V 20 Pros and Cons

[Golfdriver97]

We're starting an idea suggested by @sfoLAX. A simple thread that lists everyone's pros and cons about a specific device for the purpose of a potential buyer who wants a simplified look at current owner's opinions of it.

Please do the following:
1. Keep posts to a listing of pros and cons.
2. You may list as many of either as you like.
3. If you would like, you may add an overall purchase suggestion.

Example:
Pros:
-Good battery life
-Sleek design
-Beautiful screen

Cons:
-Physical size too big

Overall: I would recommend buying this device.

 

[jpprice14]

The battery life is decent. And the size not too big.

 

[RaRa85]

Pros:
-Great camera
-Two cameras for extra functionality
-Nice battery life
-Comfortable to hold
-Removable battery, IR blaster
-QuadDAC

Cons:
-Not water resistant
-Gaming performance could be better
-Size a turnoff for some

 

[MikeyBugs95]

Pros:
-Great camera (to reiterate)
-Great camera manual mode
-Wide angle camera
-Good screen
-Second screen is actually pretty useful
-Really nice headphone audio
-Great battery life. Lasts me a full day of near constant use including music, videos, web surfing, Facebook, games and other various use.

Cons:
-Some backlight bleed (I've gotten used to it)
-A bit more functionality could've been built into the second screen (ability to scroll up/down through the calendar screen comes to mind)
-Wide angle camera could've been a higher MP camera

Middleground
-The size. I think it's a good size. I'm fine with the size although I now find it's more difficult to put this phone in my pockets. For people with smaller hands... The phone might not be too big.

 

[Mooncatt]

I agree with everything so far, so ditto the above posters plus these extras

Pros
-Rear curtain sync flash (manual mode only)
-RAW save mode for camera in manual mode
-Excellent video and sound recording quality
-On screen home buttons (subjective opinion)
-Customizable home buttons
-Qslide floating apps
-solid feel
-SD card slot
-I'm told I sound great on speakerphone (yes, someone actually wanted to know what phone I had when I let him know I had him on speaker)
-Quick finger print scanner response
-Power button on the back (subjective opinion)

Cons
-Very slippery body
-Can be too big for some and one handed use can be tricky
-No OEM calculator for Qslide
-Very aggressive noise reduction in the camera on auto mode.
-Very aggressive throttling of charging rates. It's QC3.0 compatible, but you only get full speed charging with the screen off and the phone cool
-Steady Record 2.0 for video seems buggy and may be best left off
-Volume buttons were returned to the side (subjective opinion)
-Limited OEM UI themes (third party themes are coming out in Google Play, though)

Things to watch out for (may or may not be a con depending on the user)

-Gaming battery saver may be on by default, hurting gaming performance. This can be disabled in the battery settings, but is not really advertised.
-Sprint removed the OEM music app
-Verizon and the unlocked version do not have FM tuners (not sure if any other variants are missing this)
-You can find and side load earlier LG OEM calculator apps to get it functional in Qslide if you really want that.
-Using manual camera mode and working with the RAW files in third party apps gets around the noise reduction problem, but may be more work than some would like.

Final word:
It's a niche phone for people that want lots of functionality for content creation, as well as performing well at most every other task. The biggest down side is the image quality in the camera auto mode. If that's your main concern, then I wouldn't suggest it. Otherwise, nothing else current on the market touches it from a functionality standpoint.

 

[anon(782252)]

The pros have been pretty well laid out and I agree with all of them.

However, I have 1 big con when it comes to the camera and that's blur when there's movement in the frame. Sure, it can be somewhat mitigated by manual mode but it full auto, it's quite frankly pitiful.

That is almost the sole reason after being with LG since the G2 (with a brief trip down Note 7 disaster boulevard) that I'm dumping LG and heading to the S8+. If I had never had the Note 7 this probably wouldn't be happening. But I did and Samsung destroys LG in full auto, especially with movement in the frame. It's not even close.
My GF has also been with LG since the G2 and she will be leaving for the S8.

