LG V40 ThinQ - Review 2022 - Stanton Expon1997

The LG V40 ThinQ (starting at $920) is more than just a larger, more expensive LG G7. In improver to a sharp 6.4-inch OLED screen and the latest hardware, the V40 has a total of v cameras—three sensors on the back and ii on the front—assuasive it to take pictures from multiple angles. You tin can take close-ups, standard shots, and the super-broad-bending shots LG phones are known for. Information technology can even snap all of them simultaneously and sew together together a GIF afterward. Along with stiff audio capabilities and excellent overall operation, the V40 is a worthy competitor to the Google Pixel 3 XL and the Samsung Milky way Note 9.

Pricing, Design, and Features

The V40'southward price varies depending on carrier. On AT&T information technology costs $949.99 upfront or $31.67 per calendar month on a payment plan. T-Mobile has the best deal, at $920 or $25.56 a month. Verizon is the priciest at $979.99 or $40.83 per calendar month, while Sprint comes close at $960 or $twoscore monthly.

From a design perspective, the V40 keeps virtually of the things we like about the G7, similar a sleek glass front and back, polished metal sides, and a sparse, lightweight body. Measuring 6.25 past ii.98 by 0.30 inches (HWD) and 5.96 ounces, it weighs considerably less than similarly sized phablets like the Samsung Milky way Note ix (vi.37 by three.01 by 0.35 inches, 7.09 ounces) and the iPhone XS Max (6.twenty by three.05 by 0.30 inches, 7.34 ounces).

The phone has a 19.five:9 aspect ratio, but it'southward wider than the G7 to accommodate the 6.4-inch panel. That makes it a trivial scrap harder to reach across with your pollex, though you can apply Split Screen style to run two apps on the peak and bottom of the screen at once, or One Handed mode to shrink the screen and make things easier to reach.

Similar the iPhone XS and XS Max, the V40 has an OLED display. With 3,120 by 1,440 pixels, it has a super-well-baked 537 pixels per inch, matching the Note 9 in density. Colors look rich and saturated, peculiarly blacks, as is common to OLED panels. Viewing angles are keen and visibility is good in directly sunlight. More often than not speaking, it looks just as good equally the Note nine, though colors are a chip on the colder side. In Display Settings, y'all tin tweak white remainder and screen temperature to meliorate suit your preferences.

Shifting to an OLED panel means that always-on notifications wait better when the residuum of the screen is off, and the notch at the top blends in more than with the residue of the telephone. That's specially handy when you use "second screen" mode to turn the notch surface area into a dedicated status bar, equally you lot won't see a distracting seam between the screen and bezel.

Like the V35, the fingerprint sensor is on the back, under the camera sensors and easy to reach with your index finger. The SIM/microSD menu slot has been moved from the top to the right side, under the power button. The book buttons and the Google Assistant button are both on the left. You can't remap the Google Assistant push button, but at least it's more than useful than Samsung's Bixby push button.

Every bit with previous generations, the V40 is IP68 waterproof, letting it withstand complete immersion in upwardly to half dozen feet of water for thirty minutes. It handled a thorough rinsing under the sink without any issue. It's too MIL-STD-810G drop resistant, for drops upwardly to vi feet on hard surfaces. Information technology survived several drops onto the hard rubberized floor at PC Labs.

Network Operation and Sound

The V40 supports LTE bands one/2/3/four/5/7/viii/12/13/14/17/20/25/26/28/29/30/38/39/40/41/46/66/71. It's a comprehensive ready of bands that should requite you bang-up network functioning on all major US carriers. Nosotros tested the telephone on T-Mobile in midtown Manhattan and saw standard connectivity and speeds for the area.

Call quality is sold. Transmissions are quite clear, with natural vocalisation tones and noise counterfoil is great at blotting out background sounds. Earpiece volume is likewise loud enough to bear on a conversation in a noisy environment.

On the bottom, at that place'southward a iii.5mm headphone jack with a Quad DAC that really comes alive with audiophile-quality headphones like the Meze 99 Classics I listened on. There'due south also support for 32-bit hi-res sound and the ability to customize blaster settings, sound profiles, and enable software-based surround sound. The surround is a lilliputian forced, but overall audio quality is solid, with music and video sounding crisp and clear, with powerful bass response. Naturally, you as well have Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless listening on more than i audio device at in one case.

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The bottom-ported speaker seems to have the same internal resonance bedroom as the G7, giving information technology the "boombox" event, which ramps upwards audio and makes the phone's entire trunk vibrate to the beat of music. It's not quite room-filling, only it does sound a lot more robust than the standard mono phone speaker.

Processor and Battery

Under the hood, the V40 has everything you expect from a flagship phone in belatedly 2022. There's a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor clocked at 2.7GHz, 6GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. Performance is strong beyond the board.

