LG V30 v Sony Xperia XZ1 – What’s the difference and which should you buy?

The yearly IFA technology show has just opened its doors in Berlin with LG and Sony both revealing shiny new smartphones.

LG’s V30 and Sony’s XZ1 are the latest flagships to join the ever-growing list of flagships with both featuring top-end specs and some entirely new features.

So, if you are in the market for a new smartphone, which one of these new devices should you consider?

Express.co.uk has been in the German capital and has had both of these devices in our hands.

Here’s everything you need to know about the LG V30 and Xperia XZ1.

THE DISPLAY

LG has certainly pushed the boundaries of design with the V30 featuring a new 6-inch QuadHD+ OLED FullVision Display.

The incredible screen covers almost the entire front of the device with only tiny bezels appearing at the top and bottom.

The V30 also includes a new Always-on Display and something called a Floating Bar. 

This optional semi-transparent Floating Bar can be customised with up to five apps making it easy to find the ones you use the most. 

When not needed, the Floating Bar can be dragged off to the side so it doesn’t take up any screen space.

Sony’s Xperia XZ1 has stuck with the Japanese tech giant’s usual design which means it doesn’t looks as flash as the V30.

However, the Xperia XZ1 does include a glorious 5.2-inch full HD display which is now HDR (High Dynamic Range) ready.

And, if you are wondering why you need an HDR screen, Sony hopes its partnerships with Amazon and Netflix will help convince you.

These famous content providers are slowly growing their catalogue of HDR movies and TV shows.

THE CAMERA

The V30 and Xperia XZ1 both include updated cameras.

On the back of LG’s offering you’ll find an advanced dual camera module featuring a 16-megapixel standard angle camera and a 13-megapixel.

For the smoothest and sharpest images, the main standard angel camera is supported by Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) and Hybrid Auto Focus that combines both Laser Detection Auto Focus and Phase Detection Auto Focus.

Along with the dual-lens camera LG has also included a nice feature which allows users to select professional images from the Graphy website or mobile app and apply the same presets such as white balance, shutter speed, aperture and ISO to photos taken with the V30.

Sony hasn’t included a dual camera on the XZ1 but the rear Motion Eye snapper has been created using Sony’s knowledge from its award-winning ‘α’ and Cyber-shot camera ranges.

This new rear camera has plenty of neat tricks ups its sleeve including the ability to shoot video is ultra slow motion.

Like the Xperia XZ Premium, the XZ1 can shoot at a speed 960 frames per second – around four times slower than the iPhone 7.

There’s also a new Predictive Capture which is able to automatically buffer images when it detects action or even a smile.

Once the shutter button is tapped the XZ1 will give you a selection of images before and after so you can pick the best shot.

And to help improve images even further a technology called Autofocus burst intelligently follows your subject, adjusting the focus to make sure your action shots stay sharp. 

Sony has decided to introduce 3D scanning to its latest and greatest smartphone with the clever feature able to produce a full three-dimensional render of pretty much anything.

The 3D scan works via Sony’s rear camera and some clever software called 3D Creator.

This means, for the first time ever in a smartphone, you can capture high quality 3D scans of objects in just one minute.

THE ANDROID OPERATING SYSTEM

Sadly, if you pick up the V30 on launch day you’ll find it comes pre-installed with Android Nougat.

It’s likely LG will push out an update in the coming months but there’s currently no word on when the latest version of Google’s OS will arrive on the phone.

This is where Sony has a major advantage over its rivals as the XZ1 lands in your pocket with the very latest Android Oreo software.

This eighth major iteration includes notification dots on app icons, picture-in-picture video playback, and autofill to quickly and securely enter passwords and other personal information in website forms.

Oreo will also restrict background apps from draining the battery to help eek more usage from each charge.

Google has completely overhauled its emoji design – ditching the Flubber-like blobs in favour of a round design closer to those seen on the iPhone.

THE PROCESSOR

Both of these latest flagships feature Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 835 processor which is one of the best brain in the business.

This new chipset brings a slick experience to both devices and there’s really no difference in the power you’ll experience.

The only extra you get on the Xperia XZ1 is the ability to get blazingly fast Gigabit LTE downloads speeds (up to 1Gbps), although you’ll have to find a mobile operator willing to allow these speeds to be able to test it.

PRICE

LG hasn’t revealed pricing for the V30 but it’s not expected to be a bargain.

Rumours suggest this flagship phone may cost over £700 SIM-only.

If you want the Xperia XZ1 it’s also not cheap but at £599 it’s not as wallet-busting as its Korean rival.

EXTRAS

Both devices include a number of nice extras.

On the V30 you’ll get Face Recognition which means the V30 can be unlocked instantaneously using the front facing camera and without pressing any buttons even when the phone’s display is off

LG has also equipped the V30 with a Hi-Fi Quad DAC with audio tuning by sound engineers from world renowned audio brand B&O PLAY – delivering an authentic and superior acoustic experience – as well as a set of earphones by B&O PLAY

And users can also use Google’s Assistant to find things on the web simply by speaking to the device.

Sony has also got some noice audio options on the XZ1 with this latest flagship including Hi-Res Audio, DSEE HX upscaling, LDAC, Digital Noise Cancelling and ClearAudio+.

It also has new stereo speakers which have 50% more sound pressure than previous models, making them Sony’s most powerful Xperia speakers ever.

Pre-orders of the XZ1 comes with a free pair of h.ear on 2 Wireless NC over ear headphones worth £250.