LG V50S First Impressions: Photo and video review with a cat

People who know me in real life are likely to notice my love for unique phones. I had a flip phone with a TV antenna, a Windows phone, a phone with googly eyes which change when you shake the device and so on - my favourite was the Motorola Flipout with a square interface which twists to reveal a physical QWERTY keyboard. Our current generation of smartphones look highly similar - rectangular slabs featuring high screen estate and minimal physical keys.

I was on the lookout for a new phone for the last few months as my current phone was lagging a lot. The ideal specifications for my new phone were:

1. A fast processor

2. Headphone jack

3. Android 10

4. Water and dust resistance

5. A large battery

6. SD card slot

7. Has to be unique

This combination of features was surprisingly difficult to find. I scoured the Internet and narrowed down my choices to the LG Dual Screen series - LG V50, LG V50s, LG V60 as well as LG Wing. However, LG has stopped importing phones into the Singapore market with the last model being LG V40. After serious deliberation, I decided to buy a LG V50s from Korea. It is my most expensive phone to date at ~$800 with GST (with my previous most expensive phone being the Nokia Lumia 1020 which died on me for no rhyme or reason). However, it is extremely worth it at this price point - a flagship device with Snapdragon 855, headphone jack with QUAD DAC, possible support up to Android 11, IP68 water/dust resistance, 4000 mAh battery, SD card slot and a dual screen.

The dual screen is game-changing. I can watch a video while ordering food, watch two livestreams at once, and do a course and take notes at the same time. The separate screens highly enhance the multi-tasking experience as compared to phones like Samsung Fold which appears to be geared towards users who want to view their apps on larger screens.

I sound like I am shilling for LG, but I am really impressed by the phone so far. I have not talked much about its camera, because it actually was not a make-or-break factor in my purchase. I will most likely use the camera for street or concert photography where a large bulky DSLR is not ideal or prohibited. That being said, here are some photographs and videos I have taken with my LG V50s with no permission from my cat.

"Stop taking photos and let me go to the kitchen!"

Thinking about life

Cropped with a blur filter - I cannot get Portrait mode to work at a close distance, where one would expect bokeh

"Artistic" edit

Highly cropped photo

I think the quality is decent, but I still had blurry indoor shots during the day. This is why I would rather depend on my DSLRs if I am doing serious work.

Here is a video sample of my cat eating. I decided against making the video public because I am thinking of going out for a shoot with my V50s. My cat was backlit and you can see the high amount of noise in the shadows.