LG V30 vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 8: first-look ultra-widescreen phablet comparison

Display

As we mentioned before, the shapes and sizes of these screens are slightly different, but they're still very much in the same class, and each offers a very sharp quad-HD+ resolution. They both have the same rounded corners as their smaller-screened cousins, but the Note 8 takes that curved-edge business in another dimension with its over-the-edge screen. The V30 does have curved front glass, but the screen itself terminates with a bezel before that curve begins.

With past generations of Note and V-series phones, we'd be looking at a tale of AMOLED vs. LCD, but this year LG changes up its display-hardware game and gives the V30 its own AMOLED panel, closing the gap between the two handsets. That's further helped by LG abandoning the secondary screen that had been a staple of past V-family phones.

Both screens look beautiful, and support mobile HDR for exceptionally well-reproduced video. We're going to have to put both models under our display calibration hardware to get the full picture on just what they're capable of, but a casual examination suggests users should be very happy with either.

Interface and Functionality

LG and Samsung both have been refining their takes on Android for years, and while the skinning these days tends to be a bit lighter than in the past and full of legitimately useful functionality, each of these phones has their own unmistakable feel to their interfaces. Across the whole system, though, it's Samsung's software that takes the bigger departure from stock, making its presence felt from app drawer to settings menu.

But the unique software on these phones goes far beyond basic Android fare, and each also adds a healthy dose of extras. On the V30, while the secondary screen isn't around this year, LG still manages to retain that same type of functionality with its Floating Bar, a little menu that can be called out from the side of the screen with a tap and that delivers that missing feature set.

The Note 8 takes that same sort of interaction and runs wild with it; not only do we get a full set of customizable Edge Panels, but there's a little Air Command bubble ready to expand and let us tap into exclusive S-Pen functionality. Obviously, that stylus itself vastly changes the way users can interact with the Note 8 in a way that the V30 can't touch.

Samsung's extras continue with its Bixby assistant, complete with dedicated Bixby button. And while LG sticks with the faithful Google Assistant, the V30 picks up some exclusive voice commands that can not only tap into the phone's hardware, but also control smart-home LG appliances.

Performance

With the last set of Samsung and LG flagships, the G6 was at a disadvantage, thanks to the presence of its previous-gen Snapdragon 821 chip, while the GS8 was rocking the latest 835. This time around, the two phones are much more evenly matched, and while the Note 8 will get an Exynos chip in international markets, the US Note 8 and V30 are landing with the same Snapdragon 835 processor.

They also both land with the same 64GB base storage level, but maybe just because it wouldn't be interesting enough if both these phones were just across-the-board matched in terms of silicon, for the Note 8 Samsung ups the ante on system memory, giving the phone 6GB of RAM to the V30's 4GB. Some further testing is in order to determine the full extent that extra memory has on the user experience, but from our initial observations, these two smartphones very much seem to be performing on similarly high levels.

Camera

Maybe the most interesting comparison we can draw here is between camera hardware, now that the Galaxy Note 8 steps up to join the V30 (and a growing list of other popular handsets) in the dual-main-camera club. But while both phones offer users two rear cameras, one with a wide-angle lens and one with an effectively telephoto lens, the implementations couldn't be more different.

For one, the companies have very different ideas of what constitutes “wide-angle,” and the lens on the V30 captures a much larger field of view than Samsung's. As we just noted in our initial image comparison, the FOV of the V30's “standard” lens is a much closer match to the Note 8's wide-angle camera than its zoom lens. As a result, the Note 8 lends itself more to close-ups, while the V30 is better at capturing expansive scenes.

Software also has a big impact on camera functionality, and while Samsung's software offers effortless point-and-shoot (as does LG's), the V30 seems better suited to hardcore users who are looking to get every ounce out of their phone's camera hardware by endlessly tweaking manual settings. The V30 also puts more of an emphasis on video performance, and features like Point Zoom empower owners to shoot some impressively professional-looking clips.