New Delhi: When smartphone makers like Motorola and Samsung are busy launching high-end foldable display smartphones, LG has joined the bandwagon by launching a dual-display device at an affordable price.
The new LG Velvet is priced in India starting at Rs 36,990, whereas the LG Velvet Dual Screen combo is priced starting at Rs 49,990.
Currently, it is the only handset in the sub-Rs 50,000 price point that offers a foldable smartphone experience.
Let us find out how the Dual Screen combo device in black colour performs for its Indian fans.
The Velvet doesn’t look like any other phone LG has launched to date.
It features a tall and slim look. The phone has a metal-glass sandwich design with both the front and rear sides being curved.
The right side of the phone houses the power button while on the left, you will find volume buttons and a Google Assistant key.
A SIM card tray with microSD card expansion is placed on top of the phone, and a USB-C port, speaker and headphone jack at the bottom.
The smartphone comes with a case for a secondary display with all the important buttons and ports.
The case ships with a magnetic connector for Type-C charging port so that a user doesn’t have to take out the phone every time to plug it into charging.
The dual-screen accessory has cutouts for the audio jack and bottom-firing speaker.
Additionally, the Velvet also comes equipped with a hybrid SIM card tray, offering a microSD card to expand the phone’s built-in memory.
The LG Velvet has a P-OLED 6.8-inch main screen with an aspect ratio of 20.5:9 and a resolution of 2460×1080, 60Hz refresh rate.
The sunlight legibility of the device is good. One won’t be squinting his/her eyes to read text or view a photo on the phone.
We do wish LG added a screen refresh rate option faster than 60Hz. Refresh rates of 90Hz or higher are commonplace on other mid-range and flagship smartphones.
The sides of the display are curved, which certainly looks modern.
The smartphone incorporates a second 6.8-inch screen to the regular monitor of the Velvet. In the Dual Screen case, there is also a 2.1-inch display where alerts and other information can appear.
LG has a custom web browser called “Whale for LG Dual Screen” created especially for its Dual Screen.
With the help of a secondary display, one can read the news on one display and watch YouTube videos on the other one.
One can also use the primary display as a gaming console while gameplay runs on the secondary screen, for a console-like gaming experience.
The LG Velvet has a triple camera setup at the back that houses a 48MP primary sensor with an f/1.8 lens, PDAF, and 79-degree field of view. There is an additional 8MP secondary sensor with a wide-angle f/2.2 lens and 120-degree field of view.
Lastly, there is a 5MP depth sensor with an f/2.4 lens and an 81-degree field of view.
The phone also has a 16MP camera sensor at the front for selfies and video chat that is paired with an f/1.9 lens and offers an 81-degree field of view.
In daylight testing, nearly all of our shots looked crisp, with excellent depth of field. The smartphone offers solid performance in low-light conditions as well.
Selfies came out nice, even if a bit overexposed. However, the images were not as sharp as what you get on the front camera.
The device captures video in up to 4K at 30fps with its mainframe, 1080p at 30fps and 60fps are available as well. The ultra-large coverage is limited to 1080p at 30fps.
The LG Velvet India model is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC instead of the Snapdragon 765G found on the global version.
The phone packs 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. There is an option to expand storage further using a microSD card (up to 2TB).
The phone’s performance is smooth for day-to-day tasks like multitasking between social media apps, watching a video and sending emails.
Facial recognition on the phone is decent and the in-display fingerprint sensor, we found, is a much better option.
LG Velvet has a battery power of a 4,300mAh with Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+ support.
Fully charged, the phone easily lasted for more than a day on moderate usage.
If you want to use it for playing games and streaming movies, then you have to plug-in to the charger for twice a day.
The Velvet runs on Android 10 with no complex menus and the interface is clean.
Conclusion: No doubt LG Velvet is the finest phone in terms of design and performance in its category that we reviewed recently.
Still, it would be not an easy task for LG to compete against OnePlus as well as Samsung foldable devices in terms of consumer satisfaction and brand trust.
Affordability is one factor that works perfectly in the LG Velvet case as you will not find a Dual Screen device at this price.
By Md Waquar Haider
