LG V60 ThinQ 5G review

Our Verdict

The LG V60 ThinQ 5G is a solid all-around alternative to Samsung'due south Galaxy S20 Plus and S20 Ultra, with ameliorate battery life. Just the Dual Screen attachment, is wonky and the cameras disappoint.

For

Excellent battery life
Make clean design
Headphone jack intact
Bang-up performance

Confronting

Very, very big
Dual Screen has software quirks
Dated software
Not bachelor unlocked

Tom'due south Guide Verdict

The LG V60 ThinQ 5G is a solid accommodating culling to Samsung's Galaxy S20 Plus and S20 Ultra, with better battery life. Only the Dual Screen attachment, is wonky and the cameras disappoint.

Pros

+
Excellent battery life
+
Clean pattern
+
Headphone jack intact
+
Great functioning

Cons

-
Very, very big
-
Dual Screen has software quirks
-
Dated software
-
Non available unlocked

It goes that if something isn't broke, you don't ready it. Patently, LG feels that way nigh its flagship smartphones. The Korean tech giant has taken a very iterative approach with its premium mobile line over the last ii years and change, and that philosophy has flowed into its latest offering: the LG V60 ThinQ 5G.

Heed you, iteration isn't necessarily a bad affair, and our LG V60 ThinQ 5G review found that this telephone isn't entirely the worse for it. This is a very complete handset — arguably more consummate than even the Samsung Galaxy S20, given that LG appears to be one of the few phone makers left that'due south committed to the headphone jack. The V60's battery life also marks a satisfying footstep forward for LG, whose devices e'er seemed to lag behind the contest'south in endurance.

Even so, LG's connected accent on evolution, rather than revolution, has produced nevertheless another flagship that feels similar a refresh of a rehash rather than a candidate for one of the best phones yous can buy right now. And while other telephone makers are innovating with camera hardware, fast-refreshing displays and exotic materials, LG seems quite comfortable immersed in the status quo. Sure, the V60 is good enough, and its battery life lands it firmly on our list of the longest-lasting phones. Only this phone offers nothing we haven't seen before.

LG V60 ThinQ 5G: Price and availability

The LG V60 ThinQ 5G is available from T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon for $899. That sum non only gets you the device, just also its LG Dual Screen case, which adds an identical second display that you lot can add and remove at will. T-Mobile offers the phone sans case for $799.

The V60 comes in two colors — Swish White and Swish Blue — but cannot be purchased unlocked at the fourth dimension of writing. That may change down the line, though the lack of an unlocked selection may be a part of the phone'southward 5G network support, because major carriers retain exclusivity over some 5G bands.

The V60 can connect to both long-range, sub-6GHz 5G, as well as the much faster, admitting shorter range millimeter-wave (mmWave) configuration of 5G. T-Mobile and AT&T accept primarily concentrated on the sub-6GHz side of things to date, while Verizon has focused on mmWave — though information technology's yet early for all of these carriers, as they're continuing to build out their 5G infrastructures.

LG V60 ThinQ 5G: Specs

Price	$799 (phone only); $899 (with Dual Screen instance)
Display (resolution)	6.viii-inch OLED (2460x1080)
Rear cameras	Triple: 64MP principal (ƒ/1.8); 13MP ultrawide (ƒ/1.9); fourth dimension-of-flight depth sensor
Front end camera	10MP (ƒ/1.9)
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
RAM	8GB
Storage	128GB
microSD slot?	Yep; up to 2TB
Battery	five,000 mAh
Battery life	12:46
Size	six.67 x iii.06 10 0.35 inches
Weight	7.69 ounces

LG V60 ThinQ 5G: Design

The V60 might wait large in photos, only trust me — it's quite another matter to concur the phone. LG has fitted this device with a vi.8-inch display, and while that's technically a tenth of an inch smaller than the 6.9-inch panel on the Samsung Milky way S20 Ultra, the V60 is really taller and wider, because of its moderately thicker bezels and lack of curvature around the sides.

As Tom's Guide'southward persistent small-telephone evangelist, I'k irked past the LG V60 ThinQ 5G's gargantuan proportions. Just there's a reason this early moving ridge of 5G phones is so big and ungainly; information technology'south a consequence of having to pack in all the radios necessary to connect to those emerging networks, too as leaving enough space for a beefy bombardment to recoup for 5G'southward increased power consumption.

