Well fancy that. :d I'm not sure if you would be willing to pay the little bit extra for a V30+, but either way I'm confident that my experience with the V30+ is very similar to what you would get with a V30.
Here's an informal review. I'm afraid I'm not a great judge of technical things like colour depth, so my comments are quite mundane.
Display:
- 0% is comfortably bright even in a train with white overhead lighting (guess where I'm writing this). Just from memory, I don't think it can go as dark as a Samsung S7E, which is a bit annoying if you like to save battery like me. However, it can go really really bright - 60-70% is decent visibility in full afternoon sunlight
- Colours aren't especially vivid or anything. They just look natural, I guess, though it would be nice if contrast was a little higher when brightness is turned down
- Slightly tapered edges - not to the extent of a Samsung, of course, but enough to give the screen a sleek feel
- Thin bezels - The screen is fairly wide, so watching videos on it is very nice. I've watched a lot of YouTube and Netflix on my phone and am happy with how they look
Battery:
- As always, this varies based on what you're doing. Recently I've always been in reach of a charger (I hear you're not meant to let the battery fully discharge or you risk shortening its life) so I'll base it on a day out instead:
- Connected to the internet 24/7, using many different apps (email, browser, games, education, music) for ~30 minutes+ each, at 0-10% brightness: 10-12 hours
- Connected to the internet 24/7, watching YouTube or Netflix, 20-30% brightness: 6-8 hours
- Connected to the internet OR on airplane mode, writing (e.g. on Evernote): 14-16 hours
- I'm not super confident in the above estimates so here are some real-life scenarios I remember: Watching YouTube at the gym for 1.5 hours, 0-10% brightness - 90% down to 75% | Internet OR airplane mode, GPS on, many different apps + continuous Spotify for 9 hours - 96% to 20%
- Similar to the S7E, if plugged into a proper power source (so not a computer USB port lol) it charges lightning-fast. As in, I have faith my phone could go from 20% to 100% in about an hour. That's why I feel super secure not charging my phone overnight even when I need to leave in the morning, because in the time that it takes me to get ready I know my phone will have regained what it discharged
Processing power:
- It's really difficult for me to judge how 'fast' phones are because my expectations are unrealistic ... I've never seen a phone that was actually used (i.e. not brand-new) that didn't annoy me at some point with waiting or crashing!
- It seems on par to most other phones. For me, the left button function (what you press to see all open apps) can be a little slow, probably because I have so many different apps. The home button is fairly quick unless I have the keyboard open (I use Gboard)
- No lag with swiping or anything
- Of course, it can freeze sometimes. However, I'm not sure how much of that is a lack of phone power and how much is the app not working (because sometimes an app is malfunctioning, so I need to close and reopen it)
- I don't think my games are that demanding since they don't have many moving graphics, but they generally all run very smoothly. Sometimes they force close
Design:
- I like the slim bezels. It's not bezeless but I don't normally notice that
- Really pretty! No, it's not the prettiest phone on the market (personally I like the look of the S9 and U11 more), but the chrome finish of the back is super cool. However, it also gets dirty easily
- There's a nice range of colours. I still regret not getting the purple - until I turn my phone around and check out its nice teal colour
- No notch, haha, but I don't like the notch design anyway
- Homescreen is a digital touch button. It's not capacitative touch or a physical button, which is fine by me. If you're used to a physical button it can take some getting used to, but it frees up space and you adapt quickly
- The lock button is placed intuitively in the top third of the back, below the camera. It's very easy to reach and, if you hold your phone with two hands, more intuitive to unlock with your fingerprint than if the button were in front (like the S7E)
- Slim but pretty durable. I don't have a good case on it right now (just a free flimsy plastic one) but it's survived the many times I've dropped it on the floor without a scratch
Camera:
- This is, as you might know, one of the most important features for me! I have good and bad news:
- Bad - Auto mode is disappointing compared to Samsung's. They're not that sharp and feel a little dull (though I hear Samsung is oversaturated so maybe I'm not used to natural colours any more, haha)
- Oh my lord, though, nothing is more disappointing than the selfie camera. Sure, Samsung had a smoothing filter that you literally could not turn off, but at least you looked in focus! Seriously, I just take selfies with the rear camera. I don't know why LG bothered installing a front camera like this one...
