Thinking of moving to the XL2 from the V30; a couple of questions

[chriskwarren]

Hey folks;
I loved the v30 and I may get another, but I sent it back because I could not keep a good LTE connection (and I have had great LTE reception for years here in the suburbs of Toronto on Bell Mobility).

Some questions about the XL2 that some of you may be able to answer. I see some familiar faces over here from the V30 forum that might have extra insight:

1. LTE reception: how has your LTE reception been, compared to your other devices? My V30 seems to have the hardware to support my network properly, but I could not keep a LTE signal properly in areas it should. Other V30 users are seeing the same where I work and live.

2. The speakers: I tend to listen to Youtube documentaries and other videos at night. I usually place my phone face-down to cover the screen (I also know about apps such as newpipe that allows background playing, but it does not have playlists set up that I sometimes want). Would the phone be too muffled if placed on its face on a table? I know its a weird question/usage scenario but maybe there is someone else where who uses the phone the same as I do.

3. Battery life: I was getting incredible battery life on the V30...astounding I would say. Anyone here use both the XL2 and V30? How do they compare?

4. Screen: other than the blue tint, has screen uniformity been an issue on this device like on the V30? My V30 was fine, I think most are these days, but no banding, etc on the XL2?

5. Besides the OS updates, was there another reason why you chose the XL2 over the V30?

Thanks!

Thanks!

 

[MooMooPrincess]

Hey folks;
I loved the v30 and I may get another, but I sent it back because I could not keep a good LTE connection (and I have had great LTE reception for years here in the suburbs of Toronto on Bell Mobility).

Some questions about the XL2 that some of you may be able to answer. I see some familiar faces over here from the V30 forum that might have extra insight:

1. LTE reception: how has your LTE reception been, compared to your other devices? My V30 seems to have the hardware to support my network properly, but I could not keep a LTE signal properly in areas it should. Other V30 users are seeing the same where I work and live.

2. The speakers: I tend to listen to Youtube documentaries and other videos at night. I usually place my phone face-down to cover the screen (I also know about apps such as newpipe that allows background playing, but it does not have playlists set up that I sometimes want). Would the phone be too muffled if placed on its face on a table? I know its a weird question/usage scenario but maybe there is someone else where who uses the phone the same as I do.

3. Battery life: I was getting incredible battery life on the V30...astounding I would say. Anyone here use both the XL2 and V30? How do they compare?

4. Screen: other than the blue tint, has screen uniformity been an issue on this device like on the V30? My V30 was fine, I think most are these days, but no banding, etc on the XL2?

5. Besides the OS updates, was there another reason why you chose the XL2 over the V30?

Thanks!

Thanks!

I don't have a v30 but maybe my input can help

Reception has been better than my 7+, worse than my 8 and worse than my note 8 but not enough to make a difference.

7+ and 8 speakers are better for sure but not enough to make a difference, note 8 is worse by far

From tests and what I've seen v30 has the best battery life by far, but the 2 xl is no slouch either.

My 7+/8 @ 80% brightness- last longer than my 2 xl
Note 8 @ 75% brightness I get 2-3 hours sot over my 2xl (9-10 sot)
Pixel 2 xl 40% brightness I get 6-7 hours SOT


*I try to not let my phones go below 20%*
*No adaptive brightness or Auto and both have AOD*

Screen issues, just ones that usually plague phones, chances of dead pixel nothing too major.

Selfie camera for me, that's the 2xls only saving grace for me lol.

 

[Rukbat]

*I try to not let my phones go below 20%*

Try to make that 40% if you want the battery to last longer.

 

[atakin77]

I had a XL2, had a terrible screen, and I switched to the V30 for a couple of weeks, and I'm now back to the XL2 for the past three weeks.

LTE reception for me has been fine and I haven't seen any difference between them.

Since the speakers are on the front I think you'd need to leave it face up. The XL2 does sound better than the V30.

For me, the battery life was better on the V30 but it is still very good on the XL2. GSAM has me at 30 hours per charge compared to about 33 hours on the V30.

Screen for me is the same. My first xl2 was bad and that's the reason I got rid of it

I switched back for vanilla Android primarily. I miss the headphone jack and do like the slightly smaller form factor of the V30 better... Would trade both of those for the stereo speakers which I don't use often.

 

[bhatech]

I had the V30, other than the superior DAC and headphone jack V30 has nothing going in it's favor over Pixel 2 XL. For me I couldn't just tolerate LG software and potato front facing camera on the V30. In my opinion Pixel 2 XL is the best option or Note 8 if updates/pure Google software is not important.

