Welcome back, AndroidGuys. This time around I’m presenting a breakdown of LG’s latest-and-greatest, the V20, with its previous latest-and-greatest, the V10. As you might come to expect when it comes to annual upgrades, the upgrades are largely incremental.
Note: Since the V10 is going to be getting Android 7.0 in the coming months, I’m going to focus largely on hardware, not software.
Build
In an absolutely shocking turn of events, both of these phones look like a modern smartphone – which is to say, a candy bar form factor. The V20 has a pretty significant advantage in form and quality, being 0.04″ thinner, a full half an ounce lighter, and rocking a full aluminum body compared to the V10’s aluminum “accents.” Both are described as being “shock resistant,” but let’s be honest; smartphones, with very few exceptions, are not shock resistant.
Screen
I’m gonna be frank with you here; the primary screens on the V10 and V20 are identical. Both are 5.7″ IPS LCD displays running at 1440 x 2560 resolution. The secondary displays are both 2.1″ LCDs running at 1040 x 160. The only difference you’re going to see here is that the screen takes up more real estate on the V20, having a larger screen-to-body ratio. Other than that…zero upgrade in the display department.
Internals
Snapdragon 808 (1800Mhz) vs 820 (2150Mhz)
Adreno 418 vs 530 GPU
MicroSD, 4gb RAM, 64gb storage
Anyone who’s read a smartphone article written by me knows I love specs; they’re generally my go-to when comparing the overall price difference between two phones, and this is an excellent example of an incremental upgrade. The only difference between the V10 and V20 – internally – lies in the CPU (and, by extension, GPU). The V10 runs a respectable Snapdragon 808 (which tops out at 2GHz), while the V20 runs an 820 (topping out at 2.2GHz). A year’s time between the two phones, and the only difference on the motherboard is, essentially, 200MHz. I remain unimpressed.
Internal Features
MicroUSB vs Type-C USB
Bluetooth 4.1 vs 4.2
802.11AC WiFi, Fingerprint Sensor
In my honest opinion, this category holds the single largest difference between the LG V10 and V20; the charging cable.
Let that sink in for a second – I’ll wait.
The biggest difference between these two phones isn’t processing power, or the display, or some new fancy hardware gimmick; it’s the fact that one uses the venerable MicroUSB, and the other uses a shiny new Type-C USB port.
Incremental upgrade, indeed. But hey, you also get a newer version of Bluetooth, which increases the download speed of the protocol.
Battery Life
3000mAh vs 3200mAh
I’m not sure how to say this diplomatically; according to PhoneArena, the V20 has crummier battery life than the V10, which wasn’t exactly a marathon runner to begin with. While V10’s 3000mAh battery gives it 10hrs of talk time, V20’s 3200mAh battery only manages to pull 8hrs. Bigger battery. 20% less life. Ugh.
Camera
This is going to be where the V20 really separates itself from the V10. In terms of specifications, the two cameras are nearly identical – so I won’t bother. The main departure from the V10 in the V20 lies in its ability to capture better quality sound using 3 separate microphones on the chassis, as well as having a better field of view than its predecessor, at 135-degrees – nearly the same as the human eye. At it’s core, the V20 took the V10’s 13mp shooter and decided to add a second, 8mp sensor with a wider field of view. The V10 already had a pretty formidable camera on-board, especially when it comes to video, but the V20’s is a step above that. If you’re the type to immortalize every moment in video, or send roughly a billion Snaps a day, it may be worth an upgrade for you.
Value
I’m hoping that after reading this, I really don’t need to convince you any more. The above links are real-world pricing for these two phones, today and off-contract. $350 cheaper for a phone that’s a year older, but is every bit as powerful as the newer model.
Verdict
IF you love video, it MAY be worth an upgrade.
If you don’t, then don’t. Let’s recap: for double the price, you’re getting a newer processor (with 350mhz more power), two hours less talk time (despite a bigger battery!), a Type-C USB port, an improved camera, and a few months of Nougat-y goodness while the V10 waits for an upgrade.
Dono’s humble opinion? Not worth the cash.