Despite this, I'd nevertheless go so far as to call the V60 pretty — even though it'south almost indistinguishable from many of the V-series devices before it, and fifty-fifty though it may not exist ergonomically friendly. I like the phone's chamfered edges that merge anodized aluminum with a more reflective, metallic finish where the frame meets the front glass. I like the subtle trim around the triple-camera module, and I like the understated elegance of the flat display. The V60 specially looks corking in blue, because that colorway swaps the white model's silver chassis for an eye-catching gilt.

In fact, my only gripe almost the V60's pattern — aside from its size — is its buttons. The left side of the device carries the volume up and downwardly keys, every bit well as a Google Assistant primal just beneath those. The problem is, all of these buttons are exactly the same size and trimmed with the aforementioned texture, making it difficult to tell 1 apart from the others in a pinch. This certainly could have been mitigated with the use of a volume rocker rather than breaking volume upward and downward into separate keys, and I'one thousand not sure why LG wasn't satisfied with that solution.

When y'all do locate those book keys, though, you'll find that the speakers tin become clumsily loud — louder than most phones we've tested to appointment. The inclusion of a 3.5-millimeter jack and quad digital-to-analog converter when using headphones also make the V60 a good option for audiophiles, though as I'k non an audiophile myself, I couldn't discern much of a divergence whether the DAC was on or off.

LG V60 ThinQ 5G: Display

LG's OLED displays are usually quite skillful, simply a step behind Samsung'southward — and once again, that rings truthful for the LG V60 ThinQ 5G. The vi.8-inch panel in LG's newest flagship gets decently vivid, though non as bright every bit the screens you go in the Galaxy S20 range. Information technology's also not as abrupt and can't animate quite as fast.

Let's start with the effulgence. The V60'southward full-screen peak of 578 nits isn't bad, but information technology's outshined by the iPhone 11 Pro (761 nits) and the Samsung Milky way S20 Plus (847 nits). Indoors, the relative dimness is no big deal, merely information technology impedes readability when using the V60 outside on a sunny day.

The V60's full-Hd+ resolution (2460x1080) also translates to fewer, less densely packed pixels than in quad-HD devices, similar the Galaxy S20 line. If the V60'southward screen were an inch smaller, this wouldn't really bother me, every bit the density would be acceptable for the size. But once you approach 7-inch territory, yous're spreading those pixels out a bit thin, resulting in graphics, text and games that just don't look as precise as when viewed on competing flagships.

The V60 as well has no answer to the S20's 120Hz refresh rate, which delivers animations twice equally smoothen equally on conventional, 60Hz panels. Many phone makers — from Google, to OnePlus, to Samsung — have started experimenting with fast-refresh screens, and the results have been enticing, especially regarding touch responsiveness. The V60's screen looks fine enough, just information technology doesn't drive the industry forward and lacks any sort of innovative features, making it experience like a flake of an reconsideration.

LG V60 ThinQ 5G: Cameras

LG's mobile cameras have rarely been industry-leading, though they're often better than they go credit for. The V60 packs three lenses on the dorsum — a primary 64-MP wide-angle i, a 13-MP ultrawide and one of LG's time-of-flight Z Cameras — forth with a 10-MP forepart-facing shooter. The 64-MP principal lens can even record 8K video.

Best camera phones: Does the V60 make the list?
Best Android camera apps

It must be said that the choice of optics hither is a bit caput-scratching — peculiarly the determination to devote space to a depth sensor rather than a telephoto lens. It'due south likely that a telephoto camera would have driven up the device'southward cost, simply information technology'due south as well incredibly useful, both for shallow depth-of-field portraits and zoom shots. Without a telephoto, the V60 can't deliver the 3x or 4x optical quality of the Galaxy S20 family, or even annihilation to match the iPhone xi Pro's 2x lens. And, historically speaking, time-of-flight sensors seldom justify their beingness.

That's not to say the V60 doesn't take tricks in its camera arsenal. That 64-MP principal lens tin can merge four pixels into one to let more lite to attain the sensor. The resulting shots are quite bright — perhaps too vivid, judging from the washed-out example the V60 delivered here of a constitute. The Galaxy S20'southward attempt suffers from heavy-handed, artificially additional greens and shadows due to Samsung's Scene Optimizer technology, just the V60's version is hardly perfect, either. In fact, it looks undercooked by comparison, which is surprising, considering both of these pictures were taken on a sunny day.

