Last year LG released the V10. It is an unusual and quite novel phone that never officially made it to the UK, so coverage over here was quite limited. The V10 was a whopper – a 5.7″ screen with a smaller 0.2″ secondary screen above (see the image above – the second screen is the one with the small icons). For many people, it was the flagship device that filled in the holes left by the G5. For others, it was a multimedia masterpiece – the V10 has a hugely impressive built-in DAC that delivers a phenomenal audio performance. It was for this latter reason that I briefly bought one – being a bit of an audiophile I was keen to try it out and, lo and behold, the sound quality with decent headphones is easily comparable to a portable DAP worth several hundred pounds. That said, the battery life was woeful and couldn’t last a day, so I returned it.
A few days ago LG announced the successor phone, named the V20. No details were provided, other than it will again focus on audio and multimedia functions. But just as newsworthy is the fact that the LG announcement stated, unequivocally, that the V20 will be the first Android device to use the Nougat OS update. Here’s the announcement (apologies for the shaky English, this is a a Google translation from the original Korean):
LG Electronics will be equipped with the close cooperation with Google ‘LG V20’ is ‘who is Android 7.0 (Nougat)’ on the latest Android operating system. To launch new smartphones equipped with the ‘Android 7.0’ is the first ‘V20’.
‘V20’ is a premium flagship smartphone LG’s offer for the best multimedia experience launched in October last year to ‘V10’ successor models. LG Electronics plans to launch in September, and confirmed the name means going after perfection to ‘V20’.
‘V10’ will apply, including the world’s first ‘Dual camera selpi’ and ‘Second Screen’, a feature that enhances the user’s visual experience (Visual Experience). In addition, the first smartphone built-in Hi-Fi 32-bit DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) for ESS 社, the bar has gained great response from consumers with excellent sound quality.
LG Electronics has launched the Google bar reference smartphone Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus of 5X. In particular, LG Electronics and Google have signed a ‘global patent cross-license agreement (Cross-licensing Agreement)’, and patents, as well as strengthen existing partnerships, such as to share up to a comprehensive patent application until 2023.
LG Electronics CEO MC Business Division jojunho president “and with the Android latest OS on the V20 for the first time among the newly released smart phones,” said, “V20 is expected to set new standards in the premium phone in a more expanded multimedia capabilities.” he said.
The key information here is that LG has been working closely with Google on the software, and that it will launch in September, that’s next month! Exciting stuff indeed. Hopefully there will be an official UK release this time. As soon as we have any details on the specifications of the forthcoming handset, we’ll let you know.