Review: LG V30 smartphone – superb photos and gorgeous display top off a hard-to-beat package
The V30’s f/1.6 camera aperture excels in low light situations, while hi-fi audio capabilities, a large OLED display and smart UI tweaks are going to make it difficult for upcoming devices from Apple and Samsung to match
After a few lacklustre devices that suffered from subpar reviews and sales, South Korean tech giant LG bounced back with the well-received G6 earlier this year. Its latest model, the V30, is another big step up from that.
Design and hardware
The way the V30 looks is a drastic departure from the V series, whose first two iterations were rugged, unabashedly large devices. Though I personally loved the V10’s grippy Kevlar back with steel railings on the sides (it looked like a phone Batman would use), the global market felt otherwise. People want sleek, curvy, “glassy” devices, and the V30 is exactly that.
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In fact, the V30, despite sporting a larger display than the G6, is 5 grams lighter and 0.5mm thinner. According to LG’s smartphone design chief Ryu Hyung-gon, this was made possible due to smaller internal components and a thinner, lighter OLED display panel.
This switch in display tech, along with further refinement of the already slim bezels of the G6, makes the V30’s screen hands down the best LG smartphone screen ever. All colours look lush and gorgeous, especially the blacks and red, and the display and glass back both curve towards the metal frame for that symmetrical “glass sandwich” look that Samsung pioneered.
