LG V20 was finally announced at an event in San Francisco today. This is the successor the LG V10 from last year and ships with Android 7.0 Nougat right out of the box, first to do so.
There are a few neat things to note about the V20 including its dual camera setup at the back as well as the second screen up front. The cameras have received significant upgrades from last time. You now have a 16 megapixel primary rear camera with f/1.8 aperture lens which is augmented by a second 8 megapixel rear camera with f/2.4 aperture. The main camera sports OIS and hybrid autofocus which makes use of Laser AF, PDAF (Phase Detection AutoFocus) and Contrast based autofocus. On the front you now have a single f/1.9 5MP camera.
Coming to specs the LG V20 comes with a 5.7-inch Quad-HD (2560x1440 pixels) Quantum display along with a secondary display above it with a resolution of 160x1040 pixels. This time around LG has almost doubled the brightness of the secondary display to over 60nits for better visibility. It still shows shortcuts, custom messages as well as notifications.
Under the hood is the Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor with 4GB RAM, 64GB onboard storage. This is the first smartphone from any manufacturer to run Android Nougat out of the box and with it come some perks as well. Including the new In App search that we talked about a few days back. You have a dedicated shortcut for the feature on the V20's homescreen which lets you search for content within apps including contacts, emails, text messages as well as photos. Nougat features including split screen multitasking, quick reply to notifications are available here too alongwith improvements in Doze mode.
LG V20 Specifications at a Glance
- 5.7-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum display (2560x1440 Pixels, 515 PPI)
- 2.1-inch IPS Quantum Display (160 x 1040 pixels 501 PPI)
- Quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor, Adreno 530 GPU
- 4GB RAM, 64GB Internal Storage Expandable Up to 2TB with MicroSD cards
- Android 7.0 Nougat
- 16MP Rear Camera, f/1.8 Aperture, OIS 2.0, Dual-tone LED Flash, Laser AF, PDAF, 4K Video Recording
- 8MP Secondary Rear Camera, f/2.4 aperture, 135-degree lens
- 5MP Front Camera, f/1.9 Aperture, 120-degree wide-angle lens
- Thickness: 7.6mm, Weight: 174g
- Fingerprint sensor, MIL STD-810G Drop Resistance Rating, ESS SABRE ES9218 Quad DAC, B&O audio, Active Noise Cancellation
- 4G LTE, Dual-band WiFi ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS, NFC, USB Type-C
- 3200mAh Removable Battery, Quick Charge 3.0
All the rumors about its audio prowess were true as well. The LG V20 features a 32-bit Hi-Fi ESS SABRE ES9218 Quad DAC for better audio with inbuilt active noise-cancellation. The company says this alongwith the mic system on the phone helps reduce ambient noise by up to 50% while recording audio. You can capture 24-bit / 48 KHz audio with the V20 and it supports playback of lossless music formats including FLAC.
On the design front you see a lot of changes. It looks more like the LG G5 than the V10. The back is made of metal instead of ruggedized plastic but it is still removable as is the battery. You get access to the SIM card slot and microSD card under the back cover. Even with removable components, the V20 has been able to retain its MIL-STD 810G US military standard, meaning it can withstand drops from up to 1.2 metres.
LG V20 Pricing and Availability
The LG V20 will be available later this month in Korea, followed by the rest of the world including India. It comes in Titan, Silver and Pink color options pictured above. There is no word on pricing yet.
