Huawei P20 vs LG G7?

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TeaLeaf

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#247932 3-Mar-2019 15:04

There is a lot to like about both phones. But camera is one thing I REALLY appreciate.

The Huawei has been considered the best mid price Camera phone available due to the LARGE 1.55UM sensor from Leica and their lens. Where the LG boasts both a 30mm and ultra wide 16mm, but this is at only 1.0UM. Both carry OIS which is critical for camera phones.

The LG however has a gorgeous 1440 style 1440 x 3120 screen, whilst the Huawei is a nice screen but only 1080 like at 18:9.

The LG also has HDR and a 1000nits max brightness due to this, along with Dolby vision, 100% DCI-P3, and an always on display.

Also its a flagship with a 845 SOC, where the Huawei use one of their mid level Kirin chips.

Lastly the LG has a quad DAC which is noticeable when using quality ear buds or headphone, in fact Im told even the provided headphone you can tell the difference vs a non DAC device.

Im very torn as I do love the LG line, but I also love how Huawei is setting the pace for Camera phones with Leica and the Mate 20 pro and Mate 20 x.

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#2190298 3-Mar-2019 15:11

I don't know another P20 (non pro) user to compare, but my front camera is puss. Equivalent to the nokia 68xx classics! So not sure if thats the norm or faulty. Needless to say, my lack of taking selfies etc are even less now as a result.

Something to be aware of, that I didn't click to after having a Moto X (I should have stuck with them..) is the screen not being OLED, has no ability to give you onscreen clock or notifications without unlocking/livening the whole screen.

So no smart display capabilities, and no dark theme. And for some reason they also left out location based unlock :(

freitasm

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#2190440 3-Mar-2019 20:27

If you are talking Leica lens/mount then you are talking about the Huawei P20 Pro, right?

NikT

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#2190444 3-Mar-2019 20:31

The little P20 is ok, but to my mind that's no contest.

G7:

Wireless charging
Water resistance
Snapdragon 845
Headphone jack w/ awesome DAC/AMP combo
1440p
Incredible haptic feedback throughout the UI/when typing
Wide angle lens
Manual video controls + hi-res audio recording
Loud bassy speaker when placed on a surface
Double tap to sleep/wake
Rear fingerprint scanner (personal preference, but)

I like the G7 a lot, my chief complaint is honestly "It's not as good as the V30" (in screen size, OLED, camera, battery life, & haptics) which is hands-down my favourite phone I've ever used. Using a Mate 20 Pro currently which has the genuinely useful next-gen goodies like triple cam, superfast charging, & real 3D face unlock, but I miss the V30 and LG's shockingly good software features.

Notably the P20 does have Huawei's then-flagship chip, the Kirin 970, but this was an ARM generation behind the 845 if rather power-efficient. There's a point where 'faster CPU' doesn't necessarily translate into 'device feels meaningfully faster in everyday use' and to my mind we hit that with the 835.

For camera stills, just get the P20 Pro. The difference is huge and worth stepping the budget up a notch if that's a feature you value. Or wait for more affordable devices with the ultra-versatile and killer wide angle/regular/telephoto triple combo.

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TeaLeaf

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#2190627 4-Mar-2019 11:36

freitasm:

If you are talking Leica lens/mount then you are talking about the Huawei P20 Pro, right?

No the P20 still uses leica for sensor and lens but its a 1.55UM sensor, so still bigger than most,, the g7 uses a 1.0UM sensor. Put the P20 Pro uses the same (or similar) setup to the mate 20, 1/1.7", triple lens, but uses a BW instead of the one found on the mate 20 pro which I think is an ultra wide, but still has the 8mp 80mm lens.

1/1.7" vs 1.55UM is significantly larger (I forget the math to get the UM from inches), but it is also $200 more, then the mate 20x with its glorious flat screen and the better camera setup like the mate 20 pro and a stylus etc. So its never ending chasing something better.

What I was looking for was the best mid price camera phone, I don't think the back camera on the p20 is possible to beat, it gets 102 on DXO so not far behind its bigger brothers.

