V30 or s9+

[joostin2020]

Hey guys, new member here. Currently on a s7, looking to upgrade.
Looking at a v30 or s9+, and looking for help in the decision.
Battery life is important to me.
I'm not a huge camera user, but will take the occasional video. Expecting my first child, so will probably try to capture those moments. I do listen to music quite a bit through spotify or podcasts on I heart, which is usually on headphones or Bluetooth.
I'm on Verizon if that changes anything.
Thanks in advance.

 

[BobbyD1981]

I came from a S7 and have found the battery life on the V30 to be exceptional. I was going to get the S9 but am very happy I got. The V30.

 

[rfan8312]

V30 is excellent and by the far the best I've seen in battery life. Battery saver must be used but highly customizable features allow the phone to behave normally even though battery saver is on.

I won't switch phones because of how great the battery is, but, the camera in auto-mode is atrocious. Front-facing camera is worse.
I've had the phone since January, and have taken probably 1000 photos and probably 4 or 5 of them aren't complete blurry overly processed trash.

4/5 stars to the v30+

If the camera wasn't so horrendous I'd give it five stars.

 

[chanchan05]

Based on tests I've seen, battery life is a smidge better on the V30, but not enough for me to worry. Like on a rundown test the difference was like 20min?

Anyway, when transferring, you'd also have to consider if you're using any Samsung apps as that would mean the data on that (like your notes) won't transfer without manual intervention. Moving from a Samsung to Samsung just requires to out both phones beside each other, no wires and just click transfer.

If all your stuff is on Google, then no need to worry.

If your needs are camera, then I would have to ask you how proficient are you with cameras. For one thing, while the hardware on the V30 is excellent, the camera app itself is very heavy handed on post processing. The V30 shines when you use it in manual mode for planned pictures where you'll be able to set the correct manual settings for it, but for impromptu shots where you just point and shoot, I feel Samsung is better. If you will just be using the camera as point and shoot, the Samsung will be better. If you do know how to use the manual settings, it will be more difficult to gauge as both have good manual modes.

 

[DFranch]

I had the S7 Edge, and the battery life is amazing on the V30. I used every trick in the book to get descent battery life on the S7. I disabled everything I could. I used greenify. battery was ok at best. The worst part was the S7 Edge was totally schizophrenic and needed to be restarted at least once a week due to battery issues. I don't do anything to save battery on the V30 and I regularly get 2 full days out of it. my average according to gsam is 1 day 15 hours.

 

[joostin2020]

Based on tests I've seen, battery life is a smidge better on the V30, but not enough for me to worry. Like on a rundown test the difference was like 20min?

Anyway, when transferring, you'd also have to consider if you're using any Samsung apps as that would mean the data on that (like your notes) won't transfer without manual intervention. Moving from a Samsung to Samsung just requires to out both phones beside each other, no wires and just click transfer.

If all your stuff is on Google, then no need to worry.

If your needs are camera, then I would have to ask you how proficient are you with cameras. For one thing, while the hardware on the V30 is excellent, the camera app itself is very heavy handed on post processing. The V30 shines when you use it in manual mode for planned pictures where you'll be able to set the correct manual settings for it, but for impromptu shots where you just point and shoot, I feel Samsung is better. If you will just be using the camera as point and shoot, the Samsung will be better. If you do know how to use the manual settings, it will be more difficult to gauge as both have good manual modes.

As far as the camera goes, generally when I need it, it's an impromptu situation. is there other camera apps that could help this?

 

[eric12341]

V30, hands down! Especially if you listen to a lot of music over Spotify, the Quad DAC greatly improves the listening experience to one that is currently unmatched by any other smartphone or portable device for that matter. The sound quality even rivals that of an HDMI connection. As far as the camera goes, the pictures from it are of pretty good quality to me anyway. Easily also the best camera of any phone I've owned, and I've owned anything from a Nokia Lumia, HTC to an Alcatel Idol 4S. I use auto mode, and with the Oreo update the AI upgrades within the camera app help out as well.

