Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
Even though the name states otherwise, the G8 ThinQ is actually a minor hardware refresh of last year's LG G7 ThinQ. Sure, it has the brand new Snapdragon 855 behind the wheel and a couple of neat (kind of) software and hardware features. But are they enough to battle the newly released Galaxy S10 trio or even the Huawei P30-series? After all, both Huawei and Samsung introduced not one but at least a couple of cutting-edge features on their latest flagships.
As it turns out, LG's list of cutting edge features is not among the short ones either. Aside from the Snapdragon 855, the G8's key selling points are the Crystal Sound OLED (piezoelectric) screen, the 3D ToF sensor on the front capable of advanced facial and palm recognition and the so-called Air Motion gestures.
Strangely enough, we think that those features won't be the main driving factor of a future G8 ThinQ buyer. No, in fact, it's the size and the ergonomics of the handset will attract some customers. Although the 6.1" screen diagonal isn't exactly "compact", with competing phones easily touting 6.4-inch or 6.5-inch screen diagonals, this one stands out as a compact proposition. Depending on the pricing, the G8 ThinQ might be a decent alternative to the vanilla Samsung Galaxy S10.
LG G8 ThinQ specs
- Body: 151.9 x 71.8 x 8.4 mm, 167 grams, metal side frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and Gorilla Glass 6 on the back; IP68 dust/water proof and MIL-STD-810G compliant.
- Screen: 6.1" OLED, 1440 x 3120px resolution; 19.5:9 aspect ratio; ~564 ppi; 100% DCI-P3, Dolby Vision. HDR10.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SDM855 Snapdragon 855 (7 nm): Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.79 GHz Kryo 485), Adreno 640 GPU.
- Memory: 6GB RAM, 128GB built-in storage, microSD slot support.
- OS: LG UX based on Android 9.0 Pie.
- Rear camera: Main: 12 MP, f/1.6, 27mm (standard), 1/2.6", 1.4µm, OIS, Dual Pixel PDAF Ultra-wide: 16 MP, f/1.8, 16mm, 1/3.1", 1.0µm, no AF; LED flash; 1080p@30/60/, 4K@30/60fps, 720p@240fps, HDR10 recording.
- Front camera: 8 MP, f/1.7, 26mm (wide), 1/3.6", 1.22µm, AF; 1080p@30fps video recording + 3D ToF camera.
- Battery: 3,500mAh, Quick Charge 3.0 18W.
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A, 4-Band carrier aggregation, Cat.16/13 (1Gbps/150Mbps); USB-C 3.1; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0.
- Misc: Piezoelectric screen (Crystal Sound OLED), wireless charging, Hi-Fi Quad DAC via 3.5mm headphone jack, Hand ID, Face Unlock and rear-mounted fingerprint reader.
Unboxing the LG G8 ThinQ
We received the unit in its original packaging containing the usual user manuals, a handy cleaning cloth, and the SIM ejector tool. Surprisingly, there are no earphones included in the package.
Of course, the charger is in there and it supports 9V/1.8A (16W) output or in other words Quick Charge 3.0. It comes with a detachable standard USB-A to USB-C data and charging cable.
Design, build and 360-degree view
The design hasn't changed much over the last year since the G7 ThinQ, and that's a good thing, to some extent. The device feels solid in hand, despite packing glass panels on both the front and back. The aluminum side frame meets both glass sheets seamlessly.
The curved back and the slightly curved front panel make for a comfortable grip. The 6.1-inch screen diagonal suddenly doesn't feel as big and we can even go as far as saying that size-wise, we find it pretty convenient for single-handed use. Reaching the other side of the screen with your thumb is pretty easy.
While we are on the front, we do have to mention that the bezels aren't all that impressive. The top and side bezels fall on the thick side while the chin at the bottom is just a tad smaller than last year's G7. The curved edges, however, make the side bezels look a lot thinner than they actually are. The notch is also a little too big for 2019 but we can let that one slide given that there's some additional 3D-sensing tech and not just a standard selfie camera.
While the rivals have moved over to Gorilla Glass 6 even the models released in 2018, the G8 ThinQ retains the Gorilla Glass 5 coating on the front and goes for the GG6 on the back. However, the general user won't feel much of a difference, and if you drop it, it will break, so some extra protection for the butterfingers is probably a good idea. After all, this is a glass sandwich phone and it is slippery.
