LG V50 ThinQ 5G Dual Screen review

GSMArena team, 17 Dec 2019.

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.

LG V50 ThinQ 5G review

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 - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review AOD options - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review AOD skins - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review AOD skins - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review AOD skins - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review
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 - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review Smart Bulletin - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review Homescreen - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review Home options - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review LG Bulletin or Google Feed - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review
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 - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review The Notification center - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review The Notification center - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review The Notification center - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review
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 - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review Notch options - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review Notch options - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review Notch options - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review
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 - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review Android navigation - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review
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 - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review Music - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review FM radio - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review QuickMemo+ - LG V50 ThinQ 5G review
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.

LG V50 ThinQ 5G review

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.

Reader comments

Have u found anything to replace it? Under 6,5" with solid audio & video capture?

Duo screen is the killer weapon of this phone. Sadly 95% of people arent interested in this

  • Anonymous
  • 16 Jun 2023
  • Ibx

I had a great time updating LG phone product. This phone if switched from watts apps to duo. It's a handheld computer. A smartphone on steroids. It's a one of a kind.