It’s still slim pickings for 5G smartphones in the US, but your choices are widening ever so slightly. Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) is adding the LG V50 ThinQ to its 5G lineup on June 20th, ending Sprint’s brief head start on carrying the handset. It’s expensive as you might imagine, but it might be a better deal than at its rival if you don’t factor in a current promo. Big Red is selling the V50 for either $1,000 up front or $42 per month over two years, a fair discount over Sprint’s $1,152 outright price and $48 per month (albeit over 18 months).
If you buy quickly, Verizon will both waive its $10 extra charge for 5G (if you’re on an Above Unlimited or Beyond Unlimited plan) and as much as $650 off the device price if you both switch and trade in a handset.
This is the most affordable 5G-native phone on Verizon when Samsung’s Galaxy S10 5G starts at $1,300 ($54 per month). It’s also not as ambitious with a smaller, more conventional screen, but it beats having to choose between a giant, particularly expensive flagship and a mid-range Motorola phone that needs a mod to connect to 5G.
As with any early 5G phone, you’re really buying this for bragging rights. Verizon’s 5G coverage is still limited to parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, and it’s mainly effective outdoors. It will take a while before coverage is more readily available (only 30 markets by the end of 2019), and future phones are more likely to have improved battery life and performance. Still, it’s baby steps like this that will help make 5G a practical reality.
Source: engadget.com
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