LG has announced the entrance of the V20 that follows last year’s V10. The V10 proved to be a sturdy smartphone, equipped with an excellent camera and audiophile-grade music playback. LG has retained those two standout features, along with new ones while focusing on performance and usability.
As many users already know, the V20 is the first smartphone to operate on Android 7.0 Nougat right out of the box. Its design has a smooth aluminum back, with silicon polycarbonate on the top and bottom portions. It doesn’t feel as hefty as the V10, but LG is confident that the V20’s silicon polycarbonate build can withstand every day dropping — it’s rated MIL-STD 810G drop and shock resistant, The Verge reports.
There is a fingerprint sensor/home button right where the index finger normally rests, and a second screen carried over from the V10. The second screen shows shortcuts and other personal items, also allowing notifications and other content their own window, and can be turned off anytime.
The V20 runs on everything expected from a 2016 launch: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage, the increased storage a welcome change. It supports microSD cards up to 2TB and a 3200mAh replaceable battery. The V20 is Quick Charge 3.0-compatible through its USB-C jack.
Instead of packing the V20 with features that users won’t use anyway, LG chose to refine video and audio capabilities, featuring a 32-bit quad DAC system that should make for high-quality listening. In an appeal to audiophile users, Bang & Olufsen helped LG in its playback performance setup, which includes a 72-stage volume control and support for all the popular lossless music formats like Apple Lossless.
The V20’s microphone can record everything without distortions or clipping, and audio can be saved separately as lossless to preserve quality.
On the camera feature, the V20 has just one 5-megapixel f/1.9 wide angle shooter on the front, and the dual-camera setup is on the back, with a standard angle 16MP sensor with f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization and an 8MP with a f/2.8 aperture.
LG claims that the V20 is the first phone to feature Google’s new In Apps, which supposedly helps users “find content not only from built-in apps including contacts, emails, text messages and photos but also from user-installed apps.”
In addition, a built-in Smart Doctor app monitors, analyzes and cleans up the V20’s battery and memory for optimum performance.
The V20 is set as a powerful multimedia and photography tool, with all the manual controls and flexibility to let users have their own video and recording studio in the palm of their hand.
The LG V20 is available in titan (dark gray), silver and pink. Prices depend on carriers.
