It’s always fun to revisit the last generation of LG phones, but at the same time, it’s a little sad to see how much we’ve lost on premium tier phones.
LG stopped producing phones in 2020. They went out on a high note. The V60, Velvet, and Wing were a terrific trio, highlighting everything we enjoy about LG design and innovation.
The memory of LG doesn’t reflect the actual products released by the brand.
Ask a techie about the label, and you’re likely to get replies joking about “boot loops” and a poor track record for updates. Unless someone spent actual time with the brand, it was easy to overlook the significant improvements to build quality and support.
It would be like making an “all Samsungs explode” joke today. A lazy joke in poor taste.
What’s been most interesting to see, LG’s best years for software support arrived after the company shuttered their smartphone division.
Every time I expected the 2020 phones to be “finished”, another update or patch would arrive. They certainly weren’t the fastest phones to receive OTAs, but they’re decently up to date. Android 13 is just starting to trickle out to Pixel devices, and I’m keeping my expectations low for yet another new OS on LG hardware. Nothing is impossible, but I think it’s less and less likely we’ll see resources dedicated to these older phones.
Updating LG hardware is no small feat.
Gadget geeks are pretty entitled. They want expensive features and regular support, but they also don’t want to value that support in what they’re willing to spend on a phone. A phone is only “worth” spending more if it’s an emotional status symbol, and LG lacked the marketing budget to accomplish that.
LG phones were heavily customized devices. It’s not enough to slap a new build of Android on processor with a screen. All of the specific pieces need to be accounted for.
Except for Sony and Asus, all other premium phones have lost their headphone jacks. LG not only included a headphone jack on the V60, but the Quad DAC was a unique piece of hardware which required a significant amount of code to work.
LG phones had support for dual displays, stylus active pens, desktop modes, and advanced camera features. Hardware pieces that need attention before we also cover the apps and services.
LG shut the whole department down except for a small team to honor their contracts and relationships with carriers. It’s incredible that these phones have been as well supported as they have been. When a smaller manufacturer closes its doors, we often assume that the company is just going to vanish from its promised support.
That brings us to Android 12, and not MUCH has changed. The T-Mobile variant of the V60 is currently running the July security patch.
Minor changes have polished up the interface and animations, but the layout is still Android 11 icons and shortcuts. No new Material You in sight. The same gremlins seem to be un-fixable. My V60 still stuck at Wideline L3, reducing the quality of streaming video.
Aside from that frustrating video bug, this phone has aged VERY well. We might have been concerned about hardware features like faster refresh rate screens, or a missing telephoto camera, but the V60 is “old reliable”.
A 60Hz screen can look really nice if the phone properly animates the UI at 60fps. Sitting the V60 next to a newer phone with a faster screen, you’ve got to watch close for scrolling action to see the differences. Better still, the V60 was ahead of the curve as a camera viewfinder. Not many phones of its era could maintain 60fps in the camera app, and more powerful phones today can still struggle to maintain a faster preview frame rate.
In operation, actually using the phone to do something and not just scrolling through an app drawer, the V60 manages to feel more powerful than newer more expensive devices.
The current track record for support largely becomes an exercise in fixing issues brought by previous updates. The V60 survived a nasty fingerprint bug that would lock the CPU at max speed and destroy your battery life. The V60 strangely lost and then regained the ability to shoot 8K video. I had numerous issues on Android 11 using the Dual Display and multi-tasking. Patches quickly fixed those bugs.
I honestly believed with each major new bug, that would be the end of support, and one of my all-time favorite phones would be left broken. Then LG would fix that new issue, and I would fall back in love with this work horse.
I’ve been careful to baby the phone. The charge port is not the most durable. I suspect there is a certain amount of flex involved in the design to accommodate the dual display case. That design seems to backfire though, and makes the charge port more fragile. I’ve been very careful not to frequently swap the phone in and out of the dual display case.
We got really lucky that the last premium tier LG phone arrived RIGHT at the transition to 5G.
Using the Snapdragon 865 and including the 5G modem, this phone was wonderfully future proofed. We didn’t suffer the first generation of high refresh OLEDs, and instead the V60 maintains its place as one of the absolute best battery performers in my collection TODAY.
My last run with the sim card in the phone, I managed over nine hours of screen on time (with my fairly heavy use) over a 36-hour period, and with about a third that time using two screens. I don’t care how nice 120Hz displays might look. Nothing beats the brute force practicality of having TWO screens to work on at the same time. I doubt we’ll see runtime like this on a foldable in the next year or two.
