Samsung Galaxy S9 vs LG V30S ThinQ: Battle of the best Flagship smartphones at MWC 2018

Design and Display

Samsung Galaxy S9 doesn't look different when you compare it to the phone it's replacing. It's the same phone with some minor but noticeable changes. The bezels around the screen have been trimmed down a bit that reduce the height and make the new Galaxy smartphone a bit more comfortable to use with one hand. The biggest and most welcome change in the design department is the repositioned fingerprint scanner.

It has now been shifted under the camera module for a more natural spot to unlock the smartphone. As far as screen is concerned, Galaxy S9 sports exactly the same display as we have tested on Galaxy S8. Galaxy S9 flaunts a 5.8-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED panel with 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Samsung says that the brightness has been improved for better usability in challenging light conditions.

On the other hand, LG V30S ThinQ is one hundred percent similar in look and feel when compared to the original LG V30. I actually don't mind it as the smartphone has by far the most ergonomic full screen design in the market. LG V30S ThinQ is fitted with a 6.0-inch 18:9 QuadHD+ OLED FullVision Display with the screen resolution of 2,880×1,440 pixels. We have tested LG V30+ and Galaxy S8 and both offers best-in-class screens in the market. The display on Galaxy S9 is expected to be brighter and vibrant than the QuadHD display on LG V30S ThinQ.

Samsung’s revamped Camera vs LG’s smart AI camera

The new Galaxy S9 sports a 12MP shooter with F/1.5 aperture value which has never been seen on a mobile camera. While the Samsung Galaxy S9 still boasts a mono camera setup, there are some noted features added to the bucket list. The camera on Galaxy S9 is equipped with Dual-aperture technology that as per Samsung works like the human eye and can change the aperture value as per the light conditions. The camera on Galaxy S9 can also record super slow motion videos at 960fps. LG V30S ThinQ can only record at 240fps.

But as an overall camera, LG V30S ThinQ is not very behind as it also works on a brighter F/1.6 aperture value. With LG V30S ThinQ, you can capture some stunning landscape shots as the smartphone has same dual-lens camera setup that we tested on LG v30+. There's a 13MP secondary sensor to capture a 120-degree wide-angle frame which makes LG V30S ThinQ the perfect camera smartphone for street and landscape photography.

LG’s Vision Cam vs Samsung’s smarter Bixby Vision camera and AR Emojis

What truly gives LG V30S ThinQ's camera an edge is the new Vision AI support. The smartphone's camera has now three new features, called AI CAM, QLens, and Bright Mode. AI CAM analyzes subjects in the frame and recommends the optimal shooting mode among eight categories: portrait, food, pet, landscape, city, flower, sunrise, and sunset. Each mode enhances the characteristics of the subject taking into account factors such as the viewing angle, color, reflections, lighting, and saturation level. QLens can automatically scan QR codes, initiate an image search or provide shopping options including where to purchase the item for the lowest price and other similar products that the customer might find of interest. And the Bright Mode feature uses algorithms to brighten images by a factor of two for better looking photos without the noise. LG V30S ThinQ also features Voice AI that makes it possible to run apps and change settings using voice commands alone.

On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy S9 also has some neat tricks under its sleeves. The Samsung's in-house virtual assistant Bixby is now smarter than ever. Bixby Vision is baked into the camera of Samsung Galaxy S9 and come with live translation mode. What this means is that you can simply point the Galaxy S9 camera at any text in a foreign language and Bixby will translate it into your native language with the help of AI. You can also use Bixby Vision to find out the nutritional content of food you are eating. Besides, Samsung Galaxy S9 also come with AR Emojis support, something we have seen in Apple iPhone X.

SEE ALSO: Apple iPhone X now available at a discount of Rs. 20,000: But there's a catch

Hardware and Software

Coming onto the hardware, LG V30S ThinQ is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor coupled with 6GB RAM. It offers 128GB of internal storage which can be further expanded up to 2TB using the microSD card slot. LG also sells VS30+ ThinQ, which comes with 256GB of internal storage space which is also expandable up to 2TB.

On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy S9 only ships with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal memory that can be expanded by up to 200GB via microSD card slot. What's new in the hardware is the latest Snapdragon 845 CPU, which makes Galaxy S9 a better computing device than the LG V30S ThinQ. It is worth mentioning that Samsung will ship the Galaxy S9 with its very own Exynos 9810 chipset everywhere outside of the US territory.

Both the smartphones run on Android 8.0 Oreo. LG V30S ThinQ comes with LGUX and Samsung Galaxy S9 run the newest iteration of the Samsung Experience UI.

Battery and Connectivity

Samsung and LG haven't made any changes in the battery department and both the handsets sport the similar batteries as their predecessors have. Galaxy S9 is backed by a 3,000 mAH battery unit whereas LG V30S ThinQ is powered by a 3,300 mAh battery unit.

Both the smartphones support 4G LTE, Quick charge, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and USB Type-C.