The 5 Best Features of the LG V30 You’re Going to Love

The new LG V30 was recently announced and LG was kind enough to let me borrow one and I have to say, I’ve been loving it so far overall, but there are a few features in particular that I’m kinda excited about and figured I’d show you guys some of them and why I’m into them. So here are the 5 best features on the LG V30, in my opinion.

The Camera

First up, the camera (or technically cameras).

The phone features a dual camera setup like the G6 with one being a “normal” angle lens and the other being a wider, almost GoPro like lens. The thing I first noticed about this setup when using it on the G6 was just how much more I ended up using that wider lens than I thought I would. Turns out there’s a lot of scenarios, especially pertaining to travel photos (landscapes, cityscapes, streetscapes, a lot of scapes), where you’d want a super wide angle.

In addition to the wider lens option, both of these lenses are super crisp with super fast apertures. The wide angle has an f1.9 aperture and the other lens has a crazy f1.6. What this means is that they let in a lot more light if you want and also help achieve that bokeh look with things blurred out in the background if you’re into that (I’m into that).

Log Format

Another interesting choice for the cameras here is the inclusion of being able to record videos in Log format.

If you aren’t familiar, Log format (sometimes incorrectly called Raw because of the similar look and goals the two formats share) is a video format where the color curves are adjusted to tone down the color science and allow the sensor to focus more on the dynamic range.

LG added a setting that allows you to record in their Log format while doing video which you can then load into your own editing software, like Premiere or Final Cut, and then have a lot more freedom with the color correction/adjustment, and ideally more dynamic range than if you just shot with the baked in color.

Sample LG Log from V30

Sample Log Color Corrected from V30

Screen

What good is all this camera tech if it looks crappy on the phone? Thankfully, LG upgraded from an LCD screen to a lovely POLED one on the new V30, resulting in deeper blacks, more vibrant colors, and in some cases better battery life.

They also used the 18:9 standard and super tiny bezels (with a more curved edge a bit reminiscent of another flagship device) to be able to get a large 6″ screen in a much smaller and more comfortable handset.

DAC

Something audiophiles will appreciate–the DAC.

Now, without going into too much detail, every single device you listen to music on has a DAC built in. A DAC or Digital to Analog Converter simply takes a digital signal of 0’s and 1’s and converts it to analog so things like headphones and ultimately our ears can hear them. When you hear of a company touting a DAC in a device, like the V30, it’s that they have a better quality DAC than normal.

In the case of the V30, they have a 32-bit DAC that allows for a 32 bit bit depth. Again, without getting too technical, it just means that the audio coming out (so long as you have a decent pair of headphones and audio that you are playing that can take advantage of the better bitrate).

Bottom line, it sounds great.

Hi-FI Recording

In addition to the better sound coming out in a lot of cases, LG also added better audio recording.

The added 2 high-performance AOP mics to the V30. These AOP or Acoustic Overload Point Mics, have higher overload points. Overload points for a mic are the point where a mic can no longer tell the difference between the sound signal and just noise so having a higher one means they can capture much louder audio without distorting, basically.

They also added some neat noise cancelling so

Conclusion

As LG seemed to focus this new device towards creators, and considering my job, it probably comes as no surprise that most of my favorite features are ones geared towards content creation, I suppose. Either way though, there’s what I think are the best features on the LG V30 and really what make it stand out against other flagships out right now.

Let me know what you think of this phone/this video in the comments below.