Traditionally, LG has something the other rivals don't - its G8 complies to the military-grade MIL-STD-810G standard for "Transit Drop' on top of the usual IP68 dust and water resistance.
Our research into this told us that this test was primarily designed for drop testing materiel in certain operational instances such as when transporting the device or when handling it for transportation. It is carried out by dropping it from 4 feet (121cm) onto 5cm-thick plywood over concrete. The device is dropped on each of its six faces, 12 edges, and eight corners, for a total of 26 drops. It's then visually inspected for damage and it's determined whether it still works after each drop.
However, depending on the manufacturer's preference, the 26 drops can be divided among five identical units of a particular device.
So overall, the extent of the increased drop resistance of LG phones is a moot point because compliance is not the same as certification and since there is no independent MIL-STD-810G certification body, we really can't be sure of the exact test parameters for LG phones and the test outcomes just based on the compliance claims alone.
LG G7 and G8 side by side
Durability aside, looks are an important part of the appeal of a smartphone and our G8 unit arrived in the mesmerizing Carmine Red color, which is just as stunning as the Moroccan Blue. We can give that to LG - the gradient colors on the flagship G-series are flashy but elegant at the same time.
LG G7 and G8 side by side
And just like the G7 ThinQ, the G8 also has a slightly curved edges to the sides that help with the grip and instead of going for the vertically-stacked camera module, the new flagship adopts the horizontal alignment. More importantly, though, the camera module now lies flush with the panel. There's no bump at all, just a small indentation around the LED flash.
And if you are wondering why LG didn't do it in the first place with the G7, it's because the G8 is slightly thicker - 8.4 vs 7.9mm. After all, the G8 houses a bigger battery as well so here's where the extra girth come from.
The fingerprint reader is once again placed in the right place - it's easily reachable. It's also pretty responsive, accurate and we didn't find it problematic in any way. The unlock animation is the only thing that slows it down.
The button placement is exactly the same as on the previous generation - there's a power button on the right - a well-placed one - the volume buttons on the left and the dedicated Google Assistant key. There's no wobble to either of the buttons and they are all nice and clicky.
The top is where the noise-canceling microphone lies while the bottom is populated by the main microphone, the 3.5mm audio jack, the USB-C connector, and the speaker grille. There is no full-fledged speaker behind the grill but only as an echo chamber. The SIM card/microSD card tray has moved, however, from the top to the right side.
Although there's nothing special about the G8 ThinQ's design, it's pretty functional comfortable, and it should be one of the key selling points. It rests well in your hand - it's one of the easiest phones to manage with one hand. We also didn't find any annoying protruding or sharp edges.
Surely, LG could have done a better job with the bezels and the notch but those shouldn't be a deal-breaker in this department anyway.
Here's a good all-around look at the device.
Bright, slightly curved QHD+ OLED display
With the new G8 ThinQ, LG finally made the transition to OLED so you can benefit from a true always-on display function and those sweet deep blacks when watching videos or switching on the dark mode in some apps. The G8 ThinQ doesn't compromise with resolution as well - the display offers a generous 1440 x 3120 px resolution (~564 ppi). All those pixels can be put to work achieving 100% DCI-P3 coverage and HDR10 support as long as you have access to HDR-enabled content.
However, despite all the pros that OLEDs have over IPS, there's one setback that plagues this panel - no matter what color mode you choose, the whites are blue. The overall color accuracy is pretty bad too so you might want to fine tune it with the custom color mode or use the True view feature that adjusts the color temperature of the display to match the surrounding lighting. It works pretty well in restoring the whites. For the record, we measured an average dE2000=7.6. Pretty much every color was way off.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0 | 391 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 655 | ∞ | |
| 0.225 | 460 | 2044 | |
| 0.499 | 920 | 1844 | |
| 0.002 | 323 | 161500 | |
| 0.008 | 638 | 79750 | |
| 0.425 | 700 | 1647 | |
| 0 | 428 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 620 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 396 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 820 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 531 | ∞ | |
Another thing we've noticed is that believe it or not, the new OLED panel isn't as bright as the older IPS RGBW pentile matrix. The latter reached a peak brightness of whopping 920 nits in Max Auto mode while this one here peaked at 655 cd/m2, which isn't bad by any means but we can't shake off the feeling that it's a step back. In manual mode with the the slider cranked up to maximum, the display reached a maximum of 391 nits.
