The LG V60 and VELVET Review: A Classic & A Design Restart
by Andrei Frumusanu on July 15, 2020 9:00 AM ESTSystem Performance
System performance of the two LG devices are interesting as they’re one of the first times we’re able to contrast Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765 versus the Snapdragon 865 from the same vendor, using the same software optimisations and design. We’re expecting the S765 to naturally fare worse, but the question is, how much worse is it?
Starting off with the web browsing test in PCMark which is very sensible to performance responsiveness of the DVFS system, we see that the V60 and Velvet both fare quite averagely. The V60 is in line with the OnePlus 8 devices at 60Hz in this test which is pretty much what we’d expect, but that also means it’s also slower than last year’s G8, which seemingly didn’t have an as quite conservative software configuration.
The Velvet isn’t doing well at all and besides of the weirdly behaving S20 Ultra with the Exynos 990 at 60Hz, is the worst performing devices here.
The writing sub-test which is generally more indicative of every-day performance of a device is again also quite contrasting between the two phones. The V60 fares well as is amongst the better performing Snapdragon 865 devices. The Velvet, which certainly not a slouch, compares more alike a 2018 flagship device in the scores.
In the Photo Editing test which makes use of the GPU power, there’s a huge difference in performance between the two phones. Again the V60 is in line with other S865 devices, whilst the Velvet tends to really lag behind the pack with its weaker GPU.
Overall, in PCMark, we see the V60 ending up on par with other 2020 flagship devices, although not quite able to best Samsung’s software optimisations. The Velvet is as expected a lower performing device, but it’s still quite a notable difference in the scores.
In the web-browsing and Javascipt browser tests, things are largely bottlenecked by the single-threaded performance of the CPUs of the SoC. With the Snapdragon 765 using a Cortex-A76 at 2.3GHz peak, the end performance is naturally quite a bit less than the more expensive flagship silicon. Generally, it seems the SoC falls in somewhere between a Snapdragon 845 and 855 in terms of performance, which is right where you’d expect it to be.
Overall Performance
Overall, the LG V60 was a very good performer and offers amongst the best experiences in 2020 – although LG’s lack of a higher refresh rate screen does mean it doesn’t quite give the smoothness that other devices are able to provide – although that’s just a compromise between performance and battery life.
The LG Velvet was actually a bit disappointing for me, and it really reminded me that the processing power of today’s SoCs are actually being fully utilised for daily usage of the phones. It’s not that the Velvet was unusable or a slouch, but I immediately noticed that it wasn’t quite as well of a performer compared to say the V60. In general terms, I would say the phone feels more like a 2018 flagship device in terms of responsiveness.
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Pelonquin - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
I went from a V30+ to a OnePlus 8. After getting the OnePlus replaced 3 times within 3 weeks i told them i wanted out and got the V60. I got two of them with dual screens for about the same monthly as what the 1+ would have been. I hated the thin candybar shape of the 1+ along with all the troubles that i had with it. I got tired of wasting screen protectors on the 1+.s.yu - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
Interesting but...you completely skipped LG's unique audio and video features, which the Oneplus obviously lacks.Looking forward to an Xperia 1II review :)
BenSkywalker - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
Nothing about the quad DAC?There are those of us who only buy LG phones because of that feature. It can drive high impedance cans, it is an entirely different tier than a regular 3.5mm jack.
Is high quality audio going to be like wide color gamut? Ignore it entirely unless Apple tells you it is important?
Quantumz0d - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
Look at G7 review and how the author disregarded the DAC, same for G8, in the comments for both, I made significant posts about the lack of the data. I think that's why here we do not see the ESS DAC or any of the LG's world's top smartphone in the Audio aspect doesn't even get a fucking spec list out.A shame on journalism. When we see Apple's deep SoC SPEC measuring contest where in real life it translates to nothing but dust.
Quantumz0d - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
Although I applaud the author for making such a strong point on the 3.5mm jack it's really rare to see, AT is one of those places where there's integrity. SD card slot should also make it to that level of appreciation, sadly with Google fucking up storage I highly doubt we will see that PCIe class SD cards anytime soon when the OEMs are pushing for cloud bs.nicolaim - Wednesday, July 15, 2020 - link
Typo: one place says Adreno 640, another 650.Dave_S - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
The V60 would be a great device to own. If LG would let us buy it!Their marketing and distribution SUCK! Only available in very few countries.
Not good enough LG. Lift your game or lose market share big time.
RaduR - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
I loved LG G3. It was a true flagship at its time . Qi, huge screen , huge resolution. It was a true flagship killer.Even the following phones with accessories were standing out of the crowd. It was G5 I believe.
But what on earth are they thinking now. Who in his right mind would buy these pieces of crap while Xiaomi Mi10 is half the price and better in any aspect. Also Samsung from last year is a better choice.
They should stop fighting against Samsung since they are not there anymore. They first should undercut Chinese products and only after that chase Samsung .
Look what One Plus and Xiaomi did. In a few yeats they are top brands but they did not fight Samsung in the first place.
LG , wake up !
TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
Well, the Xiaomi and other Chinese brands are not really an option in the US unles you like playing russian roulette on network support, especially with VoLTE becoming mandatort in the next year or 2.eek2121 - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - link
I had the V30 and it was solid.I am not singing praises for LG here, because they lock their boot loader tighter than....yeah we will leave it there, but let’s just say that the majority of the problems with boot-looping and other oddities can almost always be traced back to Qualcomm.