- I find the colour temperature slider a bit limited, but it's pretty good for a smartphone right now
- The flash isn't very good - it's a better torch, really - but flash smartphone photography is a sin anyway!
- It doesn't have portrait mode but I don't really know what portrait mode does anyway (seriously, if you want a good portrait why aren't you using manual mode?)
- Camera doesn't start up immediately. Then again, the S7E didn't start up as fast as everyone said it would, so either I expect too much or I'm slowing down my phone somehow. Still, at least it takes photos quickly enough once it opens
- Good: Manual mode is excellent. There are more options than with S7E manual and when you get the focus right, it is REALLY beautiful! Foreground is crisp and detail is kept when zoomed in (usually my phone takes photos that are roughly 2000+ x 3000+ pixels)
- If you like taking videos, you'll love the many features LG packed in. They have a lot of cinematic styles, like Romantic Comedy and Documentary, which apply filters that give your videos a fun new look. They adjust dynamically so that your video looks consistent throughout, but it does struggle in low light
- Some people get really excited about wide cameras / dual lenses. I'm not one of those people, so I don't use it much, but I do find the panoramic effect very cool for taking scenic shots
- Of course, LG has all the normal 'cool' modes, like double exposure, instant GIF/video, food, panorama
- Advice: Install GCMod (a mod for Google's Pixel Camera system) and use that for 'auto' photos (i.e. times when you need to get a super quick shot and have no time to adjust). Warning, though, play around with the HDR/phone type settings because sometimes GCMod will be processing HDR or something before it actually takes a photo, which is very frustrating if you're not expecting that
- Oh, and I would recommend this for every smartphone - open the camera app BEFORE you think you need it
Audio:
- For the first time, I think I picked a phone with better audio than camera. That's not because the V30+ camera isn't great, but because the audio is excellent
- In-built Hifi DAC = no matter what headphones you use, they're going to sound that little much better. And yes, you can adjust the sound modes, but I would recommend leaving them on default
- The Hifi audio quality extends to Bluetooth too!
- Speakers, which are located at the bottom, are fine. They can go pretty loud and sound alright - better than my S7E at least, which was known for its tininess. I wouldn't use it to DJ a party, though, especially since it can be easy to accidentally cover the grate and muffle the sound
- Headphone jack is located on top, which takes some getting used to. I think I still prefer it at the bottom. I'm really just happy that it's there, though - I refuse to buy a phone without a headphone jack
- Call quality is pretty good and clear, as long as you're not in a tunnel or something
Storage:
- My last phone only had 64GB, so I couldn't keep that many photos or videos on it. However, I now have 128GB internal storage, which still has 25GB free after installing way too many apps and recording my entire Christmas holiday
- It allows for expandable storage, which is a necessity for me. Alternatively, you can have 2 SIM cards instead
Misc. Features:
- Fingerprint unlocking is super fast once the phone learns to recognise you. The day I got it, I set up my fingerprints immediately but couldn't get it to recognise me unless I cleaned the button every time! But now, unless my fingers are wet or super sweaty, it takes less than a second for my phone to unlock
Overall, I like my LG V30+. It's weird because I sound very picky and critical, but I'm actually not very picky - as long as the phone runs well and doesn't have regular problems, I don't really care what it's like (except for the camera and audio). I think it's because I know I have very high standards so I don't expect anything to meet all of them! It also helps that I care a lot about what I think about the company, too - their practices and policies.
Okay, I'm probably missing something so go ahead and ask about anything else you want to know!
I hope this was useful. Oh, and if you want to see some sample photos - I tried uploading some but they seem to be too big, so I can resize them if you like.