Battery life
The new G8 ThinQ bumps up the battery from 3,000 mAh, on last year's G7 ThinQ, to 3,500 mAh but in the end, the battery life difference between the two isn't that big. The G8 ThinQ scored slightly better in the video playback test but worse in the web browsing scenario and it's because of the OLED panel. The 3G talk and the standby scores were pretty good and they accounted for the 79h endurance rating. All in all, the battery life isn't great but it's definitely dependable.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the LG G8 ThinQ for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Fast charging isn't impressive either. We got just 42% in 30 minutes of charging from a flat battery. After all, we can't expect wonders from a Quick Charge 3.0-compliant charger and smartphone. And we've also tested the charging speed with the "Optimized charging" feature turned on and off and the results were identical. Perhaps it will slow down the charging speed when it reaches at least 80% in order to preserve the battery's health by not letting it overheat.
Loudspeaker
The LG G8 ThinQ uses a piezoelectric screen to produce sounds, meaning there's no earpiece and no loudspeakers in sight - just the so-called Crystal Sound OLED panel paired with LG's Boombox speaker tech. But there are a couple of findings. First off, the whole phone vibrates when playing music loudly since the vibration is transferred over from the screen to the back glass plate as well. There's a small speaker grille on the bottom that serves as an echo chamber so the sound doesn't come out as muffled. If you put your finger on it, you can still hear the sound coming from the screen but isn't as rich.
LG claims that for optimal listening experience, you should place the handset on a flat surface like a table or a desk. The sound will resonate and it will sound a lot better. However, we didn't find any noticeable differences and the overall sound quality is pretty underwhelming. We prefer the stereo loudspeakers.
But after playing with the sound settings, we found out that switching on the DTS:X 3D Surround feature found in the Sound sub-menu, the audio quality improved drastically. To be exact, the "Side to side" preset produced the best results - the sound coming out from the display was a bit clearer, the vocals were more pronounced and lively without ruining the bass.
Sound options
In terms of loudness, we didn't find any noticeable changes when switching between profiles but we are pretty certain that with the DTS:X 3D Surround setting turned on, the phone sounds sa bit louder. We've seen louder speakerphones but this one's pretty loud nonetheless.
One big advantage over the conventional earpiece, however, is the ability to hear the other side talking even in extremely loud environments. That's because there's no driver that emits sound and it all comes from the vibrating screen, which in turn works better if you put it up against your skull instead of bringing it to your ear. Just like the headphones that work with bone induction. It's pretty neat and it really works.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 68.2 | 74.1 | 77.4 | Very Good | |
| 68.9 | 71.8 | 81.1 | Very Good | |
| 70.1 | 74.2 | 81.6 | Very Good | |
| 76.9 | 74.8 | 79.3 | Excellent | |
| 68.0 | 74.5 | 92.0 | Excellent | |
| 78.3 | 76.4 | 82.3 | Excellent | |
| 83.2 | 75.6 | 83.5 | Excellent | |
| 82.2 | 74.9 | 85.5 | Excellent |
Audio quality
The LG G8 ThinQ delivered impressively accurate output in both parts of our test. All of its scores were perfect with an active amplifier and headphones caused next to no damage - a well contained increase in stereo crosstalk was all there was to that.
The loudness wasn’t quite as impressive - the G8 ThinQ was below average in its default state, which is somewhat disappointing for a flagship these days. The good news is that enabling the QuadDAC option brings some extra oomph - enough to push the phone in the “Average” bracket. It also slightly improved the stereo quality with headphones, so we’d suggest keeping it enabled whenever you are listening to music.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -94.1 | 93.5 | 0.0013 | 0.0069 | -87.6 | |
| +0.05, -0.05 | -93.8 | 93.1 | 0.0041 | 0.063 | -61.8 | |
| +0.03, -0.02 | -93.7 | 93.1 | 0.0014 | 0.030 | -67.4 | |
| +0.01, -0.02 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0013 | 0.0064 | -93.2 | |
| +0.06, -0.04 | -93.6 | 93.5 | 0.045 | 0.097 | -54.8 | |
| +0.04, -0.02 | -90.5 | 90.4 | 0.0014 | 0.013 | -93.0 | |
| +0.14, -0.23 | -90.4 | 90.3 | 0.0046 | 0.211 | -47.0 | |
| +0.03, -0.04 | -92.2 | 92.0 | 0.0015 | 0.0079 | -92.7 | |
| +0.06, -0.03 | -91.9 | 91.7 | 0.0020 | 0.037 | -77.0 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -93.9 | 93.1 | 0.0015 | 0.0066 | -91.9 | |
| +0.05, -0.04 | -92.6 | 93.5 | 0.0026 | 0.072 | -58.7 |
LG G8 ThinQ frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
LG's UX on top of Android 9.0 Pie
As expected, the LG G8 ThinQ comes with pre-installed Android 9.0 Pie with LG's own take on Android customization. The UX is heavily-customized and may not appeal to some but it's full of features, especially this one here. If you are familiar with LG's UX, you will navigate quite easily. There are a couple of differences, though, if you are coming from an older LG with older version of Android.
