LG makes flagship phone with 3.5mm of space - LG G9 renders found

[Intrafinesse]

On 1/4/2020 at 12:11 PM, TomvanWijnen said:

I thought the same, until I actually got one. My OnePlus 7 Pro has 3 cameras: a main one, a 0.6x zoom, and a 3x zoom. Each really does a different thing and I use all of them frequently, even the 3x zoom (I actually use that more than the 0.6x zoom one).

The next cellphone camera I get I want an optical zoom.

What is your opinion of the x3?

Is it enough?

Would a x5 be better?

Do you have any problems with the image being blurry if you don't brace the phone?

[Brooksie359]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

This year. Or next, if you don't want to jump in with the first batch of under display cameras.

...because the companies that make phones totally have a part in manufacturing SoCs, right? Oh wait. They're not Qualcomm. A majority of them also don't do their own battery tech, and the companies that do, are researching ways to increase battery capacity. It doesn't happen over night, and you don't dump all your resources into a single aspect of any device.

 

Or, you know. Just use the adapter included in the box There's lots of affordable wireless headphones out there as well. Doesn't sound good enough for you? Then you're probably someone who will pay the money for something better anyway.

 

You're missing the point. The fact is you're halving the possible points of failure.

More cameras give the phone greater ability. You retain all the ability the phone had before with a simple adapter if you remove the headphone jack. You can't add the features the camera modules give.

 

Right, it is. It also ads complexity to the device, a point of failure, both of which are remedied by simply using the adapter. It's pretty obvious why they'd rather steer you to the adapter.

 

What phone? It's likely either a much larger body, or the battery isn't that large.

Yeahhhh that's a pretty niche case though. Like, charge your phone at night...and if you need to charge it during the day, just live without music for the 30 or so minutes it takes most phones to charge *shrugs* As we move forward, it seems like it's less and less of an issue.

Yeah but why? I mean why should I have to not have the ability to listen to music while charging my phone? Also I do this on the daily so it is pretty important for me. 

[dizmo]

44 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Yeah but why? I mean why should I have to not have the ability to listen to music while charging my phone? Also I do this on the daily so it is pretty important for me. 

Why should they have to continue putting something in a device that the majority of people don't mind doing without, or are fine using adapters?

You don't appeal to the shrinking minority.

It's unfortunate you choose to use your device that way, for sure, but as charging gets better I doubt you'll even notice the 30 or so minutes it needs to charge.

Charge it while you shower? Or make breakfast? Or sit on the loo?
Lots of alternatives.

[THEIsaacPigg27]

Quote

The fact is you're halving the possible points of failure

But it's not like the headphone jack failing will cause the rest of the phone to fail so why not include it for the people who want it?

[D13H4RD]

After having a dismal experience with LG phones and their customer service..... 

 

Yeah, I think I'll stick with my Note8 for another year, and not because of the headphone jack. I've legitimately not been impressed by all the new phones. 

[Brooksie359]

33 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Why should they have to continue putting something in a device that the majority of people don't mind doing without, or are fine using adapters?

You don't appeal to the shrinking minority.

It's unfortunate you choose to use your device that way, for sure, but as charging gets better I doubt you'll even notice the 30 or so minutes it needs to charge.

Charge it while you shower? Or make breakfast? Or sit on the loo?
Lots of alternatives.

I would say it's far from majority. Most people I know are pretty annoyed with the change. Actually I can't think of a single person I know that isn't annoyed by it. Honestly I have no idea why people think most people don't care when a lot of people do. I charge my phone at work while I am listening to music daily so not having a headphone jack is not acceptable for me. 

[Man]

On 1/4/2020 at 10:12 PM, yolosnail said:

Until Samsung makes a phone that depreciates like an LG, I'll stick to LG!

This!

 

Around here, one can score an LG G6 or V20 in mint condition for just around $80, same for an old, beat-up iPhone 6. I'm not sure if they are reliable enough to be good daily drivers, however. 

 

13 hours ago, pzspah said:

Too bad LG phones arent more popular, my G6 had a better camera than my note9. Better sound too. 

 

Is the G6 any good and would you recommend it? Thinking about picking up a G6 (or maybe a V20, I dunno) because they are just so cheap for what they offer and I absolutely love the ultra-wide angle lens. Plus, the Snapdragon 821 is a bonus!

 

I'm just a bit reluctant, due to all those horror stories I've read on Reddit in all those years. Boot loops, system crashes, camera stuttering problems, faulty laser auto-focus, screen ghosting and burn-in (despite having an IPS panel, weird!), poor battery life, spotty Bluetooth connectivity, GPS problems and I'm just scratching the surface here. 

