When you just need more eyes - LG's V40 with its total of 5 cameras unveiled in full

[D13H4RD]

The LG V40 is now officially a thing with everything about it revealed. In a nutshell, if you like headphone jacks and want more cameras than you'll likely need, the V40 is definitely a consideration if you can stomach the price.

 

Let's talk a little bit about those 5 cameras.

 

It's actually a combination of 3 rear and 2 front cameras. Of those, the rear setup is arguably the most interesting.

• The main camera is significantly upgraded from the V30 and G7. The sensor size is now upgraded to 1/2.55", and brings with it a pixel size of 1.4 microns, which matches many top-ranked flagship phones released in the past year. The aperture has also gotten wider at f/1.5, matching the Galaxy Note9's widest setting.
• The wide-angle camera makes a return, and while the sensor is still rather small, combined with small 1-micron pixels, the aperture is wider at f/1.6 versus f/1.9 of the G6
• The zoom camera is new, although its specs matches many phones with the same camera type, with a 12MP resolution and f/2.4 aperture. No info on sensor size, however

The front cameras are similar to those on the LG V10 in how they are implemented. There is a standard front-facing camera with an 8MP resolution but there's also a wide-angle camera with a 5MP resolution.

 

Quote

To let customers take full advantage of this camera array, LG has included a bunch of goodies. There’s a new “Cine Shot” mode that lets you produce short clips to share as GIFs. There’s also a “Triple Preview” mode which lets users see all three camera views at the same time to easily pick the right one for the shot.

Source: https://9to5google.com/2018/10/03/lg-v40-thinq-official-specs-reveal/

 

Specs-wise, the phone pretty much packs in the typical 2018 flagship guts;

• SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
• CPU: Quad-core 2.85GHz Kryo 385 Gold (performance) + Quad-core 1.7ghZ Kryo 385 Silver (efficiency)
• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 630
• RAM: 6GB LPDDR4
• Storage: 64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 storage, microSDXC card slot
• Display: 6.4" 3120x1440 P-OLED w/ notch
• Audio: 3.5mm jack w/ "Quad DAC", "Boombox" resonance chamber
• Battery: 3300mAh sealed Li-Po, fast wired charging, fast wireless charging
• OS: Android 8.1 Oreo w/ LG UX

And yes, as you saw in the audio section, LG has kept the headphone jack plus beefy audio hardware the LG V-line has been known for, alongside the resonance chamber that is carried over from the G7.

Quote

The LG V40 ThinQ also includes a Quad-DAC on its 3.5mm headphone jack, a rarity these days, as well as LG’s “Boombox” speaker. This speaker takes advantage of the phone’s design to use the full size as a resonance chamber, resulting in much louder, fuller audio. There’s also a fingerprint sensor on the rear, face unlock, a dedicated Google Assistant button which can also access Lens, and IP68 protection from water and dust.

Source: https://9to5google.com/2018/10/03/lg-v40-thinq-official-specs-reveal/

 

If all that sounds rather tempting, start saving up now because the V40 isn't going to be chump change.

Quote

As for pricing, it varies by carrier. The US Cellular model will sell for $900, T-Mobile at $920, AT&T at $950, and Verizon at a whopping $980. The phone will go on sale October 18th in Aurora Black, Platinum Grey, Carmine Red, and Moroccan Blue. Pre-orders are available with a free DJI Osmo Mobile 2 gimbal and a SanDisk 256GB microSD card.

Source: https://9to5google.com/2018/10/03/lg-v40-thinq-official-specs-reveal/

 

D13H4RD's opinion

For what it is, I actually quite like this phone despite the notch (as it can be sort of "hidden"). It keeps most of what made the LG V-line such a favorite amongst its userbase while improving on some of its key flaws like main camera sensor size. It's definitely looking to be a solid performer and if audio is your top priority and you also want a pretty big phone with more imaging bells-and-whistles than you know what to deal with, then this phone might be a worthy consideration.

 

With all that said, I think LG may have priced it a bit too high considering their current state. While the LG V-line and Galaxy Note-line have always been aimed at separate userbases due to their differing featuresets, it's honestly quite inevitable that people are going to make direct comparisons between the 2 owing to their similar prices. While LG has more versatility in its cameras and much better audio performance, especially from its headphone jack, the Note has a much larger battery and more internal storage on its base configuration.