Once we get our hands on an Pie-powered smartphone, the first thing we do is to check the gesture implementations. We were surprised to see that LG took the more conservative approach giving you the option using the standard software buttons and Google's default pill navigation bar. The back button appears only in apps while the pill acts exactly the way you expect it to - swiping to the right switches between recent apps, quick swipe switches between the current and the last used app while swiping in an upwards fashion opens up the recent apps menu as well.
Home screen, recent apps and notification shade with quick toggles
We find this decision to be quite refreshing as it's less confusing. Nowadays every manufacturer has its own take on gesture-based navigation so it becomes confusing at some point.
Another big change over the last generation is the new OLED screen, which in turn means real always-on display. While last year's G7 had an RGBW IPS panel and the always-on feature drained the battery more than it should, this year's flagship finally gets a proper OLED screen fully supporting the feature.
There are a couple of customization options for the always-on screen with most of them quite useful. You can choose the style of the always-on display and also a sub-style with accent colors. You can also slap a small picture if you want and also control your media player without unlocking the screen. The AI Pick option chooses the information displayed on the always-on screen depending on your behaviour using the Content Awareness feature. The other two options are pretty self-explanatory - you can set a time range in which the always-on display turns on and off while the Brighter display option will drain a bit more battery but will prove useful in bright environments.
Display menu and always-on screen settings
And while we are on the subject, there are a couple of more options worth mentioning. In the Display menu, you can set the home screen swipe effects, icon shape, grid, add or remove the app drawer, add or remove the button for the app drawer and even disable the Google feed, which you can bring out with a simple swipe to the right from the home screen.
The notch behaviour is also in there, which LG calls "New Second Screen". But essentially, all it does is make the notch blend with the black status bar. Or if you want it to stand out more, you can select the different color palettes for the status bar and the app corners.
Notch options and home screen customization
The screen calibration sub-menu offers tons of presets but if you read our display section, you'd know that none of them offer good color accuracy. Fortunately, the True view feature, which matches the screen temperature with the surrounding light conditions, does fix the blue-ish whites issue with the screen. The rest of the settings are pretty much standard.
Next down the list is the Lock screen & security. This is where you will find all three biometric unlock options. Speaking of, this is one of the few, if not the only smartphone with three advanced biometric unlock options. You've got the regular rear-mounted fingerprint reader that works flawlessly and then you have the advanced Face Unlock and Hand ID methods that rely on the front-facing 3D ToF camera. You can unlock the phone with either of those - whichever comes first.
Screen lock settings including Hand ID and Face Unlock
We all know how the Face Unlock works - the 3D ToF camera module measures the time in which the light bounces off of your face and builds a 3D image of your face. The same goes for the Hand ID but with some additional steps. The camera analyzes not only your unique hand pattern and ridges, it also scans your circulatory, which LG says is even more secure than a fingerprint reader.
And while all of this sounds good, we had some pretty underwhelming experience with the feature. Fist of all, you have to keep your hand at the right distance from the sensor and right in front of it. This further complicates the process of unlocking, which is already slow on its own and the unlocking animations take a good amount of time too. Secondly, the only two scenarios in which we think this is a convenient way to unlock the G8 is when you are driving and the phone is placed on a stand or when it's lying flat on the table/desk. In any case, you either have to double-tap on the screen to wake it or keep your hand in front of the selfie cam long enough to wake up the screen for the Hand ID to work. The latter is an option in the menu and you can disable it if you want.
