Our continued coverage of the IFA 2017 trade fair in Berlin highlights some of the best tech from top manufacturers. The European tech show showcases all the latest gadgets and consumer electronics from established companies and recent start-ups. Just like most events that deal with the newest devices, the biggest draws are usually smartphones. Therefore, most recognized brands unveil or tease their new products during the event. Samsung has just recently launched its Galaxy Note 8, so consumers hope to see something new from its competitors.
Meanwhile, LG has prepared an ace under their sleeve and parades its new flagship device, the V30
LG V30 loses some but gains more
The previous model reportedly relied on some of its gimmicks to make it attractive to users. The V20 came with a unique second screen as well as a removable battery. Fans of these features will most likely cry foul as LG ditches both on the V30. However, the new model seems to have compensated itself with an IP68-rated water resistance, wireless charging, and premium glass panels on its front and back.
Design and build quality
At first glance, the smartphone automatically screams premium with its metal construction and glass panels. It maintains the classy appearance with antenna lines moved to the top and upper sides of its polished aluminum frame.
It also carries a design that flaunts smooth curves on all sides of the handset. It measures 151.7mm x 75.4mm x 7.3mm making it slimmer than the V20. It will come in four colors, Aurora Black, Lavender Violet, Cloud Silver, and Moroccan Blue.
The rear glass panel curves slightly towards each edge and houses a horizontally-mounted dual-camera setup with its LED flash module towards the top.
The fingerprint reader is located just below the lenses. Its front flaunts really thin bezels on each side with an earpiece strip, front-facing camera, and proximity sensor up top. The bottom portion does not have any components or buttons.
Its power button is integrated with the fingerprint sensor on the back, while the volume buttons can be found on the left side.
The right flank houses its SIM card tray. The top frame features a 3.5mm headphone jack and secondary microphone pinhole. Its bottom holds a single bottom-firing speaker, a USB-C port, and the primary microphone pinhole.
Hardware and camera
The LG V30 sports a 6-inch FullVision OLED touchscreen display with a resolution of 2880 x 1440 and 537ppi. The aspect ratio is pegged at 18:9 and reportedly supports HDR 10 and Dolby Vision. Its processing requirements are handled by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 CPU with 4GB of RAM running on Android Nougat. Storage size is 64GB for its internal memory, while a microSD card slot is available for memory expansion. It is powered by a non-removable 3,300mAh battery just like the G6.
Audio is carefully handled by its Quad DAC audio enhancement like the one of the V20. It also comes with an MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) player for hi-res audio playback. Furthermore, there are some variants that will feature a Bang & Olufsen partnership and comes with a pair of B&O Play headphones.
Imaging is being handled by a dual-camera setup found on most top-end models, which is composed of a 16-megapixel and 13-megapixel combo with normal and wide angle lens respectively. OIS is reportedly present, albeit only on the 16-megapixel sensor. The selfie camera is a 5-megapixel model that supposedly works with facial recognition even with the display turned off.
Price and release date
Interested buyers in the US can pre-order the LG V30 on September 17 with an on sale date of September 28.
The release dates for other territories have not yet been revealed except for South Korea, which will get the handset on September 21. Currently, the company has not yet announced the official retail price of the new smartphone.
