LG V60 ThinQ with Dual Screen Review: It Might Not Be Mr. Right, but It Could Be Mr. Right Now

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The first device to offer an optional LG Dual Screen case was the LG V50 ThinQ, which was soon followed by the LG G8X ThinQ. While I liked what LG was trying to do by adding the optional second display to both of those earlier models, it wasn’t until the LG V60 ThinQ with Dual Screen — mixed with the crazy times that we are living in — that it all finally made sense.

Let’s be clear, even on the more pocketable LG V50 ThinQ and G8X ThinQ smartphones, the addition of the Dual Screen case made for a device that was at all times a bit bulky and heavier than normal. The LG V60 ThinQ on its own starts as a super-sized device; at first glance, it would seem that putting a Dual Screen case on such a large phone would result in a veritable brick. Well, it is but it isn’t, and right now the size is just fine with me.

The LG V60 ThinQ

Maybe it’s because — other than weekly grocery and post office runs — I’ve been isolating in my home since March 9th, but pocketability and portability just haven’t seemed particularly important these days. Much more desirable? A large, bright screen and a fast processor — both of which are present in the LG V60 ThinQ.

Included in the box are the V60 ThinQ smartphone, a microfiber cloth, a USB Type-C to Type-C charging cable, a wall charger, a SIM tool, a quick start guide, and a product safety and warranty information booklet.

On its own, the LG V60 ThinQ measures approximately 6.7″ tall by 3.1″ wide by 0.35″ thick, and it weighs 7.6 ounces; it other words, it’s a beast. The display features a 6.8” OLED FHD+ with Cinematic FullVision, 2460×1080 resolution, and a 20.5:9 aspect ratio. The phone’s body is composed of Gorilla Glass 6 on the back with a Gorilla Glass 5 display on the front; a gold-colored aluminum frame wraps around all of the sides. The phone feels solid in hand; while its edges from the top appear steeply vertical, the glass on the back is curved so that you won’t have sharp edges digging into your palm when you’re holding it.

Although the V60 ThinQ is on the larger side, it manages to not feel too unwieldy. The display has a very thin ~1.2″ long speaker embedded in its center top. Directly under that, there is a punch-hole camera; otherwise, it’s just a big slab of glass. The front display has slightly beveled, 2.5D glass. I’ve mentioned before that I prefer a flatter screen like the one on the V60 ThinQ versus one of the curvier 3D glass displays. On the left side of the phone, there is a microphone, the volume buttons, and a dedicated Google Assistant button that seems largely superfluous since you can’t reassign it and you can access the assistance by swiping up from either bottom corner or saying “hey, Google …”.

On the bottom of the V60 ThinQ, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C port, a microphone, and a speaker. The headphone jack seems like a bit of a throw-back at this point, but LG has really stayed vigilant with its support for those who prefer wireless headphones. LG continues to support its Hi-Fi Quad-DAC features that can only work with wired headphones, and the digital-to-audio converter (DAC) produces a rich and immersive music audio experience. I’m pretty sure that the V60 ThinQ is the only current flagship still offering a headphones jack, so if you care for wired headphones over wireless, this is the phone for you. Since I’ve been sheltering in place for the last two months, I have been able to rediscover the joy of using some of my nicer wired headphones with this phone; so in its own little way, the V60 ThinQ has managed to spark joy in a trying time.

On the right side of the phone, there is a power button. Okay, I have a quibble … if I were designing my perfect phone, I would have the power button on the right side with the volume buttons directly above or below. I realize that this is a personal preference, but it really makes sense when the Dual Screen case is on the phone, as the volume buttons get a bit harder to access

At the top of the phone, there is a microphone and a combination of SIM and microSD memory card tray.

In most markets, you can get the V60 ThinQ in either Classy Blue or Classy White. The blue combined with the gold trim is surprisingly pretty, and it’s too bad almost everyone will either keep theirs hidden in the Dual Screen case. Even though the v60 is MIL-STD 810G tested, with so much glass exposed it would be prudent to also keep a slim case on hand for times when you’re not using the Dual Screen case. You can see the full specs for the LG V60 ThinQ here.

On the back, you’ll find the rear camera array lined in a single row, similar in appearance to the Samsung Galaxy S10. Most phones seem to be moving to a square or rectangle camera array shape; I don’t have a real preference, but some might see a row array as dated. The rear cameras include a 64-megapixel main camera, a 13-megapixel wide-angle camera, and a time-of-flight sensor for depth and 3D photo features. As you can see, the back is a huge slab of glass; the V60 is prone to showing fingerprints and random smears. If it’s covered in a case, you won’t even notice, but you’ll be glad for that included microfiber cloth when you are carrying it naked.

