LG has officially announced the successor to its V10 smartphone: the V20.
LG is live at Pier 27 in San Francisco, where it's holding an event to announce the LG V20. LG USA's Frank Lee took the stage to show "the newest iteration" in LG's V series. He said LG examined what consumers liked and needed, and then it built upon the V series to make a phone for "storytellers" (not just celebrities and influencers - anyone). With the V20, it wants to help everyday people embrace the "spectacular".
The LG V20 features a metal body, which LG described as a lightweight aluminium with a light silicon-based material (the same as what's on an aircraft), and a thin bezel. It also has MIL-STD 810G drop protection, which means it should withstand some water ingress and up to 4ft-drops.
Moving on - the V20 has Steady Record 2.0, which analyses frames to minimise unintended hand movement across the entire video, and it's capable of 4K video capture and playback. To complement this, the V20 offers Qualcomm Audio, which combines a Quad DAC with high-quality speakers and sensitive mics. Speaking of Qualcomm, the V20 has the Snapdragon X12 modem that supports 600Mbps download speeds.
LG said the V20 is the only phone in the world to include a 32-bit Quad DAC from ESS, and it's the first phone to have ESS's HyperStream 2 audio technology. And thanks to three mics built into the chassis, the V20 has an HD Audio recorder, which allows you to adjust gain and frequencies. But in order to enjoy such premium audio specs, you need a good set of cans. Luckily, LG said you can get a pair of B&O Play H3 headphones with each V20 purchase for a limited time.
Going back to the V20's camera features, standout specs include an improved manual video mode, such as ISO, shutter speed, microphone volume, and more. LG said its the first phone to integrate a high-quality wide-angle lens on the front and rear of the phone. So, not only do you get two cameras on the back, but also support for Hi-Fi audio capture (and VoLTE, though that's only supported by select carriers).
As for the display, the V20 has a 5.7-inch Quad HD display. And there is a Second Screen - just like the V10 - that shows more content and has a better brightness of 68nit. It also has bigger font size with higher contrast. Other V20 features include a removable 3,200mAh battery, USB Type-C compatible with Quick Charge 3.0, 64GB of internal storage, 4GB of RAM, and a Snapdragon 820 chip.
The V20 will be available at AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, B&H, and others in the US. There's no word yet on pricing.
LG and Google have already confirmed the LG V20, the newest member of the V series, will be the first device to launch on Android Nougat right out of the box, as well as Vulkan API support for 3D games. Here's everything we know so far about the LG V20, but be sure to check out Pocket-lint's feature on the device for more information about pricing, release date, and features:
If you want to know even more about the LG V20, LG on Twitter has asked consumers to add LG Mobile on Snapchat (@LGUSAMobile) in order to see the LG V20 in action. Also, if you tune into the company's Facebook Live at 5:55pm PST, you'll get a closer look at the LG V20 (the playback video -- embedded below -- should remain on LG's Facebook page once the stream ends).