Hey there, Alex Kidman from finder with our video review of the LG V30+. Now
usually when a phone manufacturer makes a plus model they deck it out with all
the goodies relative to the regular non-plus model. That's not LG's style.
The V30+, which is the model of the V30 that we'll see here in Australia
differs from the regular model only in storage. So the regular model has 64 gig
onboard, this has 128 gig. Otherwise you're looking at a 6-inch screen
and underneath that the snapdragon 835 processor that runs practically every
premium Android phone this year. So what's to like about this particular
phone? Well first of all there's the refined design. Now for the LG G6
earlier in the year LG went kind of industrial. It was a very
serious, almost corporate-looking phone. The V30+ is a little bit more fun
and a lot lighter. This is one of the lightest 6 inch phones I think I've held
this year. It really is kind of surprising in that aspect but it's still
quite nice, strong, durable and quite a good-looking design with a rear-mounted
fingerprint sensor below the camera lens, (If you're listening, Samsung take that
advice) and a decent display screen. It's plastic OLED and LG is the manufacturer
for the fairly similar Google Pixel 2 XL, and that means that this has
exactly the same issue that the Pixel 2 XL does, which is that there's a blue
tint to the screen when you tilt it a bit. It's not an earth-shattering flaw,
but it is a little bit regrettable in what is meant to be a premium phone and
one that is otherwise incredibly satisfactory. Because LG's really gone
all out in terms of little premium touches. So there's still a headphone
jack, and that in and of itself is almost becoming the premium touch, but it's
backed up with a Quad DAC for much better audio quality, plug a decent set of
headphones into this, get some decent quality audio and it really sounds great.
Much better than most other premium phones of course which have dropped that
headphone jack altogether. That also extends to the camera. Now
while LG makes the Pixel 2 XL, that's a single lens version, this is
effectively the dual lens with a standard and wide-angle lens camera, as
has been the style for LG for some time but they've incorporated some really
nice smart features. Things like the automatic inclusion of Graphy, which
lets you set various cinema tones for your videography. It's a really nice,
simple, easy way to get those kind of classic cinema effects in your video
without having to particularly worry in post-production about getting them. They
work and they work well and obviously yes you could throw Graphy onto any
given Android phone. The fact that it's integrated is a really big plus point.
There's also an automated zoom option within the video shooting, which again is
great if you want to just grab a particular point without that kind of
shuddery zoom happening. General stills photography is also really rather good
and one thing of note here is that the lens on the back of the V30 has a glass
covering rather than plastic. LG's contention is that that lets
slightly more light in in a more natural photographic way and it certainly bears
results in terms of the shots that you'll get out of it in most cases as
with any camera you can take great photos and you can take terrible ones. So
what's not to like? Well I did mention the screen has that blue tint effect and
that is a bit of a downer. It's also slightly exacerbated by the fact that
LG's default skin for this has these bright garish buttons on them. They're
really kind of off-putting and that's a totally personal taste call of course
but it's noticeable against the more kind of sedate, general flat Android feel
that you get with Android 8.0. And that's the other thing that you don't get with
the V30. At launch this is launching with Android
7, even though obviously again, a lot of shared DNA between this and the Pixel 2
XL, but there's no Oreo on this phone just yet. LG do say that it's coming, but
it's not here just yet. So should you buy the V30+? Well you should certainly
consider it if you're in the market for an outright phone. Here in Australia it's
only being sold out right at $1199 and that means that it's in the
conversation of just about every other premium phone excluding, obviously I
guess, the Pixel 2 XL and Apple's iPhone X for example. But at that price
point it delivers an awful lot of quality, it's certainly worth considering
if you want an outright phone. Unfortunately you can't get it on
contract. Now for a full review check out finder.