Still, no matter which path you go - with the double tap or the wake up gesture - you will be better off picking the phone up and use the Face Unlock or the good old fingerprint reader. The Hand ID is too slow and reliable at this point and needs more work.
Speaking of gimmicks, the G8 ThinQ is no short of those. The so-called Air Motion gestures once again rely on the 3D ToF camera on the front. It allows you to control certain functions with your palm without touching the phone. You can play, pause, skip or turn up the volume in certain multimedia apps, YouTube included. The volume up gesture is like turning a knob. And if your hands are too occupied, you can even answer and end calls with gestures, the same goes for timers and alarms.
Air Motion gestures
It takes some time for the Air Motion gestures to kick in but once they do and you keep your hand in the right spot at the right distance, the tracking is surprisingly good. The navigation is quite responsive and you can even see your palm tracking in real-time without any delay at all. At least not see with a naked eye. But it all works under the right circumstances as we already mentioned. And again, we can't really think of a reason you'd prefer using the Air Motion gestures instead of just tapping on the display. If your hands are dirty or you are in the shower, it probably makes sense but it's a cool gimmick that nobody will use, unfortunately.
You will find a couple of other interesting features in the Extensions sub-menu like a Floating bar that hides on one of the side bezels and offers quick access to some tools of your selection. Much like the Samsung's Edge panels but with less apps and you can change the location of the floating bar. Although a well-known feature, the Context awareness function is pretty useful as It can do much of the annoying tasks for you like turning on some of the radios like WiFi and Bluetooth once the phone senses that you are at home, at work or you've left the premises.
Moving on to the battery section, LG has included the usual battery stats and a couple of other options like three modes of battery saving, power saving exclusions (let some of your apps run in the background no matter what) and the default Adaptive battery mode that came with Android Pie. There's also an "Optimized charging" switch and when turned on, it will adjust the charging speed of the device so the battery won't heat up. This will potentially result in slower charging speeds, though. This will supposedly help preserve the battery's health for longer.
Battery settings
Other than that, LG has also included a couple of pre-installed apps like QuickMemo+ (an enhanced note-keeping app), Music, Calendar, LG Health, Email, FM Radio and LG's SmartWorld store for extra stuff.
All in all, LG's UX has been refined a lot although, it will still steer away some pure Android lovers. The UI on this thing is heavily-customized but it can also be further customized by the user. There are plenty of features, some of which you will probably never use and we can't get over the fact that there's no dark/night mode to take full advantage of the the OLED's power savings. You should consider, however, that the centerpiece features like the Hand ID and the Air Motion gestures are merely just half-baked gimmicks. So if you are consider buying this phone solely for this, you should probably reconsider.
The menus and the overall navigation, on the other hand, feels smooth and fluid with the only drawback being the animation effects. They feel like a bit slow or over the top. It sometimes gave us the impression of an unresponsive UI elements whereas it was actually the animation loading or transitioning.
Performance
Just like every flagship from 2019, the G8 ThinQ is also equipped with Qualcomm's top-shelf Snapdragon 855 chipset. It's based on the 7nm node from TSMC and incorporates an octa-core CPU that consists of a eight big Kryo 485 cores that are clocked differently to optimize performance and efficiency. The most powerful core is clocked at the whopping 2.84 GHz then there are three toned-down cores clocked at 2.42 GHz and the final cluster of 4x Kryo 485 cores tick at 1.79 GHz used for less demanding tasks. This strange architecture makes use of ARM's DynamIQ architecture that bundles different cores and clocks in a single package. Whereas the GPU is Adreno 640 and it's Qualcomm's top of the line graphics processor that can handle pretty much everything you throw at it.