Sorry LG, I like most of what you bring to the table but you can't keep up in the camera department and you have lost 2 fairly long time customers because of it.

 

[vasekvi]

Pros

- High quality screen with accurate colors that does not suffer from amoled burn in.

- Smooth and quick most of the time

- Second screen (coming from Note Edge to V10 and then V20) it is very useful and I would hate to give it up on a future phone

- Removable battery now easier to access better than ever.

- Wide angle camera along with good main camera with excellent manual control

- Excellent mics that can record in very loud environments without clipping, perfect since I go to many concerts.

- High quality build and materials

- Good amount of internal storage and of course the expandable storage

- IR Blaster

- Excellent audio output (and very good B&O headphones if you managed to get those too) has by far the best sound and volume of any phone I've had with the things I Connect to

Cons

- Wide angle camera could be better quality (G6 and I'm sure the successor to the V20 already has matching resolution cameras)

- Sometimes grainy pictures in lower light especially but shooting in manual mode helps along with shooting in RAW

- Fragile rear camera glass. I know people who have broken theirs but I left the film on mine and so far so good

- Not waterproof and no true waterproof cases available but I still prefer removable battery over waterproofing.

- Delay in the phone anticipating how I want to share certain things causes me to sometimes select the wrong person or method to share

 

[RaRa85]

Pros:
-Great camera
-Two cameras for extra functionality
-Nice battery life
-Comfortable to hold
-Removable battery, IR blaster
-QuadDAC

Cons:
-Not water resistant
-Gaming performance could be better
-Size a turnoff for some

Also Pro: very reliable fingerprint scanner especially since you just have to rest your finger on it instead of pushing it first.
Decent speaker quality.

 

[flyingkytez]

Pros:

-Quad DAC: seriously, music is amazing. If you're not a music fan, then this won't be for you
-high quality mic: it picks up EVERYTHING, very clear and crisp. Also loud music from a concert won't sound distorted so you can take great videos at concerts.
-removable battery (the only and maybe last to have, extremely convenient)
-dual front and rear wide angle & regular cameras
-16MP camera (as opposed​ to the standard 12MP; there IS a difference, try zooming into a photo) and the manual mode give you a DSLR like experience
-still has micro SD card slot (never will find this on a Google Pixel), I can enjoy thousands of audio books and music MP3s
-IR blaster: now I can change the channel anytime, anywhere, anyplace
-nice slim and thin design, high quality metal back (vs huge bezels of iPhone 7 plus and Pixel XL)
-useful 2nd screen (always on display is really useful with 2nd screen)
-IPS LCD: no need to worry about screen burn in
-military grade rating (don't drop your Galaxy, it'll crack in two places)
-finger print scanner is conveniently placed in the back, easy to reach
-you can download themes just like Samsung
-OS is SUPER FAST, no lag whatsoever, optimized RAM performance
-battery life is excellent. I never really need to charge my phone until bedtime.

Cons:

-camera automode can be a bit slow to focus at fast moving objects (unless you use manual mode)
-camera not the best at low-light (unless you use manual mode)
-the top and bottom part of the phone is not made of metal like the back, but at least you don't get those ugly antenna lines, and it's still durable however
-apparently according to some, the camera glass is fragile if you're not careful
-doesn't have an AMOLED screen (still beautiful but not as nice as AMOLED)
-glass is slightly curved at top and bottom of phone making glass screen protectors difficult to install
-no water-resistant rating (but it's okay for me, I never expose my phones to water anyway)
-OS updates are a little slower than Pixel or iPhone



Overall thoughts: I really like this phone a lot, it's actually the best phone I've owned to date. LG really nailed it with this one and I think this was what the LG G5 should have been. Tons of features are jam-packed into a slim phone. Honestly, smartphones are getting boring, I'm really glad my V20 has all the features I want to keep me happy for the time being. This phone is underrated and people are sleeping on this great phone. If the camera was faster and it had an AMOLED screen, then I would think it'd be the flagship killer.

