LG Snubbed Once Again

[chanchan05]

Having to connect a stereo mic is one extra thing to carry around and would be hard to connect it in time to record as that moment will be missed. Connecting to stereo speakers is a fixed scenario rather than variable as recording something would be. The Exynos version isn't available in the US and the V40 has DTS X which is similar to Dolby Atmos and even superior to it in some applications.

Right back at you. Connecting to stereo speakers is another thing to carry around and if I just want to sit down and watch a video with my friends as we were waiting for some other friends where stereo speakers would be great.
Bringing a recording mic to a place where I know there will be recording, just like how you know you're in a place where you would be listening essentially is the same.
Plus the fact also that less people care about stereo recording on their phones. You could have the best stereo recording phone, but if people don't care about stereo recording, it's useless and doesn't score you points.

 

[Almeuit]

Because the absence of Stereo speakers can be mitigated by connecting to a stereo source. The absence of stereo recording can't be mitigated, even if you go into a video editor and change the audio to stereo. LG just simply isn't being given the credit that they deserve.

The absence of manual control for a camera can be replaced by a 3rd party app.

But of course you can't recognize that because your bias won't allow it

 

[eric12341]

Right back at you. Connecting to stereo speakers is another thing to carry around and if I just want to sit down and watch a video with my friends as we were waiting for some other friends where stereo speakers would be great.
Bringing a recording mic to a place where I know there will be recording, just like how you know you're in a place where you would be listening essentially is the same.
Plus the fact also that less people care about stereo recording on their phones. You could have the best stereo recording phone, but if people don't care about stereo recording, it's useless and doesn't score you points.

Likely there's a stereo source nearby that it can be connected to. Plus, with the resonance chamber, depending on the object it can provide a stereo effect. If anyone is doing any kind of content creation, then stereo recording is a must, this isn't the 60s anymore. Plus, it has to be embarrassing to not have it given that even my HTC 8X from 2012 recorded in stereo.

 

[chanchan05]

Likely there's a stereo source nearby that it can be connected to. Plus, with the resonance chamber, depending on the object it can provide a stereo effect. If anyone is doing any kind of content creation, then stereo recording is a must, this isn't the 60s anymore. Plus, it has to be embarrassing to not have it given that even my HTC 8X from 2012 recorded in stereo.

That's your personal opinion. As I have said before, it's not important for the masses.
Flossy Carter just listed his top 10 phones of the year last night and you know what? LG didn't make the cut for the sole reason that it doesn't have stereo speakers. He couldn't care less about stereo recording. He mentions it's a great phone, but with the presence of the other choices, he'd rather have something else in his pocket for stereo speakers. That's his personal opinion. He does admit he's rather petty though. He does say that the only reason the Find X went into his top 10 was that the slide mechanism was so cool.
Everybody is going to have a different "phone of the year". It just so happens LG doesn't tick the reviewer's boxes. Point and shoot auto capabilities is more important than pro mode. Until LG fixes that they won't even be in the competition for best camera phone because not everybody uses Pro, and the argument of losing the moment because of fiddling works with that as well, hence auto mode is where all the basis of awarding this lies. It's OS update history is worse than Samsung. Prior to this year, their aftermarket support was horrendous.
They're ticking your boxes sure, but they're not ticking mine nor the reviewers. They're ticking the wrong boxes if they want to win phone of the year. It's like sending the Miss Universe to compete in a female weight lifting competition. Sure she's probably the prettiest there, but she sure ain't going to win because that's not one of the categories being considered.
LG is being good in categories that people who hand out awards don't care about. If using our example, stereo recording was so important, people would even mention it as a reason why Samsung or Huawei gets choses over Pixels. But it doesn't. They rarely even mention it as a fault on the iPhone (but that's a different bias).
LG isn't being snubbed. LG is snubbing the categories the mass market cares about and trying to excel in stuff they don't.

 

[eric12341]

