10 Truly Wireless Headsets Compared

Intro - skip for just the facts

I ignored the True Wireless Earbuds for some years, the limitations on the first generations were just too much of a blocker for me. But things move on and the newer generation is way better than what was available a few years ago.

This is a shootout especially with sports in mind. When I want high quality audio, I use my Sony WH-1000M3. And when travelling, I rely on my Sony WI-1000X with their >12hrs of battery live and their excellent ANC. But both aren’t sports headphones for running. As I mostly listen to audio books and podcasts when running, I added to them a pair of Sony WI-C300, which I got as a special offer for 15,- Euros. Just as I write this, this feels a little Sony biased, but over the years I had a variety of headphones from all kinds of brands. 

My main issue with the WI-C300’s is the cable between the earsets. It always gets entangled with my shirt, especially when turning my head eg. before switching lane sides. Also, they have no key to skip back and forth in my book or playlist. So I have to move on to a pair of true wireless.

Methology

I restrict my selection to brands I mostly knew, I am not interested in Chinese no-name headphones from eBay though I might miss something interesting. Also I exclude brands from which I know, that their sound is not my cup of tea. When I listen to music, it is analogue music from Classic Rock to Jazz. So if you are a mostly electronic music listener, my findings on the sound might not be relevant to you. I prefer a natural sound, so Bose and Beats don’t make it onto my list. With the remaining brands, I went through the manufacturers sites and tons of review from others.

I made a Sheet in LibreOffice with all headsets that sound interesting enough for me and pulled all features that were relevant to me from the vendors websites. Starting with the basics like price (Sep. 20 in Europe), Bluetooth standard, supported CoDecs, battery runtime, IP rating, and weight, I added the special features that interested me: 

• Do they have an ambient sound feature and an easy way to access it? I love this function on my WH-1000M3.
• Does it they have fast charging? A feature that is only missing on older models these days
• ANC is not my primary requirement for sports. When running in the public I would always turn it of, but it is a nice to have feature. Only the Sony’s offer ANC, but Jabra also announced it.
• Do they come with an app, eg. for EQ settings, controls customization or software updates?
• Which controls do they offer, like volume, skip etc. (and which are missing)?
• Do they have some extras, that do not fit elsewhere?

You can download my sheet and adjust it to your requirements. After all, four headsets made it onto my shortlist and I ordered them for my personal testing. And BTW, I payed for all with my own money, I have no deal with any manufacturer.

For the sound check, they all have to compare to my excellent Sony WI-1000X for reference, as well as to each other.

I don’t judge call quality. They are all good enough in case of emergency, but I would not use any of these for a conf call with a customer.

Runners up

Pioneer SE-E9TW-Y

 

The Pioneers looked like the middle ground, both price- and feature-wise. They offer a higher IP rating than most and support AAC for better audio quality. But they are the heaviest on my list, more than double the weight of the lightest though they only offer below average battery runtime.

They cost about twice as much as the cheapest on my list without offering significant more value spec-wise. And they cannot even control the volume from the headset, so when running you need to get your phone out of your pocket to adjust the volume.

Philips TAST702BK

The Philips cost nearly as much as the speakers from the shortlist, but don’t offer much that judges the price. They are on the heavier side, offer only average IP rating and like the Pioneers, they cannot be used to adjust the volume. The only feature to set them apart from the rest of the bunch is an UV-cleaning feature in the charging box. That would be a nice extra feature for a set of headphones that already have everything. But I see no sense in offering this instead of necessary features.

Sony WF-SP700N

This is an older model that only supports Bluetooth 4.1 resulting in bad battery life of only 3 hrs. Also they have only an IPX4 rating. Also they have practically no music controls except for Play/Pause. At least they only cost 94,99 Euros and are supported by Sonys Headphones App. But even when you are on short budget, I see no reason to get these until the price will drop significantly. At least, as these are Sonys, so I would expect them to sound balanced.

