LG V20 hands-on: First impressions

Camera

The LG V20 has the same camera setup as the LG G5 - a 16MP (f/1.8) camera accompanied by a secondary wide-angle 8MP (f/2.4) fixed-focus snapper for 135-degree shots.

The V20 inherits all the G5 goodies, like Laser and Phase-Detect Auto Focus, Advanced OIS and the Color Spectrum sensor, but now has focused on improving another important area - stabilization.

The V20 offers Steady Record 2.0 system for its video capturing in addition to the optical stabilization - the phone is the first to offer Qualcomm's proprietary (EIS) video stabilization based on gyroscopes. And it also offers image stream analysis (DIS) for tracking a moving object and stabilizing the video by the object's line of movement. It is also capable of minimizing the objects' distortion, which is a problem with the wide angle snappers.

LG V20 is also capable of capturing lossless audio with its videos at 24bit/48kHz, which should also be able to record loud sounds of up to 132dB distortion free. According to LG such sound levels are louder than concerts and can rarely occur naturally, but football fans can occasionally get there when cheering their favorite team.

The selfie cam is now a single 5MP camera with f/1.9 lens but it can still take either normal or wide angle images just like the V0 did with its dual selfie camera setup. We still have to hear how LG has managed to pull this one off.

As for the camera performance, we snapped a few camera samples at the venue with all three cameras.

Here are a few 16MP images from the main camera:

LG V20 16MP camera samples

And here are a few shots we snapped with the wide 8MP rear camera:

LG V20 8MP wide shost

And finally, two 5MP selfies - one regular and one wide photo. We don't know how LG managed to achieve this, but the (single) camera is capable of snapping both photos at the same time. There is no quality loss at the regular one which means there is no cropping involved. But the magic behind this doesn't really matter - the important thing is we are quite happy with the results.

LG V20 5MP selfies

Unfortunately, we weren't able to shoot any video samples.

Audio

The audio department has always been a highlight at LG's flagships and the V20 is no exception. The phone comes with four DACs for very clear sound; it offers 75-step fine volume and independent L/R balance control. It supports lossless playback and is B&O Play-tuned. Even better - the phone comes with B&O Play headphones bundled in its retail box on some markets.

B&O logo on the back • the B&O Play headphones

Since LG upgraded the mics for the video recording, you can also record high-definition lossless sound (24 bit/192kHz FLAC) with the Sound Recorder.

First impressions

LG V20 seems like a worthy upgrade over its V10 predecessor. Instead of focusing on just one or two improvements, LG worked hard to upgrade pretty much every major feature within the V10 and bring the best the market can offer with the V20.

And judging by our first meeting with the LG V20 - the company did it. There is new eye-catching design, new premium body yet as tough as before, new hardware, new camera, new audio chip, battery bump, and even the secondary screen got an upgrade.

The V20 will be hitting the store this month starting with the USA and Korea. Stay tuned for our full-blown review in the upcoming weeks.