LG V40 ThinQ Review: A Five Camera Android Contender

Name: LG V40 ThinQ
Brand: LG

by Marco Chiappetta — Wednesday, October 03, 2018, 05:00 PM EDT

Since the introduction of Android 7 Nougat, and even more so with Android 8 Oreo now, our battery life testing has become a bit of a challenge. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, Google's mobile operating system is getting more aggressive at killing tasks that are consuming significant power and haven't had any user interaction. As a result, our usual PCMark Android battery test now fails on some phones, depending on how they're configured. The LG V40 ThinQ, unfortunately, hasn't been playing nice here and has shutdown the test multiple times. We were, however, able to get some numbers from AnTuTu Tester, and have some relevant comparison data.

Battery life isn't chart-topping for the LG V40 ThinQ, with its 3,300mAh cell, but it is very good. It couldn't quite catch the V30, but the V40 ThinQ's performance is markedly better so it's a worthwhile trade-off. In the real world, most users should have absolutely no problem getting a full day out of the phone, even with fairly heavy use. Case in point...

This was what battery life looked like during one of the failed PCMark battery test runs. With roughly 6 hours of screen-on time, with various workloads being run on the phone constantly throughout, the LG V40 ThinQ still had 39% left on its charge. Speaking of charging, the phone supports fast wireless charging and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology as well, so grabbing some top-off juice doesn't take much time at all.

The LG V40 ThinQ - Find It On Amazon

Final Review Summary, Pros And Cons LG struck a nice balance with the V40 ThinQ. Looking back through the benchmarks and battery life numbers, the LG V40 ThinQ doesn't quite lead the pack in any particular category, but it is right in the mix with some of the most powerful, flagship Android devices currently on the market. Couple its competitive vitals with a relatively clean, minimally-skinned OS installation, flexible camera setup -- both for world-facing shots and for selfies -- good looks, its high quality OLED display, and surprisingly good audio for smartphone, and you've got an attractive product on your hands. Pricing, however, may give some consumers pause. Depending on the carrier, the LG V40 ThinQ will be priced at around $900 - $980. That's cheaper than something like the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, but significantly pricier than the Galaxy S9+ or the One Plus 6. If the features and design of the LG V40 ThinQ are what you're looking for, we suspect anyone that grabs one of these phones will be happy. The V40 ThinQ's form factor, overall aesthetic, and feature set hit a lot of high notes.


Great Display Good Performance Flexible Camera Setup Clean OS Installation Attractive Design Decent Battery Life	Price Premium Trailed In Some CPU Tests Fingerprint Magnet

Tags: Android, smartphone, LG, review, lg v40 thinq, v40 thinq

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com