17 May 2020
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We already knew much about the latest smartphone from LG, thanks to multiple official teasers, however, now that we have in our hands all the specs, features, and availability information, let’s see what’s on offer with LG’s latest “Velvet” smartphone.

First, let’s take a quick look at the specs on offer in the LG’s 5G smartphone:

Display:

  • 6.8-inch cinema full vision display
  • LG Dual Screen Functionality
  • 20.5:9 aspect ratio
  • U shaped notch

Processor:

  • Snapdragon 765 5G

Camera:

  • Rear: Triple camera system (48MP primary, 8MP ultra-wide and 5MP depth)
  • Front: 16MP

Storage:

  • 128 GB

Ram:

  • 8GB

Battery:

  • 4,300mAh fast charging (wireless charging)

A reinvigorated design

Behind all the specs, the most obvious thing that we noticed with the LG Velvet is the departure from the traditional designs which we have seen with the “G” series. This time around, the company has taken a minimalistic approach with the design.

The smartphone comes with a large 6.8 inch OLED FHD+ display with an impressive aspect ratio of 20.5:9. The new display configuration is termed by the company as the “Cinema FullVision” display.

From the rear end also, LG decided to come up with something more simple and minimalistic against the clunky camera modules that we have been seeing lately in many smartphones like iPhone 11 and others. It’s a rather more soothing “waterdrop” camera design, which is inspired by the falling rain droplet. The three cameras at the rear end are stacked vertically in descending order with flash making up at the bottom of the system.

Moving on, the smartphone comes with a slim chassis much complemented by the metallic accents. The curves are rounded-off which according to the company is the new “3D Arc” design and looks like a “symmetrical Ellipse” when viewed from the bottom. However, we find it much similar to what we have been seeing lately with many other smartphones.

The LG Velvet comes with an IP68 water-resistant design, which is consistent with other flagship devices from the company. What’s new is the MIL-STD 810G certification which gives it the endurance in extreme environments or against drops and shocks.

A not so outstanding camera setup

The Tripe camera system found on the LG Velvet is ordinary, to say the least, and definitely, it’s not something that can be associated with flagship arrangement.

The camera system comes with standard primary, ultra-wide, and depth (triple camera) combo. Even the 8MP ultra-wide lens camera is inferior to what we have seen in some of the other flagship devices from the company like LG V60, which boasts a 13MP sensor or the LG G7 which boasted 16MP sensor. The front camera is yet again pretty standard 16MP single sensor arrangement.

We aren’t yet fully confident is the smartphone comes with the Sony 48MP sensor, which is commonly used by LG in its flagship devices, however, we may predict that it could be the Sony IMX586 sensor on offer here.

As for the videos, the LG has come up with the “Voice Out Focus” technology in the Velvet, which according to the company can separate background noises from videos.

Dual display and stylus support

One noteworthy thing about this 5G smartphone is its support from the Dual Screen Accessory and Stylus Pen. However, these accessories aren’t included with the Smartphone box and needed to be purchased separately.

The smartphone does include an interesting app called Nebo, which enables conversion of handwritten notes into digital documents; so definitely something new to try out.

Other specs

Again, LG Velvet comes with a pretty standard battery of 4,300mAh. The company does claim that its low-power software algorithm minimizes the use of battery and stop any unnecessary power consumption. Now, lately, we have seen many smartphone manufacturers coming with intelligent battery management algorithms, so this again isn’t something out of the ordinary but definitely pretty standard. For most parts, the algorithm claimed by the company will automatically terminate the unused apps and functions running in the background to minimize battery consumption.

On the positive side though, the phone does come with fast and wireless charging. However, till now we aren’t sure about the charging specifications.

Apart from the battery, the LG Velvet comes with an 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, which again is a pretty common specification when we look at some of the other flagship devices available in the market. The phone does support microSD cards up to 2TB.

Price and availability

The LG has officially launched the phone in South-Korea, which is its home market. The phone is available in the market since May 15. At present, the Velvet smartphone comes in four color variations including; Illusion Sunset, Aurora Gray, Aurora White, and Aurora Green.

The phone is priced at 899,800 Korean Won, which when converted to US dollars comes out at USD 733. This is certainly way pricier than some of the other flagship devices with similar specifications like OnePlus 8 or Realme X50 5G which comes with the same Snapdragon 765 chipset but costs way lower at under USD 300 for the basic variant. This means that LG may face difficulty in marketing the phone in global markets. While the company has said that the phone price may vary in different markets, we still feel it’s way too pricier for the liking of most users, especially when we have similar or even better phones available at significantly lower prices.

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