The LG V60 is an impressive flagship smartphone that’s different from the pack for one reason: it’s got two screens. Technically the second one comes within the Dual Screen case, but considering the accessory comes free with every V60, it’s part of the experience – and transforms the handset into one of the best media-watching phones on the market.
Full disclosure: I am the kind of person to burn through entire seasons of shows watching on my phone while washing dishes, cooking dinner, or relaxing on my building’s roof. Recommending the LG V60 is for folks who similarly binge media while they wander, but I totally understand folks who can only watch on larger displays. Those folks might want to check our best tablet or best TV guides.
For the rest of us small-screen reprobates, watching media on phones is a scrappy experience: either you deal with leaning over while your handset is lying flat on a surface, or awkwardly prop it up to stand at an angle. Thanks to ever-thinner bodies and sleek glass backs, phones easily slip off their perched positions and could be in danger of falling, or worse.
Sure, you could buy a phone case with a kickstand or a tripod, but not everyone will go to such lengths. If you don’t want to spend a dime, large power blocks for high-wattage phones or laptop chargers are usually dense enough to prop your phone against.
But for the rest of us who just want a no-frills smartphone media-watching experience, the LG V60 is the right phone for the job. And yes, it’s more than just for the Dual Screen.
Screen real estate, battery, and multitasking
The LG V60 is a flagship smartphone, so specs-wise, it’s a capable phone that can pretty much handle what you ask of it. Basic tasks, from gaming to prolonged media binges, are no problem, and you can get plenty of episodes in with the phone’s 5,000mAh battery.
The LG V60’s FHD+ (2460 x 1080) display isn’t quite as sharp as the WQHD+ screens on the Samsung Galaxy S20 line, but that doesn’t really matter – the vast majority of content you’ll be streaming on Netflix or elsewhere don’t exceed this resolution. At 6.8 inches, the V60’s screen is more or less as big as you’ll get outside of an unfurled foldable phone or a tablet.
In any case, you’ll probably be watching on the Dual Screen anyway, which has a display identical to the V60 – but, of course, you can pivot it up and down to your desired angle. Heck, you can even ‘tent’ the phone by rotating the Dual Screen around in a similar way to a 2-in-1 laptop. It’s not difficult to plant the phone and tilt the screen to your desired angle.
It’s not perfect – the Dual Screen has no gyroscope, so it’ll take some work to rotate the picture to its proper orientation – but the gesture controls are responsive enough to swap screens as needed. Same with the multi-screen controls, which let you dim the main screen to save battery while watching on the second display.
But another great perk of watching media on the V60: two displays means you can binge on one and browse on the other. Whether you’re swapping text messages, browsing Twitter, or playing a game, multitasking works well.
Audio and speakers
The LG V60’s audio kit is a step above most phones. The 3.5mm jack returns – and so does the 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC, giving audiophiles more options than other flagships. There’s a pass-through port in the Dual Screen case, which should be shallow enough to accommodate most thinner cords, but you might need a 3.5mm extender for plugs that get chunky above the sleeve.
If you’re forgoing headphones, the LG V60 packs a set of stereo speakers for respectable sound. In a very unscientific test using the Apple Watch 5’s noise meter, the speakers belted 75 decibels right near the phone (which a Yale EHS chart compares to the volume of chamber music in a small auditorium) down to 55 decibels at a five-foot range.
While the LG V60’s speaker sound doesn’t have quite the rich range as that coming from my current phone-speaker favorite, the Google Pixel 4, it’s satisfying so long as you don’t need nuanced bass notes.
Final word
We don’t imagine there’s a huge demand for the dual displays on the LG V60, but we think it’s a shame to overlook their best application – especially in our current stay-at-home environment. Binge watchers, I’m here to tell you this phone might be the best one to pick if you don’t have other priorities.
Admittedly, those might involve photography (the V60’s camera doesn’t have much zoom capability) or on-device storage (it caps at 256GB). But for everything else, including 5G connectivity, the V60 is a decent deal at $899 (around £761 / AU$1,417) to start.
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