Our First Impression with LG W30 – The Aggressive Priced Smartphones from LG

LG has launched its W30 smartphone in India today at an event in New Delhi. This device has been introduced to the new W series. The last smartphone we have seen from the company was the LG G8 ThinQ that was showcased at the MWC 2019 held earlier this year. This new W-series will be India-first phones with an affordable price tag. The LG W30 has been launched for Rs. 9,999 and will go for sale on July 3rd for the first time via Amazon India. Along with the W30, LG also launched its W10 Smartphone for Rs. 8,999 and unveiled it LG W30 Pro smartphone but has not revealed its pricing.

Since we have this affordable smartphone with us today, we would like to share out first impressions of this device and our review should be coming out after a few days.

Talking about the display the LG W30 comes with a 6.26-inch HD+ U FullVision screen with a Water Drop notch giving an aspect ratio of 19:9. LG claims to provide Edge to Edge immersive visual experience with the phone. The screen-to-body ratio on the smartphone is 86 percent. The phone also offers modes like Screen Colour Mood and Night Light along with adaptive brightness and more.

Hardware & Software

LG has powered this device with 2.0 GHz Octa-Core MediaTek Helio P22 Processor based on 12nm FinFet process Coupled with 3GB of RAM. The onboard storage is limited to 32GB which can be extended further via microSD card slot. LG has also used a TSMC 12nm FinFET and CorePilot technology that is claimed to provide longer battery life. Furthermore, there is also 650MHz IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU to enhance graphics performance.

The device has a fingerprint sensor on the back and the front camera comes with AI facial unlocking system that is claimed to identify 128 points that will be processed in 0.3 seconds to unlock the smartphone. We did not find the facial unlocking system taking much time to unlock the device but is not the fastest also. The handset support 4G VoLTE connectivity on both the SIM card slots.

The LG W30 comes with Android 9 Pie operating system out of the box but there is a possibility of it getting the further updates also. The device comes with a simple UI which kets you to switch between the applications easily and also supports features like, ScreenCast, Google Lens and Google Assistant. The user also has the option of changing the appliance of the phone, by customizing the notch display to V notch or U notch or go with the old and traditional full-screen modes. The user needs to go to the settings of the device and tap on the Display option. Now on the top, we can find the Notch option from which you can select them accordingly. The Android version along with the security patch of the device is mentioned in the screenshot given below along with few other details.

There are other options like a lift to wake up the device that will wake up the smartphone when you lift it. The device includes One-handed mode which nowadays we find in almost all the smartphones and there is a night light mode which is used for reading and it can also be scheduled accordingly. There is also the Digital Wellbeing feature on the device which will be monitoring the usage of the phone and create a balanced usage.

LG included a DuraSpeed feature on the device which will help the smartphone to boost the foreground app by restricting background applications. By turning on this feature, you may receive a delayed notification or even might not receive as well. You can also select the app that you do not want to restrict in this mode which can be switched on from the list.

Another thing to notice here is the inclusion of a panic button on the device which is designed to alert someone in an emergency situation. The user needs to turn on the Panic button feature and upon pressing the power button three times in quick successions the phone will make an emergency call to the single emergency number. This feature will work even if the device is locked or unlocked. You can add emergency contact from the settings itself.

LG also provides a few Smart Actions that include options like Flip to mute, unlock by the power button, double tap to wake up the screen and more. There are smart gestures which can be customized accordingly from the system settings.

Camera

The selling point of the smartphone is its camera which comes with three sensors on the rear. The first one being a 2MP depth sensor which is used for Bokeh modes while there is a secondary 13MP Wide Angle Camera which will be covering 100 degrees without any distortion. The last one is a 12MP low light camera and the phone comes with many features like Bokeh Effect, Portrait mode, Facial recognition, Anti Flicker, Time Laps, Night mode, and Slow motion also.

There is a 16MP camera sensor on the front which is also AI capable that comes with beauty and face-cute modes along with portrait mode. The device uses a screen flash then we turn on flash since there isn’t any LED flash for the selfies. Furthermore, the selfie camera on the device is claimed to identify six people at once when it comes to Face Recognition making it more impressive and easy to identify faces while taking photos.

Battery & Connectivity

To power, the smartphone LG has provided a big 4000mAh battery on the back that is claimed to provide 118.7 hours of audio and continuous video play of 18 hours. The connectivity options include Dual 4G VoLTE connection via both VoLTE and ViLTE. It comes with Bluetooth v4.2 and has a micro USB charging option The device will not be supporting any fast charging technology since it falls under an affordable price range.