In front of me I have the newest member of the LG family, the LG V20.
The LG V10 passed my durability test last year with flying colors.
It was probably one of the most durable phones of 2015.
So lets find out if the LG V20 lives up to the same legacy.
[Intro]
Refreshingly, the LG V20 comes with a removable battery.
Flagships tend to be shying away from user replaceable batteries lately, so I'm glad
to see LG stick with their usual theme.
The back panel has its own eject button, and the battery slides, and then the phone is
ready to rock.
The phone does come with its own preinstalled screen protector.
But ill take that off before I begin my scratch test.
I have a set of mineral pics that tell me where the screen falls on Mohs Scale of Hardness.
Plastic scratches in the 3 range, Glass normally scratches at the 5 or 6 range, and harder
minerals like sapphire, will scratch at a 8 or 9.
This phone is perfectly on par with normal tempered glass, scratching at a level 6.
And a deeper scratch at a level 7.
The glass will not be marked up by keys or coins when sitting inside your purse.
Or pocket.
Remember that this is a very big phone.
It is the exact same size as my iPhone 7 Plus, that i'm trying out for a few weeks.
Normally I'm an android guy.
But we'll see how this iPhone performs as my daily driver.
My review video will be coming out later this month.
Back to the V20.
The bottom and top sections of the phone are pure plastic.
It is not primer, or paint, it is just regular old plastic, just like with the V10 from last
year.
The speaker grill is metal, and all of the buttons are metal as well, so at least those
have the 'premium' feel to them.
Metal buttons wont fall out with wear and tear like the older plastic buttons would.
So that's a plus.
Checking the back of the phone down by the USB C charging port, it is also plastic.
But if we jump up to the back battery door, it is solid metal.
You can hear the sound difference that scratching the plastic and metal makes.
Lets mosey on up to the fingerprint scanner.
It also has a little protective film over the top, to protect it from scratching.
Ill remove this, and... well.. you know.
Scratch it.
Luckily, even after being scratched to oblivion, the fingerprint scanner still functions 100
percent of the time.
So as long as the scratches are superficial on the scanner, it will continue to recognize
your fingerprint.
The back metal of the phone can be scuffed up by keys and coins though.
The iPhone 7 tends to hide these marks a little better.
So maybe a protective case is still a good option with the V20.
Now the camera lens has a little screen protector on it, and I would recommend leaving this
in place while you own your phone... and let me show you why.
The camera lens is made of glass.
So it will not scratch easily.
I can check to see if it is sapphire though, with the same level 7 pick that I used on
the front screen.
The level 7 pick does leave a mark, so we know its not pure sapphire.
But with that small abrasion from my pick, the lens shatters on its very own.
Lets watch it again in slow motion.
I foresee this being a problem down the road with the LG V20, since a small abrasion can
weaken the glass considerably.
I recommend leaving that little screen protector on over the camera lens.
Because that will keep the abrasions to a minimum.
Or even having a case, with any kind of lip will help protect that large protruding camera
lens out of the back, so that it is never rubbing up against anything.
Like when it is inside your pocket or when you set it on a table.
The burn test.
The LG V10 lasted about 6 seconds before the screen pixels went black and turned off.
And the IPS LCD of the V20 lasted the exact same.
So lets give the magically recovering screen a thumbs up.
And now you know you'll have 6 seconds to save your phone screen if you drop it in a
camp fire.
Since that happens so often.
The screen is cool to the touch within seconds.
Onto the bend test.
I've tested over 40 phones now.
And most of them survive.
Only a few have catastrophically broken.
You can check out my 'Shelf Of Shame' playlist for those durability failures.
The LG V10 passed with flying colors last year.
This year, when bent from the back, the LG V20 flexes more than the V10 did, but it still
does not break.
So Ill flip it over and bending from the other side...
The back panel pops off followed by the battery.
But the phone still works when I turn it back on.
Without the structural support from the back panel or the battery, the v20 flexes quite
a bit.
But it does not catastrophically snap, which is what we are looking for.
While I don't recommend it; this phone is probably safe to sit on.
It can handle the force of a gentle bend without giving up the ghost, and its not permanently
kinked like the iPhone 6.
The LG v10 is definitely the more durable one in the V family.
So if you are going for pure strength...
stick with that one.
Those stainless steal rails are durable.
But the LG v20 does pass my durability test.
The biggest issue you will find with the V20 is scratching and shattering the camera lens.
But any kind of case will add enough of a lip to keep it protected.
And you can leave that protective film on as well, since it doesn't cover the actual
camera part of the large lens.
So its not a deal breaker by any means.
My twitter followers will know the results of the Google Pixel phone test tomorrow, before
the video goes live on YouTube.
So head over to my twitter @ZacksJerryRig to be one of the cool kids.
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Thanks for watching.
Ill see you around.