LG today unveiled the first smartphone in its V lineup — the LG V10. The handset comes with many unique features like a secondary screen besides the primary 5.7-inch display and dual front cameras.
The V10 has been made from high-grade 316L stainless steel and features Dura Skin skin that makes it “one of the rare smartphones” to pass drop tests for shock conducted by a third party. The handset has been certified “MIL-STD-810G Transit Drop Compliant” which means it can easily survive drops from 48-inches from different angles. The skin is also resistant to nicks and scratches, and the pattern at the rear helps in securely gripping the phone into your hand.
The second new unique feature of the V10 is its secondary inset display located just above the primary 5.7-inch Quad HD IPS LCD display. Dubbed Second Screen, the display works independently of the primary display and can also be set up to remain always on. It is capable of displaying the weather, time, date, and the battery status when the primary display is off.
With the primary display on, the Second Screen will display shortcuts to your favourite apps, or discreetly display notification while you are inside a full screen app or game.
Under the hood, the LG V10 is powered by Qualcomm’s hexa-core Snapdragon 808 chipset, and an Adreno 418 GPU. It also features 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 64GB storage space, a microSD card slot, and a 3,000mAh removable battery. On the connectivity front, the device comes with Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac support, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, microUSB port, and LTE Cat 6. The primary 5.7-inch IPS Quantum display on the device features a Quad HD resolution, while the Second Screen makes use of a 2.1-inch IPS Quantum display with a resolution of 160 x 1040.
LG has also equipped the V10 with a 32-bit Hi-Fi DAC from ESS technology. Additionally, the company boasts that the V10 is the first handset to feature Qualcomm’s TruSignal technology that automatically optimises the signal strength to reduce call drops and improve data transfer speeds.
“The LG V10 was designed from the ground up primarily as a multimedia smartphone for the sharing ecosystem,” said Juno Cho, president and CEO of the LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We heard from many customers that until the G4, they weren’t comfortable going on vacation or outings without a separate camera. With the V10, we hope to do for video what the G4 did for photographs.”
The rear of the V10 houses the same camera as seen on the LG G4. This means we are looking at a 16MP shooter with an F/1.8 aperture that is assisted by a LaserAF sensor and a Color IR sensor. The camera app has been updated though to introduce manual camera mode while recording videos, as well. The manual mode for video recording will allow you to adjust shutter speed, frame rate, ISO levels, focus, and white balance. Other camera related features added to the handset include Steady Record, Snap Video, Quick Share, and Wind Noise Filter.
It is at the front where things get interesting. LG has equipped two 5MP shooters on the front of the V10 to allow the device to take 80-degree wide angle selfies. Using the extra-wide selfie mode, it is also possible to take pictures that are up to 120-degree wide from the front camera. By using two cameras, LG is able to avoid the blurring that occurs at the edges of photos shot from a camera with extremely wide angle lens usually found in most other major smartphones.
The LG V10 will first go on sale in Korea from this month before making its debut in markets like the United States, China, and key markets in Asia, Latin America, and Middle East. The handset will be available in Space Black, Luxe White, Modern Beige, Ocean Blue, and Opal Blue colors.