JVC HA-ET90BT-E

This is also an older model. I could not find any information on the supported Bluetooth standard, but considering it’s short battery runtime and age, I would expect that it is BT 4.x. At least it has an IPX5 rating and is one of the lighter headsets. Also it can control volume, though skipping back and forth needs to be done on the phone. And it comes with an app for extended controls, that also has a nice Find-my-Earbud feature, making it flash and beep to find them if you drop them. That is a great idea and I have no clue, why the newer and more expensive JVC models come without it. At least, if you are short on budget, this looks like a better offering to me than the Sony WF-SP700N. 

Shortlist

Jabra Elite Active 75t

Jabra were the first to deliver, so I tested them first. I ordered them directly from their site, as they offered a 10% discount when registering for their newsletter. This is btw the only European manufacturer in this test, the rest is from Japan.

Specs and Price

The Jabras have a 7,5h battery runtime, solid but not classleading. On the other side, these are the smallest and lightest on the shortlist. Personally, I would not trade a longer battery life for a larger and heavier body. Spec-wise, their only real weakness is the price at around 200,- Euros, but with the discount the at least catch up to 2nd most expensive, which are the JVC HA-AE5T. An overall excellent package, but with the highest price, no ANC and only average runtime on the shortlist. But Jabra announced to bring ANC via software update in October ‘20, so they will probably catch up to the Sonys.

7,5/10

Haptics and build

The first impression of the Jabra is excellent. They come in a small charging box, the material of both feels premium. The buttons on both earpieces are easy to use, so they do not need to be pushed hard inside the ear for operation. The Active Elite 75t have the highest IP rating on the shortlist, which should help longevity. So for build quality, I have nothing to complain with, giving them 10/10 points. Of course, even with the 10% discount, they should offer premium haptics for that price. 

10/10

Operation

The 75t come with an app with a variety of settings and a manual. For the keys, every function can be remapped to your like. I could set up my favorite settings within minutes. The app itself is well designed and functional. I would say that this is typically scandinavian design, though I have no clue where it is developed. You can go through a hearing test to let the headphones better match your hearing capabilities. And you can also adjust the EQ afterwards and save some personal sound profiles. 

Additional, the Jabras come with some features, I found on no other brand. With sidetone, you can hear your own voice during phone calls. Unfortunately I could not make this feature work. And with Multi Use, you can pair it with two devices and use both to take calls. And they have a noise generator, to play white noise or nature sounds into your ears, when you just want something to help you blocking outside noise without music. Overall, the operation of the Jabras is no less than excellent.

The only drawback is, that the 75t only operate in a master/slave setup. So you can use the right earbud alone, but not the left one.

9/10

Comfort

The 75t fit easy into my ears and did not fall our or got loose at any time. They don’t use any additional rubber arms to sit tight in your ears. As they are so small and light, there is less leverage force that needs to be compensated compared to other earbuds that reach out further out of the ear. So no complaints on the comfort side.

10/10

Sound

Until now, it almost looked like an easy win for the Jabra. So at my first sound check I was badly surprised. The sound was significant behind what I expected, especially in that price range. So I did the sound check to let the earbuds adjust to my hearing capabilities and took some time in the EQ to find a sound, that is more what I would expect. And of course, the sound got better, but it was still way behind my WI-1000X. So I compared it to my cheap WI-300C to have a lower reference point. Of course, in music the 75t sounded better than the WI-300C and they are also a little louder. But the difference wasn’t so great, especially when looking at the price tag. To make this clear: the Jabras are closer to my 15,- Euro WI-300C, than to my WI-1000X. It became worse when testing with a podcast. No matter how many settings I tried, the Jabras sounded not as natural als my WI-300C.

The best way to describe what I heard was digital. As if the sound had a too low bit rate and has been overprocessed. Like some frequencies in bass and treble were pushed too hard and the waveform have been modified to steeper flanks. Jabra also has a Bass Boost feature. Pushed to the max, the Jabra’s bass sounds deeper and harder than the Sony’s.

