LG V30 Plus

Yup, I’m convinced that LG has hit the ball out of the park with the LG V30+’s design. 2017 has been characterised by manufacturers trying hard to cut the bezels and make smartphone screens the centre of your attention (the way it is meant to be). And in that regard, the V30+’s design finds the right balance of size, weight, and curves. Here are three reasons why I think the V30+’s design is the best:

Evidently, 2017 has been slightly controversial for LG’s Plastic OLED (P-OLED) displays. Initial reviews of the V30 by international media, pointed out that the display doesn’t showcase accurate colours and that there is a clear blue tint when seen from an angle. I can attest that the blue colour shift happens even when viewed at a slight angle. However, colour accuracy is not really a problem because LG does give you an option to tweak the display settings. You can choose the Best for Web option to ensure sRGB accuracy. Granted it looks drab, but if you want colour accuracy you have to make that compromise. 

The V30+ runs Android 7.1.2, which is fine but Android 8.0 (Oreo) has been around for a while now and I expected LG’s flagship to run the latest OS. But sweat not, because an Oreo update should be right around the corner. But the bigger problem is LG’s UX 5.0 skin on top of the base OS. Not counting ASUS’ ZenUI, UX 5.0 is the only other branded skin that is riddled with bloatware. The moment you switch no the phone you are greeted by a bevy of first-party LG apps and a few third-party ones too. You can delete the third-party apps thankfully. 

LG has swapped the primary 13MP camera from the G6 for a 16MP unit. When the phone was announced, the entire tech fraternity went into a frenzy about the fact that LG had attached an f/1.6 lens for better low-light photography. In my testing, I noticed that the camera manages to retain a good amount of details in less than ideal light but it is no Google Pixel 2 unfortunately and that is the brutal truth. The second-generation Pixel has just raised a bar a little too high for other brands. 

The V30+ uses the Snapdragon 835 SoC coupled with 4 gigs of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. It is extremely fast and snappy, and I didn’t face any lags whatsoever in my time with the phone. And, the game is a lot, a lot of fun on the V30+ because you get this uninterrupted experience thanks to the nearly bezel-less display. 

Yes, only if you are a hardcore Android user with a penchant for tinkering and tweaking. I know most users won’t care about the quad-DAC or even the Cine Video recording mode but for those who do - the LG V30+ delivers and how!