LG V60 Dual Screen review: V for versatility

LG is planning a major upgrade for its next mainstream smartphone, but before getting there, the company decided to launch another entry in its V series, the V60 ThinQ. With advanced manual camera controls, a hi-fi headphone jack, and high-end specs, these phones have always been geared toward tech enthusiasts.

This year, LG is underestimating the price of Samsung’s Galaxy S20, the Android standard-bearer for 2020, while also trying to introduce many updates to the V60. It has a Snapdragon 865 processor with 5G connectivity and is capable of recording 8K videos. You can equip the V60 with a second display (with the optional dual-display case) for unmatched multitasking. Microsoft’s Surface Duo is slated to arrive later this year, and will push the dual-screen phone concept, but LG is already third try the V60.

But the V60 lacks some of the features that are becoming more common on “flagship” Android devices in 2020. There’s no smooth 90Hz or 120Hz display; Instead, LG is left with a traditional 60Hz panel with no frills. Its bezels are easy to see and thicker than what you would find in a Samsung or OnePlus. As other high-end devices move up to 12GB of RAM (and more), LG is being a little conservative with 8GB of memory. And despite continual refinement, the dual-screen accessory never unlocks its full potential – the big selling point is still that basic, basic ability to run different applications side by side. But LG’s distinctive features: a good camera, wonderful headphone audio, and top-notch performance are still represented in the V60. Prices are a little scattered, as the phone costs $ 800 (T-Mobile) or around $ 900 with the dual display on Verizon and AT&T. Either way, you enter below the S20’s $ 999 tag price.

The V60 alone long ago (doubly if you get it with the dual display) which, in a vacuum, is hard not to be impressed. Battery life is amazing, and it’s a great fit for the type of person who will use all the tricks this phone has in their arsenal. If it’s not you, there are many reasons to look at Samsung or OnePlus.

However, a fair caveat: Even people familiar with LG’s past efforts will be surprised by the size of the V60. This is a large, speaker phone. At 6.67 inches tall and 3.06 inches wide, it is somehow even bigger than the Galaxy S20 Ultra and doesn’t mind ergonomics. Their possible Using the V60 with one hand, but doing so is a discouraged exercise in finger gymnastics and grip adjustments. Chamfered aluminum rails offer a secure grip on the phone, which has a 6.8-inch flat screen and rear-tilted glass. The volume toggles and a non-reassignable Google Assistant shortcut button occupies the left side, with the power button to the right. The V60 comes with 128GB of storage, but supports microSD expansion.

At the bottom you’ll find a speaker (which doubles as the earphone for stereo output), a USB-C port, and a headphone jack, which still includes LG’s excellent 32-bit DAC for level music playback. audiophile if you have the right headphones to get the most out of it. LG is commended both for holding the jack and for offering a listening experience that can rival dedicated hi-fi audio players. Listening to high-resolution tracks on Amazon Music HD with my Sennheiser headphones made me appreciate LG’s quest to preserve the headphone jack even when everyone else has moved.

The V60 comes in white (with silver trim) or navy blue, which has a gold frame. For me, there is no debate: the blue V60 is an amazing phone. White, meanwhile, is forgettable. LG uses an on-screen optical fingerprint scanner on the V60, and my success rate was mixed, inconsistent, and worse than the readers I’ve used on Samsung and OnePlus phones. This is one of those cases where I miss the oldest and most reliable rear fingerprint sensors. (The V60 doesn’t have a Face ID equivalent like the G8 ThinQ.)

The V60’s display is a nice 2460 x 1080 OLED panel with a small tear notch that houses the front camera. As I mentioned earlier, LG has failed to remove the bezels to the same extent as other companies. Some will find the black edges ugly; Others will be grateful for avoiding accidental presses, an occasional frustration that affects curved screens with barely any bezels. The brightness, color vibrancy, contrast, and viewing angles are perfectly satisfying, if a step or two below the best Samsung phone screens.

But the lack of a smooth 90Hz or 120Hz refresh rate is noticeable and becomes even more apparent when you switch between the V60 and something like the Galaxy S20 or Pixel 4 XL. Not everyone will mind, and I think LG made this offset partially because it drove two Displays at 90Hz or 1440p would have posed a challenge. Still, I wish the option existed at least for the primary phone. To me, this is the V60’s most dazzling drawback compared to its 2020 competition. It offers a ton of power, but feels held back, like it didn’t get the entire upgrade checklist, by the same scrolling as ever.

So the screen is a little disappointing, but there is something good in all of this. Limiting the display to 60Hz and a modest resolution, combined with a massive 5,000mAh battery, helps the V60 achieve fantastic battery life. I was able to keep the V60 working well for a second day of frequent use. However, this resistance only applies when using the phone alone, as enabling the Dual Screen case will reduce battery life by 20 to 30 percent.

Throughout my review period, the Snapdragon 865 chipset has worked flawlessly, with the V60 chewing on whatever task I threw at it. Wi-Fi 6 is supported, and the V60 can mine 5G data on T-Mobile and AT&T, though only Verizon is selling a version that works with ultrafast (but very limited) millimeter wave 5G.