And to make this clear: for fairness, I switched the WI-1000X from Apt-X  down to SBC to get the Bluetooth transfer out of the equation. So Leo Laporte from This week in tech sounded natural through my old WI-300C, but like through a low bandwidth phone connection on the Jabras. And for classic rock with analog instruments like Wild Dogs from Tommy Bolin, it also sound a little like hearing music through a phone. Also I tried Snake Eater performed by Video Game Orchestra featuring Ingrid Gerdes from YouTube. Though it is highly compressed, it can sound great on a good pair of headphones. On the Jabras, it sounded like some frequencies were missing. The rhythm guitar is hardly to notice. Maybe for digital produced music, this is no problem, just because it is digital anyways. All the reviews I saw tested with digital music, so maybe the Jabras are better suited for that kind. So I tried some songs that I thought they migth be better suited the Jabras, for example I tried some Depeche Mode songs or Funky Cold Medina. But I did not get better. So I read the review on Rtings.com and compared the 75t to some simlar Sony headsets and their measurements proof what I hear.

6/10

Conclusion

I have always recognized Jabra as a brand for professional business headsets, and not for fidelity audio. I have really been surprised after the the many positive reviews on YouTube. And after my review I think that this also reflects in my results. The Jabras excel in every professional feature, from build-quality to operation, comfort and usability. But soundwise, they are better, but not so much compared to my cheap WI-300C for 12x the price.

43,5/50

Sony WF-SP800N

The Sonys came in 2nd. As I generally like the balanced sound of these, my expectations were high.

Specs and Price

The WF-SP800N are the kings in battery life. With 13 hrs without ANC and still 9 hrs with ANC enabled. If you need more battery life, you will have to look in the next bigger classe like the Sony WI-1000X. But this comes at a price, the WF-SP800N are also the heaviest in the field.

It’s price of 161,54 is slightly above average. But apart from price and weight, the WF-SP800N has no real weakness though a higher IP rating would be desirable.

8/10

Haptics and build

The first impression of the WF-SP800N is very good, though the Jabras feel slightly more premium. The charging box, the is quite massive and is rounded on the bottom, so it cannot stand. The earbuds have touch buttons, so they have no rattling mechanics. So there are no complaints about the build, though the coated material of the Jabras feel even slightly better in my hands.

9/10

Operation

The WF-SP800N also come with an app, that is the same as for other Sony wireless headsets. So it gives full EQ acces with individual sound profiles, effect filters and also Sonys Clear Bass feature is available though I cannot hear any difference with or without it. On my WI-1000X, Clear Bass makes a big difference.

Also in the app, the keys can be remapped. But the Sonys are less configurable than the Jabras. In the Jabra App, you can assign every key and pressing pattern to any function you like. For the Sonys, you can only choose bundles of key patterns and assign these to the buttons. Better than nothing, but not optimal. Putting Volume to the left and Play/Pause/Skip to the right, I cannot use Ambient Sound, though there are unused key press patterns. On the Jabras, I could easily set this up to my like.

Apart from that the app comes with some more settings and a manuals, some of the manual entries are just links and they need to be downloaded. Overall, the Sony App is very good, but lacks the elegance and easy of the Jabra App.

Both earbuds connect directly to the device, so you can choose to use any of them alone. They also come with ANC, but this is no comparison to their high end headphones like the WH-1000M3. It’s isolation is in the range of the WI-1000X, only that the Ambient Sound feature is less effective. But as they are the only headphone with ANC (until the Jabras will get it with an update), this is definitely a plus.

8/10

Comfort

The WF-SP800N are not ideal for my ears. With the medium earbuds and the small rubber fingers called arc supporters, they felt a little loose though they never felt out. With the larger earbuds and arcs, they fitted sturdy into my ears, but putted a little too much pressure to my ears, so they felt a litte more unconfortable than the Jabras. 