The Snapdragon 865 will stand as a high water mark for mobile SOCs. Powerful and efficient, we dodged the teething pains of the “BIG CORE” CPUs found in the 888 and 8Gen1. In a short sprint, newer phones absolutely best the V60, but over longer workloads and gaming sessions, the 865 is more consistent.
LG’s optimizations for photo and video work also extend a healthy lead over newer, more powerful phones. I’m still not sure why, but PowerDirector really likes LG hardware. Running video rendering tests, a V60 is able to stay with and often outperform Samsung’s newest Note 22. We’d never assume that, given the mediocre Geekbench scores, but real world performance has been incredible to track.
I’m at a turning point in my personal use. Through the first half of 2022, the V60 was still my “fallback phone”, the phone I used in-between review devices. I’m consciously cycling it in less and less, because I genuinely want this to be a museum phone in my collection. The V60 is important to me. I don’t want it to get messed up. I don’t want to have to replace it if I break it.
I’ve been playing with some incredible phones lately, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that newer tech can often outperform the older V60. Camera sensors and optics have significantly improved, creating more photographic images. That’s nice, but I quickly run out of space on a phone even when I have 256GB to start. Memory card expansion would be handy for any photography focused gadget.
Bluetooth earbuds are getting better and better, but the LG headphone jack still stands as the premier solution for high quality portable audio. Not just a practical port, but quality that rivals more expensive standalone audio players.
Every other individual feature can bested on another phone, but there is no one complete package anymore.
Motorola’s ReadyFor is a lot nicer than LG Screen+, but I have to give up the dual display and the headphone jack. Sony still has a headphone jack and a memory card slot, but XPERIAs don’t have as nice a headphone amp nor a desktop mode. A Surface is a lot sexier for being dual display, but we’re nowhere near the same battery life.
The V60 has aged like fine wine, but it’s the end of an important era. The person who really uses a V60 for what it does well has no upgrade path. Every other phone is a noticeable downgrade in some area.
The existence of this phone really makes me question what we value as tech enthusiasts.
There’s no expectation that a V Series LG should have been the “winner” phone of 2020, but it rarely got more than a disinterested shrug from higher profile reviewers.
People complained about the dual display case being “too bulky”, but the V60 manages more screen real estate at a higher resolution and better pixel density than the Galaxy Z Fold4. Better still, the V60 IN A CASE is slimmer than a naked Fold 4 at the hinge.
We have serious problems in techie land when a product like this can’t be acknowledged as a competitive option.
People love crawling out of the woodwork to detail all the ways LG “failed”, but the most common criticisms are old hack problems LG had already corrected.
“LG should OF been cheaper!!!”
The V60 WITH a dual display case launched at the same MSRP as the base model Galaxy S20. The little Galaxy, wth the little battery. Without a dual display case, the V60 was $200 cheaper. The phone also had terrific carrier sales undercutting MSRP significantly.
“B-b-b-but 60Hz!”
And yet a Galaxy S20 stuttered like crazy opening and navigating the camera app at a woeful 30fps. It sure is a tough choice comparing a slightly smoother app drawer against two-day battery life and TWO screens to multi-task…
“FRUITY BOOT LOOPS!!!”
The G4 debacle was FIVE YEARS before the launch of the V60. Samsung phones used to explode you know…
If I’m being honest with myself, the writing was already on the wall for LG’s smartphone division before the V60 launched. LG was looking for buyers to offload the phone team, and the trio of 2020 devices we got was purely manufacturing momentum. Even if the three sold incredibly well, LG probably would have pulled the plug regardless.
At least we went out on a really high note.
Picking up the V60 today, this is one of the best all-rounder phones currently available.
Using this phone since launch, I would easily expect another solid year of use out of it. A little care, maybe a little maintenance, and a V60 owner should be in good shape. Replacing a V60 means getting extremely specific about what features you appreciate the most.
After buying a new phone, it’s still recommended you hold on to an old LG. You won’t get much money for it, and LGs live on as fantastic portable media players.
The V60 makes me a little sad.
Marketing has done a terrific job of compartmentalizing consumer electronics. A phone does “phone things”. A tablet does “tablet things”. A computer does “computer things”. A consumer needs to own all the gadgets to do all the things.
The V60 was a last gasp to disrupt that. A crossover phone that had all the “old bits”, with the new communication tech, and excellent productivity features.
We missed a vital opportunity to keep these options and features in the mix.
Really enjoyed this article. There’s only 2 reasons I’m currently considering switching to a fold 4. The ability to force multiple audio sources and a better desktop experience. I know it’s very niche, but my niche interest got me interested in the v60 dual screen in the first place
When I first opened Microsoft Word android on my V60, with a dedicated keyboard on the second screen, it felt like magic. And it STILL DOES.
