LG Velvet: Sleek, Lightweight and a Well-deserved Flagship Phone

LG Velvet: sleek, lightweight and a well-deserved flagship phone

LG Velvet 5G

“The new LG Velvet is a delicate, aesthetic, lightweight phone with a display that many high-end phones would like to have.”

  • Features elegant design
  • It is extremely light
  • Offers superior performance
  • Camera needs improvement
  • The battery does not impress
  • It is difficult to hold due to its sharp edges
PVS $ 599.00

When it comes to phones, LG doesn’t just want to be remembered for its ThinQ line. For this reason, it launched its new Velvet model, a phone that particularly seems much more elegant to me and that also contains a series of interesting qualities in its camera.

The big question is, will you be able to compete with the great flagships of the most popular companies of the moment? To find out, I have tried the LG Velvet for several days and here I give you my verdict.

A feather in your hands

The LG Velvet impresses not only for being a fairly slim and elegant phone with a 6.8-inch screen that covers the entire front, but also for being really light, so much that you will feel like a feather in your hands, if you compare them with other phones on the market.

LG’s new device weighs just 180 grams, which compared to the 200 and 220 grams of most other companies’ flagship phones makes a big difference. In addition, it is only 7.9 mm thick and features a curved “3D arc design” concept, giving it a slimmer feel.

My review model is glossy gray (its official name is Aurora Gray ). This is probably the most conventional version of the phone, as it also comes in more vivid colors like Illusion Sunset , Aurora White, and Aurora Green . Finally, this time he has bet on being more original with his colors and that is something that is appreciated.

LG Velvet 5G

The set of cameras is also special, since they are arranged vertically, as if they were a kind of rain drops that get smaller as the lenses lower. The main top lens stands out because it is bigger and has a black frame, then it is followed by two lenses of the same size and finally the flash.

LG placed the volume buttons and the dedicated Google Assistant key on the opposite side of the body from the power button, probably to prevent you from accidentally turning it off. However, since it is somewhat different from the rest, it may take a while to get used to it.

The Velvet’s downside is its sharp edges. All phones with sharp edges have the same problem: they are not comfortable to hold, and this one is no exception. Holding it tight is not pleasant. However, aside from this detail, the design of the phone is impressive, and any minimalist person would love to have it.

Screen and audio

The LG Velvet is tall and slim due to its 20.5: 9 aspect ratio, P-OLED screen, which measures 6.8 inches and which also has a resolution of 2,460 x 1,080 pixels. These qualities make it quite similar to the 21: 9 aspect ratio that Motorola adopted for the Edge Plus. As if that were not enough, the LG Velvet has HDR10 support and plays HDR content from YouTube.

Particularly, I like the central cutout that it makes at the top to show the selfie camera because it is quite delicate and minimalist, unlike others on the market.

LG Velvet 5G

The audio comes from stereo speakers at the top and bottom and they really sound great. I did some tests with music videos, podcasts, our Live Digital Trends programs and MotorTech and I liked the sharpness of the sound and how loud it can be heard.

This phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom, but sadly, the excellent Quad DAC seen on many older LG phones hasn’t made it to this model. It’s a shame, since without it the Velvet simply features standard sound when connected to wired headphones. Hopefully it is something that LG adds in the next version of this model.

A decent camera

The rear lenses of this device look like raindrops, arranged vertically. You’ll find a 48-megapixel f / 1.8 sensor, an 8-megapixel f / 2.2 sensor, and a 5-megapixel f / 2.4 depth sensor.

LG Velvet 5G

Although on paper its values are not impressive, since other cameras offer much more complete sensors, the truth is that in tests, the camera of the LG Velvet does not disappoint.

The wide angle takes very sharp photos with a strong HDR effect with bright blue skies, amplified greens and strong reds as you can see in the examples. However, when I used the main lens, the camera took some blurry photos and others were so colorful, they came to look very different from reality.revision lg velvet 5g 2020 20200731 141059 hdrrevision lg velvet 5g 2020 20200731 141218 hdrrevision lg velvet 5g 2020 20200731 141234 hdrrevision lg velvet 5g 2020 20200731 141455 hdr

Bokeh portrait mode has poor edge detection, zoom mode (which is not compatible with a telephoto lens) extends to just 2x, and the camera app often struggles to make changes quickly.

I have to admit, I also lost count of the number of times I activated Google Assistant by mistake when trying to open the camera from the lock screen shortcut, so it’s likely to happen to you too.

The LG Velvet’s camera is not perfect and it has various details that maybe can be improved through a software update, however, it takes decent photos, and for those who are not demanding on the quality of the photos, it can be more that enough what this phone offers.

Performance and software

The LG Velvet features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor with 5G connectivity and 6GB or 8GB of RAM, depending on geographic location. The version we tested had 6 GB of RAM and the truth worked quite well in daily use. It did not freeze at any time and resisted having multiple applications open, including some smooth gaming.

LG Velvet 5G

The LG Velvet comes with Android 10 and the latest security patch, in addition to LG’s own user interface. It has a clean, colorful and consistent design that you like, although if you use the pure Google interface it will take a little getting used to.

As for the software, the most interesting thing about the new LG Velvet is its compatibility with 5G technology, although unfortunately we could not test it because this technology is not available in the region where we tested the device. Hopefully you can use it soon.

A phone that endures all day

The Velvet features a rugged 4,300 mAh battery that you can charge with either a 25W cable or wireless charging.

In tests I did, the phone’s battery lasted a full day of use. The truth for its great values I thought it would last longer, but despite that, I must admit that it is quite decent.

It can also be a dual screen phone

It is not the first time that LG has offered a dual-screen casing to add to its phones and thus make them as useful and eye-catching as the new folding phones on the market, but at a cheaper price and a little less heavy.

This time the Dual Screen case has a 6.8-inch P-OLED screen identical to that of the Velvet, and with a 2.1-inch front screen, which allows you to check the weather and alert you of any notification when you have the case closed. It offers the possibility of having a greater visualization when using several applications at the same time, moving the screens up to 360 degrees, and it is capable of becoming a support for watching videos comfortably.

LG Velvet 5G

The dual-screen case I tried is silver in color, which matches the phone model I was using and is made of sturdy plastic.

Although this case adds an extra screen for better viewing and protects the Velvet from possible falls, if you are a minimalist person and who enjoys the elegance of glass phones, such as the one provided by the new Velvet, you probably will not like to use the Dual Screen, since it not only adds striking thickness to the phone, but also gives it an additional 180 grams of weight.

Also, it does not have its own battery and draws power from the phone. To recharge the Velvet with the case attached, you must use a small magnetic adapter, which comes with the case. The Dual Screen is sold separately.

Price and availability

The LG Velvet is available for $ 599 at AT&T and will be available at Verizon and T-Mobile for a similar price.

To make matters worse, you can buy it (for a limited time only) paying only $ 10 a month, for 30 months at AT&T; that is, you could buy the LG Velvet for $ 300 dollars, as long as you are a new client of this telephone operator.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, the new LG Velvet is a delicate, minimalist, lightweight phone with a screen that many high-end phones would like to have. Plus, it has a decent battery and pretty good performance for its price. However, it falls short in terms of the quality of the photographs.