The Display

Take a look at these photos and tell me if you see any obvious deal-breakers? Some might not like the black bezels around the V60 ThinQ’s screen; the bezels measure approximately 3mm on the sides, 4mm on the top, and 7mm at the bottom. The 10-megapixel front-facing camera is just a hole-punch design, so there are obviously not multiple cameras or sensors present. It’s also worth mentioning that unlike many other phones, the LG does not offer face unlock security; your options are swipe to unlock, using a pattern, using a numeric PIN, entering a password, and in-display fingerprint scanning (which works very well). One last thing that might be a deal-breaker is the V60 ThinQ screen’s refresh rate. If you’re used to using a phone with a 90Hz or 120Hz capable screen (like a newer OnePlus, Pixel, or Samsung flagship), you might notice that the scrolling on the LG’s 60Hz display isn’t quite as smooth. If you haven’t been regularly using a device with a higher refresh rate, or if you are able to appreciate that a lower refresh rate means the battery will last even longer, the 60Hz display will not bother you at all. Otherwise, the display excellent at showing deep blacks and vivid colors; it can also be made almost blindingly bright

Battery Life, Speed, and Operating System

The V60 ThinQ has a very generous 5,000mAh which can get me through a day and a half of steady use before a charge is absolutely necessary — but that’s only when the phone is being used without the Dual Screen case. Using the Dual Screen case knocks off at least a third of the expected battery life. When it’s time to top it off, the V60 supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 through the USB Type-C port as well as the convenience of Qi wireless charging. The V60 ThinQ is loaded with the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Octa-core chip (the same one that’s in the Samsung S20 series), and the phone has a respectable 8GB RAM with 128GB user memory and microSD memory card expansion possible. The LG V60 ThinQ runs Android 10, which is the latest version of Android available … right now. I’m a little bit concerned because, in the past, LG hasn’t been great about regularly pushing security or feature updates. However, the latest update on the V60 ThinQ is April 29th which is on par with the Pixel 4 XL’s May 5th update and OnePlus’s May 6th update. To be fair, Samsung hasn’t updated the Galaxy S20 series since April 1 (on my AT&T version, anyway). Hopefully, LG is going to continue to do better with updates.

The Camera

The camera is usually the point where a phone that I’m reviewing will either set itself apart from others or it will slide into a mediocre pack. The ideal camera on any phone, at least for me, is one that can take consistently good photos without a lot of fiddling around and without taking too long. While I haven’t been able to use the LG while traveling, as I usually try to do for reviews, I have used the V60 ThinQ all around our home and yard during this quarantine, taking photos of daily life as it happens. These photos were resized to 2500 pixels and renamed, but otherwise, they haven’t been retouched. Some have an @geardiary watermark on them because the V60 ThinQ has a camera setting that will automatically add them on its own; this feature is fantastic for perfectly framed shots, but it’s not so great if you have to crop. Even so, automatic watermarking is a surprisingly handy set-it-and-forget-it feature that I wish every camera on every different manufacturer’s phone had. You can click on any one of these photos to start a slideshow.

 

All this photo needs is a little cropping and tweaking, and it would be ready to use in a post; that’s a handy feature for a blogger!

And while it may seem like a little thing to some, I like that you can set Google Photos to be the default gallery over the included LG app; that is impossible to do on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.

On its own, the LG V60 ThinQ has been an enjoyable phone to use, but it happens to have an ace up its sleeve when it’s in the Dual Screen Case.

The LG V60 ThinQ Dual Case

Why would I want to go out of my way to add extra weight and bulk to my already chunky LG V60 ThinQ? Ordinarily, I might have to take a hard pass. Sheltering at home for the past 2+ months has given me a new perspective on what I find useful and what I don’t. Suddenly portability isn’t as huge a deal to me, and the ability to multitask is now most important. The LG V60 ThinQ Dual Screen case has made it a cinch to handle two tasks at once, although the experience isn’t without caveats.

One of the first caveats I’ll bring up is that LG has once again made the Dual Screen case hardware so that it covers up the USB Type-C port on the bottom of the V60ThinQ.

LG G8X ThinQ in Dual Screen case on top of the LG V50 ThinQ in its Dual Screen case.

