LG has just announced the third V-series flagship, the LG V30, at IFA Berlin 2017. As expected the V30 builds upon the strengths of the V-series of flagships, this time around LG is hoping to deliver an all round multimedia experience. Several innovations help to transform LG's desires to reality including the cameras, screens, sound systems, and underlying processing hardware.
In the LG V30 you will find "the first F1.6 aperture camera lens, the first glass Crystal Clear Lens, the first OLED FullVision display, Cine Video mode for producing movie-quality videos, premium sound with advanced Hi-Fi Quad DAC, sound tuning by B&O Play, and Voice Recognition," boasts the South Korean electronics giant.
We read quite a bit about the V30's camera systems in a pre-reveal teaser blog post from LG earlier in the month. The firm's claims, pseudo-science, and marketing diagrams earned scorn from the HEXUS readership. Nevertheless, LG claims its f1.6 rear camera aperture with glass Crystal Clear lens "is the most capable image capturing device in a smartphone". It mentions that the second lens in the V30 dual camera is an upgraded 13MP wide angle lens with two-thirds less edge distortion than in the V20. The dual camera setup consists of a 16MP standard angle camera and a 13MP wide angle camera. For clear and sharp exposures LG has equipped Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) and Hybrid Auto Focus that combines both Laser Detection Auto Focus and Phase Detection Auto Focus. On the front there is a 5MP wide angle camera with f/2.2 lens.
Other interesting camera features include Cine Effect (15x preset effects), Point Zoom (zoom into any area of the screen, not necessarily the centre), Cine Log (wide dynamic range and colour gamut) capture, and the Graphy Manual Mode.
An impressive screen is important to many smartphone users and LG packs a 6-inch 18:9 QHD+ (2880 x 1440) OLED FullVision display into the V30. Even with this display the V30 is 8mm shorter and 3mm narrower than its predecessor. LG managed to get the thickness of the phone down to 7.3mm and it weighs 158g, making it one of the lightest 6-inch+ smartphones available.
LG's previous V flagship had a second screen but this functionality isn't necessary now with the always on OLED display and customisable quick tools / music player floating bar.
Powering the LG G30 you will find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor inside with heat pipe. This is supported by 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM. Built-in storage of 64 or 128GB UFS 2.0 is available and users can add a microSD card up to 2TB.
Users have a number of options to unlock their V30. Accompanying the fingerprint sensor, LG has enabled face recognition, voice recognition (with user defined keywords, and knock code.
The slim and light LG V30 is said to be durable thanks to its H-beam structure and Gorilla Glass 5 front and back. LG has gone some way to prove the durability of its new device as it has passed 14 categories of the MIL-STD 810G Transit Drop Test, and it is IP68 water and dust resistant. It can be submerged in water 1.5m deep for up to 30 minutes without ingress.
The LG V30 becomes available South Korea starting on 21st September. Other markets follow but LG hasn't provided a timescale. The 64GB version will be available in Aurora Black, Cloud Silver, Moroccan Blue and Lavender Violet.
HEXUS just received an email from Carphone Warehouse which says that CPW will be the exclusive UK distributor from October onwards, with Aurora Black and Moroccan Blue versions. Pricing wasn't provided.
Key Specifications:
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform
- Display: 6.0-inch 18:9 QuadHD+ OLED FullVision Display (2880 x 1440 / 538ppi)
- Memory:
- V30: 4GB LPDDR4x RAM / 64GB UFS 2.0 ROM / MicroSD (up to 2TB)
- V30+: 4GB LPDDR4x RAM / 128GB UFS 2.0 ROM / MicroSD (up to 2TB)
- Camera:
- Rear Dual: 16MP Standard Angle (F1.6 / 71°) / 13MP Wide Angle (F1.9/ 120°)
- Front: 5MP Wide Angle (F2.2 / 90°)
- Battery: 3,300mAh
- Operating System: Android 7.1.2 Nougat
- Size: 151.7 x 75.4 x 7.3mm
- Weight: 158g
- Network: LTE-A 4 Band CA
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 5.0 BLE / NFC / USB Type-C 2.0 (3.1 compatible)
- Colors: Aurora Black / Cloud Silver / Moroccan Blue / Lavender Violet
- Others: IP68 Water and Dust Resistant / MIL-STD 810G Compliant / Crystal Clear Lens / 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC / HDR10 / Daydream / Google Assistant / UX 6.0+ / Voice Recognition / Face Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 Technology / Wireless Charging
