LG G7 ThinQ review: Plans, pricing and specs

Where to buy

LG's G series phones have long represented its flagship ambitions, but in 2018, the South Korean manufacturer took a bit of a pause in its ambitions. Instead of launching the LG G7 ThinQ at Mobile World Congress, it instead unveiled the ThinQ version of the LG V30. It took its time to release its true 2018 flagship, but while the results are undeniably premium, they're not as exciting or revolutionary as we might have hoped for.

Design

• Includes a "notch" for the front camera.
• Headphone jack is still thankfully present.

• Read more on the LG G7 ThinQ design

  That impression is likely to hit you the moment you first put eyes on the LG G7 ThinQ in the flesh. Like so many of 2018's flagship phones, it opts for a "notch" design to house its front camera array in front of a 6.1-inch, 3,120 x 1,440 LCD display.

  The essential design of the LG G7 ThinQ is fine and perfectly functional, but aside from a few colour choices, there's little to make it stand out in any noticeable way. Indeed, it can't help but feel a little bland when compared to other premium flagship phones. Not everyone wants an ostentatious phone, but it's almost as though LG wants the G7 ThinQ to simply blend in to the background.

  Like the LG V30, it is a noticeably light handset at just 162 grams, which does make it pleasant to hold in the hand. There's a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor with just the lightest ring around it to guide your finger towards it. Thankfully, there's enough of a gap between it and the dual-lens camera so you shouldn't have too many issues with smudging. The right-hand side of the LG G7 ThinQ houses the power button, while the left is where you'll find volume controls above a dedicated Google Assistant button. Like Samsung's Bixby button, you can't remap this for other functions, but it is possible to simply disable it if it's not to your taste.

  We're seeing an increasing number of premium handsets drop physical headphone jacks, but this is a temptation that LG has resisted for now if that's important to you.

Camera

• Wide angle lens makes it a good choice for landscape choices.
• AI mode helps improve photo scenes, but overall performance doesn't exceed other models.

• Read more on the LG G7 ThinQ camera

  LG is well aware that it's in the camera space where so many phones try to stand out and it has equipped the LG G7 ThinQ with an interesting camera array, although it's not one that always delivers quite the results you might be looking for.

  At a base specification level, you'll find dual 16MP (f/1.6 and f/1.9 wide) lenses. As it has done with previous handsets, LG doesn't offer a secondary telephoto lens, but instead offers a wide-angle one. That's an interesting choice for a smartphone and it makes for a broader range of possibilities if landscape photography is your passion.

  The LG G7 ThinQ carries LG's ThinQ branding and this isn't just a case of it being for branding's sake. LG's camera app has a dedicated AI Mode that, like on the Huawei P20 Pro or Mate 10 Pro, provides observational analysis about what it's looking at and applies photographic settings appropriate to the scene for best results.

  LG's approach is to make its AI deductions quite explicit, with every aspect floating up momentarily onscreen so you can literally see what it's thinking. It's a cute gimmick that also extends to tagging based on those observations. Photo quality in AI mode was decent for the most part, with reasonably intelligent selections for those who don't want to go down the full manual route.

  LG's other party piece for the LG G7 is what it calls Super Bright Mode, which can be toggled on (or set to automatically kick in) when there are few light sources. Super Bright Mode works by radically dropping the resolution and grouping pixel sites together to eke out a significant uptick in overall image brightness.

  Taken by itself, the results can be quite remarkable. As a stress test, here's a picture of my local park taken late at night in standard shooting mode with the LG G7 ThinQ resting on a fence post to reduce jitter:

  

  Not much to look at, right? Here's the same shot with Super Bright Mode enabled:

  

  However, there's an issue here because the LG G7 ThinQ doesn't exist in a vacuum. We've seen numerous cameras on smartphones this year boast of their low-light capabilities. So by way of comparison, here's what the Samsung Galaxy S9+ made of that exact same scene at that exact same time:

  

  The LG G7 ThinQ's camera performance is fine for what it is, but it does struggle to stand out, excluding that wide-angle lens. Here are some sample shots taken with the LG G7 ThinQ, letting the camera pick the settings in each case:

  LG G7 ThinQ Sample Photos

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Performance

• Snapdragon 845 impresses with great app performance.
• Good audio for both headphones and as its own speaker.

• Read more on the LG G7 ThinQ performance

  In straight benchmark comparison terms, the Snapdragon 845 at the heart of the LG G7 ThinQ performs near-identically to similar phones in its class:

  It's much the same story for 3D performance. The LG G7 ThinQ is a very solid performer, but then again so are all of its primary Android competitors:

  LG's overlay for Android 8.0 on the LG G7 ThinQ remains very bright and colourful if you like the style. The LCD display that LG uses offers a boosted mode that enhances brightness to 1000 nits, but it's not enabled by default. You've got to manually toggle it on and it does make a notable difference to the visual-display clarity of the screen – at the potential cost of quite a bit of battery life.