That's your personal opinion. As I have said before, it's not important for the masses.
Flossy Carter just listed his top 10 phones of the year last night and you know what? LG didn't make the cut for the sole reason that it doesn't have stereo speakers. He couldn't care less about stereo recording. He mentions it's a great phone, but with the presence of the other choices, he'd rather have something else in his pocket for stereo speakers. That's his personal opinion. He does admit he's rather petty though. He does say that the only reason the Find X went into his top 10 was that the slide mechanism was so cool.
Everybody is going to have a different "phone of the year". It just so happens LG doesn't tick the reviewer's boxes. Point and shoot auto capabilities is more important than pro mode. Until LG fixes that they won't even be in the competition for best camera phone because not everybody uses Pro, and the argument of losing the moment because of fiddling works with that as well, hence auto mode is where all the basis of awarding this lies. It's OS update history is worse than Samsung. Prior to this year, their aftermarket support was horrendous.
They're ticking your boxes sure, but they're not ticking mine nor the reviewers. They're ticking the wrong boxes if they want to win phone of the year. It's like sending the Miss Universe to compete in a female weight lifting competition. Sure she's probably the prettiest there, but she sure ain't going to win because that's not one of the categories being considered.
LG is being good in categories that people who hand out awards don't care about. If using our example, stereo recording was so important, people would even mention it as a reason why Samsung or Huawei gets choses over Pixels. But it doesn't. They rarely even mention it as a fault on the iPhone (but that's a different bias).
LG isn't being snubbed. LG is snubbing the categories the mass market cares about and trying to excel in stuff they don't.

The auto mode capabilities on my V40 are just as good as any other phone out there, so that's not an excuse. I've received regular security updates on both my V30 and V40, LG is committed to updates and supporting their phones. Why else do you think they are providing a 2 year warranty vs just one like everyone else.

 

[Mooncatt]

The auto mode capabilities on my V40 are just as good as any other phone out there, so that's not an excuse.

LG has been known to be overly aggressive with noise reduction in auto mode, leading to an almost watercolor look to photos. It's especially apparent in low light photos where it cranks up the ISO. That's probably the biggest downfall of their auto mode photos, and I'd be very surprised if they toned it down with the V40. Auto-focus speed has also been lacking compared to other manufacturers. If you think your auto mode photos are "just as good as any other phone out there," you haven't been in any tricky/low lighting.

 

[Golfdriver97]

dropping from 2nd biggest Android manufacturer in the world all the way to 6th.

Roll back the clock a few years and those large names would have been Samsung, HTC and LG for global sales. Now, the underdogs (Huawei, Xiaomi) are giving Samsung a run for their money.

I had an LG G4, and I didn't care for it. I almost think LG would be much better off if they picked say the V series to be their flagship, The G series to be the mid range, and have 1 budget (read budget as you will) and that's it. Kinda pulling a page from Moto. Focus on those 3 devices, give support for them (updates and actual customer support) and maybe LG will be worth talking about again.

 

[chanchan05]

The auto mode capabilities on my V40 are just as good as any other phone out there, so that's not an excuse. I've received regular security updates on both my V30 and V40, LG is committed to updates and supporting their phones. Why else do you think they are providing a 2 year warranty vs just one like everyone else.

Have you seen the photos? No it's not. There isn't even any competition when we go low light photo on auto vs the Pixel and the Samsungs. Samsungs have better hardware for low light and Pixel AI is unreal in creating low light photos. Some reviewers who compared V40 to the Note9 came out with verdicts of 'not even close'.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/lg-v40-vs-galaxy-note-9,review-5812.html

Take a look at the iguana from that link. Its horrible. Viewed in isolation it may seem a good photo, but when placed side by side...

As for updates, Samsung is now rolling out Pie to varying regions. LG has already released a Q1 update roadmap, and the G7 will be the only one to see Pie. The V40 will only get bug fixes for Q1. So it will only get Pie when? When the Pixels are on Q and Samsung is already beta testing Q? The Lg G7 One doesn't count because it's Android One. Google handles updates for that.

 

[chanchan05]

Roll back the clock a few years and those large names would have been Samsung, HTC and LG for global sales. Now, the underdogs (Huawei, Xiaomi) are giving Samsung a run for their money.

I had an LG G4, and I didn't care for it. I almost think LG would be much better off if they picked say the V series to be their flagship, The G series to be the mid range, and have 1 budget (read budget as you will) and that's it. Kinda pulling a page from Moto. Focus on those 3 devices, give support for them (updates and actual customer support) and maybe LG will be worth talking about again.

Samsung released a future roadmap that would seem they won't focus as much on phones anymore as they would on internals. They already started making deals with Chinese companies like ZTE to supply them with SoCs and sensors and screens. With prices to consider, I'd expect Huawei will overcome their number 1 soon, unless the recent debacle with Huawei gives them pause.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Samsung released a future roadmap that would seem they won't focus as much on phones anymore as they would on internals. They already started making deals with Chinese companies like ZTE to supply them with SoCs and sensors and screens. With prices to consider, I'd expect Huawei will overcome their number 1 soon, unless the recent debacle with Huawei gives them pause.

