LG's 5-camera phone offers a snapshot of the incredible multi-purpose future

At the rear, these three digital eyes include a 12 MP / 1.5 main camera, a 16 MP / 1.9 wide angle camera and a 12 MP / 2.4 telephoto camera with 2x zoom. This means that there is a lens for almost any situation, and they are all very precise.

During a shootout in the face of a Galaxy Note 9, LG's biggest rival in terms of price, features and bragging rights, the bolide V40 of a bowl of beef noodle soup was all as good, if not minimal. little better than what the Samsung has captured. (You can see all these comparisons of images in a gallery below.) There are minor color differences, which can be expected from phones made by different companies. If you zoom in to the nearest pixel, the V40 will look a little sharper. and has better details on the meat.

Then when I tested the new V40 2x zoom at a recent CS: go tournament, while the shooting of Note 9 was better able to reduce the excessive blue cast of the scene, the V40 was not far. And when I took a small picture of a happy little turtle, the V40 was again very close, with detailed textures on the rock and reptile, although the picture of the V40 appears overall slightly overexposed.

Finally, in low light, the V40 has again followed Note 9. However, if you look by zooming in close and look at the candle and silverware, you can see where the Note 9 has a small advantage in terms of detail and noise. reduction. To be clear, while I think that Note 9 offers a little more in terms of image quality, the V40 is not left either.

But we have not finished yet, because it remains the super-wide-angle camera of the V40 to take into account, which Note 9 does not even have, allowing you to capture breathtaking views of buildings or events you might otherwise have missed. And then, there are the adjustments that LG has made to the V40's camera app. Now, if you want a preview of what each lens sees, just tap and hold the three icons at the top of the screen to get a live view of each camera's field of view. And if you still can not choose the best lens, you can simply activate the Triple Shot feature and let the V40 take a picture with the three lenses in a (quick) quick succession. Unfortunately, since you can not really choose your focus area in triple shooting as you normally can, this feature is usually best used as a guide to help you compose more pictures later.

There's also the V40's new Cine Shot mode, which lets you turn videos into endless loop movies or aficionados tend to call cinemagraphs. All you have to do is take a short three-second video, highlight the specific section of the scene you want to keep moving, paint it with your finger, and you're done. Sometimes there are problems where the motion seems hectic or the gif does not loop perfectly, but even so, transforming the process of creating your own cinemagraphs that sometimes takes several hours to a process taking less than 15 seconds takes a lot of time. fun. That said, I would like there to be some extra options in Cine Shot, like being able to set the video capture on something more than three seconds.

And in addition to all the news, there are still all the previous features of the camera to consider, such as its AI Cam mode, able to recognize various objects and scenes, and then use this information to automatically adjust the image settings, a new version of Google Lens works in real time instead of forcing you to take a picture in the first place, and sophisticated tricks such as LG's movie video that allows you to zoom in smoothly on a specific subject, such as a true videographer.

Apart from the cameras, the general specifications of the V40 are also very solid. It comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a microSD card slot, water resistance, wireless charging and a fingerprint sensor. It even has a headphone jack – which you seem to only find on South Korea's budget handsets and phones – which works in tandem with a 32-bit quadruplet analog-to-digital converter to deliver wired audio quality with pleasant sound .

The 6.4-inch V40 OLED widescreen is also very bright (it has reached 598 nits on our equipment, higher than the Note 9 and the iPhone XS), and shows no hue or weird stripe that we have seen some LG's previous screens. And despite a battery of average size of 3300 mAh, the V40 worked well in our degradation test with a range of 10 hours and 42 minutes. Of course, it's definitely shorter than an iPhone XS Max (13:07) or a Note 9 (14:11), but there's only half an hour less than a standard iPhone XS (11 : 11).

However, what is not so nice is that the V40 has Android 8.1 instead of Android 9, and LG does not say when an update could happen. LG is also trying strangely to try to show how V40 is thin and light compared to other renowned phones. I thought we were past that. At 5.96 ounces, the V40 weighs about an ounce less than phones with displays the same size, but I have trouble taking care of them. I never thought one day that a phone is too heavy to use, but maybe it's just me.

My biggest problem with the V40, though, is its price. Listed at around $ 950 (depending on where you buy it), LG may have targeted a bit too high. Yes, all of these cameras are cool and everyone has its utility, and its specifications are suitable for a flagship product, but when it comes to giving the impression that its price is justified, I think the V40 is a little short. Give me an extra 2GB of RAM, a more integrated storage or a hell, even a stylus, because even if it has more cameras than a Galaxy Note 9 at $ 1,000, Samsung's big and expensive handset gives better value for money. And for so much money, a high-end phone must absolutely look as cool as all the technologies it contains. Unfortunately, the V40 can not do it either.

But if you do not mind trying to find a more advantageous solution, like waiting a few months as the price goes down, or opt for the very advantageous V40 pre-order package, which includes a DJI Osmo Mobile 2 free and a 256GB microSD card, the gain could be worth it. For all those who say that the most important thing about their next phone is to get a better camera, between the V40's five cameras and all its nifty stuff, LG's latest phone has what it's like. it is necessary. And if you do not use the V40, be aware that LG's multi-camera madness will probably be available soon on all other high-end devices.

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• Featuring a 12 MP main camera, a 16 MP super wide-angle cam, a 12 MP cam with a 2x zoom and many clever software tricks, the V40 is one of the most versatile photo and video tool kits to date. on a phone.
• Apart from the five cameras of the V40, there is really nothing interesting in the design of the phone, which is a bit nil.
• Unfortunately, the V40 will have Android 8.1 installed immediately, and not Android 9. LG's skin remains virtually unchanged from previous devices, leaving it less customizable than Samsung's skin and is not as smooth as the Android .
• At 10 am and 42 minutes, the V40's battery life is solid and you get a fairly comprehensive range of ports and specifications, including USB-C, wireless charging, IP68 water resistance , wireless charging and headphone jack (!).

SPEC DUMP

Android 8.1 • Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 • 6.4 "3120 x 1440 OLED display • HDR 10 support • 6GB RAM • 64GB storage • MicroSD card slot • Three rear cameras (12 MP / f / 1.5 main camera, 16 MP / f Wide Angle Camera 1.9 to 107 Degrees, 12 MP f / 2.4 Zoom Cams 2x) • Dual selfie cameras (Main cam at 8 MP f / 1.9, Wide angle cam at 12 MP f / 2.4 at 45 degrees) • 3,300 mAh battery, USB-C port • 3.5 mm port • Wireless charging • Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac • Bluetooth 5.0 • NFC • IP68 waterproof to dust and water • 32-bit Quad • 6.25 x 2.98 x 0.3 inches • 5.96 ounces • available in black or Moroccan blue