LG V10 Review

LG has always tried to answer Samsung’s Notes with its G Pro’s but there was always something missing, now LG has come forward with its latest creation in the android market, LG V10 has a secondary display which is always on and shows you the time, date, reminder or any other notification. Is this feature enough to compete with Samsung’s S Pen? Read the full review to know.

DESCRIPTION

The description of LG V10 includes:

• Qualcomm MSM8992 Snapdragon 808 Chipset system
• Quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53 & dual-core 1.82 GHz Cortex-A57 processor
• Android OS, v5.1.1 (Lollipop) operating system
• Adreno 418 GPU
• 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and an expansion slot for external memory
• 6 mm length; 79.3mm width and 8.6mm thickness
• A screen of 7 inch and 1440 x 2560 pixels display resolution
• It weighs 192g
• 16 MP rear camera
• 5 MP front camera
• Price of $672

Build

• The design of LG V10 is good looking, but with the given colours and shape it rather ends up looking boring.
• It feels nothing more than a cold slab of rubber and plastic.
• The design has nothing warm about it, if for a split second it is compared to G4, one would say that this is a completely modern device while G4 was representing old aesthetics.
• The handset feels robust in hand.
• It is a little uncomfortable to hold due to the rough rubber back.
• The metal edges add a touch of much needed elegance to the handset.
• The handset weighs 192g which makes it a little heavy to hold.
• The phone is somewhat slippery in hand.
• Measuring 8.6mm in thickness it feels fine.
• The power and volume key are present on the back beneath the camera.
• There are no buttons on the edges.
• Headphone jack and USB port are on the bottom edge.
• The power key on the back is also a fingerprint scanner.
• The screen to body ratio of the device is 70.8%.
• The handset has a 5.7 inch display.
• The navigation buttons are present on the display.
• The LG logo is embossed on the bottom bezel.
• The handset comes in colours of Space Black, Luxe White, Modern Beige, Ocean Blue, Opal Blue.

Display

The good stuff:

• LG V10 ha a 5.7 inch screen.
• The display resolution of the screen is 1440 x 2560 pixels. Quad HD resolution will impress a lot of people.
• The pixel density of the screen is 515ppi.
• The colour temperature of the screen is 7877 Kelvin.
• The maximum brightness is at 457nits while minimum brightness is 4nits.
• One new feature that has been introduced in LG V10 is that it has a short LCD panel strip right above the display.
• The panel strip is always on, even when the phone is asleep.
• It displays time, date and notifications.
• You can also turn it off by going in the settings if you do not want to see this.
• The secondary screen is actually very useful, you can store your favourite contacts, next calendar event, and other things on it. There is an icon for recent app list which comes in handy.

The not so good stuff:

• Colours are a bit cold but one can get used to them.
• The LCD panel does not have much brightness as it is not supposed to consume much power as a result it barely alerts us to any kind of notification.

Performance

• V10 has Qualcomm MSM8992 Snapdragon 808 chipset system.
• The installed processor is Quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53 & dual-core 1.82 GHz Cortex-A57.
• Adreno 418 is the graphic unit.
• It has 64 GB RAM.
• The performance of the handset is very fast.
• All the apps play smoothly.
• A few lags were noticed but not so much that it disturbed our experience.
• The response time is very fast.
• All the games can be played on the handset

The not so good stuff:

• The graphic unit is somewhat limited because we noticed a few lags during the heavy games like Asphalt 8.

Camera

The good stuff:

• The handset has a 16 megapixel camera at the back.
• The camera app of LG V10 is filled with features and modes.
• The interface is good.
• It feels like attention has been paid to the design of the camera app.
• The images produced by the handset are simply stunning.
• The images are sharp and clear.
• The colour calibration of the images is very close to natural.
• Even when we tried to capture blurry images the camera still gave clear shots, this thing is really commendable.
• The front camera gives very detailed images, the colour are perfect.
• There are two front cameras one is used for selfies while the other one having a wider lens can be used for group selfies.
• The camera can record HD and 4K videos.

The not so good stuff:

• Camera app becomes unresponsive at time, while shooting some pictures the camera just got stuck and we couldn’t get it to response. After 5 minutes it went back to normal.
• That’s a lot of time and the wait was really frustrating. As if one time wasn’t enough the camera got stuck at least once every time we used it.
• The camera app is very unreliable as it renders the handset unusable when its stuck.
• The video quality is not good, sometimes the videos seem grainy.

Memory & Battery

The good stuff:

• The handset has 3000mAh removable battery
• The total screen on time of the device is 5 hours and 53 minutes.
• The charging time of the handset is very fast, requiring only 65 minutes to charge from 0-100%.

The not so good stuff:

• The screen on time is very less.
• The battery will get you through a day and a half with medium use but heavy users cannot expect more than 12 hours.

Features

The good stuff:

• LG V10 runs Android v5.1 (Lollipop) operating system.
• The interface of v10 is very flexible.
• With time you can get used to the interface or you can spend a lot of time adjusting it the way you like.
• The video app can play many kinds of formats.
• Sound quality and call quality both are good.

The not so good stuff:

• The user interface is customizable to the point that it has become a nuisance.
• There are so many options to adjust each and everything in the way you like.
• LG has skilfully tried to escape its design responsibilities, but it’s not something we admire
• The email app and the keyboard are designed poorly.

The package will contain:

• LG V10
• USB cables.
• Safety and warranty information
• Wall charger
• Earphones

Verdict

LG is really trying to win the phablet crown but V10 is not the answer to this. On the whole the phablet leaves something to be desired. LG has crammed the handset with features and specifications but they end up uncoordinated and confusing. There are some advantages like microSD card slot, LCD panel strip and removable battery but the disadvantages are more; design is not impressive enough, battery life is low, camera app becomes unresponsive and the display is faulty.  LG really needs to up its game.

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