LG surprised its customers this year with the announcement of a new smartphone dubbed LG Velvet. The handset came not only as a massive overhaul in terms of LG phones design, but also to dethrone the LG G series. A couple of years ago, LG was among the most relevant smartphone makers. However, the Korean firm failed to catch up with the competition, moreover, its devices lacked innovative concepts. This year, the company wants to bring some fresh air to its struggling smartphone division with the LG Velvet. But we’re not sure if the device will be a huge success considering its price. The Velvet was available on South Korea, and now is reaching Europe.
As previously reported, LG is starting this month a campaign to push the smartphone to several markets. The first batch of countries getting the handset in the old continent includes Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Spain. The device is already on the official online store in Italy. It should be available in other countries in the coming days as well. If you’re curious, the handset is selling for €650 in Europe. In the South-Korea, the handset costs around $700. Interestingly enough, LG is offering some pre-order goodies worth €400 in an attempt to make the device more attractive.
Customers ordering the phone before the end of June will get an LG Dual Screen Accessory, LG Tone Free TWS earbuds, and a protective cover for the handset. As we said before, the company values this package at a total of €400. Italian customers can claim these goodies via this link. The next step given in the Velvet campaign is aiming at North America and Latin America as well as the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. However, there’s no word on whether those regions will get the same promo deal. I’m writing from Brazil, and I don’t think LG will be so “generous” here.
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LG Velvet specifications
The biggest problem with the LG Velvet and its price is due to the fact that it uses a mid-range chipset. Of course, we’re not talking about a weak chipset, but the excellent Snapdragon 765G with a 5G integrated modem. However, it still is for mid-range devices, and the device cost as much as some flagship devices like the Redmi K30 Pro.
The processing power is combined with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of Storage. The specifications are built around a 6.8-inch OLED display with Full HD+ resolution and 20.5: 9 aspect ratio. The display has a waterdrop notch housing a 16MP selfie shooter and a fingerprint scanner underneath. Moving around to the back we have a triple-camera array featuring a raindrop design. This combo packs 48MP main + 8MP ultrawide + 5MP depth modules.
Other features include Android 10 with LG UX running atop, 3.5mm headphone jack, 4,300mAh battery with 25W fast-charging and 10W wireless charging, NFC, and Bluetooth 5.1. The handset is available in Illusion Sunset, Aurora Green, Aurora White, and Aurora Gray colors.
Some markets will get a 4G variant
According to rumors, LG is preparing a 4G version of LG Velvet for the Middle East and South-America, where a 5G phone is currently pointless. The 4G variant may be powered by the two-year-old Snapdragon 845 chip and will bring to new exclusive colors – Aurora Silver and New Black. More details should be revealed soon.