However as noted above the g7 clearly is the more powferul unit and a much better multimedia consumer, however its camera is mediocre, scoring 83 on DXO (same camera as the v30).

I do however take DXO with a grain of salt and rather look at gsm arenas photos and comments for real life performance.

IMO the p20 should now be priced at normal price around $500 as the Galaxy S8 is normal price at $600, so that is another option, I just really hate curved front screens, especially when back AND front are glass.

None of the Nokias can compare to the P20 Leica setup, even when Zeiss did extre work on the new Nokia it was a flop with very little change. I have some Zeiss lenses for my real camera, and they are very good, but for phones, they are letting Nokia down.

freitasm

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#2190642 4-Mar-2019 12:06

Sorry, was thinking of P20 Lite (or Nova 3i in New Zealand)...

NikT

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#2190650 4-Mar-2019 12:30

freitasm:

Sorry, was thinking of P20 Lite (or Nova 3i in New Zealand)...

Just for the record, it's Nova 3e that's sold elsewhere as P20 Lite.

Gotta love those naming conventions, especially when they differ between countries. Makes sourcing accessories a joy.

TeaLeaf:

What I was looking for was the best mid price camera phone

Mate I love how oddly-specific your threads are! Do you set yourself a strict budget of $600 and buy one phone every six months? It's a fun way to do it, and I used to do something similar, but it sure makes for slightly head-scratching threads - and fun discussions.

If you really value camera stills above all else, the P20 Pro has been on sale for $799 and is 100% worth that price for the camera performance it delivers, eclipsing everything else sub ~$1200.

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freitasm

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#2190651 4-Mar-2019 12:31

Yes, yes - sorry again. I had a Nova 3i (and it is back with Huawei) and they sent me a Nova 3e (which is the P20 Lite outside New Zealand).

Gosh, things are getting hot.

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caldazar

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#2190681 4-Mar-2019 13:46

I picked up a G7 on the weekend. Looks reasonably nice considering the price.

Will report back if notice anything worth mentioning other than what Nik already posted.

Hammerer

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#2190794 4-Mar-2019 15:52

NikT:

G7:

Wireless charging

@NikT, thanks for the detailed explanations. Your comments are very helpful in several threads that I've read.

I was told that it doesn't have wireless charging because that is only in the US variant. Is that correct as I don't have a wireless charger to confirm this? I did buy one in the weekend PBTech sale.

For $600 it is a great phone for me. I've had a decade of other phones with IP6x protection - that always save me money by avoiding repairs and early replacement - but I seriously considered the splash resistant P20. I'm not regretting bypassing it as the G7 sound and video is better than I expected.

mudguard

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#2190795 4-Mar-2019 15:57

I called into Auckland's North Shore shop to buy a G7 but they only had the open box Blue one. So I'll try pick up one later in the week. Oddly they were still advertised at full price (over $1000). I can't be bothered researching too much into it. I just want to replace my G4

NikT

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#2190828 4-Mar-2019 16:24

Hammerer:

@NikT, thanks for the detailed explanations. Your comments are very helpful in several threads that I've read.

I was told that it doesn't have wireless charging because that is only in the US variant. Is that correct as I don't have a wireless charger to confirm this? I did buy one in the weekend PBTech sale.

For $600 it is a great phone for me. I've had a decade of other phones with IP6x protection - that always save me money by avoiding repairs and early replacement - but I seriously considered the splash resistant P20. I'm not regretting bypassing it as the G7 sound and video is better than I expected.

AU/NZ LG G7 variant is LM-G710EMW (Dual SIM 4GB/64GB), and I can confirm 100% that it has wireless charging - I have several units on hand. It is also IP68 rated whereas the little P20 is not.

Confusion may stem from the LG G6, which did have market-specific variants which traded off the quad DAC for wireless charging and vice versa.

mudguard:

I called into Auckland's North Shore shop to buy a G7 but they only had the open box Blue one. So I'll try pick up one later in the week. Oddly they were still advertised at full price (over $1000). I can't be bothered researching too much into it. I just want to replace my G4

If that's PB North Shore, they have plenty of Aurora Black on hand - unless you specifically wanted Moroccan Blue which is running low on stock. It's a nice shade of blue.