8/10

Sound

Using a new pair of Sony headphones is like coming home again for me. I really like their balanced sound and same is for the WF-SP800N. Comparing them to the WI-1000X, it is obvious that they are from the same family, though the WI-1000X sound fuller with more bass. And for my cheap-headphones reference WI-C300, the WF-SP800N sound significant better with more bass.

The bass is not as hard as from the Jabras, but they sound fuller and more balanced. Though they cannot keep up with the WI-1000X, for true wireless headsets they sound very good. I would love to compare them to the Sennheisers, but these are out of scope as they only offer cabled wireless headsets for sports.

10/10

Conclusion

The Sony WF-SP800N are somewhat like the opposite of the Jabra 75t. The Jabras are perfect in nearly every aspect except for the sound. Score-wise it is 43,5 compared to 43 in favor of the Jabras, but it will be a 44/43 win when Jabra delivers the ANC via update.

The WF-SP800N have imperfections in nearly every section. I cannot 100% configure the controls to what I want, the box is bulky, the earpieces are heavier and do not fit as perfect as the Jabras. It is not, that they are bad in these aspects. They just lack the last bit of perfection that the Jabras offer. But they just sound so good, that I am willing to look over these little imperfections.

43/60

JVC HA-ET45T

The HA-ET45T are a bit out of contest here, as they only cost about the third of the other contendors. So I don’t consider them to be on par with the rest of the shortlist. But I am interested how close they can get and maybe they are good enough, so I can save some money. 

Specs and Price

These JVC’s have a 4h battery runtime, which is the weakest in this group. Of course, here is where JVC cutted corners to reach that price tag of 69,95 Euros. On the other hand, this is long enough for any of my workouts and even two of them. Though for an every day’s headset, a longer battery runtime would be desirable, for a workout headset I would accept that shorter runtime to save 2/3 of the money.

Surprisingly, for the rest of the specs, the HA-ET45T are mostly on par with the rest of the field. Their weight is slightly above average, but they come with both, ear fins and hooks. They support Bluetooth 5 and have an IP55 rating. They don’t have advanced features like ANC, Ambient Sound or an app, but that is OK for this price. But all functions can be operated directly from the headset. Overall they offer exceptional value for the money

7/10

Haptics and build

The HA-ET45T make a very good first impression, better than the price tag might assume. They cannot keep up with the rest of the shortlist, but these cost nearly three times as much and they don’t feel three times better.

The rubber covered buttons feel a little cheaper in comparison and so do the rubber fins and hooks. With all that rubber, they cannot keep up with the simple elegance of the Jabras. But that rubber is there for a reason, the HA-ET45T are the most unlikely ones to drop while running.

And the charging box is the biggest, but this is because the earpieces fit into it without removing the ear hooks.

8/10

Operation

There is not much to say about the operation of the HA-ET45T. Everything can be operated with the two buttons on both sides and there is nothing to configure. But having Volume, Play/Pause/Skip directly on the headphones is a great plus, that many contenders, that not made it onto the shortlist, lack.

They also work in primary/secondary mode, so if you only want to use one earpiece, you will have to use the left one.

7/10

Comfort

The HA-ET45T sit comfortable in my ears. A little loose but thanks to the fins and the hooks I never had the feeling that I might loose them. My only complaint is, that the buttons need a strong press which presses the headphones deeper into my ears which feels umconfortable.

7/10

Sound

The HA-ET45T sound surprisingly good. At first try with Reelin’ in the years from Steely Dan, I though wow, these sound as good as the Sonys. But when A/B comparing them it was clear, that they cannot keep up with them, as the HA-ET45T could need more bass. But apart from that, they sound balanced and voices are very clear on audio books.

It is hard to compare their sound to the Jabras. The 75t have more bass and are EQ’ed for a more exciting sound, but often let me think that some sound processing is running. The JVCs are the complete opposite. Their sound is unexciting, but more honest what I personally prefer. But if base heavy electronic music is your thing, than the HA-ET45T may not be the best choice for you.

