In this post, we check out the reasons to buy or not to buy the V20. Apart from that, we also compare the phone with other popular flagship smartphones in the country to see where the V20 stands.
LG V20: Reasons To Buy
Display
The LG V20 comes with two displays. The Primary display is a 5.7 inch Quad HD IPS LCD screen. It comes with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. It comes with a pixel density of ~513 PPI. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The secondary display is a 2.1 inch screen above the primary display. It comes with a resolution of 1040 x 160 pixels.
Camera
The V20 also comes with a dual camera setup. It features a 16 MP camera with f/1.8 along with an 8 MP camera with f/2.4 aperture. It comes with laser autofocus, Optical Image Stabilization and dual LED flash. On the front, the device sports a 5 MP secondary camera with f/1.9 aperture.
Processor, Memory And Storage
The LG V20 is powered by a Quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clubbed with Adreno 530. This is the current top of the line SoC from Qualcomm (Snapdragon 821 is a minor upgrade with the same core). Apart from that, the V20 features 4 GB LPDDR4 RAM and 64 GB UFS internal storage. You can expand the internal storage using a microSD card.
Android 7.0 Nougat
The LG V20 comes with the latest Android 7.0 Nougat update out of the box. It comes with LG UX 5.0 skinned on top. Note that the V20 is the first non-Pixel smartphone to come with Nougat out of the box – it also means that the phone will receive one major OS update more than its competition.
Removable Battery, Dual SIM Support
One of the features that the Android OEMs have copied (albeit reluctantly) from Apple is making the battery non user-removable. This is especially true for flagship phones. The V20 still comes with a removable 3200 mAh battery so you can quickly swap it out with another full battery. Apart from that, the phone also comes with a dedicated dual SIM card slot. This means that you can use two SIM cards and a microSD card simultaneously.
Hi-Fi DAC, Bundled B&O Headphones
For those looking for high quality audio experience, the V20 is one of the few smartphones to feature a Hi-Fi DAC. To make your experience even better, LG is bundling a pair of Bang & Olufsen headphones for free with the V20.
LG V20: Reasons Not To Buy
Price
The V20 has been launched at a price of Rs. 54,999. While this is not necessarily high, it is still a little pricey especially when you compare it with the competition. LG may find it a little difficult to sell the phone at this price.
Competitors
OnePlus 3T
OnePlus 3T was launched in India at a price of Rs. 29,999. The latest smartphone from OnePlus comes with a 5.5 inch full HD AMOLED display, Android 6.0 Marshmallow with a near-stock OxygenOS. It is powered by quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clubbed with Adreno 530. There is 6 GB RAM and 64 GB / 128 GB UFS2.0 storage. The phone also supports dual SIM, 4G VoLTE. The OnePlus 3T is a much, much better deal overall compared to the V20. At nearly half the price, you just miss out on the display resolution and microSD card support. On the contrary, you also get a near stock version of Android, more RAM, newer UFS2.0 storage. However, if you want that secondary display, you may want to go with the V20. That said, the massive price difference for similar core specs tilts the balance in favour of the OnePlus 3T.
Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge
The Samsung Galaxy S7 runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with TouchWiz UI skinned on top. The device features a 5.1 inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display. It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The device is powered by a quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clubbed with Adreno 530.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with TouchWiz UI skinned on top. The device features a 5.5 inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display. It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clubbed with Adreno 530. Coming to the pricing of the S7 and S7 Edge, at the moment the best buy price of the Galaxy S7 is around Rs. 42,000, while the Galaxy S7 Edge is around Rs. 50,000. Specs wise, it is a very tough call between the LG V20 and the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. On a purely price basis, the two Galaxy flagships win resoundingly.
Google Pixel
The Google Pixel runs on Android 7.1 Nougat. The device features a 5 inch full HD AMOLED display. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor clubbed with Adreno 530 GPU. It comes with 4 GB RAM and 32 / 128 GB of internal storage. The Pixel is not really in competition with the V20. Not only does it feature a smaller, lower resolution display, it also costs Rs. 57,000 for the 32 GB version. It does not support dual SIM either. All in all, the V20 is a far better choice here.
Conclusion
The LG V20 is an extremely well made phone with great specs. You don’t get any better than this. However, the phone might be beaten in terms of pricing compared to other options available in the market.