 

[Mike Dee]

I had the V30, other than the superior DAC and headphone jack V30 has nothing going in it's favor over Pixel 2 XL. For me I couldn't just tolerate LG software and potato front facing camera on the V30. In my opinion Pixel 2 XL is the best option or Note 8 if updates/pure Google software is not important.

What's a potato camera? Lol

 

[LeoRex]

What's a potato camera? Lol

That would be the thing that LG put in the front facing camera enclosure in the V30.

Really, it's utter trash. I had a V30 for a few weeks and the pictures coming from the FFC were shockingly bad. They reminded me of the pictures you used to get from budget phones a few years ago before they stopped sucking. They were fuzzy, overprocessed and the colors looked like I printed the picture and left it in direct sunlight for a few months.

No joke. LG positioned that phone as one for content creators, yet put in a FFC from 2011.

 

[bhatech]

That would be the thing that LG put in the front facing camera enclosure in the V30.

Really, it's utter trash. I had a V30 for a few weeks and the pictures coming from the FFC were shockingly bad. They reminded me of the pictures you used to get from budget phones a few years ago before they stopped sucking. They were fuzzy, overprocessed and the colors looked like I printed the picture and left it in direct sunlight for a few months.

No joke. LG positioned that phone as one for content creators, yet put in a FFC from 2011.

Well you answered it perfectly

The more disappointing thing is it was horrible on G6 and repeated the same with V30.

 

[LeoRex]

Well you answered it perfectly

The more disappointing thing is it was horrible on G6 and repeated the same with V30.

I can't figure what LG's thinking is. I mean, it's obvious that they are putting a lot of effort into their camera systems, but they go and make such dumb choices. Their FFCs lately have been horrible. I'm not a selfie person, but sticking with this hunk of junk 5mp sensor on pretty much every phone... From their top of the line V series down to their bargain basement models...

The quality gap between the 2 XL's FFC and the V30 is astounding.

 

[B. Diddy]

1. LTE reception has been fine for me -- I'm on T-Mobile in the Silicon Valley. Haven't really noticed any differences compared to the 1st gen Pixel XL or the Nexus 6P.

2. I just tested a YouTube video with the phone face down on a sofa (which would probably be more muffling than a table), and it was fine. I do have a case on the phone, though, that has a thin lip around the front of the phone, thus preventing the actual front glass from touching the surface, so that might help a little.

3. I can't compare the battery with the V30, but I can say that the 2 XL's battery life is the best I've ever had in a phone, except maybe for my old Razr Maxx.

4. Apart from the slight blue tint (which is pretty slight for me, and a complete non-issue based on how I use my phone), the only thing I notice is that shadows become too prominent when screen brightness is below around 50%. Otherwise, colors look good at normal brightness, and I see no graininess nor burn-in.

5. I think Google's extension of the warranty to 2 years is a huge thing, and almost unheard of in the US, where warranties are always 1 year. This really says to me that Google is serious about standing behind these phones.

 

[Mike Dee]

That would be the thing that LG put in the front facing camera enclosure in the V30.

Really, it's utter trash. I had a V30 for a few weeks and the pictures coming from the FFC were shockingly bad. They reminded me of the pictures you used to get from budget phones a few years ago before they stopped sucking. They were fuzzy, overprocessed and the colors looked like I printed the picture and left it in direct sunlight for a few months.

No joke. LG positioned that phone as one for content creators, yet put in a FFC from 2011.

 

[dmark44]

Is it bad that I want one of those?

 

[B. Diddy]

 

[chriskwarren]

Over on XDA folks are complaining about LTE reception here in the Toronto area on the V30 still. I might have to grab an XL2 as I am not confident that those issues will be resolved. I got a full refund on the V30, and what makes me sad is that I loved that phone, when I could connect to the internet.

Note 8 is a small fortune around here. I would grab the 128GB XL2 first as I hate the curved screen and fingerprint scanner location.

Now I have to decide if 64GB or 128GB of storage is enough lol.

 

[milehigherik]

That would be the thing that LG put in the front facing camera enclosure in the V30.

Really, it's utter trash. I had a V30 for a few weeks and the pictures coming from the FFC were shockingly bad. They reminded me of the pictures you used to get from budget phones a few years ago before they stopped sucking. They were fuzzy, overprocessed and the colors looked like I printed the picture and left it in direct sunlight for a few months.

No joke. LG positioned that phone as one for content creators, yet put in a FFC from 2011.

So dang true.. crap camera