7/10

Conclusion

The JVC HA-ET45T are the budget friendly option for anyone, who wants these as workout headphones and can live with the weaker bass. The operation can be a bit unconfortable, depending on how sensitive your ears are. Especially, if you are an audio book or podcast listener, these sound very good and natural.

With the earhooks, they are the least likey to drop and because of that, they do not need to fit as tigth into the ears as others. That might be a plus on comfort.

Overall the JVC HA-ET45T are punching above their weight and are a killer offering for that price, as long as you can live with some smaller issues compared to others that costs three times as much. But these are all minor issues. If you are short on budget, just get the HA-ET45T. They cannot beat the pricier options, but are coming close.

36/60

And my Winner is ...

The Jabra Elite Active 75t are the most complete package in my opinon. But I am very sensitive to audio processing. I love live music acoustically or electronicly amplified with little filtering and processing. The Jabras are more for the opposite audience. That does not mean, they are bad, this is just not my cup of tea. During my review, Jabra announced the 85t with bigger speakers. So they will hopefully have more natural bass which means that they could reduce the amount of audio processing if they want to. These could become an interesting option and I will keep an eye on them.

I was close on keeping the JVC. For that price, they are good enough for me and better than my old WI-C300 anyway. But I started to use the truly wireless earpieces for a bit more than just for workouts and then, the HA-ET45T is not the best option. I also wanted to review the higher spec’ed HA-AE5T, which are feature and spec-wise in the league of the other contenders. But they are not available here in Europe now and need a few more weeks to be deliverd. 

My personal choice are the Sony WF-SP800N. They sound best to my ears and have all the features I want. They are not perfect, but also have no show-stoppers for me. And the more I use them and get used to them, the more I like them.

But maybe in half a year, they will have to defeat their title against the Jabra Elite 85t and the JVC HA-AE5T.

LG G8S vs. Samsung S10: 2020's last year top models user review

Intro
When looking for a new smartphone, I always recommend to go for last years top models. Last time, the S7 Edge won over the LG G6 for me. This time it is the LG G8S Thinq vs the Samsung Galaxy S10. I skipped the S8 and S9, because the normal size (not +) models did not any significant advatage over my S7 Edge, which has beed updated to Android 8 in the meantime and still got a new security patch this year. And I skipped the G7, as I always preferred the phones with OLED screens.
I am still very satisfied with my S7 Edge, but I wished for a better camera with wide angle and tele lens. And as the G8S now also has an OLED display, I have two of last years champions to choose from.

Overview
The S10 is last years low risk Galaxy update, like the predecessors have been before. The only significant changes were the move to a in place fingerprint sensor and the triple camera, already in the base modell. LG made more changes compared to the G7. Finally, the display technology changed to OLED, it got a depth sensor at the front and triple camera. But in return, LG removed the excellent QuadDAC and the Boom Box Speakers. So lets see how they compare.

Price
This is the easiest part. If you are short on budget, just get the G8S. Watch out for special offers, I got mine for EUR 310,- while the best offer for the S10 that I found is EUR 510,-. So the G8S is only 60% of the price of the S10. Both phones have their pros and cons, but if you need to watch your budget, the differences aren't so big that these would judge nearly double the price.
The G8S, beeing one of LG's last years flagships behind the V50, is now in the lower midrange price region which makes it a bargain.

Rating - G8S: 9 - S10: 6

Software

I did this test in May and June 2020. The S10 is on Android 10 with June 2020 security patches, which is excellent. The G8S came with Android 9 and the latest security patch I got was from March 2020, which is not a good result for a phone from last year. LG has always been weak with patches and it did not get better with the G8S. LG has annouced to roll out Android 10 to the G8S this fall, but at the time of writing at the end auf August 2020, there is no Android 10 on the LG.
Samsung has already announced to deliver an upgrade to Android 11 for the S10, I won't expect that for the G8S. But for today, I can only rate what is available now.
Android 10 is important for a real dark modes, which makes sense to save battery on an OLED device. The G8S has a high contrast mode, which is ugly IMHO. You can download some dark themes for the G8S, but not everything is skinnable so the result is some mixture of dark and light mode. Overall, LG's skin looks very old fashioned as like they cannot say good bye to Android 4. I like Samsungs One UI, it gives the system a fresh look without doing too much.
Samsung comes with it's own voice assistant Bixby, but you can always use Google assistant on both phones. I don't care for both launchers. Both are OK and will do the Job somehow. But I install Nova Laucher on both after a short period of working with the vendord launchers. Overall, both systems come with some nice extra functionality like extra application launcher side menus, location based services etc. Overall, both are very similar in terms of extra features, but LG's sluggish upgrade strategy is a big minus.

