LG launches the G7 - Resonance chamber, notch, 3000mAh battery

[D13H4RD]

So, here comes the LG G7

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Today, LG is making its latest flagship smartphone official and announcing the "LG G7 ThinQ." After getting to spend about a half-hour with the phone, my main takeaway is that it wasn't all that different from the LG G6, just with an iPhone X-style notched display and a few internal upgrades.

First let's get the goofy name out of the way. The "ThinQ" brand debuted in LG's appliance lineup (it's pronounced "Thin Q") in December, where it denoted which appliances were smart appliances. So why is LG's latest smartphone named after a dishwasher? Because, like every smartphone launching this year, the G7 contains some nebulous "AI" features—everything has to have AI now. On the G7, "AI" means it has 18 different automatic camera modes, which are chosen via computer vision. It can detect things like "Food," "Beverage," or "Animal." After taking a picture, the G7 can also automatically suggest a photo filter for you.

Right off the bat, the G7 spec sheet is a big improvement over the G6, since it launches with the latest Qualcomm SoC, the Snapdragon 845. The LG G6 shipped with a year-old SoC last year, immediately putting it behind most of its 2017 competition. The G7 has a 3000mAh battery, and its dual rear-camera setup has a 16MP main camera and second 16MP wide-angle lens. The US version has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage (with an SD card slot if you want more), but LG's hometown of Korea gets an upgraded model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The demo units were running Android 8.0.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/05/lg-g7-thinq-hands-on-an-lg-g6-with-an-iphone-x-style-notched-display/

 

Some headline features? A resonance chamber sound system 

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Let's talk sound next. LG says that the G7's single downward-facing speaker is nearly twice as loud as the average smartphone speaker, and in a meeting with Android Central at the company's headquarters in Seoul, engineers walked me through exactly how that is achieved.

First, the actual speaker is 40% larger than the one in the G6, but the G7 uses the phone's metal enclosure as a resonance chamber, bouncing the waves of sound around a space 17 times larger than in last year's flagship. Finally, the amplifier is the most powerful LG's ever put in a phone, resulting in top-volume output that rivals some Bluetooth speakers, the company says.

https://www.androidcentral.com/lg-g7-preview

 

That seems to have come at the cost of battery size though, which is 3000mAh.

 

Oh yeah, it has a notch too, which LG calls “New Second Screen”. Yeah, I don’t know why either.

It also packs dual 1/3.1” Sony IMX351 16MP sensors, with one housed behind an optically stabilized standard lens and another behind a non-optically stabilized lens with a narrower focal length. The front camera’s resolution got a bump to 8MP too.

 

No price and availability info yet, however...

 

Personally, I’m underwhelmed. I thought LG had a chance to show what they could do, and what I’m left with is a phone that’s more “me-too”. The resonance chamber is cool though, but I’m not sure if I want to sacrifice my battery for that. But the real question is when is this phone going to hit store shelves and how much? Because if LG does a repeat of the V30, this phone is going to be yet again another underdog

 

 

[UltimaHeart]

On 5/2/2018 at 9:51 AM, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

So, here comes the LG G7

My friend who lives in Europe (He lives in Switzerland) texted me that he needs a new phone to replace his HTC 10. He told me wants something that has Great Battery Life, Great Internet & Networking & Good Design. Should he get this?

[bellabichon]

Looks pretty nice! I'll never choose a phone with a notch, because it annoys the hell out of me, but other than that, quite a competitive offering from LG for quite a reasonable price. Good job LG!

[D13H4RD]

4 minutes ago, UltimaHeart said:

My friend who lives in Europe (He lives in Switzerland) texted me that he needs a new phone to replace his HTC 10. He told me wants something that has Great Battery Life, Great Internet & Networking & Good Design. Should he get this?

Probably not

 

I don’t know how this phone will fare since it has a smaller battery than I would have expected.

[D13H4RD]

4 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

Looks pretty nice! I'll never choose a phone with a notch, because it annoys the hell out of me, but other than that, quite a competitive offering from LG for quite a reasonable price. Good job LG!

Uh, price? There isn’t one 

[UltimaHeart]

Just now, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Probably not

 

I don’t know how this phone will fare since it has a smaller battery than I would have expected.

ah got it. So would he be better off with the V30S thinq?

[D13H4RD]

Just now, UltimaHeart said:

ah got it. So would he be better off with the V30S thinq?

Perhaps. It’s probably cheaper as well

[WMGroomAK]

I was thinking that I needed to upgrade from my S6 this year, but so far the options I'm seeing are a bit underwhelming...  This might have been a good option if they didn't include the notch and gave it a bit of a bigger battery.  Maybe I'll see if I can wait to see what the next Note looks like.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Considering how tiny the speaker, front camera, and sensors are on the front, couldn't they've shaved like 2mm off the top of the screen and avoided the notch altogether?

 

EDIT: Also don't like the shiny side band. Brushed metal looks better.

[bcredeur97]

oooh boy G6's are about to get cheeeeeep

[RotoCoreOne]

Just now, bcredeur97 said:

oooh boy G6's are about to get cheeeeeep

I thought they've been cheap. Probably cheaper v30s now.

