LG V30+ - Review 2022 - Belford Blince

The LG V30+ ($912 at Sprint; $929 unlocked) is an even improve phone to capture the entire globe and listen to large, high-quality music files than the standard LG V30. The V30+ is really merely a V30 with 128GB of storage and a pair of pretty good earphones included in the box, for virtually $100 more than the 64GB V30. Information technology's the only version of the V30 available for Dart, though, and its 4x4 MIMO antennas give information technology actress powers on the carrier'due south network. We institute spectacular download speeds in testing, and 4x4 MIMO is sure to improve signal strength. That makes the V30+ a special pick for Sprint users who want the best wireless speeds.

More Storage for More than Music

For almost everything virtually the LG V30+, take a expect at our LG V30 review. The V30+ looks the aforementioned and feels the aforementioned. The difference is in the storage, the modem frequency bands, and the included earbuds. We also tested the battery separately: at 8 hours, 29 minutes of LTE streaming, information technology did very well.

The phone still has a microSD bill of fare slot, and if you're really crazy you lot tin can put in the new SanDisk Ultra 400GB microSD card, for over 500GB of usable space. I think this most matters in clan with the V30+'due south Hello-Fi Quad DAC, a more powerful than usual digital-to-analog converter that can bulldoze large, audiophile-level headphones.

People who care near DACs ofttimes mind to lossless audio files, which tin can be very large. A 5-minute, 192/24 FLAC file can be up to 200MB, as compared with effectually 11MB for a 320kbps MP3 of the same length. The effect is that audiophiles love having copious amounts of storage. Getting to 500GB, in a phone that tin bulldoze high-impedance headphones, can make a real departure if yous have a large, local library of large files.

The V30+ besides includes LG QuadPlay earbuds, which are supposedly tuned to accept reward of the phone'south special DAC. The V30 doesn't come with whatever earbuds at all. Information technology'due south a squeamish convenience, though I imagine true audiophiles volition already have a favorite pair of their ain.

Sprinting Ahead

The Sprint model of the V30+ is one of simply 2 phones the carrier sells with 4x4 MIMO; the other one is the Moto Z2. Every bit the V30+ has both waterproofing and a headphone jack, it's probably the more than mainstream choice of the two.

4x4 MIMO doubles the antenna branches used in the phone to double the potential bandwidth on each network channel. With Sprint, information technology'south used primarily to speed up downloads. It too tends to meliorate signal strength in full general.

When we took the V30+ out in Manhattan, nosotros got speeds we've never seen before on a Dart phone. Comparison it with a ZTE Warp Connect hotspot, which has an older, slower modem, we saw peaks of 133Mbps down where the Warp Connect only made it to 32Mbps. That wasn't a fluke, either—in other locations the telephone got 105Mbps and 125Mbps where the hotspot got 21Mbps and 41Mbps.

Other top phones, like the Samsung Milky way S8 and Note 8, will perform better than the hotspot did. They take improve modems, although they still lack 4x4 MIMO. In our Fastest Mobile Networks tests earlier this year, the fastest download speed we got on the Dart network with a Milky way S8 in New York was 81Mbps down. The comparisons aren't perfect (equally the NYC network has improved since we ran those tests), merely we're confident the V30+ will evangelize the best Sprint speeds.

Full LTE Band Chaos

AT&T and Verizon simply sell the regular V30. Dart only sells the V30+. T-Mobile sells both. At that place are too unlocked versions of both.

Be conscientious about the model yous choose, though, considering each unit has different LTE bands. The fundamental bands to expect for are Ring 41, Sprint's fastest LTE band; Ring 46, which is the "LAA" 5GHz ring that AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon will employ for in-building coverage; and Ring 71, T-Mobile's new rural coverage band.

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The Sprint version has LTE bands 2/3/four/five/7/eight/12/13/17/xx/25/26/41. The T-Mobile version has ane/ii/3/iv/5/7/12/20/38/39/forty/41/46/66/71. And the unlocked version has ane/2/three/iv/5/7/12/13/xx/25/66.

As you can see, the unlocked model lacks all 3 of those key new bands. This is more often than not a problem for Sprint customers right at present, equally Dart coverage already relies heavily on Band 41, and T-Mobile has just started to curl out 66 and 71. If you want the best coverage and speeds, you'll have to stay in your lane with your carrier's ain model.

Just for fun, allow's bring in the AT&T and Verizon standard V30 unlocked models as well. The AT&T version has bands i/two/3/4/5/7/12/29/thirty/38/39/forty/41/66. The Verizon model has 1/2/3/4/5/7/13/xx/38/39/40/41/46/66.

Bands 29 and thirty are AT&T supplementary bands for crowded cities, and only the AT&T model has them. The Verizon model brings in LAA, but the AT&T i doesn't. They both have the Sprint bands. It'due south a mess.

Comparisons and Conclusions

The LG V30 is one of our favorite phones, considering its broad-angle camera offers a very different perspective on the world than the single or 2x cameras you find on other smartphones. If you're trying to capture a whole stage, a whole performance, or a whole field, the V30 is the high-finish smartphone for yous.

The V30+ steps up with the V30's other prime allure, its sound. LG's dedicated DACs have a cult post-obit, and the V30+ gives you the maximum possible infinite for your audio files. Sprint users will too thrill to the phone squeezing never-before-seen speeds out of their carrier's network.

That said, given the V30+'s other features are the same as the V30's, we nonetheless prefer the Samsung Galaxy Note eight overall in the high-priced, big form cistron Android phone world. The Note eight has a better screen, better low-light photographic camera performance, and amend battery life. The Samsung Galaxy S8, meanwhile, is our overall Android choice, as it delivers almost of what these phones do for $200 less.