LG Velvet

LG Velvet is expected to be launched on August 8, 2020 in India.

This handset is the first in a new line of smartphones under brand name LG that emphasizes on design instead of specs.

According to the company, the decision to launch the Velvet line came from the notion that there are several smartphones nowadays that have similar specs on papers.

That is why LG wants to differentiate itself by introducing an elegantly designed smartphone line to stand out on the market.

Display

LG Velvet’s aspect ratio if 20.5:9 makes it a slim and tall handset. The screen looks stunning as it is a 6.8-inch P-OLED with a resolution of 2,460 x 1,080 pixels. The phone looks somewhat like Motorola Edge Plus, which has an aspect ratio of 21:9.

The phone has curved edges but it does not mean users will have cascade on the sides. In fact, the bezels on top, bottom, and the sides of the phones are quite large.

LG does not elaborate on the materials but we know the phone can play HDR YouTube videos as it supports HDR10.

The teardrop notch looks nice as there are so many pill-shaped cutout to house the dual camera setup on the front on the market and this is a pleasant alternative.

The screen on the LG Velvet is decent and can meet the need of an average user. However, the most serious downside is the low refresh rate, which will make the phone less of an appealing deal for potential buyers.

If you would love to have a higher refresh rate, some better alternatives are Samsung Galaxy S20 and OnePlus 8.

Another letdown is the brightness of LG Velvet’s display. Whenever users are outside in the sunlight, brightness needs to be maxed out if you want to see clearly what the phone is displaying.

The palm-rejection feature was created with good intention but it is a little bit too sensitive when you grip the Velvet’s curved edges.

Overall, for an average user, this handset’s display is solid and can meet their every day’s needs.

Chipset

Under the hood, LG Velvet runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G with support for 5G. Users have the choice to acquire the phone in either 8GB or 6GB of RAM, enough for both usual tasks and games.

Benchmark tests of the Velvet and Motorola Edge show similar results and in reality, the two phones show no difference in both gaming and other tasks.

We tested LG Velvet’s performance on Asphalt 9 and 1945, the phone did well with standard graphics settings.

Snapdragon 765G is suitable for casual gaming but if you want something more, go for the smartphones with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 is a wise choice. One of the best alternatives available on the market with this chipset is OnePlus 8.

Overall, much like Motorola Edge, LG Velvet is suitable for everyday use. It supports casual gaming needs, it does day-to-day tasks well, and it does all of these above without getting hot.

Hardcore gamers may need a better chipset but those who just want to make calls, go on social media, and take photos will be satisfied with what LG Velvet can offer.

RAM

LG Velvet comes in 6GB or 8GB of RAM, which is plenty of storage for apps and some games.

Battery

The phone draws power from a 4,300mAh battery, accompanied by wireless and wired chargers. You will have fingerprint scanner on this phone but not face unlock, much like the LG G8X ThinQ.

The fingerprint scanner is reliable and fast, so there is no complaint over security here.

The power cell lasts long enough but cannot rival those of some other handsets under similar conditions. Under moderate use, the phone will probably lost 90% of juice by the time you go to bed, so overnight charging is hard to avoid.

Even if the phone is not connected Wi-Fi, it can hardly last to the second day with one single charge.

Camera

The camera module on the rear of the LG Velvet looks like a raindrop shape and the setup consists of a 48 megapixels/ f/1.8 lens, an 8 megapixels/ f/2.2 sensor, and a 5 megapixels/ f/2.4 depth snapper.

You may think you can find more attractive combination with similar price on the market and you are right, photo quality is one of the weak spots of this handset.

Motorola Edge Plus, one of its competitors, has a 108MP main sensor. Other options like flagship phones from Huawei and Samsung even offer double the zooming capacity.

These hardware limitations do impact the phone’s performance in real life.

To be fair, LG Velvet’s cameras are not bad, but they are inconsistent, which can drive users mad. When you take pictures with the main lens, your photos will look washed out, but when you switch to the wide-angle lens, you will have decent shots with strong reds, bright blues, and amped up greens. That is weird given that these cameras are on the same phone.

Another disappointment is sometimes, the Velvet can over-sharpen shots and make everything looks unrealistic.

The phone has bokeh portrait mode but it does a poor job detecting edges. It has a telephoto lens but the zoom mode does not have its support. The zooming capacity maxed out at 2x and the photos it takes are far from good.

The camera app doesn’t help either. Users are in for some frustration if they try to switch from one lens to another.

The short cut on the lock screen is also confusing as you may open Google Assistant instead of the camera app by accident.

However, there are some good sides to mention here. While sometimes pictures may look washed out, they pack lots of details. And in many situations, pictures taken by the wide-angle shots can be shared right away without further editing.

This inconsistency can be fixed with software updates but for now, LG Velvet still lags behind other flagship phones in its ability to take pictures.