Things like that are always hard to say. Samsung could stop those deals if they become less lucrative. You may be right that Huawei might stumble a bit. Anything can happen.

I looked at your link to the photo review. I would like to call out 2 photos. The one of the iguana, and the woman. The iguana is a huge difference. The Note 9 photo is objectively a better photo. The LG version looks like they took a photo of a clay model.

The woman, on the other hand....I would like to know which one looks closest to what is really her. There was what appeared to be some skin smoothing on the Note. I can understand the critique of blowing out or over exposing the background on the LG. Textures seem better on the LG. Overall, I think the Note photo looks better, but a good question is, which should one look for in photography; what looks better or what best represents reality? EDIT: I thought of this after finishing, but perhaps this should be tallied to the difference between the front and rear facing cameras? It appears the woman took a selfie, as opposed to using the primary camera like for the iguana or butterfly.

Since there was only 3 photos, the only one I am missing is the butterfly one. I honestly call that a draw. Neither phone did a good job capturing the subject (the butterfly) well.

 

[chanchan05]

Things like that are always hard to say. Samsung could stop those deals if they become less lucrative. You may be right that Huawei might stumble a bit. Anything can happen.

I looked at your link to the photo review. I would like to call out 2 photos. The one of the iguana, and the woman. The iguana is a huge difference. The Note 9 photo is objectively a better photo. The LG version looks like they took a photo of a clay model.

The woman, on the other hand....I would like to know which one looks closest to what is really her. There was what appeared to be some skin smoothing on the Note. I can understand the critique of blowing out or over exposing the background on the LG. Textures seem better on the LG. Overall, I think the Note photo looks better, but a good question is, which should one look for in photography; what looks better or what best represents reality? EDIT: I thought of this after finishing, but perhaps this should be tallied to the difference between the front and rear facing cameras? It appears the woman took a selfie, as opposed to using the primary camera like for the iguana or butterfly.

Since there was only 3 photos, the only one I am missing is the butterfly one. I honestly call that a draw. Neither phone did a good job capturing the subject (the butterfly) well.

Here's another with more photos and contenders. Basically the conclusion was all contenders except V40 performed well in all situations.

https://www.androidauthority.com/go...-galaxy-note-9-pixel-2-huawei-p20-pro-921259/

 

[eric12341]

Have you seen the photos? No it's not. There isn't even any competition when we go low light photo on auto vs the Pixel and the Samsungs. Samsungs have better hardware for low light and Pixel AI is unreal in creating low light photos. Some reviewers who compared V40 to the Note9 came out with verdicts of 'not even close'.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/lg-v40-vs-galaxy-note-9,review-5812.html

Take a look at the iguana from that link. Its horrible. Viewed in isolation it may seem a good photo, but when placed side by side...

As for updates, Samsung is now rolling out Pie to varying regions. LG has already released a Q1 update roadmap, and the G7 will be the only one to see Pie. The V40 will only get bug fixes for Q1. So it will only get Pie when? When the Pixels are on Q and Samsung is already beta testing Q? The Lg G7 One doesn't count because it's Android One. Google handles updates for that.

I've seen that review before and I call bs. My photos don't look anything like that and look more closely to those of the note 9. The reviewer also didn't even bother to mention the video recording capabilities nor the audio capabilities of each phone. It's a blatantly biased review.

 

[chanchan05]

I've seen that review before and I call bs. My photos don't look anything like that and look more closely to those of the note 9. The reviewer also didn't even bother to mention the video recording capabilities nor the audio capabilities of each phone. It's a blatantly biased review.

