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Pixel 2 with a Headphone Jack? – LG V30 Review

2017-12-03
I did get a couple of things wrong in my review of the LG g5 that was my bad but knowing all that stuff at the time still wouldn't have changed anything about my conclusion to this day I don't believe that the bulky design and the trade-offs in camera quality and water resistance were offset by the promise of modular upgrades and other than a surprisingly vocal minority apparently neither did most people but while the g6 fixed a handful of my gripes including adding water resistance it wasn't until the recent launch of the V 30 that I saw this kind of demand for an LG phone review again so immediately after finishing my pixel to video I dropped it for the V 30 let's see how that went after I feel your ears with Corsairs message about the new HS 50 multi-platform three-and-a-half millimeter headset it features 50 millimeter neodymium magnets and more check it out now at the link below right out of the box the V 30 is something that the G Series never was it's a head-turner I've gotten more comments on this than I did during the couple of weeks that I spent using the me mix 2 and the mix 2 is a stunning looking device LG has taken the same kind of leap forward here that Samsung did when they went from the plastic s5 to the curvy glass and aluminum s6 edge IMO and under the hood you'll find all the things that the discerning consumer would expect from a flagship phone these days yes actually all of them with the highlights compared to the eerily similar pixel to Excel being microSD expansion wireless charging and yes a headphone jack and not just any headphone jack Google placed its bets on users preferring to listen aloud equipping the pixel to excel with one of the best sets of front-facing stereo speakers that I've ever heard on a smartphone while LG skimped on a single palm firing speaker and then went all in on the headphone experience and as someone who uses both about equally I am really torn on this finely damn because the V 30s headphone jack is more than just present it stands out presumably the reason it's disabled by default is to save some battery life but if you listen to music throughout the day as much as I do LG's quad amp high fived DAC setting is a must I'm not going to say that it is competitive with an external amp and DAC that cost as much as the whole phone and it should really have a simple touch and drag custom EQ configuration option but even with those complaints in mind this is the first time to sit since probably ever that I felt even remotely tempted to use digital filters on a phone the short preset ended up being a great match for the trashy pop music that I listened to and it makes this device a fantastic middle ground between the ho-hum audio solutions that dominate the smartphone market and then investing a bunch of extra money not to mention pocket space into something external sold them right hold on let's talk about the screen I didn't mention the blue shift on the pixel to excel while I was working on my review and the reason is that frankly in my opinion that whole thing got blown way out of proportion it is more pronounced on the LG made P OLED panel which appears to be a close relative of the one in the V 30 than it is on the Samsung AMOLED panel in the smaller pixel too but it doesn't affect any of the angles that I hold my phone at and OLED displays of all flavors have exhibited this kind of behavior to varying degrees for so long now but I don't even consider it noteworthy anymore so I liked the display on the pixel to excel and I liked it on the V 32a far bigger concern is the potential for burnin now my pixel to excel and be 30 are both still perfect which is again why I didn't mention it but I do have some bad news for you guys now theoretically any OLED can get burnin eventually some just faster than others and if any of the unit's out there are suffering from baked-on on-screen buttons after just a couple of weeks this does set off some alarms for me the good news though is that by regularly mixing up your on-screen elements I should have changed this watch face more often on that subject by running lower brightness overall and by avoiding notorious apps like ways you can prolong your displays life and to give consumers additional confidence LG is offering an extra year of warranty just for registering the device as long as you're American the rest of the world gets a good old fashioned sorry about that and while as a Canadian I can certainly appreciate that gesture I'd rather have another year of warranty and on the subject of things I'd rather have there are a few other v30 drawbacks that do need to be addressed here the battery is a little small for such a large phone it didn't really affect me day-to-day in my wanderings about town but the Excel twos is bigger the camera is also immediately and obviously inferior to other similarly priced flagship smartphones like the iPhone 8 plus galaxy s 8 and pixel to excel and LG's Android skin while functional didn't light my world on fire even though I have an unlocked phone it shipped chock-full of bloatware and while their animation style actually contributes to the phone feeling really snappy it lacks some thing not just something anything to set it apart where's the swipe down for notifications on the rear touch sensor where's this squeeze for a Google assistant where's the system-wide camera quick launch it only does volume down if the phone isn't locked and dare I say it where's the big speed button as skinned Android experiences go LG's is fine and never offended me in any way it even allows the software nav buttons to be remapped Google and the V 30s hardware is both stylish and powerful but I feel like all but the hardcore wired headphones are going to gravitate towards other options like the Galaxy S 8 or pixel to XL which isn't to say that that matters to our sponsor for today's video d brand because they support all three of these devices D brand is your source for awesome vinyl 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