 

[LilSweetLin]

Definitely the V30. It literally sips battery. I could go a good 30-45 minutes on a full charge before it dropped to 99%, and that's with AOD enabled, the screen at max resolution and no battery saving, as well as location on high accuracy. Standby is equally good. I never lost more than a percent or two overnight. I kept my screen brightness at 25% indoors. Highest SOT was 8:42, with 38% still left.

 

[chanchan05]

As far as the camera goes, generally when I need it, it's an impromptu situation. is there other camera apps that could help this?

You could try to sideload the Google Camera apk. I hear that works wonders.

 

[RapidTurtle]

The V30 battery life is awesome . I personally like the camera on the V30. When the V30 updated to Oreo, it added an AI camera, that I think does a very good job. The V30 also has a wide angle camera which is very useful.
My son has Note 8, and I don't notice his pics being any better than the ones I take. Also, check out some threads on the S9's camera. Lots of people complaining about lack of detail with the S9 camera.

 

[joostin2020]

Any other opinions

 

[RapidTurtle]

My wife picked up the S9+ last weekend, so I have been able to compare the two phones over the last week. I still prefer my V30, after playing for the S9+ and helping the wife set it up. There just seems to be a lot going on with the S9. I'm sure spending more time with it and getting used to the phone would help, but something as simple as changing the wallpaper leads you to Samsung trying to sell themes.

The low light camera on the S9 is very good . I've taken some shots with both camera's, and the V30 holds its own against the S9 though. I find that sometimes you getter a better shot V30, and other times the S9 takes the better pic. I do prefer the wide angle of the V30 over the zoom of the S9+.

Samsung does have a beautiful screen, but the V30 is just a tick behind. They are both bright and Vibrant, and really wouldn't sway my decision one way or the other. Me personally it comes down to LG's skin on android being much less intrusive, and more useful than Samsung's. Why Bixby when we have Google assistant? Why Samsung pay when you have Google pay? It's like Samsung should just make their own operating system. It actually surprises me that Lg's phones don't sell better due to this. A lot of people claim to like pure android, and for me LG hits that mark, and adds some nice features without ruining the Android experince.

 

[joostin2020]

My wife picked up the S9+ last weekend, so I have been able to compare the two phones over the last week. I still prefer my V30, after playing for the S9+ and helping the wife set it up. There just seems to be a lot going on with the S9. I'm sure spending more time with it and getting used to the phone would help, but something as simple as changing the wallpaper leads you to Samsung trying to sell themes.

The low light camera on the S9 is very good . I've taken some shots with both camera's, and the V30 holds its own against the S9 though. I find that sometimes you getter a better shot V30, and other times the S9 takes the better pic. I do prefer the wide angle of the V30 over the zoom of the S9+.

Samsung does have a beautiful screen, but the V30 is just a tick behind. They are both bright and Vibrant, and really wouldn't sway my decision one way or the other. Me personally it comes down to LG's skin on android being much less intrusive, and more useful than Samsung's. Why Bixby when we have Google assistant? Why Samsung pay when you have Google pay? It's like Samsung should just make their own operating system. It actually surprises me that Lg's phones don't sell better due to this. A lot of people claim to like pure android, and for me LG hits that mark, and adds some nice features without ruining the Android experince.

Have you noticed one being better for quick spur of the moment pictures?

 

[RapidTurtle]

I'll play around a little more today with them and let ya know.

 

[joostin2020]

I'll play around a little more today with them and let ya know.

thank you

 

[chanchan05]

My wife picked up the S9+ last weekend, so I have been able to compare the two phones over the last week. I still prefer my V30, after playing for the S9+ and helping the wife set it up. There just seems to be a lot going on with the S9. I'm sure spending more time with it and getting used to the phone would help, but something as simple as changing the wallpaper leads you to Samsung trying to sell themes.