Interestingly, LG has released the G8 ThinQ in only one memory configuration - 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage with the latter being expandable via microSD card.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XR
11437 - Xiaomi Mi 9
11181 - LG G8 ThinQ
10735 - Samsung Galaxy S10
10174 - Huawei P30
9789 - OnePlus 6T
8977 - LG G7 ThinQ
8865
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XR
4818 - Samsung Galaxy S10
4543 - Xiaomi Mi 9
3503 - LG G8 ThinQ
3419 - Huawei P30
3295 - OnePlus 6T
2431 - LG G7 ThinQ
2395
The multi-core and single-core performance is what we would expect from a Snapdragon 855 - it overtakes Huawei's HiSilicon Kirin 980 in both scenarios but falls short to Samsung's Exynos 9820 chipset in single-core tasks.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 9
372006 - Apple iPhone XR
341196 - LG G8 ThinQ
331537 - Samsung Galaxy S10
328366 - OnePlus 6T
293994 - Huawei P30
287960 - LG G7 ThinQ
259393
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XR
97 - Xiaomi Mi 9
70 - Samsung Galaxy S10
68 - LG G8 ThinQ
65 - OnePlus 6T
60 - LG G7 ThinQ
57 - Huawei P30
54
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XR
60 - Xiaomi Mi 9
56 - OnePlus 6T
53 - Huawei P30
48 - Samsung Galaxy S10
37 - LG G8 ThinQ
33 - LG G7 ThinQ
30
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XR
60
43
42
40
35
35
29
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Apple iPhone XR
58 - Xiaomi Mi 9
35 - OnePlus 6T
31 - Huawei P30
26 - Samsung Galaxy S10
23 - LG G8 ThinQ
20 - LG G7 ThinQ
18
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 9
45089 - LG G8 ThinQ
44602 - Samsung Galaxy S10
44097 - OnePlus 6T
43886 - LG G7 ThinQ
43833
The GPU is powerful enough to handle any game on Play Store and the results from the synthetic benchmarks attest for that. Keep in mind that you should be looking at the offscreen tests since they don't account for the screen resolution. The onscreen tests may appear a bit lower but that's because the phone uses a really high QHD+ resolution while some of the competitors retain FHD+. If you are looking for the best possible performance, you can lower the resolution down to FHD+ in the Display settings menu.
We should also note that even after extensive benchmark testing, the phone didn't get hot at all. Only the side frame, which is made of metal, tends to get warm but that's normal given the horsepower under the hood. We found the phone to be one of "coolest" ones around with a high-performance SoC.
12MP main and a 16MP ultra-wide angle camera setup
LG continues the tradition with ultra-wide angle cameras so in addition to the main 12MP camera (1/2.6", 1.4µm pixels) with f/1.6 aperture and OIS, you will also find a 16MP ultra wide-angle camera with f/1.8, and 1.0µm pixels. However, the latter doesn't come with stabilization and no autofocus.
The front-facing shooter is 8MP with f/1.7 opening (a bump up from last year's 8MP f/1.9) and also has autofocus, which is a big plus. It's aided by the 3D ToF sensor used not only for face unlocking but for portraits as well.
But before we take a look at how all three cameras perform in different scenarios, let's go through the camera menus and settings.
Camera menus
The camera menu is super simple - swiping left and right will switch between camera modes that include Portrait, Auto, AI Cam, Manual Camera and Studio with the latter mimicking a studio setting letting you fine tune the lighting. The More menu brings out a couple of more modes, one of which is the Night view also known as Super Bright Camera on the previous G7 ThinQ. The much-appreciated manual video recording mode is in there along with a couple of other settings.
Camera settings and menus
If you wish to dive in deeper into the settings, you can tap on the settings icon in the upper-left corner of the viewfinder. All the usual settings are in there as well as the option to select video recording mode and resolution. The same goes for the stills.
Image quality
We should start with saying that the G8 ThinQ's overall camera experience has improved significantly over the last year coming from the G7 ThinQ and even the V40 ThinQ. There's a good amount of detail in the daylight stills, color reproduction is great and with HDR turned on, the images turn out with good tonal balance.
AI: On • Off • On • Off • On • Off • On • Off
Still, photos have high contrast and may appear underexposed in some cases. The software tends to retain the highlights and lose detail in the shadows as a result. You can also see some oversharpening here and there. In some rare cases noise is visible as well.
AI: On • Off • On • Off • On • Off • On • Off
With AI turned on, the contrast is boosted even further making the grain even more visible and oversharpens the subjects. Colors become juicier but not necessarily life-like. We suggest you don't use the AI mode during the day unless you like the instant instagrammable photos that the AI produces.
AI: On • Off • On • Off • On • Off
The ultra wide-angle camera carries the same pros and cons as the main one. Detail is a bit lower, even though it's a 16MP sensor we are dealing with here. But the rendering and image processing is on par with the main camera, overall, which is good news. It looks like LG put a lot of effort into fine tuning the wide-angle lens.
