We liked the LG X screen. But apart from the secondary screen, its other features were a bit weak. Have these shortcomings been corrected in V20, or will this attack of the company also go in vain? Did LG need to launch another flagship phone in 2016? Is the LG V20 a useful phone?
LG V20 look and design
Big phones are in trend these days. The V20 belongs to the same league. It has a 5.7-inch primary screen, but there is a secondary screen above it. LG has tried to keep the space at the edges of the screen less. Despite this the phone looks big. The secondary screen doesn’t reach the top. Above this, space has been made for the front camera.
This phone looks a lot like the BlackBerry Z10, especially because of the strip, size and position of the earpiece.
The design of the backpanel is more interesting. First things first, it is possible to remove the backcover. No special provision has been made for modular accessories here. Battery is removable. Here you will find SIM and microSD card slots. You will be reminded of the old days when you would remove the battery to access the primary slot. The second slot will be easily accessible, but it won’t recognize the SIM unless you restart the V20.
The bulge of the camera will be visible on the backpanel. There are two lenses. There is also a laser autofocus window along with a dual LED flash. The circular fingerprint sensor is below the camera bulge. It also works as a power button. In the V20, LG has once again placed the volume buttons on the sides. Don’t know why this wasn’t done with the power button. During the review we could not get comfortable with the setup.
The volume buttons are on the left, and the right side is almost completely empty. Just at the bottom there is a small button which is used to open the rear panel. But it gives the feeling of having a camera button again and again. There is a USB Type-C port at the bottom. And finally there is an IR emitter on the top.
This is a big and heavy phone. It is not easy to handle this. LG has used special aluminum alloy in V20. It has been claimed that it is very durable. However, the review unit we received had scratches and dents. It is clear that in order to show the strength of the phone to the journalists at the launch event, the review unit was deliberately dropped.
lg v20 specifications
LG has priced the V20 at the level of a flagship phone. And has used hardware that justifies the price. The screen dimension is 5.7 inches and the resolution is 1440×2560 pixels, which is very sharp. Colors are bright and saturated. Viewing angles are excellent. The side borders are very thin. Because of this, it is easier to focus on the content visible on the screen. The only drawback is the mirror which is very reflective. And picks up stains easily.
The processor is Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. 4 GB RAM has been used with it. There will be no complaints in terms of performance. However, this will prove to be the V20’s weakness in the future, especially since the lower-cost OnePlus 3T comes with a Snapdragon 821 processor and 6GB of RAM.
The inbuilt storage is 64 GB and if needed, a microSD card up to 2 TB can be used. You will get 4G connectivity with Voice over LTE. Apart from this, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, Infrared and GPS are part of the phone. Two nano SIM cards can be used. And the battery capacity is 3200 mAh.
The camera setup is a bit interesting. There are two cameras on the back. There is a 16-megapixel sensor equipped with a common lens. The second sensor is 8 megapixels which has a wide-angle lens. The good thing about this setup from LG is that the two do not work together. You can switch between the two if you want. There is a 5 megapixel sensor on the front panel. In this you will have the option to switch between normal and wide-angle mode.
Video recording capability goes up to 4K. There is a manual mode in which you will find common settings. You will also be able to control the sound recording.
LG has tied up with B&O Play for the sound of the V20. You will get B&O’s headset with the phone.
LG V20 Software and Secondary Screen
LG UX is a highly customized version of LG’s custom Android UI. The version 5.0+ supplied with the V20 is also similar. From the homescreen to the preloaded apps have been modified. You won’t be able to recognize Android 7.0 Nougat. Some useful features are also provided, such as multi window. It works well.
There is no app drawer on the LG G5. You can choose UI theme. If you want, you can also download them from LG’s SmartWorld app. Several pages of toggle controls are provided in the notification shade. LG has also provided many third-party apps in the phone. HD Audio Recorder app is very useful.
The main attraction is the secondary screen. We have to admit that LG has put a lot of thought into making this screen work in a variety of situations.
We love how well LG’s apps make use of the secondary screen, especially the voice recorder and camera apps.
lg v20 performance
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and 4 GB RAM has been used in the phone. It’s not on par with many recent flagship phones. In late 2016, several phones were introduced with Snapdragon 821 processor and 6 GB RAM. But there will be no complaints about the performance. Good results were seen in benchmark tests.
In general use, the V20 performed well on most occasions. Sometimes the phone did slow down due to the UI. We are happy to say that the phone never got too hot during the review.
The experience of watching movies and playing games on the screen was pleasant. The secondary screen is very useful. However, sometimes text also appeared very small in landscape mode. As promised, the sound quality was very good. You can expect loud sound from the built-in speaker. And even during this time it remains quite clean. The quality of the B&O headset is good. There is no problem even after using it for a long time.
The camera app seems fragmented. You will get many options. We liked the Pro mode, especially when it comes to sound recording. Image quality is excellent. We managed to get detailed shots. Good pictures were taken even in low light. However, these were noisy.
Focus was generally accurate, but a little slow in low light. The close up shots were the best. The wide-angle mode looked very dramatic at first glance. We were also able to do something new. The V20 gave much better output than other phones.
Battery life is good. In normal use it lasted for about one and a half hours. The video loop test lasted for 9 hours 37 minutes.
our decision
An attempt has been made to make the LG V20 an all-rounder. It wants to play a variety of roles, and most of the times it succeeds. In this phone you will get two screens with dual cameras. It has a strong body and Android 7.0 Nougat. We feel that LG could have done a better job with the design. At the same time, the software should also be cleaner.
Many people will reject the phone as soon as they know its price. On most occasions, Google’s Pixel and Apple’s iPhone 7 will be considered better options. It will also be ignored due to weak styling and specifications of the previous generation. Despite this, the V20 is worth considering for its diversity and uniqueness. Expect that the phone will be available for less than Rs 50,000.