 

Definitely something to look out for. And yes, I deliberately did not put "ThinQ".

[dizmo]

Gotta say, that's a pretty solid offering for some added bonuses; though not as good as some companies have offered elsewhere, like the headphones Sony was throwing in. The phone is...ok. I'd have liked to see a significantly larger battery. This is more-or-less just a rehash of the V30S. Only 7mm added to the height of the device for an almost half inch screen space gain is nice to see.

Still, for a company that surprises me with it's continued existence, not bad.

 

I think it'd be worth considering once the price inevitably drops.

 

Can't wait for the new Nokia tbh. Rumors of 5 rear cameras intrigues me.

[PlayStation 2]

I gotta wonder, is it more practical to throw in more cameras rather than a larger one?

[D13H4RD]

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I think it'd be worth considering once the price inevitably drops.

I think it's definitely worth waiting since LG phones are known to drop in price quickly and significantly, so they end up being killer deals in a few months. 

[Syntaxvgm]

next step, LG's gopro competitor  

[bleedblue]

I thinQ it's pretty sad when having a headphone jack is being touted as a feature on flagship phones.

[Egg-Roll]

10 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Still, for a company that surprises me with it's continued existence, not bad.

 

I'm assuming as a phone maker. I'm actually surprised the build quality they have for the price tho I've never owned their top tier models but the mid range units are fairly sound imo.

 

6 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

I gotta wonder, is it more practical to throw in more cameras rather than a larger one?

Yes, because for a bigger lens would cause a bigger body, so if you put more smaller cameras on a body and use them to create a equal quality image as one big lens you save on the thickness aspect.

[dizmo]

2 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

I gotta wonder, is it more practical to throw in more cameras rather than a larger one?

Depends what your goal is. Image quality? Larger sensor. However, what they've done is give you cameras that do different things, thus it's not entirely comparable.

Panasonic still had the right idea IMO.

1 minute ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

I think it's definitely worth waiting since LG phones are known to drop in price quickly and significantly, so they end up being killer deals in a few months. 

Exactly. Provided, of course, the phone is as good as it appears to be on paper. Only some in depth reviews will tell.

[D13H4RD]

Just now, dizmo said:

Exactly. Provided, of course, the phone is as good as it appears to be on paper. Only some in depth reviews will tell.

Reviews so far paint a somewhat mixed picture.

 

Although they aren't really "in-depth". I'm hoping to see a Juan Bagnell review or something.

[Syntaxvgm]

1 minute ago, bleedblue said:

I thinQ

I hate you so much

[dizmo]

Just now, Egg-Roll said:

I'm assuming as a phone maker. I'm actually surprised the build quality they have for the price tho I've never owned their top tier models but the mid range units are fairly sound imo.

Correct. I'd almost wonder how much of their phone division is subsidized by others. They're not failing has hard as HTC, but they're not far off.

I've owned a few of their phones. They're ok, but there's things like battery size and more importantly battery life that just fall short of the competition.

[PlayStation 2]

2 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Depends what your goal is. Image quality? Larger sensor. However, what they've done is give you cameras that do different things, thus it's not entirely comparable.

Panasonic still had the right idea IMO.

Hmm, alright; LG is putting the cameras to use for different uses rather than many other multi-camera phones using them to achieve strictly better quality?

[NumLock21]

Looks like everyone is running out of ideas on the design, so the next big thing to make your phone stand out, is by adding more cameras.

 

[S w a t s o n]

>2018 $900 flagship

>same size battery as 2012 flagships

[Egg-Roll]

3 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Correct. I'd almost wonder how much of their phone division is subsidized by others. They're not failing has hard as HTC, but they're not far off.

I've owned a few of their phones. They're ok, but there's things like battery size and more importantly battery life that just fall short of the competition.

Yea, my biggest gripe about my Stylo 3 Plus is the fact my battery has issues living on 2 hours of Pokemon Go game play... Which is a main reason why I refuse to go with non-removable phones. At least I can swap this one out for $20-50 w/o additional costs...

 

I doubt LG will close down the phone sector because I'm sure they are like Sammy over in S. Korea, we might see less over here however.

[D13H4RD]

5 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Hmm, alright; LG is putting the cameras to use for different uses rather than many other multi-camera phones using them to achieve strictly better quality?