The low light camera on the S9 is very good . I've taken some shots with both camera's, and the V30 holds its own against the S9 though. I find that sometimes you getter a better shot V30, and other times the S9 takes the better pic. I do prefer the wide angle of the V30 over the zoom of the S9+.

Samsung does have a beautiful screen, but the V30 is just a tick behind. They are both bright and Vibrant, and really wouldn't sway my decision one way or the other. Me personally it comes down to LG's skin on android being much less intrusive, and more useful than Samsung's. Why Bixby when we have Google assistant? Why Samsung pay when you have Google pay? It's like Samsung should just make their own operating system. It actually surprises me that Lg's phones don't sell better due to this. A lot of people claim to like pure android, and for me LG hits that mark, and adds some nice features without ruining the Android experince.

The Bixby argument may be valid, but the Samsung Pay is superior to Google Pay for the mere fact that it's accepted in more places than Google Pay.

LG doesn't sell more because of no marketing thus less recognizable, poor after sales support over the last few years with their phones boot looping and all that. If I remember there was an issue where they refused to cover that under warranty until they lost at court for it.

As for changing wallpapers, I never experienced Samsung selling me themes but I do keep a stock of wallpapers in the gallery and switch directly from that.

 

[RapidTurtle]

The Bixby argument may be valid, but the Samsung Pay is superior to Google Pay for the mere fact that it's accepted in more places than Google Pay.

LG doesn't sell more because of no marketing thus less recognizable, poor after sales support over the last few years with their phones boot looping and all that. If I remember there was an issue where they refused to cover that under warranty until they lost at court for it.

As for changing wallpapers, I never experienced Samsung selling me themes but I do keep a stock of wallpapers in the gallery and switch directly from that.

Agreed on the marketing part of it. We walked into Best Buy, and it was pretty much Samsung or Apple. I don't have any experience with Samsung pay, but have read that it is accepted in more places. As far as support, LG is now giving you a free second year of warranty. Just register your device after you buy it, and the second year is free.

 

[chanchan05]

Yes, but the fact that they're not advertising their devices make that new change in support help their cause.

Personally the fact also that in my country (I'm in South East Asia) there isn't any LG shop anywhere, but there's one for Samsung, Apple, Sony, Oppo, Huawei and Vivo in almost every mall here where I can just walk in for support and OEM accessories if needed, LG is very far down my list of preferred manufacturers.

LG is under new management though, so let's see how they change their tunes.

Regarding Samsung's additional features/bloat though, I'd honestly say that it's a subjective thing. Remember, things like multiple windows, android beam, etc all started as what most people used to call as 'Samsung bloat'. Now they have system wide one handed mode and pop up windows (basically turn all apps into chat heads).

To be honest though I don't use Samsung's launcher, but I like add the other additional features their phones bring. Which is great since those other features still work on other launchers.

Agreed on the marketing part of it. We walked into Best Buy, and it was pretty much Samsung or Apple. I don't have any experience with Samsung pay, but have read that it is accepted in more places. As far as support, LG is now giving you a free second year of warranty. Just register your device after you buy it, and the second year is free.

 

[rfan8312]

thank you

Would just like to interject one point here. I love the v30+ but I do miss the double tap of home button to launch camera ready to shoot on the Samsungs.

On v30 I believe you can do it with volume up button while screen is black but I always end up fumbling around and missing the shot.

I believe s9 has no physical home button, but Samsung was clever with this quick launch feature before, I wonder if they have found another way as easy as before.

 

[chanchan05]

On the S9 it's double click power button..

Would just like to interject one point here. I love the v30+ but I do miss the double tap of home button to launch camera ready to shoot on the Samsungs.

On v30 I believe you can do it with volume up button while screen is black but I always end up fumbling around and missing the shot.

I believe s9 has no physical home button, but Samsung was clever with this quick launch feature before, I wonder if they have found another way as easy as before.