Battery UK

You could have bought an Xperia XA1 for $240, but how about an Xperia X for $230? Head to B&H Photo (US) in the next half a day if that deal sounds appealing.

Even if you miss the deal, Amazon US has the original X at $250. NewEgg has it at $270, which isn’t that bad considering other stores are asking over $300.

The Xperia X is getting old now (it launched a year ago) and the XA1 is a solid offering. But the X is a premium device and has a better screen (1080p vs. 720p, similar contrast and sunlight legibility), there’s a pair of Cortex-A72 cores for better single-core performance too.

In terms of camera, the headlining feature of the XA1 was the flagship main camera, so those are pretty similar. You do get a better selfie cam with the X, though, a 13MP shooter with a bigger sensor (1/3” vs. 8MP 1/4”).

Both Samsung and LG have been in the news lately as the anticipation for both smartphone makers to release their second flagship device of the year, halving the life cycle of its main flagship counterpart (Galaxy S8 and LG G6, respectively).

The LG V30 was spotted in the popular GeekBench app with a Snapdragon 835 paired with 4GB of RAM. Which has silently become the standard hardware setup for flagship smartphones this year like the Galaxy S8 and the HTC U11. Meanwhile, other Chinese smartphone makers are putting 6GB of more of RAM their devices like the Xiaomi Mi 6 and the OnePlus 5.

The device tested ran the very latest Android Nougat version 7.1.2 and while the device’s multi-core result is well around the 6,300 mark, it technically didn’t beat the Xiaomi Mi 6’s score of over 6,700.

The LG V30 is expected to drop the secondary display from its V-series predecessors in favor of a 6.0-inch 2:1 aspect ratio Full Vision OLED display. Like the G6, the V30 will have a new integrated design with a non-removable battery and water resistance. The phone is also rumored to ship with built-in wireless charging capabilities.

There’s not much more than a month left for LG to announce the V30. LG already sent out save-the-date invites for August 31 in Berlin, the day before IFA kicks off.