Find the difference Vlad, find the difference.
There is none.
Okay.
(slow electronic music)
Here at NWC-2018, LG is getting into the S-model game
for new phones,
which means doing a small iterative change
to a device we've already seen.
So this right here is the LG V30.
And this is the LG V30S.
If you're not able to spot a difference,
other than the slightly different sable color,
that's because there isn't any.
These phones are, in terms of hardware, identical.
What we've seen LG do in reality is issue software updates
in the form of a hardware launch with this LG V30S.
Technically the company's also calling the device
the LG V30S ThinQ, but I think that's such a terrible name
I'm just not going to repeat it anymore.
But, what does the LG-V30S give us,
above and beyond the V30?
Well, one thing, okay fair enough to LG, there's more RAM.
So it goes from four gigs to six gigs.
You get more storage, so the options are 64 gigs
over to 128.
128 is upgraded to 56.
Besides that, LG has also given you
a new function called AI cam.
This is done in partnership with IM
and they have taken hundred million photos,
put them into a machine-learning system and trained that
so that the AI cam functionality, can detect your scene
basically and just set a better color profile,
color bracketing they call it.
And make sure that the settings match the scene
that you're taking a photo of.
One example that LG gave
is it makes food look more delicious.
I don't know what exactly that entails,
but that's how LG describes it.
I think primarily what it's going to do is make things
look a bit more vivid, maybe amp up contrast a little bit.
And it might also help with white banner detection
and exposure detection, things like that.
LG's also adding a new function to the camera
which is a bright mode, is what LG's calling it.
And that's actually combining pixels.
So it combines four pixels into one.
So when you're in really low-light situations
you take a four megapixel photo which is much brighter
than the usual 16 megapixel photo.
So there is the trade-off is, you lose resolution,
but you gain brightness in extreme low-light situations.
Now the thing with both these functions:
the AI cam and the bright mode photo, they're interesting
and it might be compelling for a whole bunch of people,
but LG has already promised that it's going
to be issuing those as a software update for the V30.
So, in reality, the difference between the V30 and the V30S
is color, it's the ability to have a bit more RAM,
so maybe slightly smoother performance.
I haven't noticed it myself in playing around
with a new phone compared to the old one.
And more storage.
You know one of the things that upset me
when I was reviewing the original V30
was actually the quality of the display.
I talked to LG, I asked them specifically about the display
and the company said that it has not changed at all.
So having said that the V30S and the V30 are very similar,
that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going
to have a bad phone with V30S.
One of the really great strengths
of the V30 is the audio system.
So, these phones, do still have a headphone jack,
LG is sticking with a headphone jack.
And the V30 produced the best audio that I've heard
from any smartphone to date.
I would've much preferred to see LG do more.
Here you have a Snapdragon A35 processor
instead of the A45 which is now available,
and probably going to be in the new Galaxy S9
and Sony's new flagship and so on.
It still has two cameras in the back.
One is telephoto, one is wide-angle.
I would have liked to see LG do more to upgrade that,
improve the image quality.
What LG has opted to do is go the AI route,
of having automated scene detection.
And, oh there's another thing which is called LG's Q-lens,
which is supposed to allow you to shop
by taking a photo of something.
And does visual shopping connected with Amazon.
I tried that with the V30.
It offered me iPhone as the auto-detected option.
I flipped the phone around, I took the photo of the back
of the V30, it started offering me cellphone cases.
So that Q-lens functionality, I omitted to mention it
because I don't really see it as being particularly
functional at the moment.
I'm not able to shop for anything with it.
As I say the LG V30 was already a pretty decent phone
and the LG V30S is pretty much a re-issue of the same thing.
What this does signal though, is LG's new strategy.
The company's new president for it's mobile division,
is re-thinking everything and that's part of the reason
why we're not seeing the new G-series flagship here at MWC.
You could say that the V30S is kind of filling the void
of not having a new flagship phone from LG.
But it also shows that LG's going to iterate faster.
It will have these S-models in the future.
So, it's next flagship which might be coming out in June,
that might be succeeded within six months.
Just as the V30 was succeeded by this V30S model.
So this is something that I guess
we're just going to have to get used to.
Is a re-issue of the same...
Please cut this (mumbling).
(clearing throat)
As I say the LG V30 was already a pretty decent phone
and the LG V30 eaaaaah.
- [Cameraman] That is-