LG V40 ThinQ review continued…
Display
The V40 comes with a 6.4″ QHD+ P-OLED display with 3120 x 1440 resolution at 538 ppi that appears crisp. The colors are not quite as saturated as you might see on say a Samsung device like the Note 9 but they do appear to display less saturated but a bit more color accurate to our eye. The display looks wonderful and it’s probably safe to say that you won’t be running around trying to view your LG next to any other phone so that won’t matter much.
Brightness can be slightly dim for some. We felt the brightness could be a tad higher but the ambient light sensor appears to work well. There’s also a “Comfort mode” for the display that cuts down on blue light that can adversely affect your vision over time. It yellows the screen a bit but once you have it on it’s tuff to tell and absolutely cuts down on eye strain and fatigue. No real complaints about the display, colors appear more accurate and the details are crisp.
You are able to run the display at different resolutions: Low 1560 x 720, Medium 2340 x 1080 or high 3120 x 1440. This can dramatically cut down on battery usage when you are in a pinch or if you just don’t care about running in Quad HD / 2k resolution and care more about battery life.
The screen occupies most of the real estate on the display including the second screen area. The V40 provides the back, home, recent apps capacitive buttons into an overlay. You can hide it (swipe up to access) and take advantage of the full length of the screen or lock it up so it’s always showing. Even the camera can make full use of the entire screen and overlay the photo/video buttons over it.
When viewing video and movies full screen, the frame isn’t completely centered and instead offset to the right slightly due to the new second screen area.
Cameras
On the front side of the phone you’ll find Dual front cameras with Selfie Flash; an 8MP Standard 80 degree FOV with f/1.9 Aperture and a 5MP Wide-Angle 90 degree FOV with f/2.2 Aperture. We’re not big on selfies but we know most everyone is. The wide angle is a necessity.
On the rear are three cameras; a 12MP Telephoto 45 degree FOV, 12 MP Standard 78 degree FOV and 16MP Super Wide Angle with 107 degree FOV.
The cameras do well in ample lighting conditions and pictures come out detailed and colors are accurate with good saturation. It is able to deal with low lighting conditions but your photos may come out a tiny bit grainy. Low light performance is however acceptable.
The V40 ThinQ is able to take three pictures in succession with a single push. The camera will take a picture of your subject automatically with the 3 rear firing cameras. One at Standard, Super Wide-angle and a 2x optical zoom Telephoto for a closeup. The action works pretty well but the photo subjects and V40 need to remain relatively still as the three shots take a few seconds to complete. You can even preview those three shots so you can decide which to keep. Still, it’s convenient not having to switch cameras manually. You can bracket your shots in a manner of thinking.
There are a few choice post production effects you can use to enhance your photos. The Backdrop camera feature allows you to easily swap out the background of an image and swap in a solid background or alternative photo. The V40’s camera software does a good job of cropping out the background even through hair.
Not a pro photographer? Not to worry as Portrait mode lets you create your own Depth of Field by blurring the background. A simple slider lets you set the right amount of blur. You can also set a 3D lighting source, or use the AI Comp Filter help you with the composition using the photographers 3/4 rule.
Cine Shot is quite an interesting filter. Cine Shot allows you to animate just a portion of the photo that you designate by painting the area with your finger. The animated photo is just like an animated Gif except only the section you painted with your finger will animate. Fun! You’ll need to take the Cine Shot (which includes video) and then the software lets you mask the portion of the image you want to animate and masks the area so the animation is visible.
Does the camera perform? Picture quality and resolution are acceptable and having the 5 camera lenses does make things more convenient. We’re not sure how much time people have to edit and filter photos on their phones but it’s nice to know you can in a pinch.
We’re still waiting for DXOMark’s assessment of the LG V40 ThinQ’s cameras but the consensus for us seems to be that the HTC U11 & U12 take stellar pictures where the V40 takes pretty great ones.
Audio
There are two external speakers, 1 is the earpiece and the other is the located on the bottom aligned to the right side of the V40. The sound is passed through the resonance chambers maximizing volume and enhancing bass sound. That said, while the output is certainly loud, the sound isn’t very pleasant to listen to at maximum level for us, but the sound is very clean and is right up there with some phones that have front firing speakers.
Works great for talk radio and music alike. Just don’t put it full volume and put it next to your ear. But if you want sound from across the room or a little music while you take a shower or work the V40 has you covered. The chambers and tuning do a good job of providing loud volume without distortion. You can also boost the sound for speaker phone when on a call which can be helpful.
Where the V40 ThinQ shines is once you hook up a pair of headphones or line out to your favorite speakers. LG’s V40 audio comes tuned by Meridian. The V40 has DTS:X Virtual Surround and a 32-Bit HiFi Quad DAC Converter for truly immersive and beautiful audio.
LG has thankfully held onto the 3.5mm audio port. Type C is great but not if its occupied by the headphones. Having the existing audio jack allows sound to rely on the hardware rather than lean on a USB audio driver to function fully. Why fix it if it isn’t broke.
With headphones the multimedia sound output is impressive and works well as a music player. Just stick with the higher quality music files with higher bit rates and it’ll pay you back with beautiful sound. Lower quality music files 128k the DAC seemed to do a good job of making them sound as good as they can. The DTS:X Virtual Surround gives good multi-dimensional sound, just remember there’s no pre-amp here so your volume levels will be limited if you plug in directly.
Call quality over AT&T seems adequate, not great not bad. Microphone picks up well when holding the phone to your ear. When you are on speaker phone the microphone doesn’t seem to be overly sensitive and volume levels drop off for the other person dramatically.
Battery Life
On paper, your first thought might be that a 3,300 mAh battery seems slightly small. We wouldn’t mind a few hundred more milliamps but it’s all in the way the hardware and software is implemented. LG’s done a nice job with optimizing the performance of the phone.
The V40 makes it through most of the day with moderate/normal “for us” usage. If your intention is to game and view media battery life is still tolerable. As with any phone you’ll need to recharge as gaming will drain your battery quicker.
The V40 apparently has the hardware to support QC 4.0 but it ships with a Quick Charge 3.0 USB wall charger. Quick Charge 3.0 makes it a ton easier to deal with and total charge time is about 2hrs. Being able to grab 10 or 20% with a quick toss on the QC 3.0 charger is a mandatory convenience that you really can’t live without in this fast-paced world.
That’s a Wrap
LG’s V40 ThinQ is overall a great phone, smooth, stable, nice and snappy. The retail price is a bit steep approaching 1k. The V40 ThinQ delivers on performance and is certainly one of the top flagship smartphones available in the USA now. Ironically the reasons we would purchase phone are not due to the 5 cameras but more over that the phone does well as practically everything you throw at it and we love the user experience. QHD 2k display, Type C port, headphone jack, 5 cameras, premium audio, 6GB of RAM, Quick Charge 4.0 support doesn’t exactly hurt either. Pricing could be better though. LG’s V40 ThinQ is a great phone that can hang with the big boys and certainly the best LG smartphone to date.
LG V40 ThinQ Unlocked $949.00
www.lg.com
