LG has unveiled its sort of new smartphone, the V30S ThinQ, which looks just like last year's V30, except it's smarter and has more RAM.
Releasing a rehashed version of its flagship is a stunning aberration for LG, it's worth noting, as it's usually one of the big names with big surprises at every Mobile World Congress. Well, at least people got something.
The Kind-Of-New LG V30S ThinQ
In itself, the phone sounds even more excellent than the already fantastic V30, which is included in our best smartphones of 2017. It's got the same body and design, albeit in new colorways: Moroccan Blue and New Platinum Gray. On the back is the same regular and telephoto camera system, and on the front is the same gorgeous 18:9 FullVision display that's almost bezel-less. For the chip, LG has decided to use last year's Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, which comes quite as a slight disappointment considering 2018 flagships are all expected to come with the more powerful Snapdragon 845 processor.
That's a minor blemish in an otherwise excellent flagship, and the added RAM — 6 GB — will more than make up for it. There's also a new 256 GB storage option for cramming in more content. That'll be pretty useful for audiophiles who plan on using the phone's onboard Hi-Fi Quad DAC, as it best compliments large uncompressed sound files.
Why Did LG Make This Phone?
So why is LG releasing this phone again? Apparently, it's all about artificial intelligence. LG is leveraging a Berlin-based company called EyeEm for its new AI-powered photography features.
When a user enters the AI Cam setting and points the camera to, say, a flower, the software will start cycling images and flashing words in an attempt to guess what the object is. The camera is trained to recognize eight objects: person, animal, city building, flower, sunrise, sunset, food, and landscape. The phone adjusts settings based on what it's shooting.
The AI software has been trained with 100 million images, according to LG, and if initial reviews are to believed, it seems to work well. There's also a new Bright Mode that combines four pixels into one to create brighter pictures taken in low-light conditions. There's also QLens, which promises to let users buy things from online stores just by taking a photo of it.
Surprisingly, everything stated above, including the AI Cam, will be delivered to existing V30 phones, which makes the V30S ThinQ seem even more unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. Why not just announce these features as a software update, then? Perhaps LG wanted to share press spotlight in time for the Mobile World Congress and thought the easiest and cost-effective way to do that is by releasing rehashed phones with sort of new features.
The LG V30S ThinQ hits shelves in Korea in a couple of weeks. It will be more widely available later in March, though pricing remains unclear.
