Finally, LG has confirmed that the LG V20 is headed for India. With Google’s Pixel starting shipments to India this week too, we thought it would be a good time to compare the two phones by specifications and consider who has the EDGE at this stage.
Design and Display
The LG V20 on the comes with a metallic design rather than rugged back design which we saw in the V10 with matte finish at the back. On the other hand, Pixel XL comes with a unique design combination of full metal uni-body with a glass plate at the back surrounding the fingerprint scanner and camera. There is no camera hump as well on the Pixel XL. Which is definite plus for the Pixel XL. 
Regarding the display, Pixel XL comes with a 5.5 inch AMOLED Display with Quad HD resolution. The LG V20 comes with 5.7 inch Quad HD IPS LCD display. Moreover, the V20 also comes with a secondary 2.1 inch display with 160 x 1040 pixels resolution. This secondary display offers a lot of shortcuts and other quick functions and toggles.
So if display size is what gets you going, a strong fightback by the LG V20 here.
Processor and Memory
On the inside, Pixel XL sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor clocked at 2.15GHz and Adreno 530 GPU for graphics. For multi-tasking, it has 4GB RAM and 32/64 GB internal storage options which is not expandable. LG V20, on the other hand, is powered by a Snapdragon 820 Processor at 2.15 GHz with Adreno 530 GPU and 4GB RAM with storage options of 32GB/64GB which can be expanded up to 256GB via a dedicated microSD card slot. Thus, the Pixel XL might pack a newer newer processor but the expandable storage on LG V20 saves it the blushes. 
LG V20 will come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box with LG’s own skin on top. While, Pixel XL being a phone from Google comes with Android 7.1 out of the box with further promise of receiving future Android updates the quickest. With the purest possible Android experience, the Pixel XL might just edge it here, unless the LG skin offers something amazing.
Camera
In the camera department, things get a little bit complicated. The Pixel XL comes with a single camera lens while the LG V20 comes with a dual-camera set up. Google Pixel XL features a 12.3 MP rear facing camera with 1.55 micron pixels size and f/2.0 aperture. At the front there is an 8 Megapixel shooter with f/2.4 aperture. Google boasted that both Pixel and Pixel XL received a DxO Mark rating of 89 which is highest in any smartphone up till now. Check out the camera samples here.
While the LG V20 comes with dual-camera and16-megapixel shooter with OIS, Hybrid Auto-Focus (includes Laser auto-focus, PDAF, contrast auto-focus), f/1.8 Aperture and dual-tone LED Flash. The second camera is a Wide-Angle 8-megapixel fixed-focus unit. At the front, there is a 5-megapixel selfie camera. Based on the reviews on the internet, LG V20 has one of the best smartphone camera and is par with the S7 and iPhone 7. However, one should note that both the cameras at the back are independent and they don’t complement each other as seen on other flagships.
Battery and Connectivity
The Pixel XL sports a larger battery which a capacity of 3450 mAh, a little more than the 3200 mAh removable battery on the LG V20. Does being removable help at this level? We think the jury is out on that one.
Both the phones come with necessary connectivity options, such as built in WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC and USB Type-C. Both the devices also sport a fingerprint scanner at the back. LG V20 also sports a 32 bit Hi-FI Quad DAC for an outstanding audio quality through wired headphones.
Wrapping Up
And now for the wallet. The 32GB model of Google’s Pixel XL is priced at Rs 67,000 and LG V20 will be launching in India at a price starting at Rs 49,990. So in terms of value for money, LG V20 has to be ahead as it more than matches the advantages with the Pixel XL with a bunch of unique features for good measure. On the other hand, if you want a pure Google experience and updates are your priority then Pixel XL is right now the best Android device you can buy. The Pixel XL’s amazing camera and Stock Android on top, makes it a very difficult phone to ignore.
Google’s not exactly known to have fans like Apple has, because in that case, the Pixel XL would have been the comfortable winner here.
Considering that Android users are not exactly in it to throw away good money out of sheer fandom, we reckon the LG V20 will do very nicely for you if performance is all you are looking for.