24 Hours Series

24 Hours in Venice Beach with the LG G6

Lots of sand, sun, and silhouettes

Published

May 8, 2017

Marvin Velasco

I’ve been to the actual city of Venice in Italy a few years back, and while the breathtaking sights I enjoyed then are still fresh to me, I had no qualms visiting what’s called the Venice of America.

The moment my trip to Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California was booked, I had a choice of nine different smartphones to take with me on the trip. After much self-deliberation, it came down to one premium handset, and that was the LG G6.

Sure, the Samsung Galaxy S8 has the single best camera right now and the Apple iPhone 7 Plus narrowly bested the LG handset in a recent shootout, but the G6 has something neither of them have: a secondary rear camera that can take extra-wide-angle landscape photos.

I figured it would be perfect for the views I was about to experience, and on top of that, the G6 is both water and dust resistant — perfect for the wet and sandy terrains I was about to set my feet in!

Right by the beach

The photo above is Venice Beach in a nutshell: shirtless folks traversing paths beside the beach and under an endless line of palm trees. Despite the clear, blue sky and beaming sun, not once did I shed a drop of sweat. Either the sea breeze was that cool, or my body was preserving all the liquids it stored!

What I loved most about Venice was the diversity of activities. I’d go from a chill Gelato bar to a high-speed skate park like this in a matter of steps!

Music of all genres filled the air at every corner. Each band had their own playlists which never overlapped with the following group’s. How they coordinate that, I may never know.

While I didn’t have the guts to come up and buy something, every street vendor braved the heat to show off what they got — love and peace were universal themes.

Right behind this set of junk-built statues of (copyrighted) characters, is the biggest selection of hats I’ve ever seen! I’m not a hat person, but I couldn’t help but try on a couple.

If you take a detour through one of the less-busy side streets, you’ll be treated to some hidden wall art such as this. I love how the possibly unintentional growth of weed underneath makes it seem like the man is peering right through.

Back on track, here’s one of Venice Beach’s trademark outdoor gyms. As you can tell by my nearly shot-ruining finger on the lower-left corner of the photo, I have to keep my hands clear of the lens when going extra wide.

The rise of corporate overlords

This is a long and narrow Snap shop containing a few vending machines for the company’s sole physical product, Spectacles.

Sadly, Snapchat’s success means office expansion along Venice Beach, and people clearly aren’t happy about losing their land to tycoons.

Another standout business is this string of stores by “Green Doctors.” I have no idea what they sell, but whatever it is, customers walking out seem extra happy and laid back.

Back to business

As much fun as it was to leisurely walk around the beach, some work had to be done. Here’s Michael Josh setting up the camera for an unboxing we were shooting. It’s coming soon!

A trip to the grocery store before dinner gave me the perfect chance to test the G6’s color reproduction. I must say, the hues here are spot on, and this shot is making me hungry again!

On to Santa Monica

Memories of the TV show Baywatch sprung to mind here — except there was no Pamela Anderson or David Hasselhoff to save me from the biting cold of the ocean!

This shot was taken during our long walk from Venice Beach to Santa Monica. The linear direction meant sunburn on just the left side of my neck and arm.

Finally, here’s me feeling like a champ after walking 4,000 steps to this point. Maybe next time, I’ll rent a car and drive 4,000 kilometers to the other end of Route 66 — Chicago, Illinois.

24 Hours is a series on GadgetMatch.com where we showcase our travels through a smartphone camera’s perspective. It’s also a documented guide on things to see and do in a city in case you happen to plan a trip there.

[irp posts=”12027″ name=”24 Hours in Lisbon with the Sony RX100 V”]

24 Hours Series

vivo V27: Studio lights in your pocket

Meet the new Aura Light Portrait System

Published

April 14, 2023

Chay Lazaro

It’s spring 2023 and vivo is back with the V series. The vivo V27 comes with a new feature called Aura Light Portrait System, which takes its main camera to another level. Like its predecessor it’s got a color-changing back, making it a fashionable choice for different users.

Stylish color-changing design

We have the V27 in Emerald Green, which starts off with a lighter tint that looks like jade. When exposed to UV light, it changes into a darker shade of green. This is achieved thanks to the Emerald Glass processing technique. The phone also comes in Magic Blue, Flowing Gold, and Noble Black.

Chay is wearing light colors so the Emerald Green model matches her outfit better. It makes a nice, subtle pop of color, and goes with her pastel-y mint green purse and boots.

It’s also worth pointing out the 3D curved screen and this curved back on the V27 make it feel extremely thin and light.

Studio lights in your pocket

As mentioned earlier, the vivo V27 features the Aura Light Portrait System for great portraits even in low light. It’s a combination of the IMX677V sensor, which Sony designed with vivo specifically for this phone, algorithm optimizations, and the Aura Light. Its outer ring is matte and sandblasted, softening the light coming out of it.

The Aura Light, combined with the large sensor, and algorithm optimizations work together to take great portraits even in low light.

Lunch and coffee

The day before was a very long day so we figured we should get food and coffee. We found this dimly lit restaurant in Soho called Cafe Select. I think it’s a German restaurant because we had some schnitzel and there’s German decor everywhere.

We also specifically asked for the corner booth to test out the V27’s low light capabilities. Despite the lack of light sources, it’s impressive that the V27 managed to produce an accurate cutout of me even when I kept moving with the Bokeh Portrait video mode on.

There’s no natural light in this restaurant so it’s also the perfect place to take portraits and test out the Aura Light Portrait System. It’s like a portable ring light that you can use to take clearer portraits. Take a look at some examples.

On video mode, you can also use LUTs. We had fun using the Nostalgia filter to film a short video in the restaurant, which perfectly matches the vintage vibe of its interiors.

High definition selfies

The vivo V27 would not be a V-series smartphone if it didn’t have an amazing selfie camera. On the V27, we got a 50MP HD selfie camera with autofocus.

It’s worth noting that the phone feels so light in the hand. It’s so easy to take one-handed selfies. I also love how subtle the color change is on the Emerald Green model.

The V27 offers three levels of selfie filters that help hide blemishes and enhance your features — None, Natural, and Classic.

The 50MP front camera means clear selfie details. Most other smartphones have inferior selfie cameras compared to its rear counterparts, but not the V27. As you can see in the example below, zooming in on my eyes show that you can clearly see the strands of my eyebrows.

Walking the High Line & shopping

To test its video stabilization and macro camera, we continued to walk the High Line. Both features produced very impressive results.

Another feature we tried is MicroMovie. It’s perfect for creators like me. It comes with a whole bunch of templates that you can use for TikTok or Instagram Reels. I filmed a daily vlog with it and had so much fun.

While we were shopping, I noticed too that the V27 changed colors after being indoors for a bit. It turned into a beautiful white marble-like finish that fades into mint green at the bottom.

After the sun has set, it’s time to take more low-light portraits and OOTD. Our friends Alex and Leslie even joined us for a quick photo shoot. New York City comes to life at night, and with a 1/1.56-inch sensor and Super Night Mode, the vivo V27 can easily capture the hustle and bustle of the city streets.

More than just a camera smartphone

The vivo V27 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 and comes with either an 8GB or 12GB of RAM.

With Extended RAM the phone borrows memory from your internal storage and gives you an additional 8GB RAM. This way you get either 16GB or 20GB available RAM.