Like the G8x, the V60’s dual display connects via USB-C. There’s a small magnetic adapter that plugs into the bottom of the case if you want to plug it in to charge while it’s on, though fast wireless charging is the most convenient option in that scenario. The secondary display is an exact match to the main display, with the same resolution and even the notch cut. (It’s literally the same part of the panel, which LG says helps reduce costs and preserve color consistency.)

The most common use case for dual screen is the simplest: two applications at the same time. This is the latest Zoom phone, let me tell you. You can chat with your colleagues via Zoom on one screen and watch cute pets on Instagram with each other. Do you want to browse Twitter while watching Netflix, YouTube or Prime Video? They have on it. Once we are allowed to get out again, I know the V60 will make it easier to keep an eye on my Uber or Lyft while writing an email at the same time. And this makes it an easy way to listen to music on YouTube while doing something else on the home screen. It’s all superfluous, but sometimes I still like flexibility.

LG optimizes some of its own dual screen apps. When you take a photo with the camera and tap to view the photo, it appears on the secondary screen, so the camera app stays open and ready for more photos. You can use the V60 as a mini laptop or portable game console with the entire bottom screen as a keyboard or gamepad. You can also spread a small number of apps (including some from Google like Maps, Gmail, and Chrome) on both screens at once, but I never found this very useful. The gap in the middle is too difficult to ignore. LG, now in its third dual-screen release, hasn’t made much progress and is leaving Microsoft a great opportunity to come in and show everyone what a two-screen Android device really can be. But remember, you can always unplug the thick, heavy dual-screen case when you don’t need those multitasking powers. Versatility points I guess.

The dual rear camera system offers good results, with the main 64MP sensor (pixels grouped up to 16MP) being able to capture a lot of dynamic range and detail. LG started the ultra-wide trend, so that’s what the second 13MP camera is for. As is the norm, it is slightly softer than the primary one. The third “lens” is just a time-of-flight sensor for depth data, so the V60 doesn’t have any sort of optical zoom or portrait lens in its repertoire. But I was very pleased with LG’s color processing, nice depth of field, and overall camera performance. The company is using a larger sensor this year, which explains some of those improvements. If the V60 has a weakness, it is the night mode, which does not meet the standard that Apple, Google and Huawei have set. Video recording is solid too: LG gives you more manual control over settings and bit rate than most Android phones, though 8K is over the top nonsense right now. You can’t even edit 8K images on the device, so what does that tell you? Stick with 4K or 1080p and the V60 still excels, second only to Apple in video quality.

You can always count on LG to add a very weird camera feature, and this time, it’s 3D photos. If you’ve ever seen one of these on Facebook, you know what to expect. Take a photo and the V60 uses depth information to create the illusion that the focused object is moving as you move your phone. I took like two of these and then completely ignored the 3D photos. A more pleasant and important touch about the camera is that, in most lighting conditions, the viewfinder is displayed at 60fps. It doesn’t really add any benefit, but now that I’ve tried it, I want that camera smoothness on any other phone.

Grid view

LG’s software is still a messy mix. Some of them are good, like the excellent camera app, which has all the manual controls you could want and useful tools like the focus pick. The audio recorder app is also the best in its class. I even had a good experience with LG Pay (it turned out I had one of the few cards that are currently supported), which can trick payment terminals into thinking you stole a real credit card with a magnetic stripe, just like Samsung Pay.

Other corners of the software experience feel neglected. Icons and overall appearance feel dated (even after a recent update). And somehow, still, in 2020, LG’s app launcher can’t keep apps organized alphabetically. Every time you install a new app or game, you must sort the list again. Come on. Switching to a third-party launcher means losing Android 10 gesture navigation, and none of them are optimized for the secondary display. Uncomfortable software decisions extend to the dual screen, which is treated as its own home screen, which makes a lot of sense, but it also has its own app drawer instead of just mirroring the main phone, which doesn’t have any sense.

And then there is bloatware. LG is not selling an unlocked version of the V60 in the US. So it’s at the mercy of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, and it’s not pretty. After setting up your phone, you’ll find at least five or six games you don’t want and a handful of operator apps you can’t completely uninstall. The Verizon V60 constantly presented me with a “useful” device status notification that encouraged me to restart the phone and clear the cache. These are unnecessary and annoying distractions that people really don’t need to worry about.

One of the V60’s lower radar benefits is proper pen support. If you buy a Wacom pen, you’ll get a pressure sensitivity similar to the Galaxy Note for drawing. There’s an optional slider shortcut bar where you can quickly start typing a new note, jot down what’s on your screen, and access other tricks. LG doesn’t have its own stylus like Samsung’s S-Pen or a slot to carry one, but what’s in here is pretty handy and, again, it talks about the V60’s versatility.

It should say everything about the V60 being a game of all kinds that ended with the pen holder. This phone gives you a ton for $ 800, even if you don’t have the dual screen. He’s an amazing artist, battery life could be the best for any phone in 2020 so far, and he’s got great headphone audio. But I really wish LG had done more with the giant screen. I can handle the bezels very well, but the high-update displays are already becoming table bets at this price in the Android world. If I’m sacrificing comfort and ergonomics, the screen had better be awesome. And I’m willing to pay a couple of hundred dollars extra for it.

Photograph by Chris Welch / The Verge

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