Are you a big fan of smartphone cameras ready to capture every single moment? If that’s the case, you should take a look at this LG V40 ThinQ review.
Each section of this review is carefully written to provide comprehensive details about the LG V40 ThinQ. Actually, there’s the design, display, camera, battery, storage, and sensors sections.
Still in those sections, I will be providing ratings based on the features as well as device comparisons. After fully reading this review, you will know just how sophisticated or not this camera-focused phone is!
My Initial Thoughts
There have been many views that the Samsung A72 (2020) and the Nokia 9 PureView (2019) were the first Penta camera smartphones. However, LG made that happen far back in 2018 with the LG V40 ThinQ.
In 2018 when LG announced V40 ThinQ, quite a number of photo enthusiasts were looking forward to this flagship smartphone. Curiosity took over as many wondered how five cameras on a single smartphone would perform.
With that background information, you’ll definitely be among the curious ones, right? Well, you’ll satisfy your curiosity by reading this LG V40 ThinQ review till the very end.
LG V40 ThinQ Design, Dimensions And Weight Review
This LG flagship smartphone looks every bit like a modern sophisticated smartphone. For starters, this phone has a metal build which is expected for a premium device.
To further increase its premium design, LG made this phone’s back with glass. Yup! You heard right, it’s not just the screen that’s glass, the back is also glass.
LG says it sandblasted this backglass so you don’t have to worry about this phone developing scratches. As you probably guessed, this design pattern achieves a sleek, smooth feel when holding the phone.
However, beware because such a smooth feel means that this phone doesn’t have a solid grip. It’s advisable that you get a phone case just to be on the safe side.
Furthermore, expect that the shiny look on this phone’s back would serve as your mirror and also attract some smudges. Speaking of shiny, the back of this smartphone also gives a metallic brightness when it comes in contact with light.
Not forgetting of course that the curved edges of this phone add to its stylish look. This phone definitely doesn’t feel small in the hand, in fact, it fulls your hand more like a phablet.
To be exact, 158.7 x 75.6 x 7.8 mm is the dimension of the LG V40 ThinQ. Even with that dimension, this is a lightweight smartphone weighing 168.9 g.
You’re probably having doubts if this is actually a lightweight phone. However, other smartphones within its range like the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 weigh as much as 200 g.
Another flagship smartphone in this range is the OnePlus 6T which weighs 182 g. Now you get why the LG V40 ThinQ is a lightweight phone in its own right.
It’s usual that smartphone manufacturers provide different color options to choose from. In the case of the LG V40 ThinQ, you can get this lightweight smartphone in aurora black, carmine red, blue, or platinum gray.
On the phone’s surface, you’ll be pleased with the near bezel-less sides. Actually, there’s the notch cut out that gives this phone a more bezel-less look.
The only slight bezel you’ll see is at the lower end of the phone’s surface and it’s not noticeable. It’s on the notch cut out you’ll see the dual front-facing cameras.
On the lower end of this phone are the single speaker, audio jack, and a Type-C charging port. Even though it’s a single speaker, it produces great sound output.
In fact, it’s almost as though the sound is coming from the back of the phone. Moving to the phone’s sides, the power button is on the right side of the phone.
Still on that right side, there’s the SIM tray. This SIM tray has a single nano sim slot and microSD card slot.
It can be disappointing sometimes when a smartphone has just one sim slot especially if you have two sim cards. On the LG V40 ThinQ, you can sacrifice the microSD card slot for an additional nano-SIM slot instead.
This means that the microSD card slot can be used alternatively as a SIM card slot. Moving on, when you turn over this phone, you see the triple rear-facing camera in all of its glory.
Actually, these cameras are arranged horizontally and besides this arrangement is the LED flash. Just below that setup is the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
It’s also on this phone’s back that you’ll see the only indicator that this is an LG product. To be exact, there’s the “LG ThinQ” text logo after the fingerprint sensor.
Interestingly, the LG V40 ThinQ has an IP68 rating. To clarify, the IP68 is an international standard rating that says this phone is water-resistant.
More precisely, this smartphone is dustproof and water-resistant. The LG V40 ThinQ can survive over 1.5 meters deep in water for up to 30 minutes.
In a nutshell, there’s everything to love about the design features of this premium smartphone. With that in mind, I will be giving this section a rating of nine out of ten in this LG V40 ThinQ review.
LG V40 ThinQ Display Features Review
Display features are definitely one aspect of a smartphone you should be really concerned about since you’ll be using this more often. A smartphone’s display is made up of its resolution, display type, and size.
Taking them one at a time, the LG V40 ThinQ comes with Quad-HD+ (3120 x 1440) display resolution. One main reason to love this resolution is the sharp and super clear images you get on this display.
Having such high resolution is also a big plus especially if you’re a game lover. Despite all the sweet things about the Quad-HD+, this is a battery consumer.
This means you shouldn’t be surprised if you notice a strain on the battery as you use this phone – and it’s all thanks to the QHD+. The only way you can help minimize battery consumption is by switching the QHD+ display to Full HD instead.
