We liked the LG Xscreen. But apart from the secondary screen, the rest of its features were a bit weak. Has the V20 addressed these issues or will this be a waste of time? Did LG really 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. V20 is in 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 around the screen as small as possible. Despite this, the phone looks big. The secondary screen does not go till the top. A space has been made for the front camera above it.
The phone looks very similar to the BlackBerry Z10, especially in the stripe, size and position of the earpiece.
The back panel has a more interesting design. First of all, it is possible to remove the back cover. There is no special provision for modular accessories here. The battery is removable. Here you will find the SIM and microSD card slots. You will be reminded of the old days when you remove the battery to access the primary slot. The secondary slot is easily accessible, but it does not recognize the SIM without restarting the V20.
The camera bump will be seen on the back panel. There are two lenses. There is also a laser autofocus window with a dual LED flash. The circular fingerprint sensor is below the camera bump. It also works as a power button. In the V20, LG has once again placed the volume buttons on the sides. I don’t know why this was not 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. There is just a small button at the bottom that is used to open the rear panel. But it repeatedly feels like a camera button. There is a USB Type-C port at the bottom. And finally, there is an IR emitter at the top.
This is a big and heavy phone. It is not easy to handle. LG has used a special aluminum alloy in the V20. It is claimed that it is extremely durable. However, the review unit we received had scratches and bruises. It is clear that the review unit was dropped intentionally to show the durability of the phone to journalists at the launch event.
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 measures 5.7 inches and has a resolution of 1440×2560 pixels which is extremely sharp. Colours are bright and saturated. Viewing angles are excellent. The side borders are extremely thin which makes it easy to focus on the content displayed on the screen. The only drawback is the glass which is very reflective and picks up smudges easily.
The processor is Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. It is paired with 4GB of RAM. There will be no complaints in terms of performance. However, this will prove to be a weakness of the V20 in the future, especially when the low-cost OnePlus 3T comes with Snapdragon 821 processor and 6GB of RAM.
The inbuilt storage is 64 GB and if needed, a microSD card of 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. One is a 16-megapixel sensor equipped with a normal lens. The second sensor is 8 megapixels with a wide-angle lens. The good thing about this setup of LG is that both do not work simultaneously. 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.
The video recording capability goes up to 4K. There is a manual mode in which you will get the common settings. You will also be able to control sound recording.
LG has partnered with B&O Play for sound on the V20. You will get a B&O headset with the phone.
LG V20 software and secondary screen
LG’s custom Android UI LG UX is a highly customized version. The version 5.0+ provided with the V20 is also the same. Everything from the homescreen to the preloaded apps has been modified. You will not be able to recognize Android 7.0 Nougat. Some useful features have also been provided, such as multi window. It works well.
There is no app drawer on the LG G5. You can choose UI themes. You can also download them from LG’s SmartWorld app. There are several pages of toggle controls in the notification shade. LG has also bundled several third-party apps with the phone. The 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 useful in a variety of situations.
We like how beautifully LG’s apps have put the secondary screen to use, especially the voice recorder and camera apps.
LG V20 performance
The phone uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB of RAM. This is not at par with many recent flagship phones. In late 2016, many phones were launched with Snapdragon 821 processor and 6GB of RAM. But there will be no complaints with the performance. Benchmark tests showed good results.
In general use, the V20 performed well on most occasions. The UI did cause some lag at times. We are happy to report that the phone never got too hot during our review.
The experience of watching movies and playing games on the screen was pleasant. The secondary screen is very useful. However, sometimes the 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, it remains quite clear. The quality of the B&O headset is good. There is no problem even after long hours of use.
The camera app seems cluttered. You get a lot of options. We liked the Pro mode, especially for sound recording. Image quality is excellent. We were able to take detailed shots. Even in low light, the pictures were good. However, there was a lot of noise in them.
Focus was generally accurate, but a little slow in low light. Close-up shots were the best. The wide-angle mode looked dramatic at first glance. We were able to experiment with something new. The V20 gave a better output than other phones.
Battery life is good. In normal use it lasted for about one and a half hours. In the video loop test it lasted for 9 hours 37 minutes.
Our verdict
LG V20 is an all-rounder device. It wants to play multiple roles, and succeeds in most of the cases. You will get two screens with dual cameras in this phone. It has a strong body and Android 7.0 Nougat. We feel that LG could have done a better job with the design. The software should also be cleaner.
Many will write off the phone after knowing its price. In most cases, Google’s Pixel and Apple’s iPhone 7 will be considered better options. Weak styling and last-generation specifications will also make it a big mistake. Still, the V20 is worth considering for its versatility and uniqueness. Expect the phone to be available under Rs 50,000.
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