 

What's your recommendation?

[D13H4RD]

On 1/5/2020 at 12:26 AM, Curious Pineapple said:

What's all the bullshit with how many cameras a phone has?

The whole point is to mimic different focal ranges. A lot of multi-camera phones use it to mimic 3 common focal ranges; ultrawide (12-18mm equivalent), wide (24-28mm equivalent) and portrait/short telephoto (45-50mm equivalent) . Some other phones add a few extra either to mimic a medium telephoto (70-105mm equivalent) or as a ToF sensor for better depth sensing for phokeh. 

 

While you could argue that a single larger sensor would have been more beneficial for quality, you also need to remember this. People like myself; photography enthusiasts alongside those who do it professionally all make up a small spectrum of people. We are willing to spend 4 and even 5 figures on equipment and such to ensure we get the best possible results. But most people aren't. They're perfectly happy with whatever their iPhone puts out and many of its quality flaws are frankly not noticeable on social media, especially on a small screen. 

 

So having more focal length options at their disposal makes more sense than just upping the overall quality a bit (especially since automated Photoshop mean blending via computational means is already doing a good job of that). 

 

Fact of the matter is that most people aren't photography enthusiasts and before knocking it, you ought to look at it from a different perspective first lest you look like a colossal anus. 

[dizmo]

 

1 hour ago, THEIsaacPigg27 said:

But it's not like the headphone jack failing will cause the rest of the phone to fail so why not include it for the people who want it?

Lots of reasons.

• Warranty: Say the jack stops working. It gets sent in to be repaired. This can go one of two ways:
  1. It's defective. You pay the tech to repair the device. This is an added cost.
  2. It's not defective. You return the device to the consumer. You still had to pay the tech to look at it, and now you also have an unhappy customer. This is two fold, because not only do you have an added cost, you also will likely have to do something to make them happy, which can further increase this cost.
• Water proofing is easier if you have fewer ports.
• Public perception of the device.
  It's not uncommon for people with problems to seem like the majority, when really they're the only ones speaking out because everyone else is fine. Say the headphone jack fails on a bunch of units, either due to defect or user error. That's bad. Getting rid of the port eliminates that risk.
• You can get 90% of the functionality with an external adapter, which is essentially no different in operation.

1 hour ago, Brooksie359 said:

I would say it's far from majority. Most people I know are pretty annoyed with the change. Actually I can't think of a single person I know that isn't annoyed by it. Honestly I have no idea why people think most people don't care when a lot of people do. I charge my phone at work while I am listening to music daily so not having a headphone jack is not acceptable for me. 

Either way, the people you or I know is irrelevant; most people I know don't care or just use the adapters. Overall, though, people don't care. Otherwise the phones that don't have them simply wouldn't sell, as people would either keep what they have, or only buy phones that have the jack. That's not what sales show.

Again. Niche case. Unfortunate for you, but, not where the market is going.

You could always just get a phone with wireless charging. Problem solved.

[Blademaster91]

5 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

Yeah but why? I mean why should I have to not have the ability to listen to music while charging my phone? Also I do this on the daily so it is pretty important for me. 

I don't use the headphone jack every day, though it's still nice to have,especially if I have to charge both the phone and my wireless headphones but apparently having less is better when you're paying more for a phone.

[TomvanWijnen]

9 hours ago, Intrafinesse said:

The next cellphone camera I get I want an optical zoom.

What is your opinion of the x3?

Is it enough?

Would a x5 be better?

Do you have any problems with the image being blurry if you don't brace the phone?

x3 is fun! More would of course be even better, but it's already definitely quite nice to take pictures of things not too far away, as they can give a different effect from the regular camera. Its quality is also quite good, much better than the x0.6. The image is generally not blurry.

[Brooksie359]

6 hours ago, dizmo said:

 

Lots of reasons.

• Warranty: Say the jack stops working. It gets sent in to be repaired. This can go one of two ways:
  1. It's defective. You pay the tech to repair the device. This is an added cost.
  2. It's not defective. You return the device to the consumer. You still had to pay the tech to look at it, and now you also have an unhappy customer. This is two fold, because not only do you have an added cost, you also will likely have to do something to make them happy, which can further increase this cost.
• Water proofing is easier if you have fewer ports.
• Public perception of the device.
  It's not uncommon for people with problems to seem like the majority, when really they're the only ones speaking out because everyone else is fine. Say the headphone jack fails on a bunch of units, either due to defect or user error. That's bad. Getting rid of the port eliminates that risk.
• You can get 90% of the functionality with an external adapter, which is essentially no different in operation.

