Thankfully, the South African market will retain one of its smartphone competitors in 2019. LG South Africa isn’t going anywhere, and its commitment to this statement is the launch of the LG V40 ThinQ in the country.
We’ve covered the phone’s specs in detail in previous articles, but on Tuesday, we finally got the phone in our hands.
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So, how was our experience? While you can expect a snapshot “48 hour review” incoming in the next few days, and a longer more critical look at the phone in the coming weeks, below is a brief look at what the phone’s five cameras can do.
*Note: we’ve resisted the urge to resize and compress these photographs, instead uploading them at native resolution to preserve the quality. As a result, you may want to view the snaps on a WiFi network, as each is no less than 3MB in size.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 01 Hdr
An HDR snap taken with the telephoto camera -- a 12MP f/2.4 snapper at 52mm. You'll get plenty of light captured through it, but this picture feels slightly oversaturated for my tastes. And this wasn't using the included ThinQ AI mode either.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 01
The V40's wide-angle camera -- a 16MP 16mm f/1.9 snapper -- doesn't have autofocus, and you can tell. Still, I do like the sheer breadth of content you can snap, but it lacks sharpness for me.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 02 Hdr
Another shot with the wide-angle camera yields better results with better light. That goes without saying, sure, but notice the crispier details in the flowers. I do have a problem with the dynamic range though. The black sections of this photograph are too dark to notice any detail at all.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 03 Hdr
I think the LG V40's best camera is its standard camera. It's the perfect balance between details, colour and white balance. This was taken on full auto too with a shaky hand.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 04 Hdr
The rear wide angle camera does have its artistic advantages.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 04
The primary selfie camera is an 8MP f/1,9 snapper that's meant for portraits. And it does a pretty damn good job given good light. Facial smoothing isn't uncanny, while details are sharp. Again though, dynamic range is too narrow. But, selfie cameras are meant to highlight the face, not clothing, so I can't be too critical.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 05 Hdr
The classic snap through the champagne glass yielded pleasing results. I love the depth of field you can achieve with the telephoto lens, and colours aren't too oversaturated in this snap.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 05
The fifth and final camera is the group selfie snapper. At 5MP, it features the smallest sensor, and you can really tell. Focus is soft, while details are smudgy. But at least it's wide enough to capture all the happenings at a long dinner table.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 07
How does it do with food? Well, Great up until a point. I find the phone tends to miss focus at times, even if you tap on your subject. But, the snaps are definitely usable for social media.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 08 Hdr
This was a bad snap on my part, but note the detail the phone captured in the second-from-left plate. And yes, it was delicious.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 08
Again, a good example of the phone's tendency to ignore the obvious focal point. In this case, the chorizo. Instead, it grabbed the pate on the left.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 09 Hdr
You can never have enough snaps of chorizo.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 09
As an SDR photo, this snap is strangely blue. I'm not sure what went wrong with this snap, but it's nothing you can't remedy in Snapseed.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 10 Hdr
One of the better snaps with the telephoto camera, and notice the slight depth of field effect. For once, the phone did let me focus on the middle of the plate instead of the closest brim.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 10
Ravioli ravioli, give me the formuoli. This is a stellar example of what this phone's camera is capable of. Notice, this was all under artificial light too.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 11 Hdr
If you're planning to use this phone for OCR, you'll have no issue whatsoever.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 11
So good it deserved a second snap. That is, the ravioli and the LG V40 ThinQ's telephoto camera.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 12 Hdr
Another oddly blue snap, but this time in an HDR snap. The V40 tends to switch HDR on and off when required, and initially, I did not realise it was doing this at all.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 13 Hdr
The wide-angle snapper is pretty great for capturing much, much wider scenes.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 14 Hdr
Easily the best photo I snapped with the LG V40. It's crisp, colours of rich without being unnatural, and there are etched details across the scene.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 15 Hdr
Compare this HDR shot of the octopus to the earlier "bluer" snap of the same dish. These discrepancies between snaps puzzle me.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 15
In muggy conditions, I didn't expect much from the V40, but the details are sharp within the glass even if the surrounding areas in the shot aren't.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 17
A picture of the LG Watch W7 with the V40's standard camera. Notice how crisp the watch's face details are.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 18
Cauliflower and cashew nuts, who would've thought?
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 19
Again, I wish focusing on auto mode was a little bit sharper, but again, I'll give the phone the benefit of the doubt considering the lighting conditions.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 20
I included this snap to demonsrtate the camera at its worst. This was taken with the standard snapper, and I'm still trying to figure out where the phone decided to focus.
Lg V40 Thinq Launch Camera Sample 21
Finally, the last course. I quite enjoy the details in the dark fig and white ice cream.
Lg V40 Thinq Gearburn
The LG V40 ThinQ will be priced at R12 499 on prepaid, and R599pm on contract, exclusively to Vodacom. It will be on sale from 7 February 2019 in the a single finish of Moroccan blue.
Feature image: Andy Walker/Gearburn
