In the past, the LG V40 ThinQ, the first penta-camera phone, tried to improve the company’s fortunes.

We took a look back last week at the first quad camera phone, well, quad camera if you only look at the rear. With the selfie camera added, the total number of cameras is now five. However, the Galaxy A9 (2018) was not the first phone to include five cameras; the LG V40 ThinQ did it a few weeks before. Today’s Flashback focuses on the V-series flagship from late 2018. We’ll discuss its cameras, other fantastic features, some less awesome aspects, and a rocky debut. In the past, the LG V40 ThinQ, the first penta camera phone, attempted to improve the company’s fortunes.

And it was a fairly wide notch too, but it did have a reason for it – it housed two cameras (in addition to the earpiece). Those were an 8 MP module with an 80° FoV and a wider 5 MP camera with a 90° FoV. How much difference do 10 degrees make? Well, here are some comparison shots: As you can probably tell, the image quality was far from perfect. That’s downer considering that there are two not-so-good cameras and that they are notched into the display.

The V40 was officially announced on September 27, but that announcement was a bit short on details. The full reveal happened a few days later on October 3. The phone became available soon after (October 16), though some regions had to wait longer (e.g. the Indian launch wasn’t until late January of the following year). But even before the official launch there was trouble brewing – renders showed that LG was about to commit the sin of adopting a notched display, spoiling the clean look that people enjoyed with the V30.

LG had been an early pioneer in multi-camera setups, but the V40 was the first to assemble the trinity: wide, ultra wide and telephoto. This allowed users to photograph groups of people and single individuals, to take up close shots and shoot faraway subjects. The main module was well-equipped, it had a 12 MP sensor (1/2.6”) with 1.4 µm pixels and Dual Pixel autofocus, plus a 78° lens with an impressively bright f/1.5 aperture and OIS. For a 2018 release, those are some excellent specs on paper.

The ultra wide-angle camera was not as impressive, but still good. It was equipped with a 16 MP 1/3.1” sensor (1.0 µm pixels) and a fixed-focus lens. Nighttime performance was solid as well. The camera wasn’t all that wide at 107° (for comparison, the LG G5 brought a really wide 135° lens in early 2016), on the plus side it showed very little distortion. Camera samples, ultra wide angle camera – f/1.9, ISO 50, 1/806s – LG V40 ThinQ review Camera samples, ultra wide angle camera – f/1.9, ISO 50, 1/1786s – LG V40 ThinQ review Camera samples, ultra wide angle camera – f/1.9, ISO 50, 1/1299s – LG V40 ThinQ review.

And the phone did make good use of it. The daylight shots were good, though nothing special. Color rendering was pleasant and the shots were nice overall, but the dynamic range left something to be desired and the shots weren’t the sharpest we had seen. However, the relatively large pixels, the wide aperture and optical stabilization really came into their own in the dark. The photos hold up quite well: Low-light samples, primary camera – f/1.5, 1/11s – LG V40 ThinQ review Low-light samples, primary camera – f/1.5, 1/11s – LG V40 ThinQ review Low-light samples, primary camera – f/1.5, 1/10s – LG V40 ThinQ review Low-light samples, primary camera – f/1.5, ISO 400, 1/17s – LG V40 ThinQ review
Low-light samples, primary camera

The LG V40 ThinQ wasn’t a perfect phone. The short battery life was its biggest flaw and it could have done with some display calibration. A better pair of selfie cameras too. It was still a really interesting flagship and LG had pinned its hopes on it selling well. With a new Mobile Communications director in charge, the company was changing its approach to the market and to its R&D efforts. Alas, things didn’t pan out – LG as a whole posted record profits, while the mobile division lost money in 2018. Q1 of 2019 brought a loss as well and eyes had already turned towards the V50 ThinQ. Troubles continued into 2020.

That is how it went with LG’s mobile efforts. It created some of the most interesting phones, yet they were mostly a curiosity that few people bought. Since closing the money-losing mobile division, the company is posting impressive results, but we know many of you still miss the kooky LG phones. Sometimes we do too.

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