I posted another set of photos where again, the V40 loses. I have never seen one review where the V40 came out on top. The best mention I could see was where GSMArena was generally impressed compared to previous iterations, they also mention that the dynamic range was lacking, shadow detail resolution was lacking, among other things.
As I said, the video recording capabilites and audio capabilities are just tick marks for any reviewer. If this reviewer didn't care for them, then they are not counted in his reviews. Just goes back to the point where the V40 excels in things that reviewers and people who gives awards don't care about.
It's like the Car of the Year award. Sure the Subaru Impreza can run circles around the Toyota Corolla, better driving capabilities with the AWD, and overall a better car. But, it doesn't tick the marks of fuel efficiency, owner satisfaction (it's expensive for what you get), and isn't exactly as well suited for city driving, hence it loses despite the things it can do better.
Same thing with V40. Nice audio? Cool. But most people use crappy headphones that the DAC won't properly drive anyway. Stereo recording? Samsung has both stereo recording and stereo speakers, the LG loses one of those. The Note just ticks every single box the average consumer could want and more and does everything good, hence why it almost always is in the contention and usually wins.
There is inherently nothing in the LGV40 that makes it standout over the rest of the competition. The only one-up it has the Quad-DAC and that's not even a big deal.
Even if let's say the LG V40 had a camera that was as good as the Note 9, why would I take it over the Note 9? The Note 9 has stereo speakers, and the S Pen is an awesome tool. Not to mention the battery on the V40 is just 3300mah compared to 4000mah on the Note 9.
Against the Pixel? if the V40 has a camera sa good than the Note 9, then the Pixel's is better. Stereo speakers>mono. It'll be getting Android Q by the time P is still rolling out for the V40, making the V40 hilariously outdated compared to other flagships in terms of OS support.
So again, is there any compelling reason to buy a V40? Maybe you can say price for flagship specs, but then you'll be competing against OnePlus. Sure the V40 is more premium than a OnePlus, better camera and arguably better screen, but the OnePlus just screams performance, with a better OS update roadmap as well, keeping it updated.
You could be good at everything you do, but unless you have something that makes you stand out, don't expect to win the pageant.
Is the V40 a good phone? It is. No one is saying it isn't. There's really just nothing special about it. If it was pitted against an S9 or S9+, sure it's a good choice over them. They aren't that special as well anyway just good all around like th V40. But against the Note?

 

[Golfdriver97]

There is inherently nothing in the LGV40 that makes it standout over the rest of the competition.

For me, honestly, there is one thing about it that automatically disqualifies it from me even considering it; the size. The thing, to me, is a monstrosity. I was leery about the Pixel 3.

As for the rest of your post, for the most part, from what I was able to find, is that the V40 is essentially a jack of all trades, yet a master of none. This would probably be a phone for audiophiles, and yet, I think most would have some other means of listening to music better than through a cell phone.

 

[Almeuit]

I've seen that review before and I call bs. My photos don't look anything like that and look more closely to those of the note 9. The reviewer also didn't even bother to mention the video recording capabilities nor the audio capabilities of each phone. It's a blatantly biased review.

Biased because it doesn't sing your praises ... Man this is comical lol.

 

[Almeuit]

(Moved this back to General Discussion since it truly isn't just about AC)

 

[Golfdriver97]

Biased because it doesn't sing your praises ... Man this is comical lol.

I've been trying to find reviews that suggest to buy the phone. These are the closest that I've found, and even then, they tongue in cheek suggest to buy other phones:

CNET: https://www.cnet.com/reviews/lg-v40-thinq-review/

PC World: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3310943/android/lg-v40-review.html

Wired: https://www.wired.com/review/review-lg-v40-thinq/

Wired is a little strange though. They don't really have a section for an overall thoughts or buy/don't buy. The conclusion of the article just leaves you hanging.

I took a peek at the price, at least on AT&T. $950. That's a lot of cash, especially for a phone that reviewers are luke warm to it, and photo comparisons are lackluster. For me, due to size, I won't even consider it as an upgrade.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Looking at the front page I've noticed that there were best of awards. There were three articles about it and in each one... The V40 wasn't even considered even though it's an all around better phone than the S9/+ and possibly even the note 9 (despite no stylus). LG has done something great with this phone, it has the best sound quality out of any of the phones listed, and the best manual camera which records at a high bitrate. It deserved to be mentioned, furthermore the editors disabled comments on the articles seemingly to prevent such discussions like this. And these aren't the only time this has happened. I bet if the V40 had either a Samsung or Oneplus logo on it, it would be treated better. Where is a true Non Biased Android news and reviews site? Because it ain't here obviously.

Speak to LG and tell them to make a phone buying next time and not just a "I did it too" device.

Also put a bigger battery, 3300mAh was never going to cut it in 2018 let alone 2019, with phones like Huawei Mate 20 Pro rocking 4200mAh batteries with insane battery life and super fast charging.

 

[eric12341]

Speak to LG and tell them to make a phone buying next time and not just a "I did it too" device.

Also put a bigger battery, 3300mAh was never going to cut it in 2018 let alone 2019, with phones like Huawei Mate 20 Pro rocking 4200mAh batteries with insane battery life and super fast charging.

The V40 is worth buying, I got one. But only through Jump where it was $0 down. I might also even get the V50 when it comes out. Keeping with my upgrade once a year tradition.

 

[Aljean Thein]

LG V40 can take some amazing shots. But it just can't compete against the big boys.

On its own, it takes some good pictures. But low light is definitely lacking.

It's sad cause they used to be the top dog in camera for androids.

And add a much bigger battery next time.