It's LG's turn to awe us here at MWC and the company has just announced the LG G8 ThinQ — its 2019 flagship for the masses. The new phone builds on the G7 and adds some nifty new features, such as a ToF camera and air gestures. Let's take a look!
Design and display
The LG G8 ThinQ looks a lot like last year's LG G7 ThinQ. Its sides are a bit curvier and its camera module on the back has been turned horizontally again. This time, the camera's profile is completely flush, with no bumps or hills on the back.
There's still a fingerprint scanner back there and a glass panel as well, as the phone still supports wireless charging.
A new addition to the G line is the display panel — instead of sticking to LCD, the LG G8 ThinQ now sports a 6.1-inch OLED screen up front, still sporting a crisp resolution of 1,440 x 3,120. And it's a special one, too — LG calls it the "Crystal Sound OLED" as it's capable of vibrating like a speaker diaphragm, essentially acting as an earpiece. So yes, this phone does not have a speaker on the front, you will need to press your ear against the display during calls.
The best part? LG did put its Boombox speaker on the bottom, but the phone will also vibrate the Crystal Sound OLED to give you a sort of stereo experience when consuming multimedia!
It's still a rather compact phone, easy to hold and use with one hand. Here's a quick size comparison with the LG G7, Galaxy S10, and iPhone XR:
The LG G8 ThinQ has a new camera module up front called the Z Camera. It utilizes a ToF (Time of Flight) sensor to quickly and reliably create depth maps of whatever objects it's looking at.
For example, the LG G8 ThinQ can scan your hand down to the veins in your palm. This is used as a biometric unlocking feature — show the phone your palm and it unlocks. The G8 will also support facial recognition through the Z Camera. And no, it's not affected by lighting conditions, so it should, in theory, be as reliable as Face ID.
But that's not all — a new Air Motion feature will allow you to interact with the phone by just waving your hand in front of the selfie camera. You will be able to take or reject calls, switch apps, take screenshots, or change volume without touching your phone. That'd be useful when cooking or cleaning, for example.
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Camera and hardware
We still have "only" two cameras at the back of the LG G8 ThinQ — a 12 MP standard and 16 MP super-wide-angle one. The main camera has a very wide aperture of F1.5 and the sensor has 1.4μm pixels. In the smartphone world — these are considered big and contribute towards better night shots, as they collect more light. The wide-angle camera has an F1.9 aperture and 1.0 μm pixels on the sensor.
We do have new software features to enjoy! The so-called "Video Portrait" mode will take that faux bokeh effect we've seen on photos over the past 4 years and apply it to video in real time. LG utilizes what it calls a Dual FOV technology to capture multiple fields of depth — that should make for some pretty awesome cinematic shots if it works out right!
The selfie snapper on the front has an 8 MP sensor with an F1.7 aperture and 1.22 μm pixels. It's neighbored by the Z Camera (ToF camera), which is there for depth-perception only.
The LG G8 ThinQ is powered by the latest-and-greatest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, has 6 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of storage, which you can expand with a microSD card of up to 2 TB. The lights are kept on by a rather large, 3,500 mAh battery.
Aside from the stereo sound emitted by the Crystal Sound screen, there's also a quad Hi-Fi DAC on board. Now, this has been an LG staple for a while, so no surprises here — the company still caters to the audiophiles!
Here's how the G8 ThinQ fares versus the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Nokia 9 PureView!
As one might expect, LG's latest flagship is coming with Android 9 Pie on board. Of course, it's heavily skinned with LG's interface on top. We are curious to find out how LG implemented the gesture controls of Pie — does it go with the standard gesture pill, or would it implement something iPhone-esque?
As for software updates, all we have to go on is a promise — in early 2018, LG launched the Software Upgrade Center, which is a branch of the company specifically tasked with bringing timely software updates to customers' devices. LG said it is comitted to playing the long game, we've yet to see some proof. Maybe this year's phones will be the testbed?
Price and release date
Unfortunately, LG didn't disclose any launch or pricing details at this time. The phone will be "available soon" and pricing will be region-specific. So, stay tuned until the carriers announce their LG G8 ThinQ offers.
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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.
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