handsets charted here have battery capacities between 3,000 and 4,000mAh. Apple has not divulged the battery specs for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and X, and we’re awaiting the teardown analyses that will supply them.
Battery life
A bigger battery obviously means longer battery life, as the chart below clearly shows. But given that design and safety constraints preclude the shoehorning of big batteries into tight-fitting cases, manufacturers also need to make it as convenient as possible for users — especially ‘power’ users who subject their devices to heavy workloads — to recharge their handsets.
Following LG‘s decision to drop the removable battery when updating the V20 to the V30, this feature is now absent from all of the top-end smartphones covered here. Fast charging is supported on all but the now-outdated iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, while wireless charging is available on Apple‘s new iPhones (8, 8 Plus and X), HP‘s Elite x3, the LG G6 and V30, and Samsung‘s Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8.
PRICES
High-end smartphones are never going to be cheap, but Apple‘s newly launched iPhone X has broken new ground — the combination of Apple‘s historically high margins and a significant amount of new technology have seen to that. The entry-level 64GB iPhone X configuration costs $999, and if you must have the top-end 256GB model, be prepared to part with a princely $1,149 (and the same figure in UK pounds).
That’s a record for a mainstream flagship handset, although you can spend even sillier money on specialist secure/luxury devices like Sirin Labs’ Solarin if you really want to (although, as it turned out, few did).
Here are the list prices in US dollars for most of the premium handsets covered in this feature:
Notes: the LG V30 prices are converted from Korean won; the Nokia 8 price is converted from euros. The following handsets are not officially available in the US: Honor 8 Pro, Huawei Mate 9 Pro, Huawei P10 and P10 Plus. Where available, prices for entry-level and top-end configurations are shown.
Outlook
Recent launches from Samsung and Apple have highlighted the increasing importance of artificial intelligence and augmented reality in high-end smartphones, with the underlying chipsets and developer resources evolving appropriately. At least for now, the smartphone will remain the portable hub for your digital life, and the flow of new devices will continue apace.
We aim to keep this roundup updated as new products, specification details and benchmarks appear. The next big launches expected are Google‘s second-generation Pixel handsets, Huawei‘s Mate 10 and 10 Pro, and LG‘s G7. Check back for updated information on these and other devices.
