LG isn't a company known for its fear of braking the
status quo: recall the LG G5, which was a brave departure from conventional
smartphones (though also a market failure), or the V10 and V20, which had that
unusual second screen on top of the main one. But with the latter duo being due
for a successor this fall, many people have accused the company of abandoning
that tradition in favor of making safer, more boring devices.
You see, according to most leaks of the device we've
seen so far (old concepts notwithstanding), the V30 won't have the signature
feature of its predecessors — the second screen — and will instead look like a
slightly tweaked LG G6. But even in this case we can look at this from another
point of view: LG is breaking its own status quo of breaking the status quo.
However, according to a new report from Android
Authority citing "an exclusive internal source," the idea of the
second screen hasn't been entirely scrapped, and will instead live on in
software form. Apparently LG is planning on putting a "floating bar"
of sorts in the V30's interface, which will serve roughly the same purpose the
second screen has up until now.
And while the original source seems to have been
pretty lax on the specifics, the floating bar was apparently designed to give
"quick access to shortcuts and possibly even notifications." We're
not sure what this would look like in real life, but it could, for example, be
an always-present top bar imitating the look of the V10/V20, though that would
be a pretty bad choice and defeat the purpose of the tall, 18:9 display. Or, it
could be some sort of collapsible shortcut menu, Ã la Samsung's Edge Panel.
Whatever it turns out to be, though, here's hoping it can be disabled.
But it seems LG will make up for the lack of a
second display in more than one way: apparently the V30 will feature a 6-inch
QHD+ screen, bigger than both its predecessors and the LG G6. The display will
also support HDR 10 and Google Daydream out of the box. As far as the camera
goes, the source reiterates previous claims that one of the two camera sensors
will be complimented with an f/1.6 aperture, a first for smartphones, but added
that this will be combined with a "Crystal Clear Glass Lens"
(whatever this means).
The V30 will also feature an "all-round
upgraded audio experience" in collaboration with B&O, which we imagine
will build on top of the Quad DAC found in the Korean version of the G6 (as
well as the G6+). Also in is the V10/V20's MIL-STD-810G military standard
certification, which is a bit hard to imagine given previous rumors of a glass
back being present, but it's still a possibility.
As is usual, though, do make sure to take these
rumors with a grain of salt: while they fall right in line with what we've
heard before, they're still from an unconfirmed source. In any case, we'll see
the real thing soon enough, as the LG V30 will be unveiled in less than a month
— August 31, to be exact — and should be present as part of the company's IFA
offerings.
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