Last Updated on August 19, 2022 by Filip Poutintsev
The LG V20 is a classic. Arguably impressively built and up to its eyeballs with premium hardware; it’s not your usual phone. It wasn’t usual as a flagship phone either, probably because it didn’t do its bit to resemble all the other comfortably-sized, exotic alternatives out there.
Instead, standing like a rock, alone and tall, despite its shatterproof build, exceptional dual cameras and amazing audio quality, you might find it overpriced and not worth the hype. Let’s check out the pros and cons below.
Table of Contents
Technical specifications
- Size: 6.29 x 3.07 x 0.30 in
- Weight: 6.14 oz)
- Display Size: 5.7 inches
- Display Resolution: 1440 x 2560 pixels,
- Main camera: 16 MP / 8 MP
- Selfie camera: 5 MP
- Battery Capacity: 3200 mAh
- Battery Life: Enduring rating of 68 hours
- 4G: Yes
- Internal Storage: 32GB / 64GB
- Micro SD Card Slot: Yes, microSDXC
The pros & cons of the LG V20 at a glance
Pros
- Build quality
- Design
- Dual cameras
- Secondary display screen
- Software
- Audio
- Storage
Cons
- Battery life and charging time
- Water resistance
LG V20 phone specs
- Size: 159.5 mm x 78.1mm
- Weight: 174g
- Display size: 5.7 inches 515ppi (IPS LCD)
- Display resolution: 1440 x 2560 pixels
- Cameras: Front – 5MP, Rear (2) – 16 MP and 8MP
- Video: 3840 x 2160 @ 30 fps, 1920 x 1080 @ 30 fps, 1280 x 720 @ 120 fps
- Operating system: Android v7.0 (Nougat)
- Battery capacity: 3200 mAh
- Connectivity: 2G, 3G and 4G
- Memory: 4GB RAM
- Internal storage: 64GB
- Music: RDS FM Radio
- DOES HAVE 3.5mm headphone jack
- Extras: Fingerprint sensor, Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Compass, Gyroscope
Pros of the LG V20
Build quality
The build quality is nothing short of excellent with an aluminum unibody from head to toe, and light, despite the metal. And it has military-grade shock resistance against drops! This baby survived drop-tests on cement, road and marbled surfaces; face-down, back-down, or even edge first. Not a thing.
Design
The LG V20 has a removable back for quick access to the removable battery! The back opens with the slight push of a button on the side. You don’t have to coax it into action by means of any nail-digging!
And despite its impressive size, the phone is actually quite easy to handle, and it has a nifty little fingerprint reader on the back that also doubles as a power button and a sleep/wake switch.
A little button of many talents! Unfortunately, though, it comes in limited colours and basically an overall boring design (yawn).
Dual Cameras
There are dual cameras on the back of the phone. One is a 60MP Regular Field of View Camera, and the other is an 80MP 135° wide-angle camera. These are completely independent of each other and you can choose which to use dependent on the photo style.
The phone has excellent optical image stabilization with manual modes for both photo and video, with RAW capability. The 360° camera offers the same recording with just a press of a button.
The video saves to the MicroSD card, but to watch these videos you need to download the 360 Cam Manager app.LG has also improved the microphone with better sensitivity for recording your audio in loud environments.
Auto mode is sometimes unreliable and there is a delay when switching between cameras.
With that being said the LG V20 is still one of the best video, photo and audio devices out there.
The secondary display screen
The actual screen of the phone is a whopping 5.7 inches IPS LCD screen (513 PPI), sporting a secondary display screen along the top. Made from Corning Gorilla Glass 4, so we expect it to deal with unintentional drops and scratches really well.
The secondary screen along the top of the main one sports a host of setting buttons (WiFi, torch, sound, music, quick contacts, etc.) for quick and easy access, rather than having to go through the main screen. The screen is not curved, and it doesn’t come with a stylus like its predecessors.
Software
The LG V20 is the first android phone that runs Nougat 7.0 straight out of the box, and the LG’s user interface (LG UX 5.0) is both noticeable, and doesn’t hinder the software! The phone has a wonderful multi-window, multi-tasking capability, with a nifty KnockOn feature that allows you to unlock anything with just one tap.
Audio
The LG V20 comes with an impressive 32bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC, which basically converts digital audio signal straight to analogue the moment you plug in your headphones or speakers. This gives you an incredible crisper and fuller sound.
The LG V20 has incomparable sound recording because of the three microphones and a concert recording setup for when you want to capture live music, who knew? These settings, like “gain” can be customized, if you’re that way inclined or actually know what you’re doing!
If that’s not enough, you are able to playback an MP3 and record your voice over it. Plus, your onboard speakers are vastly improved, being able to pump out a finer quality, louder sound.
Storage
The phone has sizeable storage of 64GB with a microSD card slot, which can house up to 256GB more! And, it is nowhere near underpowered with its quad-core Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820 (2 x 2.15 GHz, 2 x 1.6 GHz) and a sizeable 4 GB of RAM.
More LG Phones:
- Pros and Cons of the LG V10
- Pros and Cons of the LG G5
- Pros and Cons of the LG G4
- Pros and Cons of the LG G3
Cons of the LG V20
Battery life and charging time
It has a massive 3200 mAh battery which is removable, that’s handy, especially as it’s not the greatest for longevity, despite its size. And the removable battery allows you to carry another for replacement when the time comes and you’re nowhere near a charger, but you can use the phone while charging it.
Despite being so big, it’s not impressive by way of performance managing to last up to about a day, depending on how much, and for what you have been using it. And it does not cater for wireless charging.
Also, when it’s brand new and shiny, it only needs up to 30 minutes to charge to 50% full, and about 90 minutes to charge to 100%.
Water resistance
Like a major con. This phone is not waterproof and doesn’t even pretend to be water-resistant. In fact, avoid water like the plague or suffer disastrous consequences.
FAQ Section
How do I make my LG V20 battery last longer?
Battery drain is a serious problem among smartphones, so if this is something you’ve experienced, here are some potential solutions to the problem:
Restart your phone and check to see if the battery drain persists.
Check to see if an app is draining the battery by going to Settings and checking your battery settings there.
Try switching on the Battery Saver feature.
You can also clear the Cache Partition.
And as a last resort, you can also try a factory reset.
How do I update my LG V20?
You want to keep your LG V20 updated especially when it comes to receiving the latest corrections in security, as well as the latest news regarding the operating system, improvements in speed and your battery’s performance.
To update your LG V20, make sure that your phone’s battery is fully charged and that you’re connected to a WiFi network because you’ll be downloading large amounts of data.
Then you go to Settings, which is the little gear icon on the home screen, scroll down and click on “Software Updates”, from there you select “Check for updates”.