By making that switch – which can be done in the display settings, the Full HD wouldn’t consume as much battery as the QHD+.
In the aspect of display technology, the V40 has an OLED display like that of the iPhone XS. This OLED display makes it possible for colors to look rich and saturated.
Furthermore, viewing angles are great which makes it possible to view the display in its original form even when the screen is tilted. When in direct sunlight, you won’t have to strain your eyes because brightness is very good at 638 nits.
For clarity, nits refer to the measurement of brightness a screen has. Comparatively, the LG V40 ThinQ doesn’t have as much as the 710 nits of the Samsung Note 9 – however, the V40 does well enough.
The 6.4″ display size of this smartphone is quite massive. You will definitely not miss any main highlight when watching that football game or watching that suspense-filled movie.
In brief, LG offers the very best in display features and that reason makes this section worthy of a nine in this LG V40 ThinQ review.
LG V40 ThinQ Camera Features Review
Over the years, the V series smartphones have been known for their great camera. As expected, this LG V40 ThinQ is nothing short of its great shots.
As I stated earlier, there are three rear-facing cameras on this phone. This camera setup comprises of 12 MP telephoto camera with ƒ/1.5 aperture, a 16 MP ultra-wide camera with ƒ/1.9 aperture, and a 12 MP primary camera with ƒ/2.4 aperture.
Surprisingly, this phone also offers a dual front-facing camera.
The dual front-facing camera consists of an 8 MP camera with ƒ/1.9 aperture and a 5 MP camera with ƒ/ 2.2 aperture. Just in case you didn’t know, an aperture is as important as a megapixel (MP).
This is because it is responsible for how wide the camera lens opens and its reception to light. It’s also worth noting that a low aperture is what you should be rooting for – that’s the real measure of good picture quality.
Now that you know the features, let’s talk about what this camera can actually do. Shots are super clear in the daytime and proper lighting situations. Colors and contrast are also evident in pictures.
The high dynamic range (HDR) does well in providing details – not remarkable but certainly useable. Even in ultra-wide mode, you get a good view with very pleasing details on images.
The LG V40 ThinQ also has AI (artificial intelligence) cam mode that provides high color saturation and good sharpness. Taking portraits with this phone does great even in low-light settings.
If you tend to have fun more at night, you’ll definitely capture great moments with this phone. The LG V40 ThinQ is impressive when taking pictures in the nighttime.
Impressively, you get a good amount of detail with the night shots. To further provide great shots at night, LG included the super bright camera feature in this phone.
This bright camera feature is mainly meant for detecting very low light situations around the object. After detecting, it then brightens up the object’s surroundings before taking the shot.
The dual front-facing cameras are impressive with color accuracy and face toning. Also, there’s the wide selfie feature that makes it’s possible to capture everyone in a group selfie.
Phase detection and autofocus are some of the many features this camera offers. All these cameras are easy to use thanks to the picture-taking features LG included.
One interesting feature, in particular, is called “triple preview’ – this feature helps you view an object in all three camera modes before actually taking a shot.
Furthermore, there’s another feature called “triple shot”. This functions by helping you take a single shot in all three camera modes.
Both features are very useful for those who can be indecisive on which camera mode to go with.
When it comes to taking videos, you can record in 4K or 1080p at 60, 20, or 30 frames per second. Also, taking videos won’t stress you on this phone thanks to the video stabilization it has.
In a nutshell, every single camera lens on this smartphone stands out by taking impressive shots. This phone didn’t disappoint as a camera-focused phone and for that, this section deserves a nine in this LG V40 ThinQ review.
LG V40 ThinQ Battery Life And Talk Time Review
A 3300 mAh non-removable battery is what you’ll find in the LG V40 ThinQ. It’s only normal to expect a non-removable battery in a 2018 premium smartphone like this so we can’t complain.
However, for the fact that it’s a 2018 smartphone, I was expecting something bigger than 3000mAh. Considering the display resolution and the ton of things you can do with this phone, 3000 won’t do so well.
Anyway, this battery can only give you a full day on average use with the display brightness turned down.
When it comes to battery life, the LG V40 ThinQ lasts up to 20 hours on average talk time. As for continuous video streaming, it lasts 9 hours 22 minutes using Wi-Fi and screen brightness at its maximum.
This is obviously nothing close to the 4000mAh of the Samsung Note 9, which lasted 14 hours on the same video streaming. Like I earlier said, LG could have done better.
Another aspect of the battery we need to take note of is how long it takes for the phone to get a full charge. With the quick charger that comes in the box, you’ll get 0-40% in 30 minutes.
Furthermore, the Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 on this phone can achieve 80% charge in 35 minutes. That’s not so impressive but neither is it so disappointing either.
Still on its charging speed, the V40 ThinQ also has a wireless charging feature. In case this term is new to you, wireless charging is just as the name implies, you don’t need a typical charging USB cable.
Specifically, this feature transmits power with the use of electromagnetic induction. It’s in the wireless charging pad that this electromagnetic induction is infused in the form of a coil.