Either way, the people you or I know is irrelevant; most people I know don't care or just use the adapters. Overall, though, people don't care. Otherwise the phones that don't have them simply wouldn't sell, as people would either keep what they have, or only buy phones that have the jack. That's not what sales show.

Again. Niche case. Unfortunate for you, but, not where the market is going.

You could always just get a phone with wireless charging. Problem solved.

I recall numbers saying that smartphone sales had been on decline so I do not agree. Also just because people are annoyed by it doesn't mean they won't buy it. This whole idea that nobody cares is quite baffling seeing as Samsung had done an entire marketing campaign showing how they still had a headphone jack and the reception of the marketing was rather positive. 

[TechyBen]

22 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

I recall numbers saying that smartphone sales had been on decline so I do not agree. Also just because people are annoyed by it doesn't mean they won't buy it. This whole idea that nobody cares is quite baffling seeing as Samsung had done an entire marketing campaign showing how they still had a headphone jack and the reception of the marketing was rather positive. 

Colleague today "oh no, my iPhone headphones are in the wash", and the problem replacing them? Wireless are too expensive, and iPhones now use lightning cable headphones. So yeah, even every day non-techy people (look, and even I am the Tech nerd. XD) complain about the lack of a headphone socket!

[IhazHedont]

8 hours ago, Man said:

Is the G6 any good and would you recommend it? Thinking about picking up a G6 (or maybe a V20, I dunno) because they are just so cheap for what they offer and I absolutely love the ultra-wide angle lens. Plus, the Snapdragon 821 is a bonus!

 

I'm just a bit reluctant, due to all those horror stories I've read on Reddit in all those years. Boot loops, system crashes, camera stuttering problems, faulty laser auto-focus, screen ghosting and burn-in (despite having an IPS panel, weird!), poor battery life, spotty Bluetooth connectivity, GPS problems and I'm just scratching the surface here. 

 

What's your recommendation?

I would recommend it to someone who does not mind updating his phone by himself, because depending on your version, the latest update dispatch is not homogeneous.

That being said, I got my G6 for more than 2 years now, with the same battery, and I would never change it for any mid tier. The screen is good, the cameras are good (you can also download some GCAM apk that some nice dudes released especially for the G6), the audio is simply fantastic if you are into it, and performance wise, for my use it's perfectly fine (I don't really use my phone to game).

 

Some users have reported issues like poor battery life or moisture alert in the charging port, and I don't know if it is a niche issue or not. I live in Rotterdam, the past autumn and current winter are very wet, I bike and never had any issue with the moisture alert.

 

Boot loop is gone since V20, it was a major issue with the V10 ( and I had it ).

 

In the end I think if you scratch a bit you will always find people with issues with their phones.

[pzspah]

9 hours ago, Man said:

This!

 

Around here, one can score an LG G6 or V20 in mint condition for just around $80, same for an old, beat-up iPhone 6. I'm not sure if they are reliable enough to be good daily drivers, however. 

 

 

Is the G6 any good and would you recommend it? Thinking about picking up a G6 (or maybe a V20, I dunno) because they are just so cheap for what they offer and I absolutely love the ultra-wide angle lens. Plus, the Snapdragon 821 is a bonus!

 

I'm just a bit reluctant, due to all those horror stories I've read on Reddit in all those years. Boot loops, system crashes, camera stuttering problems, faulty laser auto-focus, screen ghosting and burn-in (despite having an IPS panel, weird!), poor battery life, spotty Bluetooth connectivity, GPS problems and I'm just scratching the surface here. 

 

What's your recommendation?

 

Never had an issue with mine (I had a quad dac version), you'll find horror stories for all phones.

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, Brooksie359 said:

I recall numbers saying that smartphone sales had been on decline so I do not agree. Also just because people are annoyed by it doesn't mean they won't buy it. This whole idea that nobody cares is quite baffling seeing as Samsung had done an entire marketing campaign showing how they still had a headphone jack and the reception of the marketing was rather positive. 

Smartphone sales aren't on the decline because there's no headphone jack.  They're on the decline because the market is heavily saturated and phones are now powerful enough that they age more gracefully, leading to longer replacement cycles.

 

Also, by what metric was Samsung's marketing reception "rather positive?" So positive that Samsung started leaving jacks out of its phones (including the Galaxy Note 10/10+) and will likely ship the Galaxy S11 lineup without them?  The ads were popular among Anything But Apple zealots; I suspect most everyone else just shrugged their shoulders.

[yolosnail]

11 hours ago, Man said:

This!

