The battle for the phablet crown continues. Samsung and Apple have already secured the largest chunks of the market to them, but LG seems committed to becoming a major force in the extra-large segment as well. The G Pro didn’t quite work out as planned, but the V10 is a new beginning for the company’s ambitions.
It’s loaded with features, it literally doubles the screen and the front-facing camera; it has it all, even an IR blaster, replaceable battery and microSD slot – features its rival, Samsung, recently left behind. Unlike Samsung, however, LG seems to be firmly confident that more is most certainly better. And for some people, it most certainly is.
There are undeniable benefits in having a specs sheet as lengthy as the household chores list your partner unexpectedly hands you on a Saturday morning, but the question we should always keep asking is this: are all of these features integrated wisely, or are they confusing, compromising the experience? Furthermore, do they work as advertised? To these questions, the answer is rarely a firm yes with the V10. There are certain areas where it excels, such as performance and still image quality, but it tends to falter in others, like display quality, video recording, and general user experience seamlessness: the unstable camera app, inaccurate auto-brightness function and inefficient app design are just some of the issues we encountered.
With the LG V10, it’s more show than substance. It’s suitable for techies, but not so much for consumers who want it to just work.