By placing a wireless charging enabled device on the wireless charging pad, a wireless transmission occurs between both devices. To know if the device is actually charging, you’ll see an LED indicator light up on the wireless charger.
As much as this is a welcome development to the world of smartphones, you should expect it to be fast. In fact, wireless chargers are a lot slower than typical phone chargers.
For the V40 ThinQ, it gets fully charged from 0-100% in over 3 hours with the use of a 10W Qi wireless charger.
In a word, the fast charger and wireless charging features of the V40 has actually made up for its rather disappointing battery size. These reasons are why I will be rating this section a nine in this LG V40 ThinQ review.
LG V40 ThinQ Storage Options And Performance Review
The storage capacity of the LG V40 ThinQ is what you’ll typically expect on a flagship smartphone. Actually, LG provided two different storage options to choose from.
You can get this phone with 64 GB or 128 GB at slightly different prices. It also seems to be a trend among flagship smartphones.
For example, the Samsung Note 9 and OnePlus 6T also have 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB storage options. When compared with others, it’s proper to say that the LG V40 ThinQ is definitely not out of place with its storage.
If you do end up going for this phone with its 128 GB storage, it’s important you know that you won’t be getting that exact storage space. Instead, you’ll get 107 GB and this is because 21 GB has been used by the phone’s operating system.
The same thing is applicable for the 64 GB. All the same, if the storage just won’t be enough, there is an additional option.
To be precise, you can expand the storage capacity with a microSD of up to 2 TB. Funny enough, it’s almost impossible to get a MicroSD card of 2 TB, anyway, we still appreciate LG for making the storage expansion that large.
Notably, this 2 TB storage expansion is quite common among LG smartphones so it’s not really a surprise having it on here too. Furthermore, you’ll actually have to purchase the SD card separately because it doesn’t come with the phone.
For a premium 2018 smartphone, it has pretty good storage include the storage expansion. So, this storage section deserves a nine in this LG V40 ThinQ review.
LG V40 ThinQ Security Features And Sensors Review
Sensors are an important part of smartphones that adds to the effectiveness of the device in carrying out tasks. There are quite a number of sensors that can be found in different smartphones.
They are actually twelve in number which we can list all. However, the LG V40 ThinQ has six of those and they are the accelerometer, barometer, compass, gyro, proximity, and fingerprint sensors.
Knowing these terms means nothing if you don’t know what their functions are. To start with, the accelerometer as the name implies – functions by measuring acceleration.
In plain terms, this sensor determines the orientation of the phone. A good example is an auto-rotation mode we often make use of in devices.
Next is the barometer sensor which measures altitude. This sensor is what’s responsible for telling the number of steps you’ve taken in a day or your level of speed while working out.
The compass sensor does as its name implies. It functions as the typical sensor you use for knowing coordinates and getting direction while on the move.
As for the gyro sensor, it’s similar to the accelerometer but in a more advanced form. Actually, this gyro sensor is responsible for making that race car bend when you’re playing a car racing game.
Next up is the proximity sensor which is one very common sensor in smartphones. This is the sensor responsible for how the screen turns off when it’s close to your ear or face during a phone call.
Lastly, there’s the fingerprint sensor. This fingerprint sensor is the security feature of this smartphone and is a common one we are generally used to in smartphones.
Rather than using a PIN or pattern, you simply unlock the LG V40 ThinQ with your fingerprint. This fingerprint sensor is also very responsive in authenticating.
In addition to this sensor, there’s also the face recognition feature on this smartphone. Just by looking at the front-facing camera, this phone actually unlocks.
As a whole, the LG included all the essential sensors and even more as expected for a phone in its range. Because of that reason, this section will be rated nine in this LG V40 ThinQ.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The LG V40 ThinQ is not a 5G smartphone.
Yes. This smartphone will survive 30 minutes underwater.
No. There is no stylus pen for this phone.
Yes. Wireless charging is very much supported on this phone.
This LG’s flagship smartphone was released in October 2018.
My Initial Thoughts
For a smartphone that costs $306 (in October 2021), the LG V40 ThinQ offers the very best for a premium device. Asides from having five brilliant cameras, its display, large storage expansion, and aesthetic design are definitely commendable.
Competing with the likes of iPhone X and Samsung Note 9 is no small feat. The LG V40 ThinQ definitely has its own bragging rights.
In essence, picture lovers and photography enthusiasts should definitely consider this smartphone. This smartphone is also worth considering for those who love a device that’s best described as a “full package”.
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Reference And Further Reading
- mashable.com – Yes, the LG V40 really has five cameras
- pcmag.com – LG V40 ThinQ Review
- pcmag.com – What Is Fast Charging?
- gadgets.ndtv.com – LG V40 ThinQ Review
- cnet.com – LG V40 ThinQ review
- techradar.com – LG V40 ThinQ review
- techadvisor.com – LG V40 ThinQ review
- androidauthority.com – LG V40 ThinQ review
- notebookcheck.net – LG V40 ThinQ Smartphone Review
- [discourse_topic_url]
