The main benefit of buying a smartphone such as the LG V35 ThinQ, is that you still get up-to-date features in a package that’s just a few years old. This is obviously not going to please the early adopters or those who want the latest and greatest, but that doesn’t matter to some, as the LG V35 ThinQ is about solid workings in exchange for a reasonable price point.
The LG V35 ThinQ isn’t too dissimilar from the LG V30S ThinQ and the LG V30, but this version is still a worthy upgrade. It includes a faster processor, more internal memory, and a more appealing camera.
Considering that this phone was originally around $900 and can now be picked up for roughly $250, it represents good value for money. But can all the features still cut it in an ever more discerning age?
Design
LG seems to have kept the design aspects and features that most appeal while upgrading the rest. The exterior of the phone is largely the same as the 2017 LG V30, with a full glass front face and a fully aluminum body. The whole build of the phone has the durability to take the odd bump, scrape, and occasional drenching of rain.
Size-wise, the LG V35 ThinQ has the same dimensions as the V30, with the same button layout, power switch, and fingerprint sensor on the rear. The other nice feature that is not always included on smartphones is a regular 3.5mm headphone jack.
So, the externals have been kept largely the same, but it’s the internals where the biggest changes have been made. Most notably is the inclusion of a 2.8Ghz Snapdragon 845 processor and an upgrade to 6GB of RAM. For a near comparison, this gives it more instant memory than the Samsung Galaxy S9.
The 2,880 x 1,440 QHD OLED display has an 18:9 aspect ratio and still retains its definition and colors in bright light and when viewed from the side. This makes the viewing of images and videos crystal clear, with options to change the brightness and contrast.
Sticking with the visual side of things, there are dual 16-megapixel rear cameras to cover standard and wide-angle views. This is accompanied by an LED flash and an 8MP front-facing camera.
The LG V35 ThinQ in Use
Although the updated processor and RAM do bring speed increases, this aspect only feels marginally faster than the older V30. The extra touch of RAM helps out when there are a good bunch of apps running in the background and you’re streaming video.
For general use, it feels like a relatively speedy machine. As we are not exactly full-time gamers over here, we didn’t test out the latest and greatest graphics resource sapping games, but it should be able to handle ported gameplay which is a few years old.
As we are generally in the camp of reviewing camera gear, the photography side of things is worth checking out. The main camera has been boosted from 13MP to 16MP, with the inclusion of Google lens. This is great for text copying and the recognition of objects. Images from the camera are good and well-defined on-screen, with a good helping of light. They even look respectable on a large-sized monitor or TV.
The front-facing 8MP camera has a nice shallow depth of field f/1.9 aperture. The image quality is respectable enough for those who like to take the occasional selfie.
When you need to venture into the video side of things, there is now 4K HDR video. Again, the output is very respectable and the inclusion of HDR means detail in the lightest and darkest areas of the footage is retained. The audio side of things has been catered towards, with the inclusion of 3D stereo audio, wind noise filters, and Super Far-Field Voice Recognition.
As far as the other features go, Android 8.0 Oreo runs efficiently and with 4G connectivity, is seamless in downloading high quality video streams.
Lastly, the included 3,300mAh battery may not seem as powerful as found on other phones, but with general usage we got a good day’s worth of playing around.
How Does It Compare?
The Samsung Galaxy S9 is now a discontinued model, replaced by the Samsung S10, which means it can be picked up for roughly the same price as the LG V35 ThinQ. Being Samsung’s flagship model, it’s always going to have an immediate appeal, and considering the S9 is only a few years old, it’s still a highly capable machine.
The S9 Runs on android 8.0 with a 2960×1440 display, a 12-megapixel front-facing camera, 4GB of internal RAM, and a 3000mAh battery. A 3.5mm headphone jack is included for listening to high-quality 32-bit/384kHz audio.
As per usual of the Galaxy range, it’s inundated with useful features such as an iris and fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, heart rate monitor, and it also comes in a range of colors.
As raw specs go, both smartphones are very capable devices and there’s not much to complain about either for general use. I have to admit that the Samsung Galaxy always has a certain extra elegance, but that’s not to say that the LG is a second-best device, rather an alternative take on the same functionality.
| LG V35 ThinQ | Samsung Galaxy S9 | |
| Processor | Snapdragon 845 | Snapdragon 845 |
| Camera | 16MP rear | 12MP rear |
| Video | 4K | 4K |
| Operating system | Android 8.0 Oreo | Android 8.0 Oreo |
Conclusion
There’s a lot to be said with the term, ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,’ as LG has built on the V30 with incremental upgrades, keeping the platform fresh, while still being able to keep up with the top end models from the rest of the market.
A few years is a long time in the smartphone world if you want the latest and greatest features, like on the LG V40 ThinQ. But if you’re more concerned with value for money in a device which can still hold its own, the LG V35 ThinQ still has a lot to offer. Considering its current price points, the LG packs in a lot of features under the hood, which is still more than capable for the average user.
There have been concerns with the number of carriers this smartphone can support as the majority of the units are locked to the GSM network. But if you’re happy with the enabled carriers, the LG V35 ThinQ is well worth a test drive, providing great value for the money.
