LG V50 thinQ 5G review

Build Quality

LG OLED TV technology

The LG V50 ThinQ 5G uses award-winning LG OLED TV technology within the display. The 6.4-inch FullVision screen has a resolution of 538 pixels per inch or 3,120x 1,440 pixels.

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With the advanced OLED TV features you can enjoy amazing clarity, vibrant colour, and beautiful contrast when watching video clips. Always-on technology gives you essential information such as the time and notifications at a glance. 

Tough and sleek

The LG V50 ThinQ 5G has a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and Corning Gorilla Glass 6 on the back to protect the camera lenses. LG has made the phone super tough and it is IP 68 certified for dust and water resistance. The phone also conforms to the military-grade of MIL-STD 810G for shock resistance.

The smartphone has only been released in the one Aurora Black colour variant for now. The LG V50 ThinQ 5G is 8.3mm thick and weighs 183g. Those stats are even more impressive when you consider that 5G is on board and the amazing screen technology too

Top performance

The LG V50 ThinQ 5G has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 2.84GHz octa-core processor with 6GB RAM. This is cutting edge and results in a 45% performance upgrade, compared to the processor's predecessor. RAM Boost pushes the processor into performance mode when you need it. It also predicts and preloads your favourite apps in the background, so they appear instantly when you open them. 

These bursts of performance create a lot of heat and LG has tackled this with a Heat Pipe. Moving the heat away from the processor, this pipe prevents the phone overheating even after longer use.

Phone Set Up

Face recognition and fingerprint sensor

Screen Unlock can be set up with a Swipe Knock Code, this is a special sequence of touches and taps on the screen that you can choose for yourself. The LG V50 ThinQ has multiple features to keep your information secure. As well as the Knock Code you can choose to use a PIN, Pattern or Password. You may also choose to set up Face Recognition that will unlock the phone by scanning your face or use the fingerprint sensor.

Expandable memory up to 2TB

The LG V50 ThinQ 5G has a large 128GB memory so you will have a lot of space to move over existing contacts, photos, and music. If you do need more space on the phone there is a dedicated microSD card slot. The card slot accepts cards of up to 2TB, that will give you almost limitless storage for all of your files.

Features

Packed with entertainment features

LG has made sure you are never bored with the V50 ThinQ 5G as there are lots of great entertainment features onboard. Some of the top entertainment features include:

• Boombox Show - music gets its own light show with strobe lights and visuals splashed across the display while you enjoy your playlists
• LG Music App - find everything from across your nearby devices and on the cloud organised by genres, artists and more
• Game Tools - take a screenshot or disable alerts during a game as well as use the take a break function to make sure you aren't having too much screen time

There are many more options for entertainment on the phone with the video and music players supporting various file types and the accelerometer allowing game control by tilting and moving the handset.

Android 9 with LG UX

Android 9 Pie is on board the LG V50 ThinQ 5G and with the latest LG UX included there are lots of handy features for convenience and productivity. LG Health is on board to track your activity and help you achieve fitness goals. There are also some easy and quick gestures and screen interactions to perform various phone functions. Some of the top things on the LG V50 ThinQ 5G include:

• Google Assistant with LG integration - the assistant is on board and it can also complete functions specific to this LG handset
• Multi-Window - use two apps at the same time by splitting the screen
• Shortcut Keys - Camera, Google Assistant or Capture+ are accessed quickly using shortcut keys
• Knock On - a double tap on the display will wake up or put the phone to sleep
• QuickMemo+ - schedule memos to appear at certain times or locations and write or draw with a pen colour and size of your choice

Camera & Video

Triple rear camera

The camera on the LG V50 ThinQ 5G has three lenses which include a 12MP dual-pixel main camera, 12MP telephoto lens, and 16MP ultra-wide camera lens. With AI composition and AI Cam technology on board, those three lenses capture amazing detail whether you are snapping a landscape or night shot. There are lots of features included with the rear cameras some of which include:

• 16x Continuous Zoom - 2x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom, and 1.6 optical zoom out
• Night View - sharper photos can be captured by adjusting brightness with the slider control
• Triple Shot -captures three shots using each of the lenses and create a short video
• Flash Jump Cut - takes photos every three seconds to create a GIF
• 3D Light Effect - choose from different lighting effects such as Contour, Studio or Stage

The rear triple camera can capture video in 4K at 60FPS and HDR10 which uses a wide spectrum of colour and contrast for life-like capture. Other video options include Time-Lapse and Slow-mo as well as Cine Effect which allows you to choose from different colour grades for a cinematic look.

Dual selfie camera 

The amazing camera technology continues with the dual selfie lens which is made up of an 8MP standard lens and a 5MP wide-angle camera. LG has included lots of shooting modes and beauty features in the front-facing camera including:

• Makeup Pro - manually adjust lip colour, adjust complexion or enhance lashes and eyes
• AR Emoji - a choice of 3D graphic animals will copy your movements
• Auto Shot - a selfie will automatically be taken when a face is detected
• My Avatar - take a selfie and create a personalised animation emoji of yourself

The camera features are seemingly endless on this phone and due to the multple lenses LG has added some unique options on the V5 ThinQ 5G. These include Penta Shot which allows you to take a photo using all 5 of the camera lenses at once. Story Shot allows you to swap a selfie background with the scene taken from the rear camera and Studio will swap the background in a photo to a colour or something out of the photo gallery.

Battery Life

QuickCharge 3.0

The LG V50 ThinQ 5G has a 4,000mAh battery onboard and this is compatible with Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 and wireless charging. The large capacity of the battery and the highly-efficient processor means you can easily make it through a day without needing to recharge. When it comes to recharging that QuickCharge 3.0 will get you back up to 50% of power in less than 40 minutes.

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Written by: Carmel Brown