Some ripper prices for these, thanks to original TA post about PLUGIT20 here
LG V30+ $614.24
Google Pixel 2 XL $754.39
Huawei P20 Pro $878.24
LG G7 ThinQ $697.60
Please note some of these also cost shipping up to $15
Don't forget to go through Velocity ePortal for those sweet points ;)
Same, FWIW I've found LG to be reasonably strong in cameras. My LG V20 despite its flaws, camera quality wasn't one of them. But I won't be getting another LG as there are better options. The Pixel 2XL is very nice, I'm looking at the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 or HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro. Unfortunately both options range from expensive to insanely expensive currently so I'll see where they're at in another 8 weeks.
Finally there's some nice improvements coming out frequently with phone cameras now.
Havent seen pixel 2xl reviews but lg v30+ was like best camera by far so am slightly surprised if new pixel was better. Well it is an expensive phone and newer so maybe it is
Pixel line is regarded to have the best camera in a smartphone by almost everyone.
@giventofly: The LG V30 has a superior camera to the Pixel 3*… if you're a pro-photographer and know how to use the Manual Mode.
However the Pixel's currently have the best point'n'shoot performance hands-down. Frankly, this is the most important aspect of a camera in a smartphone and cameras in-general. And its dictated by both hardware AND software.
The Pixel's are followed closely by the iPhone Xr/Max in Auto performance. Following closely are the HTC flagships. Then not so far behind is the Samsung trio S/+/Note. Then a sizeable gap to the Huawei flagships. Followed closely by LG and Xiaomi flagships. Then another sizeable gap to the Nokia, OnePlus, Motorola and ASUS flagship cameraphones.
Other phones/companies may have bigger cameras, extra cameras, and extra features… and yes may "overall" be superior to the Google Pixel's (ahem P20 Pro), but they lag behind significantly when it comes to simply taking a photo without touching any Settings. A big part of that reason comes from all the pictures and data Google stores, giving them the ability to know algorithm-wise what a subject is within the frame, and adjusting the image qualities accordingly (eg the phone recognises a tomato and knows what the texture should be like, even if the hardware falls a little short).
*however, you can get Custom Roms/Mods and Camera Apps (Moment Pro) on the Pixel and get Manual Mode to get you better/best camera performance, at the expense of time to line up your shots better.
@Kangal: Nice post! Everything i needed to know in one screen lol. Yes i agree. The sensor and size has got to be the best but that's true. As a amateur thing on the phone people want convenience so if they've got hdr right that wins for the everyday 90%ile
@FrozenFred: Yeah, just don't use Dx0Mark scores.
You can use them to compare the photos they've uploaded, but even that's a little hard to get a proper baseline when a DSLR shot isn't provided beside it.
Their scores and subscores are very subjective to them, and in some cases it's trivial/hypocritical. And it's very difficult to trust someone else online who is comparing phone cameras, even MKBHD isn't someone I trust on this subject.
Owned both…Pixel HDR is in a league of its own
The boot loop fiasco that I went through with my G4 put me off LG phones forever. They replaced them everywhere else in the world, except for Australia. Also their boot loader mess they create through having different versions some with unlocked bootloaders others with locked. Unlocking some phones around the globe and not others. Cannot recommend LG at all.
Agreed. V20 disaster for me. I'd buy this v30 if it was 200
have owned a Pixel 2XL for over 6 months, would buy another one without skipping a heartbeat if I lost mine. you get the full android experience and latest updates and crazy good camera to boot
Just bought a Pixel 2 XL, very disappointing. Can't change system font like my old S6, max brightness is much lower under sunlight compared to my S6 which made it very difficult to look at, no pull down notification in stock launcher, can't hide nav bar like S8, and doesn't charge as fast as an S8, LED is tiny. Only things good I noticed is the software, it's much smoother compared to Samsung devices and the camera is good. Hardware is trash.
Most of the things you listed can be done by a launcher like Nova.
Get the gcam port for LG phones. Quite stable, all gcam features available and can even switch between normal and wide angle cams quickly.