The reason is versatility

 

Unlike Nokia and Huawei, which use either larger sensors or a secondary monochrome sensor or both to improve overall image quality, LG uses the other 2 sensor and lens combos to have a more versatile range of focal lengths.

[dizmo]

10 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Hmm, alright; LG is putting the cameras to use for different uses rather than many other multi-camera phones using them to achieve strictly better quality?

One standard, one wide, one zoom.

There are other uses like depth correction, low light performance, grabbing more info for huge images (I think Huawei does this on the P20 to make 40MP images).

 

While being a little thicc, this was still a superb idea, and with the advances we have now and the high prices smartphones are reaching I think they could really do a proper job of it. IIRC it had the same sensor as the RX100.

 

9 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Looks like everyone is running out of ideas on the design, so the next big thing to make your phone stand out, is by adding more cameras.

 

Makes sense though. I mean, once the front is entirely glass, and you've moved the finger print sensor under there, what really is left?

Other than the come back of the flip phone, that will start next year. Just like movies, it'll just be rehashes of past ideas.

6 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

Yea, my biggest gripe about my Stylo 3 Plus is the fact my battery has issues living on 2 hours of Pokemon Go game play... Which is a main reason why I refuse to go with non-removable phones. At least I can swap this one out for $20-50 w/o additional costs...

 

I doubt LG will close down the phone sector because I'm sure they are like Sammy over in S. Korea, we might see less over here however.

Or for a little more, you could buy a phone that'd last I think with portable battery banks making the compromises to build in removable batteries makes little sense.

They're not terrible, but they held something like 10% of the market in 2018. Samsung is around 70%.

[D13H4RD]

5 minutes ago, dizmo said:

While being a little thicc, this was still a superb idea, and with the advances we have now and the high prices smartphones are reaching I think they could really do a proper job of it. IIRC it had the same sensor as the RX100.

I'd love to see a return of such an idea

[dizmo]

13 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

I'd love to see a return of such an idea

Me too. Alas, that was 4 years ago. I don't think it sold particularly well, as it was very highly priced. They were the originators of the $1,000 smart phone (aside from the lux brands). 

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

Me too. Alas, that was 4 years ago. I don't think it sold particularly well, as it was very highly priced. They were the originators of the $1,000 smart phone (aside from the lux brands). 

Maybe Nokia could do it?

[Egg-Roll]

28 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Or for a little more, you could buy a phone that'd last I think with portable battery banks making the compromises to build in removable batteries makes little sense.

They're not terrible, but they held something like 10% of the market in 2018. Samsung is around 70%.

The Stylo 3 is a great phone (far better than the Stylo 2 Plus) I only pays $450 with tax with a case for it, it's the batteries that suck badly lol... I own and use 2 10,000 mah Battery Banks (typically just one because the other is usually lost), great for the times I need my phone for more than 2 hours but imo I shouldn't be forced to rely on them for 2+ hours of gaming after 1 year. (the banks would last me a full day or more in game) Tho to give credit considering the abuse I do to the battery losing about 45 minutes of in-game time (I got 3 hours if lucky when brand new, typically 2.5-2.75) isn't too bad and it has been at 2 hours for a few months now.

 

I think LG's issue is limited advertising which on their end makes sense, the issue is placed like LMG simply don't review LG/Others phones and when they do it's only the top tier ones, where as if you look at how many Sammy videos LMG has done for reviews(including the active and edge units)... Linus should try a model round up of everything mid range, he might even find some of them are decent daily drivers that act like top tier phones for half of the price (if not less)...

 

5 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Maybe Nokia could do it?

After Windows? Do you want to see the company get murdered/commit suicide?

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, Egg-Roll said:

After Windows? Do you want to see the company get murdered/commit suicide?

They've been doing quite well with Android so far though?

[DocSwag]

I really wanna know how the screen is. Especially with all the issues that the previous generation pOLED display had.

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, DocSwag said:

I really wanna know how the screen is. Especially with all the issues that the previous generation pOLED display had.

Reviews so far say that while it's not very bright, it's much better than its prior generation

[Egg-Roll]

14 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

They've been doing quite well with Android so far though?

yea, but after Nokia (original) and MS killing the name then some random company picking the mobile name up from the mud pile Nokia and MS left it in... I wouldn't ask the tiny company (which sounds like it is owned or started by Nokia) to make such a drastic design, if the name was still owned by either Nokia or MS then I would.