Hands-on with LG’s flagship V20 [Video]

LG just announced its new flagship V20, and luckily we were at IFA 2016 last week to get some early hands-on time with the device at LG’s booth. I was a fan of the — in my opinion, underrated — LG V10, but I don’t necessarily think it was the best phone of last year. This one, though, I think is going to be hard to beat — especially since the Galaxy Note 7 has been having some trouble lately…

While I’m disappointed that the unique rubbery back of the V10 is gone, the V20 feels like it stands out from the pack just as much — albeit in different ways. The way LG stays true to giving users swappable batteries here is great, offering many of the pros of the G5 without the cons. The G5 had a metal-ish build and a swappable battery, but it was plagued by basic build quality issues.

The V20 doesn’t have those issues, even in my experience with the early prototype model that the company had for us to play with last week. It really does feel like a completely different league from the G5, contrasting well with the almost negligible differences between Samsung’s two flagships this year, the Galaxy S7 edge and the Note 7. We’ll be getting a unit sometime in the coming weeks looking closer, but here’s our quick 3-minute rundown of what you should know…

Check out our announcement post for a full rundown of specs and more details.