Great wired audio and excellent HDR+ pics from one device… Best of both worlds!
Yeah I have it on the G6. The new port with night sight is great.
LG V20 owners was released with Nougat and owners are still waiting for Oreo on the Australian models (they did singapore, Taiwan and left Europe, middle east and Australia out) … I've lost faith in LG and software support, bought nokia earlier this year with oreo instead and now have Pie and just received latest security update…
LG make great hardware but software support wasn't timely.
It's all about software support.
Strange, I have the LG V20 and got Oreo OTA (not rooted or anything) about 6 weeks back. But you are right though, LG don't care about ongoing support for their phones and that's one reason why it's the last LG I'll own anytime soon.
My V20 also have gotten unusably slow when it's warm, which is often in summer.
Grey import? The criticisms of LG are all valid I'm sure, but I'm still happy with my V20.
Uhmmm yeah I think it was a grey import. Running australian version firmware though?
If it's any consolation, my V20 got laggier after updating. A reset is probably advised at that point.
@Click_It: Mine (grey import) was updated at the same time. Performance wasn't affected much but there have been other issues. I see a reset in my V20's future.
@AlbyDuck: Now that I'm finished with work I'll probably do my reset next week. If i do so, and remember, I'm happy to let you know how it goes. My phone is so bad it certainly can't make it any worse. I think a few early occasions of overheating has killed mine. Would love to be wrong.
@Click_It: Sure if you remember. My main issues are second screen has disappeared and 'hey google' doesn't respond.
@AlbyDuck: My second screen is fine, although it goes into this crazy loop several times a day like it's just been turned on for the first time in a week - gives me millions of alerts.
Ok Google stopped working on mine a few months back too. Frustrating as I used that almost daily, especially while driving.
@AlbyDuck: I bit the bullet and reset it yesterday. Using the LG Backup was very handy m the closest thing to Titanium Backup I've found for non rooted. Makes setting up so much easier, all apps are restored just need basic setting up.
Hey google working perfectly again.
My phone still feels slightly laggy so it didn't fix that entirely. Putting it down to age.
All in all worth doing.
@Click_It: Thanks for that. All I need to do now is find just one of the 20 or so microSD cards I've bought over the years to store the backup.
@AlbyDuck: Yeah a 64GB lives in mine, I just used that.
Didn't back up some scanned PDF's which are pretty important to me so I've lost those but at least the phone works right again.
@Click_It: I did the reset today. It fixed the second screen and Google assistant. The phone feels smooth and responsive. Pretty happy with it. Cheers.
@AlbyDuck: Good to hear. Mines going alright too. Another strange problem mine had was when using "driving log" apps (for business purposes) it under-recorded the mileage by about 10%. A 100km trip came in around 89km. I just checked it on a 40KM trip and it was 400m off, not perfect but much better.
Yep typical LG main reason I moved away and stayed away.
Three simple steps to update to Oreo.
1. Remove Sim card and do a factory reset.
2. Sideload tunnelbear VPN and set location to Singapore.
3. Go to settings and check for updates.
Don't forget to do a factory reset after upgrading to Oreo. Cheers.
Why sideload why not just install as standard apk?
Sideload means downloading an apk on PC or on another device and transfer it to the desired device via Bluetooth/USB cable.
Avoid direct downloading (on the device needed to be upgrade) from playstore or using Google browser as they stores cache/location and do not let the device upgrade.
Opinion based on my personal experience.
Not sure about great hardware I have 2 Lg G5 and both have problems with gps and bluetooth….now just waiting for note 9 to come down in price b4 snagging it…
yeah my GPS stuffed up also on the Lg G5.
If you haven't already, get the LG Bridge software. I checked today and got the 8.0 update on my v20
What abilities are you missing out on? I still use a 4.4 mobile and apart from being slow(too slow) I don't know what I am missing, and can use all the apps I require. I see this mentioned a bit, but no one seems to be able to clarify. Can you help?
Does anyone have any experience with the V30+ or G7? Looking to get one but I'm not sure if they're worth it at this price.
