Pricing, Design, and Features
The V20's price varies depending on carrier, but it's largely comparable with other high-end flagships on the market. The least expensive place you'll find it is on Verizon, for $672. T-Mobile sells the phone for $769.99, while picking it up on Sprint will run you a bit more at $792. AT&T is the most expensive carrier to buy from, at $829.99. An unlocked version will be available in November for $799.99.
In broad strokes, the V20 looks like a pumped up G5. The two phones have the same button layout and dual-camera setup on the back, but there are some key differences that make the V20 a bit more aesthetically pleasing. For one, the size of the bottom lip below the display has been reduced, leaving less empty space. The sides are also curved a bit more, making it easier to grip than the more angular G5.
As for the buttons and ports, you'll find a volume rocker on the left, a departure from the back buttons on the V10. The bottom houses a 3.5mm headphone jack, speaker, and USB-C charging port. The back has a fairly responsive home button-fingerprint scanner. The top has an IR blaster, which allows you to control TVs, air conditioners, and other compatible devices.
The phone is also more durable than the G5 or the V10. Its metal body (available in gray, pink, or silver) uses the same kind of aluminum used in airplanes. It can't fly, but it is MIL-STD-810G transit drop compliant, meaning it can withstand drops onto hard surfaces. It withstood several drops onto the rubberized floor at PC Labs with no visible damage aside from the battery cover popping off. The trade-off is that it's not waterproof like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, or shatterproof like the Motorola Moto Z Force Droid.
One thing that hasn't changed since the V10 is size. The V20 measures 6.3 by 3.1 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.2 ounces, about the same dimensions as the Apple iPhone 7 Plus (6.2 by 3.1 by 0.3 inches, 6.6 ounces) and the Google Pixel XL (6.1 by 3.0 by 0.3 inches, 5.9 ounces). There's a one-handed mode that resizes things onscreen to make apps easier to reach, but I still found the phone to be unwieldy compared with the S7 Edge (5.9 by 2.9 by 0.3 inches, 5.5 ounces), particularly when reaching for the secondary screen (more on that later).
The V20 has a removable battery, but it's not like the slide-out design of the G5 or the snap-off style of the V10. Instead, a battery cover release key on the right side of the phone pops the back panel off to gain access to the 3,200mAh cell inside. You'll also see a SIM card slot and a microSD card slot in there, the latter of which I tested successfully with a 256GB Samsung Evo+ card. There's no modular functionality, so you can't use any of the G5's "Friends" attachments, like the Cam Plus, but they haven't really caught on anyway.
Display
The most immediately notable feature on the front of the V20 is its always-on 2.1-inch, 160-by-1,040 "secondary" display, which you can find in the top right corner above the primary display. The small extension of the primary LCD functions much the same as it did on the V10, providing you with the time, date, notifications, and quick access to apps, tools, and camera controls (when the camera app is open). You can also pin apps of your choice to the secondary display, and use it to set a custom signature (now with more characters). While its functionality hasn't changed much, LG has made one huge improvement: the brightness and contrast have been increased so there are no visibility issues, which was one of our gripes with the V10. It makes the display infinitely more useful and functional, and I found myself using it fairlyoften to quickly launch apps when the main screen was off.
The most immediately notable feature on the front of the V20 is its always-on 2.1-inch, 160-by-1,040 "secondary" display, which you can find in the top right corner above the primary display. The small extension of the primary LCD functions much the same as it did on the V10, providing you with the time, date, notifications, and quick access to apps, tools, and camera controls (when the camera app is open). You can also pin apps of your choice to the secondary display, and use it to set a custom signature (now with more characters). While its functionality hasn't changed much, LG has made one huge improvement: the brightness and contrast have been increased so there are no visibility issues, which was one of our gripes with the V10. It makes the display infinitely more useful and functional, and I found myself using it fairly
The primary display is a 5.7-inch, 2,560-by-1,440 IPS panel. The resolution works out to a super-crisp 513 pixels per inch. It gets very bright, has excellent viewing angles, and rich colors. You won't have any difficulty using it outdoors in direct sunlight. That said, the display runs a bit cool, with whites skewing toward blue when compared with the iPhone 7 Plus, though it isn't distracting (and not particularly noticeable without a side-by-side comparison).
Network Performance
The LG V20 is available the big four US carriers; I tested the T-Mobile version, which supports LTE bands 1/2/3/4/5/6/12/13/20, giving it strong network performance in midtown Manhattan. I recorded a top download speed of 16Mbps, and an unusually high upload speed of 30Mbps. The phone also supports Wi-Fi on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, NFC, and Bluetooth 4.2.
The LG V20 is available the big four US carriers; I tested the T-Mobile version, which supports LTE bands 1/2/3/4/5/6/12/13/20, giving it strong network performance in midtown Manhattan. I recorded a top download speed of 16Mbps, and an unusually high upload speed of 30Mbps. The phone also supports Wi-Fi on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, NFC, and Bluetooth 4.2.
Call quality is mixed. Transmissions are somewhat garbled, and more background noise came through compared with other phones we've tested. But earpiece and speakerphone volume is loud, so I was able to hear everything no matter the environment.
Audio Quality
I don't say this often, but the audio features here are particularly outstanding. The V20 has not one, not two, but four digital-to-analog converters (DACs) inside. Plugging headphones into the audio jack allows you to enable the Hi-Fi Quad DAC setting.