Rating - G8S: 7 - S10: 10

Body, build and battery

As in my last comparison between the LG G6 and the S7 Edge, Samsung created a slimmer body by using its Edge Screen, a rounded screen left and right, and no bezels on the side. The G8S ha
s a more traditional design with small bezels on both sides. The G8S also has a military spec durability certification, and I expect the G8s to be more durable because the glass on both sides is more exposed to damage. I haven't tried it, but for the S10 I use the thickest Spigen Ultra Armor bumper case. For the G8S, I am comfortable with any slim silicon bumper from eBay.
But though I am no friend of Edge displays, in the end it works. Even with the Ultra Armor bumper, the S10 is comfortable in my Hand. The G8S is only a little thicker, but just so much that I personally consider it as too bulky for daily usage. It is also a little longer and does not fit in many of my pockets. But your mileage may vary.
The G8S comes with a new infrared bar at the top, which gives you hand- and face-ID unlock as well as hand gestures. I am with many of other reviewers: these are gimicky and of no practical use. Especially the hand features take forever to operate and often stop because you are doing it not exactly the way it wants you to do it. Overall, the face unlock feature works, but you need to have your face very close to the camera. In the end, I disabled them because they also drain the batter faster. What cannot be disabled, is the gigantic notch from the IR array. The G8S has a larger screen, but much is wasted  by the notch. The battery indicator on the top right even does not have enough space to display the percentage. The S10 only has a little punchhole for the camera which I personally find less intrusive.
Speaking of battery, the S10 is a monster. Even with heavy usage, I have over 20% left at midnight. And with my average usage profile, I nearly get it through 2 days. So I am confident, that even after two years, when the battery may have lost 30% of its capacity, it will get me through the day. The G8S is a different thing. Though it gets me through the day most of the times, sometimes it suffers from extensive battery drain. One day with moderate usage and half an hour playing a puzzle game (nothing 3D), it has been down to 12% before lunch. I sent it back and ordered a new one, because I thought it was a defect. But the other one was the same. Don't get me wrong, the heavy battery drain only happened maybe every one or two weeks, and I only had the 12% before lunch. Overall, I won't rely on the G8S to bring me through every day, whereas the S10 is a strong performer.
An area where the G8S shines is the excellent fingerprint sensor on the back. It is super fast,100% reliable and sliding down on the sensor pulls down the notification area. This is class leading, I never had a phone with a better fingerprint reader. The S8 and S9 had similar (but less perfect) readers on the back. For the S10, Samsung decided to use an in-display fingerprint reader, that is about as unrealiable as the in-button reader on the S7 Edge and it is definitely the weakest part of the S10. At least, it unlocks faster then the S7 Edge, because the S10 is overall a faster phone.

Overall, if the S10 had the fingerprint reader from the G8S, it would be perfect for me. The G8S is too bulky and heavy for my taste and the useless IR array eats too much of the large screen. But it is still smaller than many large phone and maybe it might just have the right size for you. But it looses points for its sometimes unreliable battery

Rating - G8S: 7 - S10: 9

Displays
Both phones have similar wide displays. But while Samsung sticks with their rounded Edge Display, the G8S has a classic flat display with a bezel. Though I am not a fan of rounded Egde Displays, I must admit that this seems to be the perfect compromise between dispay space and body bulk. As I wrote in the body section, I consider the S10 as handy, the G8S already as bulky.
Many are willing to cary a bulky device in exchange for significant more screen estate. But this is the point: the G8S does not offer significant more screen estate.