In PCMark's Piece of work 2.0 test, which measures a multifariousness of tasks like web browsing and video and photograph editing, the V40 scored 7,947, a solid result that puts information technology above the Note 9 (vii,662), but short of the highly optimized Pixel iii XL (nine,191). Regardless of the difference in scores, the V40 handled everyday multitasking and enervating games like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds without a hitch.

From left: Samsung Galaxy Note 9, LG V40 ThinQ

The phone has a 3,300mAh battery, which is slightly more capacious than the 3,000mAh cell in the G7. It tested accordingly, with 9 hours, 22 minutes of power when streaming video over Wi-Fi at maximum brightness. That'south higher than the G7 (6 hours, 28 minutes over LTE), but no friction match for the 4,000mAh Note ix, which lasted 14 hours. The V40 supports Qualcomm Quick Charge iii.0 fast charging with the included adapter, likewise as wireless charging.

Camera

LG's V series has always pushed the limit of phone cameras and the V40 is no exception. It has five camera sensors—3 on the back, two on the front—all of which are AI-powered and with dissimilar fields of view.

Permit's start with the back. Of the iii sensors, one is the 12MP primary sensor for standard photos. Information technology has a 78-degree field of view and a 40-per centum larger pixel sensor than the G7, which should allow for better depression-light photos. For wide-angle shots, y'all get a 16MP sensor with a 107-degree field of view. This is the aforementioned wide lens we've seen (and enjoyed using) on the G7. It lets you snap more scenery and background, albeit at the cost of some pocket-size barrel distortion.

The third sensor is where things become interesting. It'due south a 12MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom that lets you lot have close-upwardly shots with a 47-degree field of view. This is particularly valuable when you want to shoot in Portrait mode, letting y'all get up close and personal to capture facial features and expressions. You can switch between the various angles on the camera app and run into a preview of what the shot will await like when you snap it. At that place's no need to settle for only i though.

One of the coolest new features is Triple Shot. With it enabled you lot tin snap a moving picture using all 3 of the rear cameras, one after the other. In one case the photos have been captured, the telephone can process them into a six-2nd video—it tin can fifty-fifty automatically add together music.

With all this hardware, it shouldn't come every bit a surprise that the V40 is more than a match for other top camera phones. It held its own in testing against the Pixel 3, the Note 9, and the iPhone XS Max, capturing brilliant, vibrant shots outdoors with minimal noise or blur. On the negative side, it has a habit of smoothing out textures and crevices, to the point that some surfaces can almost look airbrushed.

Super Brilliant Camera way automatically kicks in to combine four pixels into ane "super" pixel for clearer shots. These images are noticeably clearer than ones taken with the iPhone XS Max, nonetheless, this technique comes at the cost of detail. The Pixel three, meanwhile, doesn't get every bit brilliant, but boasts richer details and color.

The front of the phone has a dual-sensor setup. There's a standard 8MP lens with an 80-degree field of view and a 5MP wide-angle lens with a ninety-degree field of view. The divergence between the 2 is fairly marginal. Switching between them lets you capture a little bit more of what's around you lot when snapping selfies, but information technology'due south not a significantly larger amount and you get a lower-resolution shot.

All the other photographic camera features from the G7 have been ported over. The V40 has AI scene recognition capabilities for all of its sensors. It can recognize objects and scenery, and brand appropriate adjustments to have the all-time photos. I noticed the V40'southward AI adjustments kick in a scrap faster than the G7.

The V40 can also record 4K video at 60fps, has Google Lens congenital into the camera app, and tin shoot in Portrait style on both front end and rear sensors. Video is precipitous and stable, benefitting from the presence of optical epitome stabilization on the primary sensor. Of course, you also have manual controls to allow yous tweak things like ISO, focus, and shutter speed.

Software

In terms of software, the V40 is running Android 8.1 Oreo, which puts information technology behind some other new phones that are already shipping with Android 9.0 Pie. LG has assured us the V40 will receive an update, but hasn't given a date for when.

The V40 has the same custom UI as the G7. The advent of app icons and settings menus are dissimilar from stock Android, apps are splashed across the home screen past default (which is easy to change), and there are some extras features hither and there. Out of 64GB of internal storage, you have 48GB bachelor for use. If you lot need more than room, y'all tin pop a card into the microSD slot.

Conclusions

The LG V40 ThinQ is a big, powerful phone that takes innovations introduced with the G7 and improves upon them. The addition of a third telephoto lens, the ability to take shots from every camera angle, and the richer OLED display all assistance justify its $920+ price. That said, information technology'south in direct contest with the Milky way Note 9, which has significantly longer battery life and powerful productivity features aided in part by the included Due south Pen stylus. In that location's also the Pixel 3 XL, which has some of the best low-calorie-free camera capabilities we've seen, along with a pure Google software experience. If you're looking to save money, meanwhile, the OnePlus 6T offers many of the same specs and features of the above phones for roughly $400 less.