The LG V35 ThinQ is a great handset — not the best in its class, though. That’s not a diss to the smartphone either because I actually like this ThinQ (pronounced “thin-kyo͞o”).
The good stuff | The LG V35 ThinQ is comfortable to hold, it has a beautiful OLED screen, it has a headphone jack and the performance is solid.
The bad stuff | The V35 doesn’t have the best battery life, the camera controls are frustrating and the price tag is a very steep compared to similar devices.
The LG V35 ThinQ, which runs Android 8.1 (Oreo), is a classy looking phone and an improvement over the nearly identical LG G7 flagship. Its design feels familiar and didn’t take me much time to get used to. The device also supports AT&T’s FirstNet, a network that’s dedicated to first responders. But with a price tag of $899, I should’ve been in love with this phone. I was more in like with the V35 ThinQ.
Disclaimer: The LG V35 ThinQ used for this review was loaned to me by AT&T.
Design
The V35 has a sharp 6-inch OLED screen with 2880 x 1440 pixel resolution and an 18:9 aspect ratio. It’s large but doesn’t feel too big to hold comfortably. The phone has Gorilla Glass 4 on its front and back, which covers its aluminum body and metal sides. That design is supposedly strong enough to withstand most bends and drops. It’s also resistant to dust and water.
The V35 ThinQ is available in two colors: black and grey. It has two 16MP cameras on its backside (one is wide angle) and an 8 MP wide-angle lens on the front for taking selfies.
The USB-C charging port is located at the bottom of the phone. Along the top, there’s a headphone jack. On the left side of the phone there are volume controls and the power button doubles as the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone (below the camera).
LG decided to give the V35 the same 64GB of internal storage, 3,300 mAh battery, and 6GB of RAM specs that the V30S ThinQ (from February) had. After software, AT&T’s version of this phone will only have 47GB free for use. So it’s a good thing there’s also a MicroSD card clot to expand the phone’s memory.
LG’s AI Cam features are on V35 ThinQ, too.
Performance
The only major upgrade in the V35, compared to other phones LG recently released, is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 processor — that’s the same chip that will be in the upcoming Google Pixel 3 and LG V40. This processor is quick. And coupled with 6GB of RAM, multitasking is absolutely no problem at all.
Below you’ll see AnTuTu benchmarks for Apple’s iPhone X, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, Google’s Pixel 2 XL and AT&T’s Samsung Galaxy S9+ compared to the LG V35 ThinQ I used for this review.
The LG V35 ThinQ just edged out the iPhone X in this benchmark test. Samsung’s Galaxy S9+ ran away with the performance test. But when comparing phones this fast, second place really isn’t that bad.
It’s probably also worth mentioning that the speed of the fingerprint reader was quite good. I never had to retry tapping my finger on the sensor. Though, I did mistake the cameras as a sensor on a few occasions.
Camera
The LG V35 has the exact same dual-camera setup as the LG G7. And while the V35’s camera took good quality pictures, it still didn’t top my favorite shooter from this year (the Samsung Galaxy S9+). Also, the controls on the camera actually slowed me down when I tried to pull out the phone and quickly shoot video or switch over to panorama mode.
On the other hand, the ability to swap from the standard to wide angle lens is super handy. I look forward to the day every phone has this ability.
Macro
Pano
Selfie
Regular (left) vs HDR (right)
Standard (left) vs wide angle (right)
Problems
There weren’t any major issues with this phone — which is great! Although, the AI Cam didn’t seem very useful.
In general, the camera controls weren’t very intuitive and ended up frustrating me when I tried to take photos and video in a time crunch. Those who like to take advantage of manual camera controls may enjoy shooting with this phone more than I did.
Battery life on the V35 was subpar. Most of the time this wasn’t a major problem. But on my heavier days of use, while hiking up mountains in Utah, I did worry a few times that I’d need to plug in before the day was over.
While exclusivity can be great, sometimes it makes you miss out on sweet phones. In this case, everyone getting cell service though providers other than AT&T or Project Fi are missing out. Sorry.
Recommend to a friend?
The LG V35 ThinQ is a pretty great phone. If it weren’t for the steep price tag, I’d be more likely to recommend it. But in the $800 to $900 price range there are other options with the same — if not better — performance and features.
For any LG loyalists reading this, you should definitely consider the V35 over last year’s V30 — and this year’s LG G7 ThinQ. But if you already own either of those slightly older LG devices, you might want to hang on to your current phone a bit longer.
