Coming in at the very tail-end of the year, LG's V20 might be the most feature-packed phone of 2016. It looks pretty weird and it's arguable how much utility you'll get out of some of its marquee gimmicks, but the chances are that if you're looking for an Android phone with a specific feature the V20 has it.
A 5.7-inch screen makes this one big phone — which could be enticing for anyone wishing Samsung's Galaxy Note7 had stuck around — but the most striking aspects of the handset on first glance are the tiny always-on display that sits above the main screen on the front, and the complicated array of camera gear on the back.
Audiophiles will find that the phone's sound is driven by a Quad-HD DAC provided through a partnership between LG and B&O;, while those concerned about longevity will appreciate a feature that's become a true rarity these days — a removable battery.
Throwing all these headline features together with most of the other bits and pieces you expect from a modern flagship, LG's latest is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster. But does it pull it all off?
Hardware
The V20 is the best-looking handset LG has put out for a while. It's not as interesting as the curvy, leather-clad G4 but miles ahead of the janky G5. Though the screen is huge, the bezels above and below are minuscule, and paired with a convex metallic back this makes the whole thing surprisingly comfy to hold and use.
Speaking of the G5, fans of that phone will recognise the combo camera array on the rear. Unlike the iPhone 7 Plus, this is not for zoomed pics but instead to give users the choice between a regular wide-angle shooter and a weird super-wide one. The latter captures much more of the scene in front of you, so you can get nice wide shots without having to take a step back. But, while it's a neat trick not seen in many other phones, I didn't find it all that useful.
For one thing, images taken in super-wide mode are a lot harder to frame, especially since being anywhere near glary lights or the sun will make weird for artifacts. More problematic is that anything toward the edges of the frame gets a fish-eye warp. Add the fact that the super-wide lens captures a much less detailed image than the regular one (8MP v 16MP), and I almost always preferred the traditional camera. For selfies, the V20 has a fairly unremarkable 5MP camera.
An image taken in super-wide, on top of an image taken with the regular camera. The wide format certainly gets more in the frame, but at the cost of detail and perspective.
The other big feature is the secondary display, which allows you to see the time or your incoming notifications at a glance. This is a touchscreen, so you can also interact with your phone somewhat without having to unlock the screen. In essence it's a bit like a smartwatch. Your phone buzzes and you see the notification run across the top so you can read it. Swipe left and you get quick controls like the torch, a Wi-Fi switch or whatever else you like, swipe right for media playback controls. Some apps, like LG's stock camera app, will even extend to the second screen for additional options.
It's a great feature and works flawlessly, but the issue again is how useful it is. Using quick options or seeing text messages without turning on the phone is great (especially for two-factor authentication codes), but beyond that I didn't really use it. Those who have their phone on their desk all day and don't have a watch might feel differently.
Elsewhere this is your standard high-end Android. A Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM drive pixels to the perfectly nice Quad HD LCD, the back-mounted fingerprint scanner is nice and quick and a microSD card slot gives you expandable storage up to 256GB. As an unfortunate consequence of the removable battery (which is definitely big enough to get you through the day, by the way), the V20 is not water resistant.
Software
The V20 runs the latest Android 7.0, which is great, but I just can't come around to the bright, busy "UX 5.0" skin LG slaps over the top. The colours and icons are crazy, the frosted effect on some of the widgets is weird, and worst of all the menus and default apps are filled with completely superfluous descriptive text and other details. It's a very showy, very Korean take on Nougat I'm sure many will be perfectly fine with, but it clashes hard with a lot of Google's own stuff and makes me a bit cross eyed.
The other issue you may come across at first is that this new version of UX ditches the app drawer by default, laying all your phone's apps on home screens iPhone-style. This can be changed if you dig through the settings, though.
The size of the screen makes switching to Google's Now launcher a bit wasteful, as you'll only end up with a handful of huge apps on each home screen, but after some tweaking I was happy enough with LG's take, even if I never got used to some unchangeable aspects of the design.
Home screens, from left: straight out of the box; with Google Now installed, with LG's UX 5.0 after some tweaking.
The good news is that many of the stock apps are very good and take specific advantage of the V20's hardware. This includes an impressive HD audio recorder, a programmer for the phone's IR blaster so it can replace your remote controls and probably the most comprehensive stock camera app I've ever used. From filters and grids to options for shooting in RAW, it pretty much has it all.
Should I get one?
It's clear LG is aiming at creative types and those who need their phone to do something more specialised than just make calls, play games and browse the internet and social media — and in the process it provides many features other phones don't have — but unless any of its efforts specifically appeal to you it might be a hard sell.
It's a great phone for photography, but its signature super-wide lens is iffy. The secondary screen is brilliant, but only for very specific circumstances. The audio equipment is crazy good for a smartphone, and the software makes good use of it, but if you're not an audiophile or someone who needs to record crystal clear speech you may not care.
For most people it's probably the huge screen that sets it most apart from its high-end 2016 competition, as it's bigger than both the Pixel and Pixel XL, Sony's Xperia XZ and Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. If a really good phone with the biggest screen possible is what you want, this one's for you.
Yet while the $1099 V20 is comparable to the others performance-wise and beats them outright in several niche areas, for me it's beaten by the best of the best in some fundamental areas including design, comfort, and ease-of-use.
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