  Where LG has done solid work is in the audio space. The LG G7 ThinQ features a quad audio DAC and if you've got a good set of wired headphones to use with it, it can deliver very good audio throughput. It'll also handle DTS:X 3D surround sound for watching video that supports the format, although that wasn't able to be tested just yet.

  LG also includes far-field microphones on the LG G7 ThinQ that work in the same way that the technology does for smart home speakers such as Google Home, Amazon Echo or Apple HomePod. If you've enabled Google Assistant (and why wouldn't you?), you can give the LG G7 ThinQ commands from across the room and have very good odds of being picked up, even in noisy environments. This works well, although it does feel like a bit of a niche play. How often do you really not have your phone in your pocket or on you anyway?

  LG's also touting the use of a reverberation chamber just above the lower mono speaker on the LG G7 ThinQ as a new way to listen to music using only the smartphone itself. The idea is that you place the LG G7 onto a solid surface and let it fill the room with music. It's certainly capable of being loud, if that's all that you're after, but it's also notably not a stereo speaker either. We've seen plenty of great speaker audio out of phones such as the HTC U12+ or Sony Xperia XZ2 and the LG G7 is right up there with them.

Battery life

• Lighter design means less battery space.
• Supports fast charging, which you'll probably need.

• Read more on the LG G7 ThinQ battery life

  That reverberation chamber for the speaker on the LG G7 ThinQ does come at a price and it's one paid in battery capacity. Hollowing out the back of the phone was always going to cramp its battery cavity somewhat.

  We're seeing more premium handsets with capacities of 3,5000mAh or more these days, but the LG G7 ThinQ only has a 3,000mAh power pack. Combine that with an LCD display and my hopes for exceptional battery life weren't high.

  Indeed, that's not really what you get with the LG G7 ThinQ, where the battery life tends towards the very ordinary. Here's how it compared against a range of premium handsets using Geekbench 4's tough battery test to full exhaustion with screen dimming enabled:

  Geekbench 4's test is linear and you don't tend to use a phone quite that way, but it's also worth considering that this test was with the screen in regular brightness mode, not its enhanced 1000 nit mode. If you want the screen to look its best, expect even less battery life.

  In more anecdotal testing, I'd be willing to say that you should get a day's usage out of the LG G7 ThinQ, but probably only just. Thankfully, it does support both Qualcomm's Fast Charge capability as well as Qi-based wireless charging to keep it topped up. Chances are, you're going to need that sooner rather than later.

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Verdict

• It's LG's best phone, but the rest of the premium pack is just that little bit better.
• LG's moving in the right direction, but it needs its flagship phone to stand out more.

• Read our full LG G7 ThinQ verdict

  While there's something of a uniformity in 2018 smartphones, all converging around the same kinds of screen sizes, processors and feature sets, most premium manufacturers have figured out that they still need points of differentiation.

  LG is no different in this regard, but it's hard to look at the LG G7 ThinQ and get notably excited about its exclusive features. The design is rather plain, albeit workable. The processor is just as powerful as everyone else's, but it's no better either. The wide-angle camera is great if you're a landscape photographer, but the AI features often mistake items, leaving you wondering if you've had the wrong settings applied by accident. Likewise, while it's cool to see the LG G7 ThinQ's camera burst into life in low light, there are other smartphones available that manage this so much better.

  If you're upgrading from, say, an LG G5 or even maybe a G6, the LG G7 ThinQ is rather the obvious choice to make if you want to stay within the brand. However, if you're not specifically tied to LG, it's absolutely worth shopping around to see what you can get for the same money.

  

  Buy the LG G7 ThinQ from Amazon

  With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, dual wide angle lenses and AI to make your photos pop, the LG G7 ThinQ is LG's greatest smartphone yet.

  View details

  Alternatives

  At that $1,099 price point, you've got a whole lot of choice. It won't quite buy you a Samsung Galaxy S9+, iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X, but there are a lot of phones that match that price exactly.

  In camera terms, consider the Huawei P20 Pro and its exceptional triple camera system. If you don't like Huawei's take on Android or want expandable storage, the HTC U12+ is an excellent option.

  Sony's Xperia XZ2 will also set you back that same sum and it's a nice phone, albeit one that like the G7 ThinQ doesn't stand out hugely beyond a very slippery design. More nicely designed (but otherwise a little bland) is the Nokia 8 Sirocco handset. You could always opt for the Samsung Galaxy S9 or stretch up your price a little for the Galaxy S9+.

  If you're after a good single-lens camera experience with slick performance, Google's Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL are still well worth comparing as well.

  

  What the other reviewers say

  Site	Comment	Score
  The Verge	"A big price for small improvements."	N/A
  TechRadar	"A reasonable, not revolutionary, smartphone upgrade."	3.5/5
  Android Authority	"Bright, loud and smart."	8.7/10
  Engadget	"A worthy S9 rival with a notch."	86/100
  PC Mag	"The G7 ThinQ hits the latest phone trends and includes signature LG features like a wide-angle camera and audiophile-quality sound."	4/5

Pricing and availability

• Price: ~$500
• Where to buy: Amazon | eBay | Catch

Specifications

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