LG has finally brought its V40 ThinQ to Spain. The company's smartphone aims to be one of the season's top devices, and after launching in other markets a few months ago, it has finally arrived in Spain. Has it arrived on time after these months of waiting? How will it fare against the competition? Let's find out in this review.
LG V40 ThinQ, video analysis
Why the LG V40 is LG's best phone
The V40 has everything it takes to stand out in the LG catalogue, both in terms of design (despite not innovating too much) and in terms of technical specifications.
This smartphone boasts excellent build quality, with a fairly elegant design that continues the style we saw in the V30 model. Its back features a reinforced glass casing with a special fingerprint-resistant coating—which, miraculously , works—but this does make the phone feel a bit too smooth, sometimes causing it to slip out of your hands. Despite this, I can say that the grip is very comfortable, thanks in part to its well-balanced thickness (7,7 mm) and width (75,8 mm), perfect for holding in your hand and even using your thumb. Those with smaller hands might find it a bit more challenging due to its height of 158,7 mm.
The fingerprint reader (which is fast-response), located on the back, is also easily accessible , as is its physical button dedicated to Google Assistant (which we don't know if you'll find very useful).
The device also boasts a splendid 6,4-inch OLED screen with QHD+ resolution (3.120 x 1.440 and 538 ppi density). While it has delivered perfectly sharp images with vibrant and powerful colors —and offers numerous customization options in the Settings menu—I did find it a bit lacking in brightness when exposed to blinding sunlight. Aside from this minor issue, indoors it's a true delight to use the device, which is further enhanced by top-notch performance with a Snapdragon 845 processor and 6 GB of RAM, making it equally satisfying to watch a movie or spend hours playing a demanding game.
Within the multimedia experience, it's impossible to ignore its sound capabilities . The smartphone comes with a 32-bit DAC processor, for our enjoyment when we connect our headphones to its 3,5 mm port, and a Boom Box speaker (which we already saw in the LG G7), to offer audio quality superior to the competition. It's true that the phone achieves superior sound quality and clarity, and this is noticeable when comparing audio playback between different phones. However, I think it's a real shame that the device is limited to a single speaker . Even though its casing acts as a conductive path to amplify the sound, in the end, the result isn't superior, in terms of power and surround sound, to that of other devices (such as the Google Pixel 3), leaving you with the feeling that it could offer so much more.
This phone is also the first in the company's lineup with five cameras , a truly impressive array of features. On the back, we find the star trio: a 12MP main sensor, a 16MP ultrawide lens, and a telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom. These allow us to use modes like Triple Shot, which takes three photos (each with a different sensor) of the same scene. It's useful to have a phone that combines these three lenses , since you usually have to choose between the ultrawide and the telephoto lenses. Now, both are combined in the same smartphone, greatly expanding the capture possibilities —below you can see the same scene taken with ultrawide, standard, and telephoto lenses. With a simple and intuitive interface (it doesn't offer much you haven't already seen on an Android), it's also worth mentioning the Cinema Shot mode, a fun effect that lets you capture a moving image and then freeze part of the image while another part moves. More creative than practical, it's very well done.
The terminal generally gives us very balanced results, with sharp images and good color management. Sometimes they can be seen a tad more saturated, without it being something that plays against it either.
As the amount of light decreases , the image quality suffers, perhaps adding a bit more grain than expected for a main camera with an f/1.5 aperture. However, what I liked least was the poor automatic white balance when it encounters certain light sources in the scene, something that other phones like the Pixel 3 correct much better on the spot.
The following image shows quite well the white balance problem that you have when shooting automatically in scenes with a spotlight such as a street lamp. Of course, the V40 throws a better capture definition than the Pixel 3 (look at the ground).
Regarding the front cameras , we again have an 8MP sensor with a standard lens and a 5MP wide-angle lens. This allows us to widen the field of view when taking selfies, giving us a much better perspective. It's not the widest front-facing wide-angle lens available, but I appreciate having it on this phone—in fact, once you take a selfie like this, you'll hardly ever use the other camera again. Below you'll find a nighttime portrait selfie taken with the wide-angle lens and a regular morning selfie (with HDR).
Why the LG V40 is not the best phone of 2019
We've discussed many positive aspects of the LG V4 ThinQ, but it also has qualities that clearly put it below other devices. Firstly, there's its processor, a Snapdragon 845 , which arrives when the brand's competitors are already considering a Qualcomm 855 chip , the same one we expect to see, for example, in the Galaxy S10 , which will be unveiled in a month by Samsung. Furthermore, the phone launches with Android 8 Oreo , with its update to Android 9 Pie inexplicably expected in the second quarter of the year. Working with Oreo on this phone is a delight, but knowing that an updated version with new features exists on the market and this flagship phone doesn't include it is certainly disappointing.
Its five-camera setup is very appealing (and eye-catching from a marketing perspective ), and it's true that it offers capture capabilities that are hard to find on many other phones. Even so, its main sensor , which should always be the most prominent and highest-resolution sensor on a phone, doesn't deliver the best quality (we missed having more pixels and better white balance in certain nighttime situations), and we could get better shots with other phones under similar conditions.
The battery life is also rather lukewarm. It lasts all day, but isn't that the bare minimum we should expect from a flagship phone these days? Its 3.300 mAh capacity is adequate, but unremarkable , and falls far short of the capabilities of, for example, Huawei's Mate 20 Pro . Battery management will likely improve with the Android Pie update, but until then, we have to make do with what we have—at least it does support wireless charging and fast charging.
The LG V40 ThinQ will go on sale on February 4th for €999 . Again, the price could be a drawback for this device, especially considering the points mentioned and the fierce competition from very capable phones at lower prices. However, the phone does come with a free 28-inch TV monitor (model 28MT49S-PZ) worth around €200, offering a promotion that may prove attractive to many.