LG's latest flagship phone tries to lure Apple, Samsung buyers with a smart camera
When it comes to peddling the LG Electronics G7 ThinQ smartphone that goes on sale in the coming weeks, the South Korean tech giant has been asking a question internally: “What’s it going to take to get consumers to choose LG?”
The ability for LG and other phone makers to make major inroads into Apple and Samsung territory will likely hinge on them taking the kind of bold risks that few have exhibited so far.
That's not meant to be an indictment of the G7 ThinQ, which on first impression is a very nice and solid—if not particularly inspiring—handset.
But this latest flagship comes across as another me-too device, a good phone likely to get thrown into the mix with all the other iPhone and Galaxy look-a-likes.
Specs-wise, the G7 ThinQ (pronounced “thin-cue”) has a bright, 6.1-inch QHD display, powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and the kind of table-stakes features you’ve come to expect on a phone in this class, from wireless charging to water and dust resistance.
There’s no pricing yet, with the carriers accepting pre-orders later in the month, though I'm guessing it comes in around $700 or so, possibly less.
I’m pleased LG is holding onto what is becoming an endangered species on high-end phones, a standard headphone jack.
You can’t help but notice the notch design at the top of the display, similar to the notch on the iPhone X (beneath it is the camera, sensors, etc.)
I was critical of Apple’s notch when I first saw it on the iPhone X but have gotten used to it since. At least, on LG’s phone, you have the choice of concealing the notch and instead displaying a horizontal black notification bar with indicators for Wi-Fi, battery percentage and so on. Too bad LG left a bezel at the bottom edge of the screen. That's wasted real estate.
There are a few key features worth noting: One is a dedicated Google Assistant key on the side of the phone. Another? A highly sensitive microphone and “super far-field” voice recognition technology which, LG says, lets you issue vocal commands from as far as 17-feet away, not that I envision the phone subbing for a smart speaker such as Amazon’s Echo.
While listening at a distance, you can take advantage of a “boom box” speaker that blasts at high volume. It was loud but I didn’t think it sounded all that swell during a brief demo. I’m willing to try it on my own.
The most promising features involve the cameras (8-megapixel front; dual 16MP shooters rear). By applying artificial intelligence, the camera can automatically recognize what it is you are shooting (person, pet, flower, beach, building etc.) and optimize the settings accordingly so you can get a better picture. I plan to shoot a bunch of pictures to see how well it does.
Email: ebaig@usatoday.comFollow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter
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