LG V50 ThinQ 5G Dual Screen review

LG UX 8.0 and Android Pie

The LG V50 ThinQ boots Android 9 Pie skinned with the LG UX 8.0 - the same UI we saw on the G8. There is a newer version - LG UX 9.0 - that's available on the G8X and it is coming on the V50 sometime in early 2020.

The LG UX 8.0 supports Always-on display, but you can opt out of it, of course. LG's AOD implementation is quite detailed, with various options for skins, music controls, AI information, and even low and high brightness. You can set a timeout interval as usual - say don't show AOD at night.

The fingerprint scanner is over at the back and is always-on and blazing-fast, the V50 unlocks instantaneously upon touch.

The lockscreen • AOD options • AOD skins

Upon successful unlocking, you will see the usual homescreens with apps and widgets. The leftmost pane is Google Feed, but you can opt for LG's Smart Bulletin, or turn this page off.

There is no app drawer on the LG UX 8.0 by default, but you can opt for one from the homescreen settings.

Homescreen • Smart Bulletin • Homescreen • Home options • LG Bulletin or Google Feed

The Notification area has the same logic and toggles as before. The Task Switcher is a 3D rolodex of cards with spilt-screen option.

Task switcher • The Notification center

LG likes to call the area around the notch New Second Screen and claims this is an enhanced version of the second screen from the V10 and V20. No matter the name, the notch is there, and it splits the top of the screen. It fits the usual stuff - notification icons, status items, the clock and network bars. Unlike most other makers, LG gives you the option to embrace the notch and assign custom colors to the horns and pick one of two different corner radiuses.

Notch options

The Android navigation is done with the tree onscreen keys by default (Back, Home, Tasks), but you can opt for the Gesture and Buttons navigation familiar from previous UX versions.

Android navigation

All LG apps and functions are part of the LG UX 8.0. LG has taken care of the multimedia, too, and you get a Music player, Gallery, there is even an FM radio app and support. LG Heath app is available, and LG's popular QucikMemo+ is part of UX 8.0. The Korean units may even get a TV app that works with the integrated TV tuner.

Gallery • Music • FM radio • QuickMemo+

Performance and benchmarks

The LG V50 ThinQ 5G is powered by the Snapdragon 855 (non-plus) chip by Qualcomm. It is the same SoC the LG G8 and G8X had under their hoods, but the version within the V50 also contains the optional 5G modem.

The Snapdragon 855 based on the 7nm node from TSMC and the chip employs an octa-core processor with 1+3+4 configuration - there is a single Kryo 485 Gold core (a Cortex-A76 derivative) clocked at 2.84GHz; three more Kryo 485 Gold cores clocked at 2.42GHz and a cluster of four Kryo 485 Silver cores (Cortex-A55 derivative) ticking at 1.78GHz.

The GPU is Adreno 640, and it's Qualcomm's top-of-the-line graphics processor that can handle pretty much everything you throw at it. And the V50 surely needs a flagship GPU as it has a high-res QuadHD+ screen.

The LG V50 has 6GB of RAM and offers 128GB storage.

Finally, the LG V50 also comes with the Snapdragon X50 5G modem, which is available as an expansion to the regular Snapdragon 855 chip.

The GeekBench CPU test still paints that Snapdragon 855's processor as the champ for multi-core tasks.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  11936
• LG G8X ThinQ
  11251
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  11246
• Sony Xperia 5
  10941
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  10928
• LG G8 ThinQ
  10735
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  10403
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  10387
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  10014
• LG V40 ThinQ
  8568
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  6737

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  2972
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  2807
• Sony Xperia 5
  2806
• LG G8X ThinQ
  2763
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  2693
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  2300
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  1737

But as far as single-core performance is concerned, the newest custom core by Samsung does much better.

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  4541
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  4522
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  3864
• LG G8X ThinQ
  3508
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  3502
• Sony Xperia 5
  3493
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  3484
• LG G8 ThinQ
  3419
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  3323
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  2536
• LG V40 ThinQ
  2408

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  822
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  780
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  779
• Sony Xperia 5
  751
• LG G8X ThinQ
  746
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  736
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  544

The V50 surely has the raw power to ace offscreen graphics benchmarks, but framerates predictably take a hit in onscreen testing. The more pixels of the QHD+ display mean FullHD rivals like the OnePlus 7T Pro and Xperia 5 will post better numbers.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T Pro
  80
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  76
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  70
• LG G8X ThinQ
  70
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  69
• Sony Xperia 5
  69
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  68
• LG G8 ThinQ
  65
• LG V40 ThinQ
  56
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  56
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  30

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T Pro
  48
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  43
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  42
• LG G8X ThinQ
  42
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  42
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  42
• LG G8 ThinQ
  40
• Sony Xperia 5
  40
• LG V40 ThinQ
  34
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  33
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  17

3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T Pro
  6921
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  6322
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  6320
• LG G8 ThinQ
  6017
• LG G8X ThinQ
  5808
• Sony Xperia 5
  5592
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  5287
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  4632
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  4315
• LG V40 ThinQ
  3135
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  2481

But in reality, only a handful of games support native 1440p resolution, so most games will run on 1080p anyway.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• LG G8X ThinQ
  58
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  56
• Sony Xperia 5
  52
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  50
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  40
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  37
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  36
• LG G8 ThinQ
  33
• LG V40 ThinQ
  29
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  27

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• LG G8X ThinQ
  38
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  34
• Sony Xperia 5
  33
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  29
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  24
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  24
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  23
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  22
• LG G8 ThinQ
  20
• LG V40 ThinQ
  16
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  15

In Antutu, the LG V50 didn't quite put out the same numbers as the OnePlus 7T Pro, which is running on the Plus version of the S855 chip. It still scored an excellent mark on this test, though.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7T Pro
  395868
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  378950
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  343758
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  342208
• LG G8X ThinQ
  339726
• Sony Xperia 5
  334809
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  333736
• LG G8 ThinQ
  331537
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  316156
• LG V40 ThinQ
  254304
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  213566

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 30 Pro (Perf mode)
  468595
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G
  421934
• Sony Xperia 5
  416601
• LG G8X ThinQ
  411980
• Xiaomi Mi Note 10
  256717

The LG V50 delivers top-notch performance across the board, and it still has one of the most powerful and current chips on the market. Even though the screen resolution is GPU-demanding, most of the games still run on 1080p and the performance won't suffer at all. So, whatever you decide to run or play on the V50, it will blazing-fast without any bottlenecks even when using the Dual Screen case.