AI: On • Off • On • Off • On • Off
Dynamic range is good as long as the HDR is active, colors look nice and compared to other ultra wide-angle lenses, this one has a good amount of detail and the barrel distortion is barely noticeable. The oversharpening effect can be seen here as well, though, and the lack of autofocus may be limiting in some scenarios.
Ultra-wide AI: On • Off • On • Off • On • Off
Low-light image quality
The phone delivers generally good night photos with excellent dynamic range, plenty of detail and juicy colors. It also tends to preserve light sources very well. Speaking of dynamic range, it appears that the phone will always turn on HDR in night scenes if it's set to Auto. The noise issue becomes more prominent, though.
AI: On • Off • On • Off • On • Off
And while we recommend that you refrain from using the AI Cam mode during the day, we found it to be quite beneficial at night. It's able to capture more detail in the shadows and highlights but the trade-off is the even more pronounced noise, especially in the dark parts of the image. The AI also boosts the contrast.
We can even go ahead and say that it's one of the best low-light performers if you don't mind the grain, of course.
Switching over to Night view won't do much for you. It tones down the colors compared to the AI mode and delivers just a little more sharpness in some rare cases. Noise is also reduced to some extent but all in all, we still recommend using the AI for night stills. The Night view mode is nowhere near the competition's dedicated night modes.
Low-light: AI • Night view • AI • Night view • AI • Night view
Low-light: AI • Night view • AI • Night view • AI • Night view
The ultra wide-angle camera, on the other hand, struggles to achieve the level of detail the main one has and noise is even more noticeable. But wide-angle cameras are naturally worse in low-light situations. Here are a couple of samples with the AI and Night view.
Ultra wide-angle low-light: AI • Night view • AI • Night view • AI • Night view • AI • Night view
LG G8 ThinQ against the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Xiaomi Mi 9 in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
Depending on the lighting conditions, the subject will once again appear a bit underexposed but skin tone looks natural, detail is there and the edge detection is pretty decent. It's not the best for sure but it's right up there with most of the flagship devices. There's also a slider in the Portrait mode that lets you adjust the blur strength to produce more natural-looking bokeh.
Portraits
Selfies
LG has definitely upped its game when it comes to selfies. Surely, the 8MP sensor on the front isn't anything ground-breaking but the wider aperture helps capture more light and the autofocus reduces the amount of out-of-focus selfies. Dynamic range is once again good while detail is nice given the 8MP resolution. However, we found it to be a bit artificial as sharpening can be seen here and there. Also, noise is once again visible in some dark parts of the image and we think there's a skin tone enhancement at play here even though no filters are set. It's not always triggered, though.
Selfie: Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait • Portrait
Curious finding - the software crops the image in portrait mode and upscales the resolution to 8MP and, of course, some detail is lost along the way but it's barely noticeable.
Video recording
The phone is capable of recording 2160p videos in 30 and 60fps and the same goes for the 1080p mode. Slow-motion capture is supported as well - 720p@240fps. You can even record videos in HDR10 with the so-called Cine video mode.
Regarding quality, the 4K videos turned out to be pretty nice - noise is barely visible (kudos to LG for fixing that, it was a problem with older models), colors are punchy, detail is good and contrast is high, even higher than it should be. There's a bit more to be desired from the dynamic range - it looks as if it's prioritizing the highlights over the shadows. Just look at the trees - they look almost black.
All of the above applies to the 1080p recording, except that there's less detail, of course.
Ultra wide-angle video recording at 4K is also possible but expect to lose some detail along the way. The videos are noticeably softer.
The image stabilization, on the other hand, is downright impressive, even in 4K mode. Also, if you pay attention, you can see a bit of oversharpening on the grass. Take a look below.
Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how it competes against the best in the industry.
2160p: LG G8 ThinQ against the Xiaomi Mi 9 and Samsung Galaxy S10 in our Video compare tool
The competition
Sure, it's hard to beat Huawei's and Samsung's feature-packed flagship phones but the LG G8 ThinQ sure does pack a punch. It's quite competitive in most departments and with adequate pricing (perhaps lower than its direct rivals), the G8 ThinQ might steer away some customers away from its main rivals.
The first one that springs to mind is the vanilla Samsung Galaxy S10. It fits perfectly in the size and price categories. Both phones start at $849 in the US and both have tons of features to show off. However, the Galaxy S10 easily earns our recommendation as it has a telephoto and ultra wide-angle lenses while the G8 ThinQ sports only the latter. The overall camera experience on the S10 is superior too. The screen quality is far better on the Samsung's flagship while battery is pretty much the same with the Galaxy S10 having a slight edge over its competitor.