 

Around here, one can score an LG G6 or V20 in mint condition for just around $80, same for an old, beat-up iPhone 6. I'm not sure if they are reliable enough to be good daily drivers, however. 

 

 

Is the G6 any good and would you recommend it? Thinking about picking up a G6 (or maybe a V20, I dunno) because they are just so cheap for what they offer and I absolutely love the ultra-wide angle lens. Plus, the Snapdragon 821 is a bonus!

 

I'm just a bit reluctant, due to all those horror stories I've read on Reddit in all those years. Boot loops, system crashes, camera stuttering problems, faulty laser auto-focus, screen ghosting and burn-in (despite having an IPS panel, weird!), poor battery life, spotty Bluetooth connectivity, GPS problems and I'm just scratching the surface here. 

 

What's your recommendation?

I have a G6 and recently upgraded to a G7, the only reason I upgraded was because the battery wasn't lasting as long, otherwise I would have kept it as my main phone. It's now pulling second phone duty and working perfectly. The battery life when it was new was just as good as any other flagship, meaning it just about makes it through a day!

 

I prefer the wide angle camera on the G6 over the G7 as it's considerably wider.

 

Mine has an issue with image retention (not technically burn in as it goes after a while), and it's not really that bad, although it is quite noticeable

[Brooksie359]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

Smartphone sales aren't on the decline because there's no headphone jack.  They're on the decline because the market is heavily saturated and phones are now powerful enough that they age more gracefully, leading to longer replacement cycles.

 

Also, by what metric was Samsung's marketing reception "rather positive?" So positive that Samsung started leaving jacks out of its phones (including the Galaxy Note 10/10+) and will likely ship the Galaxy S11 lineup without them?  The ads were popular among Anything But Apple zealots; I suspect most everyone else just shrugged their shoulders.

You have no way of proving that it isn't due to the lack of headphone jacks on newer phones because I know more than a few who are not upgrading their phone for this very reason as they are not techy and normally buy iPhones but the new iPhones do not have headphone jacks. 

[Commodus]

29 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

You have no way of proving that it isn't due to the lack of headphone jacks on newer phones because I know more than a few who are not upgrading their phone for this very reason as they are not techy and normally buy iPhones but the new iPhones do not have headphone jacks. 

Well, I can trust the broad consensus of analysts at places like Gartner, IDC and Counterpoint, who are basing their conclusions on sales data (including from markets where phones with headphone jacks are still quite common)... or I can trust one internet forum poster with a handful of anecdotes.  I think I'll trust the analysts.  You know, facts.

[RonnieOP]

13 hours ago, dizmo said:

Why should they have to continue putting something in a device that the majority of people don't mind doing without, or are fine using adapters?

You don't appeal to the shrinking minority.

It's unfortunate you choose to use your device that way, for sure, but as charging gets better I doubt you'll even notice the 30 or so minutes it needs to charge.

Charge it while you shower? Or make breakfast? Or sit on the loo?
Lots of alternatives.

Whats the evidence that most people dont care about wired headphones?

 

If i had to guess id say people using wireless headphones are the minority.

 

And it takes nothing to include a headphone jack. Weve seen multiple times that its more then doable. 

 

I agree its another point of failure...but if your headphone jack fails your in the same position as if it never came with one. So theres no real risk.  If you rely on adaptors your also introducing another point of failure and another object to keep track of.

 

If phones are going to keep going up in price. What sense does it make to start taking away features?

[Blademaster91]

The headphone jack isn't the only reason, i'm sure new phones aren't exciting to plenty of people like most aren't going to need a faster cpu, 3 or 4 cameras, or an under display fingerprint reader, when an older flagship cpu, single camera and rear fingerprint reader works fine. And those who want to point to analytics, those are one point, though those analysts don't specifically know why phone sales are down. Many consumers stick to one brand, and will still buy their preferred brand even if features get removed.

I'm still using an S9, works fine for me, I'm quite interested in this LG not just for the headphone jack, but the flat display is also really nice because a screen protector doesn't fit well on a curved screen, and a curved display can be expensive to replace.

[Brooksie359]

4 hours ago, Commodus said:

Well, I can trust the broad consensus of analysts at places like Gartner, IDC and Counterpoint, who are basing their conclusions on sales data (including from markets where phones with headphone jacks are still quite common)... or I can trust one internet forum poster with a handful of anecdotes.  I think I'll trust the analysts.  You know, facts.

I talk about how sales have been on the decline to back up my statement that people are hesitant to upgrade because of lack of options with headphones jack and you say it's for a different reason with no proof and somehow I am the one not using facts? I think I will make up my own mind based on the data rather than regurgitate what some "analysts" says. I trust analysts as much as I trust WCCF tech tbh. 