Turning to the V60's performance in the dark, LG'south camera app left the shutter open up for a total 4 seconds to capture this idyllic nighttime scene. Nonetheless, the V60 still pulled in much less detail in the shadows compared with Google's Pixel four. In fairness, information technology was extremely dark out when this movie was taken — I snapped it nearly 9 p.m. — so the V60'southward version of things is the more realistic of the two, dimmer though information technology is. That said, oftentimes users wait to nighttime way to illuminate what tin can't be seen — not to necessarily deliver the nearly true-to-life shot — and then you could make a case for either device here.

Indoors, I relied upon the V60's 2x digital zoom and the Pixel 4's 2x optical zoom to capture this pair of photos of die-bandage model cars. Considering the lighting was less than ideal, over again, the darker, less colorful result from the V60 is more true to the scene's actual conditions. Notwithstanding, I prefer the Pixel's punchier hues and improved fidelity in the shadows, specially around the tires of the white Ford in the foreground.

The V60's lack of a telephoto lens means that bokeh-style portraits apply blur to the feed from the ultra wide-bending photographic camera, producing an effect that seems as though information technology was added afterward the fact in Photoshop. I don't like information technology, only however I was more satisfied with the output from LG's device here, as it improve captured the bailiwick's peel tone and struck the advisable white balance for the scene. The S20's rendition is marred by heavy shadows and boundaries between objects, too as an overly warm bandage.

We finish with a pair of selfies, and certainly my to the lowest degree favorite picture I took with the LG V60 ThinQ 5G. I tin't explain why the V60 made the strange colour choices it did here; everything's all wrong, from the oversaturated greens, to the redness of my peel tone, to the color of my beanie, which is more of a coral rather than a lite brownish. LG's algorithms weirdly drained all the dissimilarity out of the selfie, leaving a surreal event devoid of shadows and highlights.

Occasionally, the V60'due south cameras will produce satisfying results. Still, inconsistencies in post-processing, also as a tendency to overbrighten already well-lit scenes, concur it dorsum from ranking among the best camera phones.

LG V60 ThinQ 5G: Dual Screen and software

Once again, LG is selling its latest V-serial device with an optional case that adds a 2nd screen for you to fill up upwardly with apps and extra browser tabs. The design here is essentially unchanged from its implementation on the LG G8X ThinQ, the company's last dual-screen ready telephone, though there is a new semirugged ribbed texture on the back that makes the device easier to grip when the example is on.

And that added bit of grip is important, because the V60 becomes really hard to hold when used in its dual-screen guise. Equally I alluded to earlier, this is already a massive smartphone, and essentially tacking on a whole actress phone's worth of thickness to a half-dozen.eight-inch handset is a daunting suggestion, even if you lot're getting double the existent estate out of it.

On the 6.4-inch G8X, the second screen made a little more than sense; while that device was also large, it wasn't one of the biggest smartphones I've ever used. The V60, on the other hand, might set a new personal record. I struggle to imagine anyone remarking "you lot know what this already oversized phone needs? Another display."

Nevertheless, the Dual Screen case is there if you want it, and every carrier offers the V60 with that improver included. Although LG apparently sees a lot of value in this blueprint — this is the visitor'south third try at a dual-screen phone, after all — it's starting to feel like LG has taken this idea almost as far every bit information technology's always going to go.

For starters, apps only aren't built for it. Chrome will run in 2 dissever instances on each screen, but won't share a pool of tabs. Naver'due south Whale browser, which comes preinstalled on the V60, is congenital to run beyond both screens, but even then the experience is still clunky, as the tab overview in the main browser window doesn't accept account of any's open on the other screen.

LG's digital gamepad is here again, too, but similar information technology was on the G8X, and is as as frustrating. Depending on which screen y'all launch a title in, y'all could stop up with the game running on the phone's display, forcing you to concord the wafer-sparse second console every bit a controller. Once, Cobblestone 9 even launched oriented away from the other screen, which would've been more than irritating if it wasn't so funny in the moment.

Dual Screen quirks aside, the V60 boots with Android ten out of the box, along with the LG UX skin, which is truly showing its age at this signal. The oversize, hyper-colorful icons, mess of indistinguishable quick toggles and needless duplication of core apps (similar LG's own photo gallery and messaging apps, alongside Google's much better options) conspire to create an experience that offers no obvious advantages over stock Android, while simultaneously looking aesthetically worse.

At least Samsung's OneUI, found in the latest Milky way phones, can claim some exclusive, useful perks of its own, like the power to capture scrolling screenshots, or lock apps and media within a secure folder. LG's modifications to Android feel like change for the sake of branding, which is the cardinal sin of a pointless OEM skin. A serious rethink of the interface — or, a cleanup at the very least — is long overdue.

