LG has arguably built up more hype for the V30 than any of its previous phones, garnering tons of praise in early reviews (including from yours truly), but until now, the company hasn’t actually made clear how to get one in the US. Now we know: pre-orders start October 5th on all four major carriers.
When you actually get it – and how much it costs – will depend on your carrier. Verizon is selling them right on the 5th, but hasn’t provided pricing yet. AT&T is shipping them as soon as October 6, priced at $810, or $27 over 30 months. For T-Mobile customers, it’ll be available for $800, or $30 per month (over a 24-month period), with an $80 deposit. Sprint had yet to provide more concrete details at the time of writing.
There’s a lot to like about the LG V30. It has an OLED HDR screen arguably as good as anything’s Samsung ever made. Its tiny bezels means it can fitting a 6-inch display in a device smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus, and unlike the iPhone X, there’s no distracting notch. The second ultra wide angle camera is far more useful than a telephoto lens or portrait mode in my experience, and battery life in my pre-production unit has been very strong. Add to that amazing headphone audio thanks to a Quad DAC and an attractive (if unoriginal design) , and I have no hesitation in saying it’s the best phone LG has ever made, and one of the best phones of the year.
Which is why it’s a bit of a shame there’s been so little clarity around the phone’s release. All this waiting around for a concrete date and price means people lose interest, especially with the Pixel 2 and iPhone X release around the corner, but if LG’s lucky, the phone will succeed on its own merits.
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