Gadgetory

man open the floodgates on g6 comparisons and we got a lot of noise in comments and messages to put the U 11 up against LG's recent price cuts flashback designs multimedia prowess and innovative features this was one of the toughest comparisons I've yet shot for Pocket now so buckle up we've got a lot of ground to cover to see which phone might be worthy of your hard-earned cash HTC u 11 vs. LG g6 it's go time I always kick things off with design and for the first time in a while I don't have an easy win to deliver both companies should be celebrated for shaking things up neither the g6 nor the U 11 resembles efforts from last year LG has been experimenting significantly eventually arriving on this tall skinny slab HTC is walked away from machined aluminum in favor of a mirror finish rear that looks almost like liquid it's one of the most slippery phones I've ever held so use the snap on case or be careful placing it on an uneven surface it's the more daring design move so it does showcase finger prints and micro scratches more readily both manufacturers deliver handsets which stand out but LG eats out a win the brushed robocop titanium rear the new aspect ratio flush camera sensors and the G sex feels a bit better assembled on our review units cleaner transitions from glass to metal looking at the tech inside the hardware debate stresses major differences in philosophy a more flexible lifestyle handset versus a more powerful focused flagship no camera tricks no headphone jack and twice the built-in storage the U 11 does benefit from that Qualcomm 835 magic snappier and lower power use we get a nifty squeeze feature to fire up an app or take a photo but that's hardly a revolutionary new way to engage with data and services over say a customizable button LG takes the opposite and more adorned approach dual cameras built-in headphone jack and better lifestyle durability though LG has built the g6 around last year's chipset affecting performance against newer handsets the U 11 takes a win for the extra storage in horsepower but a smart phone klutz should probably be looking at the G 6.now LCD - LCD the numbers sound more impressive on the g6 but overall surface area is nearly identical this taller design delivers that area in a smaller shell these two compete really well in overall lifestyle use both the U 11 has a higher maximum brightness and is less temperamental about boosting that brightness in daylight conditions more content is currently available for sixteen by nine screens but color displays will be all the rage and LG is ahead of the curve mainstays like YouTube and Netflix are already well supported but game scaling is still a bit rough I'm usually loath to award based on potential but we're giving LG the win for the more progressive hardware and the story flip flops on software HTC used to be the king of manufacturer skins tweaking almost every aspect of the UI but over the last two generations this company has walked back the severity of Sense style alterations we're pretty close to stock with a few minor additions HTC's major add-on is a fairly benign software assistant this little orb floats off to the side when there's relevant information to share with the user it's not trying to step on Google assistance toes but it also hasn't added much to my use over the time I've had the U 11 LG strays farther into manufacturer customizations some for the benefit of the taller screen but mostly maintaining some kind of unique feel for their products one easy example of where this works is adding a little button for auto brightness instead of forcing a user to go through the settings however we detailed an example of where manufacturer customizations can fall apart in our g6 vs. 1 + 5 comparison how several apps failed to properly report what was eating up my storage I genuinely like a lot of LG's additions but again we have to give the software win to the U 11 and it's simpler layout it's that simpler software and more powerful chipset which handily deliver the performance win for the U 11 that really shouldn't shock anyone in our audience last year's chipset in the g6 is still a solid option users likely won't notice much difference recovering the basics UI navigation or social media but 2017 is proving to be another good year for Qualcomm if app developers start pushing the boundaries on services or more graphics intense fair you'll be buying a little more future proofing on the U 11 and the camera fight was really fun to compare again for the wildly different approaches we have real camera reviews for both phones and if you want the full scoop we highly recommend you check those out for a ton of real-world samples to boil this down each phone strength is the other phones weakness HTC delivers a better Auto shooter which has consistently been LG's main weakness and vice versa if you want near professional manual controls LG is one of the best options available on the market today the one area where HTC clearly has an advantage is with low-light performance the larger sensor and more even-handed sharpening should produce better night images though we often find ourselves fighting how bright the camera app can push exposure yet for HTC's excellent main camera features LG slightly slower focusing system was often less confused by busy backgrounds and the second sensor is a wonderful addition lending significant flexibility to phone photography there's no clear winner here a well focused streamlined shooter a more flexible array of sensors and controls and both with phenomenal audio recording options they will appeal to different audiences but you can't really go wrong with either if you know what you're in for moving to audio speaker Tek is an easy one for HTC bringing back the dual earpiece and bottom firing speaker it's not true stereo but it's more nuanced than a single speaker Oh headphone comparison on the other hand requires a bit more discussion the tests we ran during our you 11 real audio review looked a bit off so we grabbed a second dongle and we reran our benchmarks this improved some of the noise and dynamic range numbers but overall quality is still lower than the g6 and playback is still truncated to 16-bit audio the amps are similar an output which is one of the more noticeable elements of a good headphone jack regular everyday use mp3s users won't be punished by this dongle but this is not audiophile grade for folks who already own nicer headphones another problem though we faced more audio gremlins on this new adapter our first pass on the audio test delivered some strange Distortion HTC's main commitment to audio is focused on the included earbuds the tech is phenomenal for how HTC scans your ears to customize output and the combo of passive and active noise reduction is terrifically implemented but we still have concerns over proprietary audio solutions sure this is USBC but these don't play with any other USB see device and if you lose one say while traveling it's highly unlikely you could easily track down a replacement LG solution on the g6 isn't quite as techie cool but the 3.5 millimeter jack is built-in and it produces a higher quality output so LG takes the headphone win looking at run-time neither phone proves to be a battery champ in our media bench the u Elevens newer processor is more power efficient but the battery is also smaller so any advantage there is effectively neutralized and finally our recharge test was also nearly identical the g6 is technically charging faster the same percentage of a larger battery but in practical use these two are essentially the same lastly it should also be mentioned that HTC delivers a more complete experience out of the box snap-on clear case headphone adapter headphones the u 11 kinda needs those additions in my opinion so it's nice to see them in the box so let's wrap this up where's that leave us between the HTC u 11 and the LG g 6 comparisons are always more fun when you've got a close fight the main takeaway to brands battling bringing their a game and both delivering fresh takes on foam design as the guy who produces the camera reviews rolling around in the dirt I'm a bigger fan of the higher rated durability certification and manual camera controls I prefer the traditional headphone jack and this screen aspect ratio is daring LG is doing a very good job of demonstrating what can be done with a taller display however in this moment phone to phone HTC produces the better consumer all-rounder the more powerful phone and the streamlined experience out of the box and in the hand view 11 will likely resonate with more general consumers looking for something with a little flash and something that gets out of the way of their most used data and services though there is a significant pricing difference at the time this comparison was shot the costs make sense and compare well against each other different philosophies for different target consumers which phone would win your cash vote in our viewer poll in the upper right hand corner of this video as always thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel for more comparisons like these and check out our expanded coverage like real camera and real audio reviews and help us out with some sharing on your favorite social networks for pocket now I'm Juan Carlos bag now some gadget guy on Twitter and Instagram and I will catch you all on the next review