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00:00Hey, how's it going? Dave 2D here, and there's a lot of hype on the market right now for the Pixel 2 XL.
00:07Not so much the Pixel 2, but the XL is pretty hot right now.
00:11But there's another phone on the market that I've always felt was under-marketed, under-appreciated,
00:16and just more importantly, under-hyped, especially on YouTube.
00:19And that's this phone, the LG V30.
00:22So this is made by the same company as the Pixel 2 XL.
00:25They're both made by LG.
00:28This one in particular was the grey and silver one,
00:31but I've actually put a marble dbrand skin on it because I didn't love the silver trim.
00:35I wish I'd just gotten the black one.
00:36The black trim looks way better than the silver trim in real life.
00:40And a dbrand skin would look good on that one as well.
00:42So the reason why I made this video is because the Pixel 2 XL and the LG V30 have a lot of similarities.
00:47Both are running Snapdragon 835 with 4 gigs of RAM, which is going to give you kick-ass performance.
00:52They both have a rear fingerprint sensor, which I'm a big fan of.
00:55They both have big batteries.
00:56The one on the Pixel 2 XL is slightly bigger.
00:59Haven't tested it fully, but the V30 gives you a full day of use.
01:02And I wouldn't be surprised if the Pixel 2 XL gives something very similar.
01:06They're both quite water-resistant.
01:08Now, the higher number on the V30 I would consider insignificant.
01:11It's IP68 instead of IP67 on the Pixel 2 XL.
01:15And it's probably because the Pixel 2 has larger speaker apertures up front,
01:20so it's harder to keep water out, is my guess.
01:23They both have awesome 1440p POLED displays.
01:26Supposedly, they're both using the same panel.
01:28Beautiful colors, really inky blacks.
01:30But there's one big difference.
01:32The V30 has significantly thinner bezels than the Pixel 2 XL.
01:36When you compare the two side-by-side, you can't just help but tunnel vision on the difference.
01:40Now, the reason why the Pixel 2 XL has a bigger bezel, I'm sure a big part of it,
01:44is because it has the speakers.
01:46It's got two front-facing speakers.
01:48I'm a big fan of those on smartphones.
01:50But the V30 just looks so much nicer to me.
01:52And then the more I use it, the more I look at the hardware,
01:54the more it just feels like a much better phone in terms of its hardware.
01:58First, it has the microSD slot.
02:00I mean, that's something that I personally don't care too much about,
02:02but I know a lot of you guys are really interested in expandable storage.
02:05And then you look at the cameras.
02:06The V30 is obviously a very different-looking camera setup than the Pixel 2 XL,
02:10but it's also a really good camera.
02:12Now, the Pixel 2 camera is going to be amazing.
02:14I took a few photos at the event, and they just looked really, really clean.
02:17But this camera is also fantastic.
02:19It's one of the best on the market right now.
02:21It's got a wide-angle lens, which can be awesome.
02:23So a lot of phone companies will use black and white lenses,
02:26or a portrait lens, as the secondary camera.
02:28This one uses the wide-angle one,
02:30and by far, it's my favorite of all the secondary camera lenses.
02:33It's just so much more useful for the photos that I take.
02:36And I know the Pixel 2 XL has the highest DXO mark right now,
02:39which may or may not be important to you,
02:41but numbers aside, V30, awesome camera.
02:44And the video mode on this thing is surprisingly good.
02:47The lenses and the sensor are obviously good,
02:49but the software and the amount of control you have over the footage is unbelievable.
02:53And it even has log footage,
02:55so if you want to capture the most color data,
02:57I mean, C-log on a phone is crazy.
03:01The V30 still has a headphone jack,
03:03but more importantly, it has a really high-quality DAC.
03:07But no amount of me explaining things
03:09or me describing how the audio sounds is going to do justice.
03:12It really is like looking at a 4K screen versus a 1080p screen,
03:16except it's for your ears.
03:17And it's one of those things where you need to have good hardware,
03:20like a good set of headphones,
03:21and I guess it'll depend on the hearing of each person,
03:24but if you have a good-quality source file and decent headphones even,
03:28the difference in audio quality is phenomenal.
03:31So if you're into music or you think you'll get into music
03:34and you want good sound quality,
03:36a high-quality DAC on a phone is amazing.
03:39And they even include a very respectable set of earbuds in the box.
03:42The V30 also supports wireless charging,
03:44which for some people might be a small detail,
03:46but it is a nice feature to have.
03:48If you look at pricing, both of these phones are pretty expensive.
03:51The V30 is going for around $800 off-contract.
03:54The Pixel 2 XL starts at $850.
03:57I wouldn't call it, like, a better value or anything
03:59just because you're getting a bunch of free stuff with the Pixel 2 right now.
04:02You're getting, like, the Google Home Mini,
04:04plus some carriers give you discounts and stuff.
04:06Currently, I would consider them a wash in terms of their pricing.
04:09The software, though, is going to be the biggest difference between these two phones.
04:13The Pixel 2 XL is going to run the latest stuff from Google, which is awesome.
04:16I love stock Android.
04:17The V30, it's running 7.1.1, which is good.
04:21It's not the newest stuff, but it's also running a skin, the LG UI,
04:25and I don't love it.
04:27I personally think there are better-looking skins than this.
04:30There's significantly worse ones, but I still don't love the LG skin.
04:33Now, what I've done for my phone is that I just nuked the skin.
04:36I'm running a Google Launcher, and it's close to stock
04:39because Google has enough apps in the Play Store to replace the LG apps if you want,
04:43but it's never going to be 100% stock.
04:46Okay, if you're on the market for a phone, particularly the Pixel 2 XL,
04:50take a look at this thing if you're interested in hardware,
04:53because, quite frankly, this has better hardware.
04:55But if you're in it for the software and you want that smooth, buttery, newest Google experience,
04:59sure, Pixel 2 XL is the way to go.
05:02But I want to leave one last thing on your minds.
05:05This phone, not just the V30, but the flagship LG phone,
05:09so last year, the V20, the year before that, the V10,
05:11they've always been great phones, but they've always been kind of underrepresented,
05:15under-marketed, because just that's how LG does stuff.
05:18They don't have, like, crazy billboards.
05:20They don't have the celebrities that just kind of rock these phones.
05:24This is a fantastic phone.
05:25If you look at any publication, online or print,
05:28and you see the reviews for this phone, everyone loves it,
05:31but it just gets buried by the hype of other phones,
05:34which is unfortunate because they nailed it this year.
05:37Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video.
05:39Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
05:41See you guys next time.