I don't have an answer to your quesiton but one thing you can be sure on with LG is their prices will tumble. Complete opposite to brands like Samsung. That V30+ will be $500-550 in not too long from now. That's the price i got my V20 at when it was still going for >$700 only weeks earlier.
Thanks, will probably wait a bit longer. My G4's still going alright after 2.5 years (besides 3 hour SOT).
No worries.
You're doing well. My V20 lags out bad. I'm going to reset it soon to see if that helps but I'm not expecting much.
Well i got mine for $557 3 months back so if anything its going up in price lol
I have been watching the G6 (and V30) for a year and the prices have not seemed to have dropped like they did in the G5 days. Instead we got the G7 and it has kept its high price and the best the G6 has been is $550 after ebay 20%. Maybe inflation(and our dollar) explains a bit, as all electronics seems to have gotten a bit more expensive relatively over the last year or so.
LG V30+ owner here
fantastic phone, perfect size, no notch, battery ok, screen fantastic, no more Samsung for me
P.S bought few months ago fro 557$
@radissmo $557 for Australian stock?
I bought a lg v30+ from the previous ozbargain deal. I love the phone. Great battery life. Has over 60% left at the end of the day. Its really fast and I cant fault the camera. Im very happy with the price I paid. With the quad dac music sounds great.
I've had my V30+ for a little over a year now, and it's still going well.
Obviously fantastic for music, but also a sensational camera/video camera if you know your way around photography and videography. If you're more a point and shoot type of guy, then it's not as good as other offerings like the pixel 2.
Only time I've ever had an issue was after 8.5 minutes of recording glaciers in -38" in Greenland. After that, I went right on back to recording and got another couple of hours.
I've treated it like hell and it's still going strong, so it gets a big tick from me.
I really wish we could get the v35 for cheap here tbh
Used both.
Had V30+, excellent hardware. Good screen size with symmetrical thin bezels. Google-fied it with launcher and GCam port. My screen didn't have any colour cast issues, so I was lucky. Quad DAC is no joke, amazing with a decent set of cans.
V30 got stolen, so replaced it with a cheap G7+ for now. Pretty much the same thing, but battery is a bit lower capacity, and GCam port still not 100%. Screen wise, notch can be hidden with Nacho notch, so it looks symmetrical (yep, that's ocd in me) so you win a tiny bit of extra screen real estate. Narrower body works well for my smaller hands, as now can easily reach other side of screen with my thumb. Also, with an LCD instead of OLED, AOD will drain more batt, but it can be turned off, and we get a flashing LED as compo..
End of the day, the software experience can be tweaked to suit your needs, but nothing can replace missing hardware features.
Really wanted to love a Pixel, but huge notch and lack of 3.5mm jack be damned. (Not to mention the huge price tag).
Long live headphone jacks!!!
Half the phones on sydneytec are over 3000 dollars. Taking price jacking to the XTREME!
Maybe they don't really stock these models or expect any consumer to buy them and also don't wanna take them down from their list lol
oneplus 6T! make it happen!
Prices are jacked for newer phones. Huawei Mate 20 Pro for $1800+, holy cow.
somebody needs to pay for S.Johansson paycheck for commercial
The LG G7 has been significantly cheaper - about $633 for Australian stock from MobileCity eBay…
Pixel 2 XL seems ok price
Pixel 2XL is also available from JBL Hifi in $799 with 2 years warranty. Why to risk grey import and dubious warranty from an ebay seller when the difference is merely $45 only….!
grey import? base on what?
Hmmmm looks like a genuine AU stock as the warranty term is 24 konths, but still the difference is only $30 (factoring in the $14.8 shipping cost) so its better to buy from JBL and pay $30 as in case of any warranty issue, you can take it to any nearby JBL store, rather than posting it to the ebay seller.
P.S. Thats my personal view, anyone can differ of course.
V30 or oneplus 6?
OP6 all the way. My mate has it and its amazing.
If you want good audio for sure v30 but all around I would give it to oneplus 6
Lg needs to release their v40
As much as I love the quad-dac, I'm starting to prioritise camera quality and the latest OS features.
Pixel 2XL is mighty tempting