LG V60 ThinQ 5G: Battery life

Once upon a time, bombardment life was predictably always the weak link in LG's phones. But concluding yr's LG G8X Dual Screen posed a watershed moment for the company's devices where endurance was concerned, and the V60 continues in the right direction.

LG V60 ThinQ 5G review — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

So again, with a 5,000-mAh battery on lath, it'd be hard for information technology not to. The V60 lasted an boilerplate of 12 hours and 46 minutes across two sessions of Tom's Guide's custom bombardment test, earning information technology a well-deserved place on our listing of the best telephone battery life. Our test forces devices to incessantly load web pages over a T-Mobile data connection, and the V60 fared an hour ameliorate than the iPhone xi Pro Max (11:54) and the Samsung Milky way S20 Ultra (11:58).

We likewise ran that aforementioned battery test with the Dual Screen case on and active, with content displayed on the second panel likewise. In that trial, the V60 still endured for an impressive 7 hours and 34 minutes. That's nearly equally long every bit the 8 hours and iv minutes the 4,000-mAh Galaxy S20 gave us when using its 120Hz refresh rate instead of the default 60Hz setting.

The V60 isn't the quickest flagship to charge back up, replenishing 26 percent in 15 minutes and 51 per centum in a one-half hour. Past comparison, the OnePlus 7T reaches 61 pct in 30 minutes. So over again, given how long the V60 lasts betwixt charges, that fourth dimension spent waiting won't come up equally frequently as information technology does with other phones.

LG V60 ThinQ 5G: Performance

Armed with Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 865 chipset and 8GB of RAM, the V60 is on a par with Samsung's latest flagships regarding functioning.

The V60'southward showing in Geekbench five — an overall system stress-examination — was particularly encouraging, as the device turned out an average multicore score of 3,420 across iii sessions. That not only beats out the S20 Plus, at iii,076 points, but comes within striking altitude of the iPhone 11 Pro Max'due south three,517-point outcome.

In GFXBench'southward Aztec Ruins Vulkan off-screen graphics gauntlet, the V60 tallied 1,313 frames at 20 frames per second (fps) — about as makes no difference to the S20 Plus' 1,319 frames at 21 fps, and a flake further off the mark compared with the iPhone eleven Pro Max's i,657 frames at 25 fps.

All this is to say the V60 is a very powerful phone — amidst the most powerful y'all can purchase today, in fact, even though it has up to one-half the RAM of Samsung's about expensive Galaxy, the S20 Ultra. And that power enables the V60 to run 2 apps simultaneously using the Dual Screen attachment with ease, or make a demanding mobile title similar Asphalt 9: Legends wait and run its best.

LG V60 ThinQ 5G: Verdict

At a time when a growing number of phone manufacturers aren't afraid to sell high-end models with prices well beyond four digits, the LG V60 ThinQ 5G, with its massive display, optional 2nd screen and impressive battery life, seems similar a good deal for $899. If you lot're chiefly concerned about longevity on a charge, or the prospect of a flagship smartphone in 2020 with a headphone jack really excites you, it's not a bad choice at all.

Then again, afterwards spending time with the V60 for this review, it'southward become clear that the inclusion of the Dual Screen accessory makes this phone seem like a better value than information technology actually is. I struggle to imagine most people getting utilise out of a whole 2nd display when the existing one already measures 6.viii inches. One time you factor in the majority the instance adds, information technology becomes an even harder sell, and for a negligible benefit.

Strip the Dual Screen chemical element from the equation, and you're left with a serviceable flagship that is better priced than its contemporaries (though just barely) with average cameras, a screen that feels a generation behind and software that's fifty-fifty more dated than that. The V60 isn't bad, but it reeks of obligation, rather than inspiration. And it makes you wonder: after the V30, V30S, V35, V40 and V50 — all of which were separated by indistinguishable differences — how many more times does LG plan to build this phone?

Adam Ismail is a staff writer at Jalopnik and previously worked on Tom's Guide covering smartphones, car tech and gaming. His love for all things mobile began with the original Motorola Droid; since then he'southward owned a diverseness of Android and iOS-powered handsets, refusing to stay loyal to one platform. His piece of work has as well appeared on Digital Trends and GTPlanet. When he'southward non fiddling with the latest devices, he'southward at an indie popular show, recording a podcast or playing Sega Dreamcast.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/lg-v60-thinq-5g

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