LG V20 goes official with a durable and lightweight body, dual-camera
LG V20 is now official and is coming with a plethora of improvements, while keeping all the features that made the V10 a fan-favorite.
The rugged design is gone in favor of a lightweight aluminum body, yet it's supposed to be as tough as its predecessor. LG says it opted for an aluminum AL6013 alloy, which is used to build airplanes and boats. The phone is as tough as V10 with MIL-STD-810 compliance for shock resistance.
LG V20 utilizes a rather similar design to the G5 flagship, but there is no modularity here. Instead of a removable chin, the LG V10 offers a removable back cover, which aids in easy removal of the battery. There is a fingerprint sensor just below the camera hump, which seems quite comfortable.
The V20 has the same primary display as the V10 - a 5.7" IPS unit of Quad HD resolution. The secondary display, however, is a tad longer now and LG doubled its brightness (68 nits). The new unit also supports a longer signature of 24 digits (vs 14 at V10) though the set of notification icons and the clock is the same.
LG V20 makes use of the flagship Snapdragon 820 chip with 4GB RAM an 64GB expandable storage.
It has the same camera setup as the LG G5 - a 16MP 16:9 OIS camera with laser and phase-detection autofocus accompanied by a secondary wide-angle 8MP fixed-focus snapper for 135-degree shots so two cameras in one phone.
The V20 also offers Steady Record 2.0 system for video capturing - the phone is the first to offer Qualcomm's proprietary (EIS) video stabilization based on gyroscopes. And it also offers image stream analysis (DIS) for tracking a moving object and stabilizing the video by the object's line of movement, along with minimizing the distortion.
LG V20 is also capable of capturing lossless 24bit/48kHz audio along with its videos, which should record extremely loud sound (up to 132dB) such as live music performances without degradation.
The selfie cam is now a single 5MP camera with f/1.9 lens but it can still take either normal or wide angle images just like the V10 did with its dual selfie camera setup. We still have to hear how LG has managed to pull this one off.
The audio department has always been a highlight at LG's flagships and the V20 is no expectation. The phone comes with four DACs for very clear sound, offers 75-step fine volume and L/R balance control. It supports lossless playback and is B&O Play-tuned. Even better - the phone comes with B&O Play headphones bundled in its retail box, but this will probably be market dependent.
The LG V20 has a bigger, removable 3,200 mAh battery capable of QuickCharge 3.0.
The V20 is also the first phone to run the hot Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. The OS supports multi-window, a more efficient Doze mode, improved quick notifications management and an overhauled quick toggle area.
LG V20 will hit the shelves in Titan, Pink, and Silver paintjobs. However, for the States, the the pink model will not be available. LG says the V20 will launch in Q3, which means by the end of this month. And while LG hasn't officially announced any pricing, the V20 is coming to all major US carriers which will specify their pricing separately.