LG V30 vs HTC U11: first look

In this PhoneArena comparison, LG V30 vs HTC U11, LG’s latest phablet goes out against HTC’s top phone for 2017. The interesting thing about the V30, though, is that it’s a radical departure from its predecessor, now embracing a brand new, stylish glass design, as well as a more mainstream form-factor that gets rid of the secondary display, which was a stand-out feature in the V20 and V10.

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[Altema]

Nice quickie comparison, but you missed a few points. Number one is that the U11 has USonic, which is lightyears ahead of the LG's passive 3.5 jack. Your very best headphones plugged into the LG will still pale in comparison. The LG output is great, but it just can't keep up with the new audio technology. I'm a pro audio engineer with 20+ years experience, and USonic is on a different level from standard headphones. The second missed detail is that the HTC headphone adapter has it's own DAC, which has better fidelity, less noise, and better dynamic range than LG's built-in jack. The U11 also has Boomsound speakers which have a stereo music mode for wider frequency response, and theatre mode which projects the sound forward using the phone body itself and acoustic chambers within the phone.

But enough of that :)

In terms of battery life, I expect the V30 to be ok. Daniel Bader on Android Central has had the V30 for a week and reports that he typically gets through the day with upwards of 30% battery left. That's fine, but the U11 typically ends my hard days with 50 to 60% left. I've done 2+ days on one charge more than once, and have the screenshots to prove it.

Now camera wise, I have no doubt that the V30 will be great, and I'm envious of the wide angle lens. The video is correct: Having the LG touch zoom AND the HTC audio zoom in one phone would be great, although it would require the V30 to also have a 4 microphone array like the U11.

Props to LG for putting the rear FP sensor in the correct place and providing Quickcharge 3.0, both of which the S8 and N8 are lacking. The V30 lacks a Bixby button, which I'm sure many people are thankful for ;)

I think LG nailed a lot with the V30, and I hope it sells well.

[stevenlowe]

LG on paper, HTC real life usage. Had the G6 for a month. Amazing specs, camera. Shockingly bad battery, screen and software. Love my U11. The audio, battery, screen, software and camera are great. I even like the big bezels!

[Thunderhawk]

Whenever I watch a review of a phone without a headphone jack, I feel like I'm the only person in the world who actually uses BT headphones. Still, I'd probably get the LG V30.

[johnp]

Don't forget that the HTC U11 comes with the best earbuds ever

[davidhunsinger]

Unpopular opinion....
U11> V30>S8

[DJ_Darkstar]

I'm ok with the HTCU11 size to get that subwoofer and dual sound modes.The external sound is amazing. I think the HTCU11 is more well rounded overall for sound and vision. Plus the squeeze is more useful when wearing gloves. The ability to tune the headphones to your ears is fantastic, but I mostly use Bluetooth for audio anyway...even when in the car or to DJ (yes...I've used cellphones to professionally DJ parties with eDJing). Headphone jacks aren't important in the 21st century.

[ghostface_d]

The u11 and v30 arethe two phones Im interested in so I'm eager to see how the retail v30 compares to the u11's excellent performance

[IraqTik]

When someone says lg phone lag and he never had one... Realy!!
My G5 is dong great

[xMelx]

HTC U11 is best phone overall. Thats all I have to say

[StigguLePetit]

Nobody is talking about the lacking of the led notification on the lg v30, thats a nogo.

[nic_ccc]

I think the V30 is very impressive, and has unexpectedly joined my shortlist for my next phone. I'd pick the LG over the HTC on paper, but it also depends on the pricing. If this is anything like Note 8 pricing, then I'd go with HTC for sure.

[msndotnet]

For some reason I'm still skeptical about LG's Battery. I now own the Google Pixel XL as an upgrade from the G4. The G4 was a replacement from my HTC m7 and for some weird reason after a few months of use the battery life was extremely bad. I had to buy aftermarket 6000mha battery as a replacement. Google Pixel XL didn't wow me for its hardware, but the software and battery definitely better in so many ways.

[tally]

Never liked that liquid metal black on htc. Too bling-y. V30 - me gusta. Me gusta mucho

[detomazio]

However you forgot to mention htc's edge sense, the insane quality of photos that u11 takes, as well as the reason why htc dropped of the headphone jack (they wanted to offer a better experience via the type c headphones that come with it

[michaelhazellful]

U11 is a better content creators phone. It has audio focus which is better than point and zoom focus that you can do with filmic pro, and the color filters are available on other apps. The u11 has better stereo speakers, it still has dust resistant, it has a much better front facing camera at 16mp. The u11 also has a much better OIS and bigger sensor in the rear which can produce great stable shots at much higher frequency. It's also easier to add lens kits to the u11 than the v30. While it is disappointing the u11 dropped the headphone jack, the dongle* still offers htcs high Rez audio. The htc u11 also comes in the box with U sonic headphones which lg only offers limited time of release headphones like they did with the v20, so a month later and no high quality headphones with the v30. Htc skins also offers performance overclocks safely for high demanding apps, which even if lg uses a better chip their software underclocks the processor. You can do a geek bench test of their previous v20 and watch the performance noticeably slower to other phones using the same chip. HTC u11 also promised 2 or 3 years of consistent updates, which lg is notorious for not updating their devices and will go for a year without any updates but security patches by the provider and not lg. Overall, the better phone I see is HTC u11

[klncow]

If they would have installed dual speakers I would buy this phone as it is now I doubt it.

[anthonyreed]

Crazy because these are the 2 companies making the next Pixel devices...i know which I'd buy lol

[danew]

How's the camera performance on the V30 though? I've had the G6 and U11 and the U11 absolutely destroys the G6. No comparison, especially in low light. The V30 looks nice hardware though 👌

[mikefleck]

It's very disappointing that t mobile doesn't sell HTC phones

[LstWn]

Love the audio dac and finger print sensor on the back but that's about it. Not feeling the S8/S8 plus look a like, rip off design or the horribly grotesque UI from LG. Then there's the potential boot looping bug in the future. I'll pass. Wanna see what the Pixel 2 XL will bring.