MWC 2018: LG bets big on Artificial Intelligence with its new V30S ThinQ smartphone

Ahead of the annual Mobile World Conference (MWC) in Barcelona, LG has introduced a new Artificial Intelligence-focused smartphone. Called LG V30S ThinQ, the smartphone uses AI to improve user experience across various elements, including voice commands, photography and interface in general.

A spin-off of the flagship LG V30, the smartphone also brings high-end specifications such as Qualcomm's latest flagship chipset 835 SoC and storage variants up to 256GB. It is also an IP68 certified smartphone, which means it is water and dust-resistant.

The big draw, however, is the infusion of AI, leveraging LG's propriety 'ThinQ', which was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this year. Since its debut, the AI technology has been included in various LG products, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart speakers. LG V30S will be the first smartphone to leverage this technology.

"With a particular focus on the camera and voice recognition, the resulting Vision AI delivers a smarter camera that is even easier to use, while Voice AI significantly enhances the breadth of spoken commands in the latest smartphone," LG says in a blog post.

LG V30S ThinQ: Big on AI

The smartphone comes pre-loaded with a Vision AI that further has three camera elements AI CAM, QLens and Bright Mode — all aimed at improving photography experience for serious and casual mobile photography enthusiasts.

"AI CAM analyses subjects in the frame and recommends the optimal shooting mode among eight categories: portrait, food, pet, landscape, city, flower, sunrise, and sunset. Each mode enhances the characteristics of the subject taking into account factors such as the viewing angle, color, reflections, lighting, and saturation level," LG explained on its website.

QLens is similar to Google Lens technology that features high-end image recognition capabilities. It is also quite similar to what we saw on recent Motorola's smartphones such as Moto Z2 Force and Moto X4 6GB RAM variants.

LG's QLens technology allows the phone to scan QR codes and shoot photos to look up information as to "where to buy the product online at the lowest price as well as recommendations of similar items". "Perform an image search with QLens to see matching or similar images of food, fashion and celebrities or detailed information of landmarks such as buildings and statues," the company said.

The voice AI allows users to run applications and change settings just through voice commands. The AI works alongside Google's Assistant. LG claimed the AI commands made it easier for users to search through menu options and gives quick and direct access to key functionalities of the smartphone.

LG V30S ThinQ: Specifications

The smartphone comes with top-of-the-line specifications. It has a 6.0-inch edge-to-edge 18:9 Quad HD+ OLED FullVision display with massive 538ppi pixel density.

It is available in two variants — 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM and 6GB RAM and 256GB ROM. Both the phones support expandable storage up to 2TB via a microSD card.

For photography, the smartphone supports a dual-camera setup on the back, featuring a 16-megapixel sensor with f/1.6 aperture and a 13-megapixel wide-angle camera with f/1.9 aperture and 120-degree wide-angle.

The smartphone runs on Android 8.0 Oreo out-of-the-box. It is powered by a 3,300mAh battery. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 5.0 BLE / NFC / USB Type-C 2.0 (3.1 compatible).