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Geektastic

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#2191866 6-Mar-2019 00:31

+1 on the wireless charging as I do it with mine, which came from PBTech.

Also +1 on Moroccan Blue!

-1 on software updates though. Still no Pie and the latest security patch is December last year, although to be fair I have no idea if there are more recent ones.

NikT

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#2191870 6-Mar-2019 01:18

Geektastic:

+1 on the wireless charging as I do it with mine, which came from PBTech.

Also +1 on Moroccan Blue!

-1 on software updates though. Still no Pie and the latest security patch is December last year, although to be fair I have no idea if there are more recent ones.

PB is the authorised distributor for LG Mobile in NZ at the moment, hence them all coming from there.

I am presently of two minds on the software update front. Traditionally I am all about my software updates, particularly so when they're globally coordinated instead of an achingly slow market-by-market rollout in which NZ-specific variants historically lose by sheer merit of there being fewer of them in circulation compared to ~basically any other market you like (for the record NZ LG stock runs the same software as AU rather than being country-specific).

If you're a device vendor with a set amount of resources, it's understandable that those resources be focused on the variants with the most customers. This has led to situations in the past like Sony and Huawei rolling updates for specific models out in Europe et al and just...never getting around to it in NZ. Quite disappointing if you've bought a premium device at a premium price and the vendor effectively says "Oh well, didn't sell enough of those into NZ, we can't sink any more R&D money into that model, sorry."

Having been on both sides of it, I am still dissatisfied with where NZ sits in the priority list, and the only 'solution' here is realistically to avoid country-specific variants in favour of shared software across a bigger region like APAC or indeed ideally 'the whole world minus China' (which has its own market-specific Android builds because Great Firewall = no Google). So that's Motorola, open-market Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi, or Apple - and LG in the middle with ANZ as a whole. Or cross-flash/debrand to other regions, or install a custom ROM, or et cetera. Spark have done well with the Android One Nokias too, credit where it's due (and the biz with some models where updates only appeared when a Spark SIM was inserted aside).

Flipside: I really, really like LG's software, and have attempted to replicate my favourites of its features on other brands of device to limited success. It has also, in my experience, been truly remarkably stable, and simply hasn't needed the rapid patching to fix bugs that other brands have experienced due to rushes to market and so on. Given Pie has brought a whopping one feature that is of any particular value to me (private DNS) and is to my mind the least compelling Android platform update in the platform's history, I don't miss it at all when I jump back to devices running 8.0 or 8.1. In terms of user-facing elements, Pie is mostly marketable as a higher number with rounded edges. Gripping. I may finally be at the tipping point where I value specific features and stability over being on the bleeding edge, and while I objectively want more and faster security patches personally/see the value in enterprise and peace of mind, I may actually be okay with slower platform updates/quarterly security patches in return for those features and that stability.

Ask me again in six months when Android Q has universal night mode and Google has fixed its dismal Pie gestures.

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landcruiserguy

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#2191876 6-Mar-2019 05:59

My Mrs has had a couple of Huawei phones and I owned a LG G3. In my opinion the LG software is better than the Huawei software. Huawei has great hardware but the software is not at quite the same level of quality. I am about to change her over to Samsung for that reason and also to gain wireless charging. Get the LG would be my advice.

caldazar

459 posts

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#2192023 6-Mar-2019 11:12

landcruiserguy:

My Mrs has had a couple of Huawei phones and I owned a LG G3. In my opinion the LG software is better than the Huawei software. Huawei has great hardware but the software is not at quite the same level of quality. I am about to change her over to Samsung for that reason and also to gain wireless charging. Get the LG would be my advice.

Yeah, that's very much why I never jumped on the Huawei train. I had a P8 device a while back and the software wasn't great, I didn't like it much at all. I used my friends P20 Pro and lust after the camera but the software wasn't as nice as LG's android implementation.

LG's version of android feels really clean to me, has a nice featureset but not too much bloat, definitely my favourite experience with Android. I'll probably pick up a Samsung device this year to see how OneUI has improved.

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