I’m not sure why they discontinued the open bottom with POGO pin design of the V50 ThinQ and its Dual Screen case when they made the Dual Screen case for the G8X ThinQ, but once again, for the V60 ThinQ, we are left with having to use an easy-to-misplace magnetic plug that snaps onto the end of a Type-C cable. For a better look at what I’m talking about, take a look at this shot comparing the open bottom of the V50 ThinQ in its Dual Screen case versus the closed bottom of the G8X ThinQ in its Dual Screen case. The good news is that you can wirelessly charge the V60 ThinQ while it’s in the DualCase on any Qi-enabled charging pad.

The Dual Screen case is 6.96″ tall by 3.4″ wide by 0.6″ thick, and on its own, it weighs 4.7 ounces; with the LG V60 ThinQ installed, the combo weighs a whopping 12.3 ounces. Yeah, that’s not a typo. :grimace:

In return for that extra weight, you get two matching 6.8″ FHD+ OLED (2460 x 1080 and 395 ppi) displays that can allow you to become a master multitasker. The only front-facing camera is on the main (right) screen, but the identical screen on the right has the same hole-punch camera. It’s symmetrical, and it doesn’t bug me.

You can personalize the second screen to match your main screen’s wallpaper. You can add dock apps, widgets, and app folders to it; in other words, it’s like having a second phone that can communicate (almost) flawlessly with your main phone.

Now, are you going to get the full-sized tablet screen experience you get with a folding display smartphone such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold or the Huawei Mate X? Obviously not. The bezels on both screens make that impractical and ugly.

But what you can do with the second screen is have your email open on one side while you watch YouTube videos on the other. You can peruse Instagram while on a Zoom call. You can have messages open while you’re reading a book. You can have a game with obnoxious ads open on one screen while you read the news on the other screen. Yes, you can use the second screen as a gamepad; yes, you can use the second screen as a live viewfinder when taking photos, and yes, you can use the LG Smart Keyboard as an edge-to-edge keyboard for a cute little on-the-go mini laptop. But let’s get real. The main benefit for some people will be that they can have a dictionary open on one screen while they are playing Word with Friends on the other. 😛

When you’re using the Dual Screen features, you can swap screens from the main to the second screen, you can put the main screen to sleep, or you can turn off the Dual Screen completely. The Dual Screen case folds 360º so you can fold the second screen behind the main screen when you need to reply to emails or answer texts with both thumbs; it’s a bit difficult to manage actual keying when the Dual Screen case is open, otherwise, unless you are proficient at typing with your pointer fingers.

The last thing I want to bring up is the handy cover display on the front cover of the Dual Screen case. It offers built-in notifications, the date, and time, as well as battery information. It’s very handy to have this info available when the V60 ThinQ is in the Dual Screen case.

Pandemics are weird. The things that seemed important a few months ago, like pocketable phones with cute little displays, aren’t quite as appealing anymore. Needs and wants change, and right now — a phone that can give me two large, fully independent and functioning displays without having to switch back and forth between two apps on a single screen seems like a no-brainer. With the Dual Screen case installed on the LG V60 ThinQ, I feel like I am functioning at a more efficient level than normal. Right now, that’s priceless.

The LG V60 ThinQ with Dual Screen Case retails between $800 and $999 depending on where and how It’s purchased; it is available directly from LG, as well as AT&T (expect plenty of pre-loaded bloatware), Sprint, Verizon, and other retailers.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: 5G support; 3.5mm headphone jack; The LG V60 ThinQ in blue with the gold accents is gorgeous; The screen is brilliant; The phone is responsive and fast; You can add a microSD card to expand storage; The Dual Screen case is easy to activate, personalize, and control; Excellent battery life (when not using the Dual Screen case); IP68 dust and water-resistance; Excellent Quad-DAC features that work with wired headphones

What Needs Improvement: Battery life takes a huge ding when running both screens; Phone will be too large for many — one-hand use is practically impossible — even without the Dual Screen case; Adding the Dual Screen case makes the already large LG V60 ThinQ bricklike; No face-ID; The proprietary magnetic charging attachment needs to go; The bezels are still just a tad too large between the phone and the second screen when the LG V60 ThinQ is in the Dual Case — If LG can ever get the bezels eliminated when the phone is in the Dual Case, they will have a solid folding phone alternative; No option to enable 90Hz or 120Hz

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About the Author

Judie Lipsett Stanford
Judie is the co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Gear Diary, which she founded in September 2006. She started in 1999 writing software reviews at the now-defunct smaller.com; from mid-2000 through 2006, she wrote hardware reviews for and co-edited at The Gadgeteer. A recipient of the Sigma Kappa Colby Award for Technology, Judie is best known for her device-agnostic approach, deep-dive reviews, and enjoyment of exploring the latest tech, gadgets, and gear.