LG’s V40 ThinQ is the First Phone with 5 Cameras

LG V40 ThinQ is finally live, and is the first three-camera phone from LG whose camera set up is significantly different from Huawei’s P20 Pro. It has a total of five cameras – two on the front and three on the rear.

It’s also the first LG V-series phone to have a notched display, though the cutout is much smaller than other phones, and the upper bezel has been made slightly thicker to keep the notch less noticeable.

Other than that, most specifications are flagship-grade, including a Snapdragon 845 chipset and a premium glass build.

Read on for more details.

Design & Display

LG’s design language has remained pretty much the same for most of its G-series and V-series flagships, with similar rounded edges, and horizontal camera arrays. The V40 ThinQ features an edge-to-edge display, a tiny notch on the front housing two selfie cameras, and a reduced chin to increase the overall screen-to-body ratio.

The phone weighs just 169 grams – which is lighter than other recently-launched phablets – and has an IP68 rated water and dust resistance up to 1.5m for 30 minutes.

The phone’s body is also MIL-STD-810G compliant, which goes to show that it has military-grade toughness.

The fingerprint sensor is on the rear, hardware buttons have been placed at the sides – with a dedicated Google Assistant button, and the company is also keeping the headphone jack alive for their flagship, mainly for its 32-bit QuadDAC audio. It also has a single BoomBox speaker, with enhanced bass and DTS X 3D surround sound.

Moving on to the display, LG packed its signature P-OLED display in the V40, that measures 6.4-inches at a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The resolution has been kept at 1440 x 3120 pixels (QHD+), and a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 coating protects the screen no Gorilla Glass 6 on this one, unfortunately. Other features include HDR10 support.

Hardware & Storage

LG V40 ThinQ is a flagship phone, so you can expect it to have all of this year’s top-notch hardware. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. RAM size has been kept at a decent 6 GB’s – it’s lower than other flagships but it should do just fine.

Unluckily, it comes with just 64 GB storage, there are no other RAM or storage variants available. However, it does have a dedicated microSD slot, so you can expand your storage by up to 512 GB.

Camera & Software

Now let’s talk about the phone’s main highlight – its five cameras. On the rear, the V40 has a triple camera set up, consisting of a main 12 MP standard shooter, a secondary 12 MP telephoto lens, and a separate 16 MP wide-angle camera.

The main camera has all the high-end photography features, including 3-axis OIS, PDAF, and laser autofocus as well. The secondary telephoto lens provides 3x optical zoom, while the 16 MP wide-angle camera (similar to G7 ThinQ) takes shots with a large field of view, as high as 107-degrees.

The V40 ThinQ can record 4K videos at 60 fps, and there’s also 1080p recording at 240 fps for slow motion. Naturally, the phone’s camera works with a built-in AI engine, that can help you compose your shots better, guiding you to align your camera perfectly before clicking your shots.

Another cool feature is called Triple Shot, that lets you take a single photo with all three cameras, to make an instant gif or video using the three images. Here are some samples:

Now on to the dual selfie cameras on the front. V40 is among the few flagships to have two cameras on the front. The set up has an 8 MP f/1.9 main and a secondary 5 MP f/2.4 camera. These two work in tandem to provide cool selfie features such as studio lighting, dark background, background blur, and the like. You can also put more people into a selfie using the higher FOV of the selfie camera, by zooming out a bit.

Of course, AI scene detection works on both the front and the rear. OS is Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, running LG’s latest UX 7.0+.

Battery, Price, & Availability

This is the first time LG is adding fast wireless charging in a phone. The V40 has a moderate 3300 mAh battery, that is slightly smaller than other phones in its class. It’ll use a USB Type-C connector, that will support Quick Charge 3.0.

There are no storage/RAM options, and there are only two color variants available – Aurora Black or Moroccan Blue. The color options also have a different build type, the Aurora Black version has a polished rear finish whereas you’ll get a sandblasted body if you go for Moroccan Blue.

The phone has already been made official by LG, it will hit the stores on October 18. The starting price has been kept at $900.

You can check out more on LG’s website.

LG V40 ThinQ Specifications

• CPU: Octa-core (4×2.7 GHz Kryo 385 Gold & 4×1.7 GHz Kryo 385 Silver)
• GPU: Adreno 630
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
• OS: Android 8.1 Oreo, LG UX 7.0+
• Networks: 2G, 3G, 4G LTE;
• Display:
  • 6.4” , 19.5:9 aspect ratio, P-OLED with 3120 x 1440 (QHD+) resolution
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 5
  • DolbyVision/HDR 10 Compliant
• Memory:
  • RAM: 6 GB
  • Internal: 64 GB
  • Card slot: yes, by up to 512 GB (dedicated)
• Camera:
  • Primary: Triple:
    • 12 MP f/1.5 with 3-axis OIS, PDAF, Dual lens focus, laser focus
    • 16 MP, 16mm (ultrawide, 107-degree FOV), f/1.9, 1.0µm, no AF
    • 12 MP, 52mm (telephoto), f/2.4, 1.0µm, 2x optical zoom, OIS, PDAF
  • Secondary: Dual: 8 MP, 26mm (standard), f/1.9, 1.4µm + 5 MP, 21mm (wide), f/2.2, 1.4µm
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, LTE-A, USB-C, VoLTE, GPS
• Fingerprint scanner (rear)
• Battery: 3300 mAh, Quick Charge 3.0, fast wireless charging
• Price: $900