Ok…. This article almost brought me to tears. As a V60 owner, I’ve lived the saga of LG. This is a “Swiss Army Knife” of a smartphone that we most likely will never see again. I’ve hesitated on new devices, because there’s more to smartphones than just the “cameras”. I’d have to purchase multiple devices to have the features of the V60, and still have No microSD card storage (still a thing people), no headphone jack, and No Quad DAC for great audio..
The V60 was/is a King without a throne. Still we’re talking about a device from 2020, and I wonder why my T-Mo device still utilizes Widevine L1, & others were downgraded to WV-L3?
If LG Pay hadn’t been discontinued I would’ve kept using my V60 to this day, I’m glad projects like OV Valet and Percents Card are around to keep mobile payments a worry free experience like it was with LG Pay
I have one V60. I bought a second one last week. Brand new, unopened. $340 on eBay. I’ll use these until they just can’t go, anymore.
Please send me link to buy a new v60 Please!!!
What carrier? CAN I get an unlocked one brand new. I’m on Tmobile but may need to switch and would want to keep my v60 I hate Samsung! Help me please! 🙏🏼
I really need an LG V 60.I am LG all the way, can I buy yours if You are giving it up or can U reccomend where to find a really good one. I NEED IT UNLOCKED as I’m with TM but may switch if service isn’t good. PLEASE help!!! ANYONE! 🙏🏼😘 I’m hating the Sam s21fe! Worse phone I’ve ever owned!!!
I’ve been a fan of LG phones since the G2. They were always solid performers in terms of “standard” smartphone features like UI integration or hardware (camera, finger-print-reader, screen, soc, …).
LG stood out with their special features that no other smartphone manufacturer, especially samsung, dared to implement.
I’m talking about features like the QuadDAC, the ToF sensor on the G8(s), The removable back of the V20, the modular approach on the G5, The boombox speaker on the G7, the dual screen accessory case on the G8x and V60, the swivel-display of the Wing.
These features were often refered to as ‘gimmicks’ by tech reviewers, but i’ve used many of these ‘gimmicks’ heavily and missed them on my next phone.
Also, LG did stick to the ‘good’ features, like the physical finger-print-sensor or the removable back, longer than most other manufacturers. Same thing on the software side of things. I’ve always found LG’s UI more consistent over across different devices and android versions. Also it seems more stable, more refined, more professional. Things like the manual camera mode gave users more control over their devices. Something that most other manufacturers seem to avoid.
I think the two major things that killed LG, were bad marekting and bad software support. Allthough I do think software support got much better over the years, when I compare my G2 to my G8s. Also, at least on my devices, LG’s updates where late and rare – yes. But they never broke features or impacted the user experience in a bad way. Onlike various updates from the likes of OnePlus or Samsung.
All in all: I’m just sad to see the market without LG phones and the major manufacturers that are left trying to be Apple.
You speak my mind – only I never had a V60. Startet with G2. After the boot loop of my G4, I got the new G5 directly from LG as a replacement. That’s service! I gave it to my daughter (and my little son still uses it) as I had already bought the V10. What a phone!!! The V20 followed, even better, ultra thin, metal body, battery still replaceable, the 2nd display as another innovation, other better tuning of the DAC for my ears and a wide-angle lens!!! The photo quality is excellent! If it hadn’t been destroyed by water damage, it would probably still be alive today. Then the V50 and it stayed that way until 2 months ago. I didn’t need anything else… Without LG, an absolute innovation is missing! DAC – V10, wide angle, 2 displays V20, borderless display – V30 I want a DAC, great cameras, expandable memory, the HD recorder and I don’t know what I can buy in 2022… Thank you very much for your work, all the good videos and praising this underdog!!!
Curiously I’m still on L1. T-Mobile July update. Go figure.
I’ve used so many devices since the v60 yet I always go back to it and I always will. The the fact that it is as well-rounded in robust as it is is mind-blowing. That Quad DAC alone is worth the price tag. The camera and audio capture has gone better with time and in hindsight was way ahead of its time. The external speakers are phenomenal and the fact you can enable the sound engine while using them is a nice perk. I use the T-Mobile variant and the 5G output is spectacular. At first I was taking back by the lack of a telephoto, but when you enable 64 megapixel images and zoom in up to about 3.5 it matches up with most optical zooms at those ranges. You had an expandable storage and it’s just too good to be true. A side note a friend of mine was privy to seeing devices in the pipeline, and what was planned would have blown us LG fans absolutely away.
