LG G7 ThinQ review: Bets on AI, but there’s no bite

LG is exasperated. At present splashed throughout its web page for the G7 ThinQ in daring purple letter reads, “WHAT’S IT GONNA TAKE?” Although the sentence ends there, you could possibly guess that the second a part of the query continues as, “FOR YOU TO BUY OUR PHONE OVER SAMSUNG?!”

It is a truthful query. Time and time once more, LG has made typically wonderful premium telephones which can be barely cheaper than the concurrent Samsung flagship. And but, LG nonetheless experiences stagnant sales which can be far behind that of Apple and Samsung. Even worse is that individuals are buying fewer phones usually.

And so it goes once more. The G7 ThinQ (pronounced “thin-kew”) carries over quite a lot of issues I favored from final yr’s flagship: water resistance, a headphone jack, a pointy display screen and a succesful dual-camera.

However final yr, LG was digging itself out of the flub that was the modular G5, so the bar wasn’t set that prime. This time round, maybe as a result of relative excellent-ness of the G6, the G7 seems like extra of the identical. And its new options (like an iPhone X-style notch that you may camouflage, a rough-around-the-edges AI digicam and a Google Assistant button) aren’t sufficient to wow in 2018.

As well as, at $750 to $790 (costs range by provider), the G7 is pricier than previous LG flagships — about $80 to $150 extra relying on the provider. (UK and Australia pricing hasn’t formally been introduced, however that converts to about  £559 to £589 and AU$978 to AU$1,zero30, respectively.) Which may be as a result of the G7 begins out with extra inner reminiscence than earlier LGs. However that value vary now places the cellphone nearer to Galaxy S9 territory, slashing one in all LG’s most notable benefits: cost-savings.

For $50 extra, the Galaxy S9 serves up an extended battery life, a implausible digicam and a sleeker design. If each are out of your finances, the OnePlus 6 delivers a lot of the identical specs (besides water resistance and wi-fi charging) for $200 much less. I additionally heartily suggest the $650 Pixel 2. Although it got here out final yr and the Pixel 3 is anticipated this fall, Google’s cellphone nonetheless has top-of-the-line cameras available on the market.

Editors’ notice: This evaluation was initially revealed on Could 7, 2018 and has been up to date with last scores.

The G7’s optional-ish notch

Although first launched on Android telephones, the controversial screen notch — which seems to be like a black cutout tab on high of the display screen — was popularized by the iPhone X. And whereas its general existence stays some extent of rivalry (i.e. it offers you extra display screen actual property versus it is a distracting and pointless aesthetic selection), extra Android telephones are adopting it, together with the G7. It is also built into Google’s latest OS update, Android P.

Learn: Why Google makes Android phone notches now  

I’ve gotten used to utilizing a cellphone with a notch, so I will not debate its deserves right here. I’ll say, although, that the G7’s notch is non-compulsory — form of. Just like the Huawei P20, for those who do not prefer it, you may go into the settings to blacken the perimeters that flank the tab to have a traditional-looking alert bar. There are different colours too, like grey or swirly rainbow, however truthfully, something that is not black seems to be fairly ugly.

The rationale I say “form of” nonetheless, is that these overlays don’t remain “on” fully. Whereas the alert bar stays black on sure issues like the house display screen, the settings menu or once you launch the Gallery app, it switches off once you launch different issues. Meaning once you’re taking a look at textual content messages, Calendar, Maps or different apps, the notch is again on and visual. Why LG simply will not enable the black bars to stay persistently on or off is a thriller.

A vibrant display screen and ho-hum seems to be

As for the remainder of the display screen, LG boasts that the G7’s LCD show is tremendous vibrant (1,00zero nits) and simple to view in out of doors daylight. Once I in contrast it to the iPhone X and the Galaxy S9, the white on the G7 was certainly the purest and brightest. Its excessive decision (three,120×1,440 pixels) additionally makes it sharp and clear.

However blues, reds and greens regarded extra vibrant and saturated on the Galaxy S9 than on the G7. As well as, the G7’s blacks couldn’t compete with the OLED screens of the opposite two, and its display screen regarded extra darkish grey than the Galaxy and the iPhone when displaying a black swatch. Lastly, though shade shifting is not an enormous deal on telephones, shade tones modified extra on the G7 as you considered it from totally different angles.

General, the G7 is tall and slim, with skinny bezels (save for the underside) and a shiny design. It would not have any explicit wow issue (just like the Galaxy S9’s curved display screen) or some other factor that simply units it aside (just like the Pixel 2’s glass shade). However then once more, that is like most telephones. And whereas the G7’s again attracts fingerprints like a magnet, it additionally feels much less fragile than the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X. I might nonetheless watch out, since the back and front are manufactured from glass, however at the very least I am not a nervous wreck whereas utilizing it with one hand.

Different design tidbits:

• The cellphone is rated IP68, which means you may dunk it in 1 meter (about three ft) of water for 30 minutes. It stored working after our dunk take a look at, when the cellphone was submerged for 28 minutes in a 5-gallon bucket of water.
• There is a headphone jack. No want to hold round a dongle or toss out your wired headphones.
• Not like previous LG G telephones, the G7’s fingerprint sensor on the again would not double as a sleep/energy button. That button is now on the fitting edge and the fingerprint reader is now only a plain ol’ reader.
• The G7 is on the market in 4 colours: grey, black, blue and a darkish magenta pink just like the V30 in raspberry rose. Not each shade will promote in each nation.

LG G7’s Google Assistant button takes on Samsung

Like squeezing the perimeters of the Pixel 2 and a couple of XL, the G7 has a hotkey beneath the amount rocker that launches Google Assistant. LG claims this protects you the difficulty of getting to say the “OK, Google” voice command. (It is humorous how these corporations posit “tapping a button” versus saying a command as equal inconveniences in opposition to one other.)

Lengthy-press the button and you’ll run a picture search with the cellphone’s digicam and Google Lens, which makes use of AR and Google’s huge search database to determine objects and supply info, like with books and albums. You may’t reprogram the button, which is a drag, and these are the one two actions you are able to do for now.

LG and Google labored collectively to make the G7 the primary cellphone with a devoted Assistant button. However I’m wondering how a lot of a bonus that is, since I bet the G7 won’t be the last. The G6, for instance, was the primary non-Google cellphone to have Assistant built-in, till different telephones rapidly acquired it with a software program replace. And regardless of LG and Google being shut companions, I think about Google will nonetheless save its finest software program goodies for its upcoming Pixel three telephones.

But when AI is what the G7 goes for, Assistant is a protected selection. It may possibly perform some G7-specific actions like taking a photograph with the wide-angle digicam or launching the digicam on AI mode (although typically that is gradual). And I desire LG’s path to roping customers into some new, half-baked proprietary platform like Samsung’s Bixby, which is accessible on Galaxy telephones by means of a hotkey too. Learn extra on how the LG G7’s Google Assistant key differs from Samsung’s Bixby.