[Commodus]

2 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

I talk about how sales have been on the decline to back up my statement that people are hesitant to upgrade because of lack of options with headphones jack and you say it's for a different reason with no proof and somehow I am the one not using facts? I think I will make up my own mind based on the data rather than regurgitate what some "analysts" says. I trust analysts as much as I trust WCCF tech tbh. 

But... that doesn't actually prove your case.  Not at all.

 

All you've shown is that sales are down.  You haven't shown any evidence as to why those sales are down besides anecdotes, and those don't prove there's a broader pattern at work.

 

Here's some basic proof for my case: phone sales are down across the board, including in countries like China where phones with headphone jacks are still commonplace.  In fact, most phones sold are low- and mid-range models that will almost always have headphone jacks -- the average selling price of an Android phone during 2019 is estimated by IDC to be $263.  Unless you somehow have data showing the declines revolve primarily around phones that don't have headphone jacks (and you don't have that data, as is quite obvious), the evidence points to market saturation as the cause.

 

And I have to laugh at the irony of your "make up my own mind based on the data" claim.  Who do you think collects that data?  Analysts.  Many phone vendors don't disclose their shipment numbers, so it's up to analysts to conduct supply chain and sales point checks to fill in the gaps.  And aside from the fact that you don't have enough data to make the conclusions you do, here's the thing: they're called experts because they have the knowledge needed to make a reasonably accurate interpretation of that data.  Remember how early astronomers would get a few things right, but wildly misinterpret data based on unfounded assumptions (like Copernicus believing the Sun was the centre of the universe)?  That's you.

[dizmo]

23 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

Whats the evidence that most people dont care about wired headphones?

 

If i had to guess id say people using wireless headphones are the minority.

 

And it takes nothing to include a headphone jack. Weve seen multiple times that its more then doable. 

 

I agree its another point of failure...but if your headphone jack fails your in the same position as if it never came with one. So theres no real risk.  If you rely on adaptors your also introducing another point of failure and another object to keep track of.

 

If phones are going to keep going up in price. What sense does it make to start taking away features?

You don't have to use wireless though. You just use the adapter in the box.

Yes, it's doable. Doable does not mean that it takes nothing. It takes quite a bit to fit that jack in there, and if you don't have to squeeze it in, you have more room for other stuff.

As to the point of failure and same position, I'll just refer you up to my post where I lay out why having 2 jacks is more costly than a single one.

Flagships have been going up, but in their place, midrangers are more than capable for what 90% of people need.

It's now more like PCs; you have entry, mid range, and very high end. Most people only need mid range, and enthusiasts and those better off will go for the high end.

[Blademaster91]

On 1/7/2020 at 9:14 PM, dizmo said:

...because the companies that make phones totally have a part in manufacturing SoCs, right? Oh wait. They're not Qualcomm. A majority of them also don't do their own battery tech, and the companies that do, are researching ways to increase battery capacity. It doesn't happen over night, and you don't dump all your resources into a single aspect of any device.

 

Or, you know. Just use the adapter included in the box There's lots of affordable wireless headphones out there as well. Doesn't sound good enough for you? Then you're probably someone who will pay the money for something better anyway.

 

You're missing the point. The fact is you're halving the possible points of failure.

More cameras give the phone greater ability. You retain all the ability the phone had before with a simple adapter if you remove the headphone jack. You can't add the features the camera modules give.

 

Right, it is. It also ads complexity to the device, a point of failure, both of which are remedied by simply using the adapter. It's pretty obvious why they'd rather steer you to the adapter.

 

What phone? It's likely either a much larger body, or the battery isn't that large.

Sure, because the OEM's aren't asking for a high performance overclocked SOC in a gaming phone, or an efficient one in a thinner device? More cameras is easy to market, most likely easier than more battery capacity.

But since you're insisting the headphone jack will break, no I'd rather use wired headphones than an adapter, because adapters can break, and so can the USB port. I'd much rather risk the headphone jack breaking than the USB port, that would still leave me with bluetooth.

The 3.5mm jack is really nothing to add, doesn't affect water resistance, because we used to have phones with removable batteries and those still had water resistance ratings. If it's down to cost then the OEM's are just getting greedy as adding a headphone jack is easy to do, and phones are cheap to build. There is no such thing as a "waterproof" phone, if you wanted a waterproof phone there would have to be no ports or holes for speakers or the mic. And yeah of course they want to push customers away from the headphone jack, no headphone jack makes it easier to sell them a $300 pair of wireless headphones a person otherwise wouldn't need because adapters get broken more often than a built in port.