Great article and glad to hear there’s still some LG love out there. Been rocking and loving my numerous LG phones ever since I fell in love with the LG G2. My LG V60 is still hanging in there and hopefully it will last a while longer, but sad not to be looking forward to another LG phone. I’m totally lost on where and what phone I’ll migrate to next. There’s just not any innovative phones out there like LG used to deliver. Never been a big Samsung fan, Google can’t seem to put out a decent phone that doesn’t have issues and Apple just makes me want to puke with Fisher Price iOS. Sony has some interesting phones, but they’re always way too expensive. LG phones will be missed!
Really have enjoyed all of Juan’s coverage of LG phones and he’s one of the few vloggers out there that tells it like it is and doesn’t play to the majority and for the views. Thanks Juan for the great LG memories!
LG gone but certainly not forgotten, I mean I just bought one this month ( you can get an excellent condition V60 for less than $200 on Amazon Renewed)! The fact that the V60 hasn’t been replaced by the competition highlights the importance of much diversity in the smartphone ~~ecosystem~~ market.
Thanks for this great write-up Juan! It is a beatified albeit truer momento of what LG brought to the market.
I feel it’s a phone we’ll probably mention again in a couple years.
I’m keeping my phone for at least 5 years as my main until they come back or until a manufacturer emulates them.
I know that I am going to buy a backup V60 in case anything happens to my daily driver. I have joined the i.e.m. hobby and am amazed at the quality of sound I get from streaming Apple Music Lossless files. I actually have a Audioquest 3.5mm to RCA cable so I can use my V60 as a audio streaming device for my home stereo. Although I can’t compete with my wife’s pixel as far as photography goes. But if I use the camera in pro mode, I can come really close. I have a Wacom pen that I use every day taking notes or even just navigating through the phone. The full size pen is so far superior to that little stick that pops out of the Samsung Note. Having a flat screen also helps in that area as well. The hits just keep coming and as much as I want a new Pixel phone, I can’t imagine losing all of the benefits of my V60. At some point, this phone will become obsolete. I just hope in the next couple of years, a manufacturer will have all of the features of the V60. Come on pixel foldable!!!
I’ve had my V60 for two years, given by LG as a replacement for my G8 as part of their Second Year Promise. Even better was that I didn’t have to return the G8.
I see no reason why I shouldn’t be using the V60 in 5 years? It includes features that are important to me.
-I shoot some video
-Take a lot of pictures
-Listen to hi-res music with wired headphones
-Listen to podcasts
-Use Waze
-Listen to car audio with an AUX jack
-Utilize 5G
-Primary phone for voice calls
-Pen support
When the time comes, I’ll pay $69 for a new battery.
I also use the LG G8 as a backup, as well as a media consumption device. It’s also the perfect phone to use for shooting video on a gimbal. Except for battery life, the G8 was and is the perfect phone. When I want to travel lighter, I swap-out the SIM card and microSD cards on my V60 and pop them into my G8. The G8 features:
-Incredible rear fingerprint reader
-3D face unlock
-Great cameras and video
-Perfect size at 6.1″
-Superlative build-quality
-Fast Snapdragon 855
I know many people who still use the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus and won’t give them up. These are phones from 2016. They are the last iPhones with a headphone jack. All have gone through free Apple battery replacements.
Newer doesn’t mean better. If I were to buy a new/pre-owned phone, it would be Sony.
Sprint bricked My G8…Who will support it, not TM. THEY can’t activate g8. I loved my g8 looking to buy v60 but would still love a g8 if I knew what carrier can service
I love my V60. I’ve lived it since I got it. I also found a case with holster on Amazon that’s great for the V60 with it’s dual screen case on to perfect fit in the holster. (I don’t use the case that comes with it, just the holster.) My phone has worked great since day one. I’m on Verizon so I’m not sure about the T-Mobile issues. Something the article forgot to mention was the manual video that uses the quad mics to record HiFi sound with the 4k or even 8k recording. I record videos and people ask what video camera I’m using. They are blown away when I tell them my phone because of the video and audio quality. I use both screens for multi tasking all the time. No phone out could replace how great this phone is. People ask me about it all the time. “What phone is that? It’s incredible. Did it just come out?” Nope, it came out 2 years ago. They are blown away. I’ve had no hinge issues. No screen issues. It works great all the time. The only issues I’ve had are the magnetic adapters wearing out, but I have plenty of those in case LG stops selling them. I know it’s wishful thinking, but I would love LG to cover back out of nowhere with new phones that make all other phone makers wet themselves with how great LG can make phones. (By the way, I’m replying to this article using my LG V60.)
Yes I been with LG from v10 then up with all the love them all still have v60 and wing .stay with my v60 until v70 comes or v100please LG do it…victor