The Huawei P30 is the other contender for the best mainstream flagship crown with its solid battery life, great OLED screen and impressive camera performance with its triple-camera setup. And the P30 comes at a slightly lower price too.
Samsung Galaxy S10 • Huawei P30
But there are a couple of key features these two don't have, like the piezoelectric screen or the 3D ToF sensor on the front for advanced facial unlocking and Hand ID. On the other hand, if you are planning on buying the LG G8 ThinQ only for those said features, you are in for a bad time. They appeared to be quite gimmicky (only the face unlock works properly) and even the gestures need more work. Assuming you are going to use them for something.
On top of that, the Crystal Sound OLED panel's audio quality isn't on par with the competition's stereo loudspeakers and its only benefits stay in the telephony realm - hearing the other and in extremely loud environments utilizing bone induction is pretty cool feature to have.
On contrary to what LG says, we think that the G8 ThinQ's design is its main advantage over the others. It's a well-built device without any annoying bumps, protrusions or excessive curves. It's just enough to fit in your palm and make the 6.1-inch panel feel like a 5.5-inch screen. The curvature of the front and the back panel is just right. And those Carmine Red and Moroccan Blue just make us drool.
Of course, assuming you are used to notches because this is a big one and goes against the 2019 trends. We can partially let that one slide due to the 3D ToF module that needs its space.
Xiaomi Mi 9 • Apple iPhone XR
A more affordable alternative comes from the Chinese camp - the Xiaomi Mi 9, as long as it's available in your area, of course. It packs a comparable OLED panel, has considerably longer battery life and the same Snapdragon 855 behind the wheel. However, the G8 ThinQ has better photography skills, especially in low-light scenarios.
Another more affordable option is the iPhone XR. Yep, it feels strange to put "affordable" and "iPhone" into one sentence but the iPhone XR in the US, for example, is about $100 cheaper than the G8 ThinQ. But it misses on the dual camera action and the OLED panel but has higher screen on time scores in our testing and arguably better overall camera experience, even with a single unit on the back. Selfies tend to be nicer too.
But if you wait a couple of weeks or a month or two, the G8 ThinQ's price will come down and tie up with the iPhone XR.
Verdict
The LG G8 ThinQ has its pros and cons but surprisingly, the advantages we see in the G8 are far from what LG marketed in the first place. We are talking about the design. Hands-down, this is one of the best features this phone has and not to mention the color options.
Additionally, battery life is dependable, the screen can get really bright outdoors so sunlight legibility is great too, and the piezoelectric screen sure does make the calls more pleasant in loud environments. We also noticed that the haptic feedback on G8 is among the best we've seen in the industry. It's up there with the iPhones and the Pixels.
The ultra wide-angle lens was a nice surprise - it's absolutely one of the best we've seen since the inception of wide lenses in the smartphone industry. On top of that, the main camera turned out to be great low-light performer as long as you don't mind the extra noise.
Unfortunately, if you are here for the feature set, you might want to look somewhere else. The Crystal Sound OLED panel's sound quality isn't the best we've seen. The 3D ToF-enabled features, except for the excellent portrait selfies and the Face Unlock, feels downright gimmicky. The Hand ID works really slow and it's unreliable, the Air Motion gestures need more work. And it's really hard to see any proper use case at all. It will be cool to show off to some friends but you will end up using the fingerprint reader, the Face Unlock and resort to tapping instead of waving with your hands when it comes to simple tasks like changing a track, capturing a screenshot and turning up the volume. Some kind of competitive fast charging tech would have been much more appreciated.
Pros
- Great design, premium materials and stunning color options.
- The OLED panel can get really bright.
- The overall camera experience Is good, especially in low-light.
- But the ultra wide-angle lens is particularly impressive - one of the best in the game.
- Wireless charging, microSD card slot and 3.5mm audio jack.
Cons
- A a big notch out of sync with 2019 trends.
- The Hand ID and Air Motion features are barely usable and gimmicky.
- The Crystal Sound OLED panel isn't awe-inspiring.
- Not everyone will like the heavy UI.
- Slow charging speeds.
- Color accuracy of the display is abysmal.
- Some photos turn out underexpose and there's visible noise across the board.
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