[bcredeur97]

1 minute ago, RotoCoreOne said:

I thought they've been cheap. Probably cheaper v30s now.

but even cheaper now that next gen is out

[D13H4RD]

5 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Considering how tiny the speaker, front camera, and sensors are on the front, couldn't they've shaved like 2mm off the top of the screen and avoided the notch altogether?

 

EDIT: Also don't like the shiny side band. Brushed metal looks better.

Probably, but they wanted that tiny bit of extra screen:body ratio. 

 

I have 2 questions for LG

 

1) When can people buy it and at how much? 

 

2) Was the other G7 really canceled?? 

[DocSwag]

This year more than any other time I think LG needs to get the little things right. I heard good stuff about the vibration motor in the v30 ThinQ, if they got it right here that's a plus. The speakers sound really cool. The display sounds neat, and if they have good contrast then that would be another large plus. It'd be awesome if the camera is good enough to compete with the very best. And the 2 year warranty is really nice to see, especially considering the QC reputation that LG has.

 

If they get the little things right I could see this being a better recommendation than the S9, especially seeing as how underwhelming it's turned out. I like some of the stuff LG is doing but every single time they seem to have some sort of issue, often QC issues, that just bring the whole thing down...

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, DocSwag said:

If they get the little things right I could see this being a better recommendation than the S9, especially seeing as how underwhelming it's turned out. I like some of the stuff LG is doing but every single time they seem to have some sort of issue, often QC issues, that just bring the whole thing down...

The one thing that can already bring this phone down is a crappy launch. 

 

The phone is DOA if it fails to reach stores before the influx of new phones 

[DocSwag]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

The one thing that can already bring this phone down is a crappy launch. 

 

The phone is DOA if it fails to reach stores before the influx of new phones 

I think that's a sort of problem that will unfortunately hit this phone even if it's good. HTC 10 for example. Great phone, I would put it at as high a level as the S7. However, I see S7s all the time but have never seen an HTC 10 in the wild. 

 

There's a huge problem where no one seems to buy flagship phones besides iPhones and Galaxys. The only flagship phone I've seen out there at ALL that wasn't a Samsung or Apple phone was the Pixel lineup, which seems to have a HUGE marketing budget based on the multitude of ads for it I've seen. 

 

It's an unfortunate issue that I honestly can't see going away any time soon. Without a huge marketing budget like that which Google is giving Pixel I don't think any smartphone maker will be able to get good market penetration on future products, no matter how good...

[Trixanity]

Tiny battery for its size but I assume the whole resonance chamber thing requires some space. I doubt the trade-off is worth it for most people though.

One has to wonder if all the extras will be regional again? Wireless charging and quad DAC could end up being removed outside of South Korea.

Then there's LG's shoddy software, software support and QA problems. The display could either be very good or very bad. LG usually makes good LCD panels but this time it's RGBW and no details to how the arrangement works and then there's calibration and color management. There are a lot of promises but no good track record to back it.

 

LG needs to work very hard to reclaim consumer trust. I doubt this will be the device to win consumers over.

 

[Bouzoo]

Wait, no OLED screen? That is weird. Also how good is the QDAC compared to V30s?

And this is also weird because LG was apparently supposed to rebrand the G series into something different.

[BuckGup]

Looks like an iPhone X.... Funny how every phone suddenly has a notch now

[laminutederire]

7 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

Looks like an iPhone X.... Funny how every phone suddenly has a notch now

Except Samsung but Apple will sue them anyway

 

[laminutederire]

1 hour ago, DocSwag said:

I think that's a sort of problem that will unfortunately hit this phone even if it's good. HTC 10 for example. Great phone, I would put it at as high a level as the S7. However, I see S7s all the time but have never seen an HTC 10 in the wild. 

 

There's a huge problem where no one seems to buy flagship phones besides iPhones and Galaxys. The only flagship phone I've seen out there at ALL that wasn't a Samsung or Apple phone was the Pixel lineup, which seems to have a HUGE marketing budget based on the multitude of ads for it I've seen. 

 

It's an unfortunate issue that I honestly can't see going away any time soon. Without a huge marketing budget like that which Google is giving Pixel I don't think any smartphone maker will be able to get good market penetration on future products, no matter how good...

I think it depends on regions as well. In China you see a lot of flagships from Huawei or Xiaomi more the iPhone's. In the US the pixel is certainly more popular. In Europe it's mostly Samsung vs Apple though.

[suicidalfranco]

notch

glass back

small battery

lcd

 

yeah i'm done with LG

[Levent]

I cant wait for google to buy off lg's mobile department

[suicidalfranco]

1 minute ago, Levent said:

I cant wait for google to buy off lg's mobile department

and make it even worst in the process 

[Curufinwe_wins]

looks like LG can't keep up making their own designs. Gotta go apple on the front and samsung on the back.

 

Side note... no oled in 2018 is a major sadface. Also, I'll believe the sound signature when I hear it. Louder isn't better. Better is better.