I don't say this often, but the audio features here are particularly outstanding. The V20 has not one, not two, but four digital-to-analog converters (DACs) inside. Plugging headphones into the audio jack allows you to enable the Hi-Fi Quad DAC setting.
I'll admit to not being an audiophile, but even my untrained ear noticed a significant improvement in clarity and overall sound quality when I plugged in a pair of Plantronics Backbeat PRO 2 headphones. The lyrics and contours of bass-heavy metal came through with very little distortion. When playing games I could pick up on more subtle sounds, like whistling wind, distant sirens, and the shouts of passersby, all of which are normally lost on other phones. Naturally, if you're using Bluetooth playback you can't take advantage of this.
Audiophiles will be further pleased by 75-stage fine volume and L/R balance controls, as well as support for lossless music formats like AIFF, ALAC, DSD, and FLAC. In addition to playback, there's built-in HD audio recording, capable of capturing 24-bit/192kHz FLAC. For video, the V20's mic can record up to 132 decibels without clipping, rather than the 120 decibels most phones manage.
The bottom-firing mono speaker is loud, but not particularly impressive. It's the only average point in an otherwise fantastic audio experience.
Processor and Battery
The V20is powered a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.15GHz and 4GB of RAM. It's not quite the Snapdragon 821 you'll find in the Google Pixel XL, but you can't really notice a major performance difference between the two. On the Geekbench benchmark, the V20 scores 1,590 in single-core performance and 3,290 in multi-core. That's not quite as high as the Pixel XL in either category (1,661/4,146), but real-world performance is virtually identical.
The V20
Multitasking is fast, and I found that using Nova Launcher and disabling animations makes things even faster. High-end gaming is not a problem; both GTA: San Andreas and Asphalt 8 ran beautifully, without any dropped frames or latency.
Software
The LG V20 is the first non-Pixel phone to launch running Android 7.0 Nougat, though it comes with LG's heavy UI layer on top. The icons, notification shade, and settings menu have all undergone some major changes, and there's no app drawer. That won't please Android purists, but you do have the option of restoring the app drawer using a built-in setting or a third-party launcher. As mentioned above, I ended up using Nova Launcher. Unfortunately, LG hasn't said whether the phone will support Google's Daydream VR.
The LG V20 is the first non-Pixel phone to launch running Android 7.0 Nougat, though it comes with LG's heavy UI layer on top. The icons, notification shade, and settings menu have all undergone some major changes, and there's no app drawer. That won't please Android purists, but you do have the option of restoring the app drawer using a built-in setting or a third-party launcher. As mentioned above, I ended up using Nova Launcher. Unfortunately, LG hasn't said whether the phone will support Google's Daydream VR.
full phone specification -
| LAUNCH | Announced | 2016, September |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Available. Released 2016, October |
| BODY | Dimensions | 159.7 x 78.1 x 7.6 mm (6.29 x 3.07 x 0.30 in) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 174 g (6.14 oz) | |
| Build | Aluminum body (6000 series) | |
| SIM | Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) | |
| - MIL-STD-810G compliant |
| DISPLAY | Type | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 5.7 inches, 90.3 cm2 (~72.4% screen-to-body ratio) | |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2560 pixels, 16:9 ratio (~513 ppi density) | |
| Multitouch | Yes | |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 4 | |
| - Secondary display, 160 x 1040 pixels, 2.1 inches - LG UX 5.0 |
| PLATFORM | OS | Android 7.0 (Nougat) |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820 | |
| CPU | Quad-core (2x2.15 GHz Kryo & 2x1.6 GHz Kryo) | |
| GPU | Adreno 530 |
| MEMORY | Card slot | microSD, up to 256 GB (dedicated slot) |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | 32/64 GB, 4 GB RAM |
| CAMERA | Primary | Dual: 16 MP (f/1.8, 29mm, 1/2.6") + 8 MP (f/2.4, 12mm, 1/3.2"), laser autofocus, OIS, dual-LED flash |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR | |
| Video | 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps, 720p@120fps, 24-bit/192kHz stereo sound rec. | |
| Secondary | 5 MP, f/1.9 |
| SOUND | Alert types | Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones |
|---|---|---|
| Loudspeaker | Yes | |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes | |
| - 32-bit/192kHz audio - B&O Play certified - 24-bit/48kHz audio recording - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic |
| COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot |
|---|---|---|
| Bluetooth | 4.2, A2DP, LE, aptX | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS | |
| NFC | Yes | |
| Infrared port | Yes | |
| Radio | FM radio, RDS (market dependent) | |
| USB | 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector |
| FEATURES | Sensors | Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, color spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging | SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM | |
| Browser | HTML5 | |
| - Fast battery charging (Quick Charge 3.0) - MP4/DviX/XviD/H.265/WMV player - MP3/WAV/FLAC/eAAC+/WMA player - Photo/video editor - Document editor |
| BATTERY | Removable Li-Ion 3200 mAh battery |
|---|
| MISC | Colors | Titan, Silver, Pink |
|---|---|---|
| Price | About 460 EUR |
| TESTS | Performance | Basemark OS II: 2473 / Basemark OS II 2.0: 2159 Basemark X: 29385 |
|---|---|---|
| Display | Contrast ratio: 1097 (nominal), 3.402 (sunlight) | |
| Camera | Photo / Video | |
| Loudspeaker | Voice 68dB / Noise 68dB / Ring 80dB | |
| Audio quality | Noise -93.0dB / Crosstalk -93.7dB | |
| Battery life |
Endurance rating 68h
|
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