LG V30+ First Impressions: Worthy of the wait

Specifications

LG V30+ is one of the most technologically advanced smartphone that you can buy today in the market. It has a brighter industry-leading F1.6 aperture camera lens, which hasn't been seen earlier in any smartphone till date. LG V30+ sports a 6-inch edge-to-edge OLED display that supports HDR10. The handset also features an advanced Hi-Fi Quad DAC to offer immersive audio experience.

The super sleek and premium looking handset comes with an IP68 certified design and also supports wireless charging. There's Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset running the show coupled with 4GB RAM and 128GB internal storage, which is further expandable by up 2TB via microSD card.

The smartphone has a hybrid-SIM card tray and it is backed by a non-removable 3,300 mAh battery unit. You will get to use Bluetooth 5.0 and LG's UX 6.0 user interface deployed over Android 7.1.2 Nougat. And yes, LG V30+ does not ditch the beloved 3.5mm headphone jack.

Design: Most ergonomic 6-inch edge-to-edge smartphone

While LG V30+ is the successor of LG V20, it stays away from the rugged look and seems like an upgrade of LG G6 in terms of design and in-hand feel. The metal-glass made V30+ feels super sleek in hands (7.3mm thin) and weighs 158g, making it the lightest 6-inch smartphone in its respective price-point. LG V30+ has a curved tempered glass that covers both the front and back panel. It goes all the way around the edges and gives LG V30+ a comfortable grip. But at the same time, the glass and metal build also makes LG V30+ quite slippery.

LG V30+ comes with wireless charging and is IP68 certified, which means it can survive 1.5m dip in water for up to 30 minutes. All this sounds pretty amazing but what literally surprised me is the fact that the LG design team has managed to give V30+ the MIL-810G rating against shocks and drops, even with a non-rugged glass clad premium design.

LG V30+ houses a dual-lens camera setup and a conveniently located fingerprint scanner cum power button at the rear panel. A mono speaker unit, USB 3.0 charging port and a microphone rests at the bottom of the handset. LG V30+ also comes with the beloved 3.5 mm headphone jack which is positioned at top. The volume rockers are placed on the left edge and the SIM card tray is positioned at the right side.

Display: HDR10 enabled vivid OLED screen

I was glad to see a full-fledged 6-inch screen without any addition of the gimmicky secondary display that did very less of executing any real task. LG realized that the same functionality can be achieved with just a software tweak- Floating bar. The widget can be placed anywhere on the edges of the OLED panel and let you access your favorite contacts, apps and music app widget in a jiffy. The 6-inch 18:9 aspect ratio display uses OLED technology and is super vivid and bright.

The overall screen feels a bit stretched as the curves on either sides of the V30's OLED screen are not as prominent as Samsung Galaxy devices. But this doesn't hamper the in-hand usability of the handset and also offers more real estate to the content you consume. The video playback and gameplay looks immersive on the edge-to-edge HDR10 enabled OLED screen. The screen never misses a touch and offers comfortable viewing experience even when you are using the V30+ outdoors.

Impressive dual-lens camera setup

The dual-lens camera setup at the rear panel is another highlight of LG V30+. The camera setup has one 16MP standard lens (71 degree frame view) with F1.6 aperture, which is seen for the very first time on a smartphone. The main camera is supported by a 13MP wide angle lens with F1.9 aperture that helps you achieve a 120 degree wide angle view. This makes LG V30+ a perfect mobile device for street and landscape photography.

The camera interface is quite feature rich and also offers a host of modes and filters to let you experiment with photography. The Cine Filter will come real handy for content creators as it offers a palette of 15 preset filters to change the color tones and visual appeal of your videos. You can also shoot pictures in RAW format and can record videos in 4K format. We will talk more about camera in our comprehensive review of the smartphone in the coming week.

Audio and Software

LG has added quite a technology in V30+ to deliver on audio. The smartphone comes with a built-in Hi-Fi Quad-DAC that supports up to 32-bit PCM and DSDfile formats. You also get support for Bluetooth 5.0 and AptX-HD. The Quad DAC mode can be activate from within the settings and allows you to customize the audio output as per your requirement. You can also change the sound characteristics to balance the tones and bass levels while listening to your favorite tunes.

Make sure you are using the wired headphones as the Quad DAC does not support a pair of wireless headphones. Running on Android Nougat, LG V30+ also offers some useful software features to enhance everyday mobile user experience. It has a dedicated game mode to enhance graphics performance, various display color modes, home screen modes and the Floating bar that replaces the secondary display strip. We believe LG V30+ will soon receive the Oreo update as the older software is a deal breaker at this price-point.

Conclusion

LG V30+ is late at the party but it makes for a solid entry to the list of flagship smartphones in the Indian market. It has practically everything you would want to see in a flagship smartphone in today's time. A crisp OLED Edge-to-Edge screen, compact and tough IP68 certified design, excellent dual-lens camera setup and flagship hardware at surprisingly sensible price-point of Rs. 44,990. The software holds V30+ back in the fight, but we expect the Oreo update will solve the problem to a great extent. Stay tuned on Gizbot for our comprehensive review of LG V30+ in the coming week.