Comparing screen estate

The G8S' gigantic notch eats up much of the larger display, whereas I find the S10's punchhole camera less intrusive. Especially when zooming YouTube content to 16:9, the difference is noticable.

Punchhole vs. mega-notch

Comparing the quality, the LG display is some years behind the Samsung AmOLED. The G8S' display is very good and I could easily live with it. But Samsung is the expert for smartphone OLED display and that shows. Images and movies have more depth and brilliance on the Samsung. Think of it like the difference between glare and anti-reflective laptop screens. The difference is about the same, just that both reflect about the same.

Rating - G8S: 8 - S10 Edge: 10

Audio

The audio section was, where the LG G-series (as well as the V-series) has been dominant over all other smartphones. So I was disappointed, that with the G8S, which should be a ramp up model from the G8, LG changed things to the worse.
First, this is the first LG G-Series model, that does not have the excellent Quad Audio DAC for the headphone jack. That does not mean, that headphone audio is bad on the G8S, but it is also good on the S10. I could not hear any significant difference on my Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. At least, both phones still do have an audio jack.
On Bluetooth they both support the same codecs, so no difference here.
Leaving it to the speaker, and here the G8S is weaker than expected. After the G7 had that innovative Boom Box sound, though the G8S has a larger body, it sounds tinny compared to the S10. I tried all EQ settings and the Dolby mode on the  LG. They all sounded different, but all sounded tinny.
So after LG easily winning the audio section for years, with a draw in headphone and Bluetooth audio and a win in speaker sound, for the first time the Samsung wins the audio section. Hey LG: the boom sound speakers and the Quad DAC already have been engineered by you. Putting both into the G8S would have made it a clear winner again. But with the G8S beeing weaker in both headphone jack and speaker performance then it's own predecessor, this was an easy win for Samsung.

Rating - G8S: 6 - S10: 8

Camera(s)

This was a close one. Both companies use differect color science. Samsung is more on the warm side, LG is a bit cooler. It is a little like Fuji vs. Canon. I personally prefer the cooler Fujifilm look, but this is a matter of taste. Overall, there is no clear winner here. I took hundreds of shot with both phones, you can find some of them in this album. Often, I took the same shot in all three modes. Sometimes I tried to fix a shot in post, eg. by lowering saturation. You can identify these by an underscore and a counter at the end.
Often, one shot went completely bad on one phone whereas the other gave a good picture. And just the next shot, is has been vice versa. For the most times, forget about the intelligent auto modes. They do too much on both phones, giving the shots a complete unrealistic look. But shooting in manual is often also a bad idea.
You cannot trick physics and the small sensors in both cameras have very limited dynamic range. Like cheap cameras 20 yrs before. So get a somewhat realistic image, they need to do at least some HDR. Unfortunately, that is what they don't offer. You can only choose between no HDR (manual mode) or HDR with many picture 'optimizations'. So in many cases, my old S7 Edge delivered me the best shot, just because it made more subtle 'optimizations'.
The warmer Samsung and colder LG color science lead to more yellow'ish greens on the S10 and blue'ish greens on the G8S. The natural look would often be somewhere in the middle. The G8S sometimes also mixes some red into the sky, giving it a slightly pink'ish look. Especially the latter is harder to fix in post.

Same picture, different color science: G8S (left) vs S10 (rigth)

The one big advantage the S10 has is it's variable aperture on the main camera. While the G8S has a fixed aperture of f/1.8, the S10 can change between f/1.5 and f/2.4. So in good lightning, the S10 can step down the aperture and trade the amount of light for a larger depth of field. This results in overall better sharpness of the S10 when pixel peeping. The G8S images are overall a bit soft, sometimes also visible in full image viewing.
Also this helps with sunlight from the side, where the G8S camera sometimes produced heavy reflections, whereas the S10 steps down and delivers a clear image. System camera shooters know, why they carry a lens hood. It helps a bit, when you try to use your hand to give a bit of shadow to your lens. But it makes shooting a bit fiddly and sometimes I got my fingers into the pictures.