 

[brettt777]

Pros:
- Lightning fast in everything I've tried so far.
- Its huge, if you're into that like I am.
- Didn't think I'd care much for second screen but I actually love it.
- Decent battery life.
- Lots of on board storage and a card slot if needed.
- Fingerprint scanner actually works.
- Very nice display.
- Extremely dynamic and tons of functionality.
- It has the notification pull down button I had on my G2.

Cons
- Headphone and USB jacks need to be on the top or side.
- Can't figure out how to get the continuous scroll to work.
- Too much bloatware that can't be removed from desktop.

And this is after only two days...

 

[lateck2]

I'll agree with everyone on the Pros..

For the most part one Con that I don't like alot is that LG is letting the carriers have TO much control and add bloat ware and Remove or Block features. (FM radio, LG air, etc).
I wish LG (Android) would be a little more like Apple when they make a phone.

 

[muckle_dabuckle]

Awesome phone, but can't recommend it on T-Mobile.

Pros:

-look and design (its pretty)
-decent battery life and standby time
-fast
-wide angle cameras
-IR blaster
-loud speaker for media and speakerphone
-great call quality (with the occasional hiccup)
-fast fingerprint scanner
-nice tactile volume buttons
-second screen notifications
-lighter than the V10
-64GB storage
-FM radio

Cons:

-almost five security updates behind on T-Mobile
-grainy pictures (often have to fight to get more light)
-no option to scramble pin keypad
-surprised robot back camera lens
-some slowdown like when long-pressing on the home screen (not sure if this is an microSD card issue)

Basically had to nitpick for most of the cons, but the biggy is no support from T-Mobile.

 

[tsneidin]

The biggest con and one that wipes out any and all pro's is that LG no longer is supporting this device. They continue to sell it but this is their response to my question about when US996 will be patched:

I received this from LG in response to my questions about when LG would provide Android/Security patches for the LG V20 US996.
This is a staff of LG Product Security Response Team(LG PSRT).
First of all, we sent wrong information because the dedicated team confused the model. As you know, the latest patch was released at the last December. Unfortunately, there is no further schedule for V20, but our dedicated team is still discussing about next patch schedule. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t be helpful. Regards, LG PSRT
This is BULL****. Please take a moment to send feedback to product.security@lge.com, https://lgsecurity.lge.com/, even if yours model is different.

 

[Jakoh]

pros:
fast
big screen
second screen
fast charge
wide angle camera
IR blaster


Cons:
Screen not very bright outdoors or colorful compared to OLED.
main camera takes meh pictures.
short battery life 3.5hours screen on time before hitting 15%.
Finger print sensor on the back is not that easy to use. especially when the phone is lying on the table for people with desk jobs.
flick scrolling too slow and not continuous.

 

[texn884]

I like it a lot cons no security updates on my model,
Lots of pros of the phone its a big phone but does not feel like it and great to have removable battery and battery life is good depending on signal strength which will drin the battery fast in poor signal areas

 

[Johnny Cakes1]

i wanted to get a v20 after my v10 but surprised nobody has mentioned as a con that the V20 doesn't support wireless charging.. other than a hack cable workaround..

 

[vasekvi]

i wanted to get a v20 after my v10 but surprised nobody has mentioned as a con that the V20 doesn't support wireless charging.. other than a hack cable workaround..

Removable battery > Wireless Charging

 

[Johnny Cakes1]

Removable battery > Wireless Charging

i know.. but after owning the V10.. i want both still.. so its still a "con" in my eyes

 

[xplod566]

Pros - Audio,Camera,Audio recording,Light,Build Quality,Secondary screen,Decent Battery Backup,Excellent heat management,Removable battery,Dedicated slot for 2 Sims and 1 Micro SD.
Cons-Auto mode in camera,sometimes stutters,excessive Under clocking when phone is hot,Screen Retention,Horrible SW update experience

 

[flyingkytez]

Removable battery > Wireless Charging

People prefer pretty looking glass phones nowadays. Removable battery phones lasts longer.