LG Electronics introduces V20 in Korea, US

• Published Sep 7, 2016 5:19 PM KST
• Updated Sep 7, 2016 5:19 PM KST

New handset embeds advanced audio, video features

By Yoon Sung-won

LG Electronics showcased its new premium V20 smartphone in Korea and San Francisco, Wednesday.

The nation’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer highlighted a myriad of advanced acoustic features and camera technologies it has incorporated in the new handset under partnerships with Danish audio device maker B&O Play and the world’s top application processor manufacturer Qualcomm.

Expectations are high for the success of V20 as it faces tough market competition with the latest premium smartphones, the Samsung Electronics Galaxy Note 7 and Apple iPhone 7.

“A premium smartphone’s greatest consumer values are in its audio and camera features,” LG Electronics Mobile Communications Business President Cho Juno said during the event at the company’ research and development center in Seoul, Wednesday. “As we have proudly taken the leading role in offering the best smartphone audio and camera features, we have also strived to bring the best know-how to the V20.”

The V20 is the sequel to V10, which was introduced in October last year. Unlike the G5, the V20 does not have a modular system.

LG Electronics said the V20 is the world’s first smartphone to have a 32-bit quad digital-to-analog converter (DAC), provided by U.S. audio chipmaker ESS Technology. Compared to single DACs, the quad DAC is capable of reducing up to 50 percent of noise from raw audio sources, providing users with a quality music listening experience.

The V20 is capable of playing 32-bit/384kHz high-fidelity sound sources, which is 16 times higher than compact disks can contain, and supports diverse lossless sound source formats such as FLAC, DSD, AIFF and ALAC. Its audio chip also has the up-bit and up-sampling features that boost moderate quality sound sources.

LG Electronics has collaborated with B&O Play to tune the audio feature as well as to develop a set of bundled earphones, which is included in the V20 package. The bundled earphones, however, will not be included in the package available in the North American market, an LG Electronics official said.

For expert-level users, V20 supports a 75-step volume control for each side of the earphones that is compatible with professional headphones with high impedance.

Through the V20’s high acoustic overload point (AOP) microphone, users can also record sound sources with 24-bit/192kHz quality. They can also manually adjust recording settings such as gain, low cut filter and limiter.

The V20 also has a professional model in the video recording feature. Its advanced audio chip allows the device to record high-fidelity sound in video. It also has what the company called the Steady Record 2.0 feature, which combines electronic and digital image stabilization technologies for video recording.

On its rear, V20 has a dual camera including a 1.6-megapixel unit with a 75-degree view angle and another 8-megapixel unit with a 135-degree-wide angle. Its 5-megapixel front camera supports a 120-degree view angle. The device adopted what is called the hybrid auto-focusing feature, which combines laser auto-focus, phase detection auto-focus and contrast auto-focus, to provide faster and more accurate focusing.

The V20 is the world’s first smartphone to have Google’s Android 7.0 Nougat operating system (OS). Through the new Android OS, it supports new features such as multi-window and application content searching.

Inside its 5.7-inch quad high-definition display and lightweight metallic casing, the V20 has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 application processor, 4-gigabyte (GB) memory and 64GB storage as well as a microSD card slot. It also has a fingerprint recognition sensor on the rear.

The V20 adopted a detachable battery system which comes with a 3,200mAh battery pack. The device can be quickly charged through the USB type-C cable and Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 technology.

LG Electronics said it will launch the V20 in Korea through SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus later this month. It will roll out the handset globally afterwards, starting with the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

However, China, one of the world’s largest handset markets, has been exempted from the list of countries.

“Unlike G5, V20 does not target the entire world,” Cho said. “We will sell it in certain overseas markets such as Hong Kong and the United States because large-screen smartphones are not popular in all countries.”

About its Chinese smartphone market strategy in general, he said, “We will first push to solidify our position in other markets and expand marketing drive in China later. In the meantime, we will sell our products through online channels only.”

The company has not released the V20’s price. Its predecessor V10 was priced at 799,700 won ($732.86) here.