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User Experience

From a user experience perspective, LG leverages its own UX 6 as the V30’s launcher. It uses square icons and supports app shortcuts found in the underlying Nougat 7.1.2 build that the phone runs. There are three different modes you can use the UX 6 launcher in: A Home screen with all of your installed apps or a Home screen with an app drawer that is more traditional to Android devices. There is also a third, EasyHome mode with large fonts.

Overall the launcher is solid with no real issues other than it does take a toll on the battery. I noticed significantly better battery performance when I moved to Google Now or Nova Launcher over the stock launcher.

I should note that the model we were sent to review was locked to AT&T. That means it did have some AT&T apps pre-installed as well as some other bloatware apps. I’m not a big fan of carrier locked phones so if you can afford to go unlocked, do it. It will be a bit more pure in the experience and you will get updates faster.

Battery Performance

The battery performance of the LG V30 is solid and will get you through the day. As I mentioned above, if you are willing to change the launcher of the phone, you will get a bump in performance by doing so. But even without doing this, you should be able to make it throughout the day on a charge doing the normal things like Email, web surfing, a little bit of YouTube and Netflix.

Conclusion & Recommendation

Overall, I don’t have a problem recommending the LG V30. It is a good, solid phone from a performance and display perspective. The display is outstanding and photo quality is equally outstanding. My biggest reservation is the back of the phone. It feels flimsy. That may sound nitpicky but when you are spending $800 on a phone, I don’t think I’m overreacting.

Is it a deal breaker? Probably not. The reality is that you will likely have your V30 in a case, in which this becomes moot.

The LG V30 retails for $809, and it is available through a variety of carriers here in the US.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample locked to AT&T

What I Like: Overall performance; Camera performance (outstanding!); Display

What Needs Improvement: Back of the phone feels “hollow”