It hasn’t been long since LG released the LG V30S ThinQ, but another update to LG’s V-series is already here. The LG V35 ThinQ retains the same design as the V30S and V30, but it boasts top-tier specs and the same camera as LG’s new G7 ThinQ.
For our impressions, check out our LG V35 ThinQ hands-on review.
Design and display
As mentioned, the V35 ThinQ has the same exact design as the V30S and the LG V30, so there are no surprises here. Even the display is the same, with a 6-inch OLED screen taking up most of the space on the front.
The HDR10-supported screen has a resolution of 2880 x 1440, which is standard for a flagship phone of this size. The display has curved corners, and there are just two small bezels on the front of the phone — there’s no notch, unlike the G7.
On the back, you’ll find a dual-sensor camera with a small flash, and the fingerprint sensor underneath. The fingerprint sensor doubles as the power button. The phone has a glass back that uses Gorilla Glass 4, which isn’t as durable as the Gorilla Glass 5 found on the V30. LG has also included wireless charging — which is good news for fans of convenient charging tech.
While the phone is built mostly with glass, LG hasn’t completely forgotten about durability — the device features IP68 water-resistance, so it should survive drops in the bath or splashes of water.
Specs and camera
Key Specs
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
- Memory: 6GB
- Storage: 64GB
- MicroSD storage: Yes
- Screen size: 6 inches
- Resolution: 2880 x 1440
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0, NFC
- Battery: 3,300mAh
- Size: 5.97 x 2.97 x 0.29 inches
- Weight: 5.57oz
- Operating system: Android 8.0 Oreo
Under the hood is where you’ll see real differences between the V35 ThinQ and the V30. The phone features the latest and greatest Qualcomm chip, the Snapdragon 845, coupled with a massive 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Thankfully, if that isn’t enough storage for you, there’s a MicroSD card slot too. You might need to use it, as LG said the AT&T version will only have 47GB free for use. The phone also connects through Bluetooth 5.0 and has a USB-C port on the bottom. It also, thankfully, has a headphone jack, but it’s situated on the top.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this phone is its camera. On the back of the phone, you’ll find a dual-sensor camera with one 16-megapixel standard sensor and an f/1.6 aperture, and one 16-megapixel, wide-angle sensor with an f/1.9 aperture. The cameras feature everything you would expect to see from a flagship phone in 2018. For example, you’ll get things like Portrait Mode and Manual Mode, which allows you to adjust settings like ISO, exposure, white balance, and so on. It can also record video at up to a 4K resolution at 30 frames per second, and slow-motion video at 240 frames per second in 720p. There’s a mode called “Super Bright Camera,” which lets you take brighter low-light photos at the cost of resolution — this first debuted on the LG V30S ThinQ.
The front-facing camera is a single 8-megapixel, wide-angle sensor, and it has an aperture of f/1.9. It’s an improvement over the 5-megapixel camera on the LG V30.
One of the biggest additions is AI Cam, which is currently available on the G7 and the V30S. It’s a separate mode in the camera app that can identify up to 19 objects — such as pets, sunrises, flowers — and it will then tweak the photo to make it look better. The camera app also lets you jump straight into Google Lens, a feature Google announced recently that would be coming to several Android phones.
Software and extra features
As you would expect from a flagship LG phone, the device ships with Android 8.0 Oreo, though we definitely expect that it’ll be upgraded to Android P when it’s released to the public. LG’s Android skin is fairly scaled back, with only a few visual tweaks to suit LG’s style.
An interesting feature that could help improve the overall experience is the “Super Far-Field Voice Recognition,” which basically means that the phone will be able to recognize your voice from up to 17 feet away. That’s good news for those who often use Google Assistant. Otherwise, there’s not much new with the LG V35 that we haven’t seen on the original V30.
Price and availability
The LG V35 ThinQ is available now through AT&T and Google’s Project Fi. Both networks are offering the LG V35 ThinQ for $900, with AT&T offering a device payment plan through which you can pay $30 a month for the phone over 30 months.
Updated on June 20: The LG V35 ThinQ is now available from Project Fi.