Short distance: sometime focus problems on the G8S, but better color

The S10 also has a multi exposure night mode, the G8S' night mode is more a traditional one. If it does not get too dark, the G8S often delivers more realistic images. But when it gets darker, the S10 takes the lead here. 

Night modes: subtle and realistic vs. night vision

LG has often been blamed for it's mediocre selfie shooters. I personally prefer the results from the G8S, as they are less 'optimized'. But both are better than my old S7 Edge, where everyone had a wax skin on photo. But in low light, the S10 is by far the better selfie shooter.

When shooting manual, the S10 often exposed to the right (ETTR), which is a good starting point for a manual mode. The G8S tends to more often blow out the highlights. But as this is a manual mode , you are to set your exposure manual anyways. 

After all, I went through all photos I shot with both phones and rated, which I did like best. Overall, I preferred the G8S' photos slightly more often, than the ones from the S10, but that was close. Mostly, I liked that the G8S' photos often looked a bit more natural then the ones from the S10. And I also prefer the cooler look, but as I said, I am more a Fujifilm than a Canon guy.

I cannot say much about video, as did not shoot many videos during this test. Both results looked very similar to me, the S10 has a better working stabilization.

And to give you a long term review: after this test, I took the S10 on a holiday and found that it has been a very reliable shooter. Overall, it was much better, than I expected. Beaches with blue skies, dramatic sundowns, city trips in bad weather: the S10 handled most situations well so I could often leave my larger camera at home.

Overall the S10 has better sharpness, a better night mode and a more reliable auto focus. The G8S has a color science that I personally prefer and sometimes the images look more natural. Overall I could get happy with both and declare a draw.

Rating - G6: 8 - S7 Edge: 8

Summary

This time, it is a clearer win by points for Samsung. And the points reflect, what my overall experience with both phones has been. I used both for nearly three weeks as my daily driver. Using a phone every day brings out so much more than just running a test suite. And overall the S10 is a more balanced phone than the G8S. The S10 is a bit like a higher end Volkswagen: not the world best in every aspect, but very good in most and bad in none (well ... except for some Diesel models, but that is a different story). The G8S is very good in some aspects like the camera and the price. But the battery runtime was a bit unpredictable and for me it was a bit too bulky without delivering value for that bulk. Tinny speakers, weaker battery, only minimal more screen estate: these are no good reasons for carrying a bulkier an heavier phone. All the features from the IR-Array are gimicky and mostly useless. LG went the wrong way here. They should have saved the money for the development and the extra components. Instead they should have just build in, what they already had developed: the Quad-DAC and the Boom Sound speakers. And the time they had spend to deliver the software for that IR features could better have been spent for Android software upgrades. And the gigantic notch could have be a very small one with just the front facing camera.
If LG would have taken the easy way as I described, it would had a draw on software, a smaller gap in the display section, a win in the audio section. That would have been 8 points more for the LG, what would mean a win by the points. But LG decided to invest in the wrong area.
That does not mean, that the G8S is a bad phone. Especially in it's actual price range, it is well positioned against it's competition. But it could have been so much more and it is a shame that the always innovative G-Series ends with a model, that is less competitive compared to it's predecessors.
Talking about the winner: the S10 is now my daily driver for two months and I really like it. It is my best phone so far. If I had three wishes on the S10, I would wish for the return of the fingerprint scanner on the back, a better fingerprint scanner on the front (like many Chinese phones already have) and a more muted and realistic color science for the camera. But as the S20 is already out, I know that at least my dreams for the fingerprint scanner won't come true in that generation.
But the S10 is an overall very strong performer with a very good camera, superb battery life, a handy form factor, an excellent display and very good software support.

Overall Rating - G8S: 45 - S10: 51