LG G7: Is the G series showing its teeth?
25.5.2018
The LG G7 is the official phone of the new Star Wars film. But does the device offer more? A first impression shows that there is more to it than the data sheet suggests.
I have to hand it to LG: they know how to present a phone in a nerd-friendly way. Before the presentation in Berlin's Astor cinema, Chewbacca, a Stormtrooper and dire Jawas pay their respects. Among other things, they dance to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" and dubstep remixes of John Williams' Star Wars soundtrack. The reason: the LG G7. The phone is the official phone for the new Star Wars film "Solo: A Star Wars Story".
The device is lying next to me in its packaging and my fingers are itching to unwrap it. While LG's marketing director gives his speech, I unpack the phone. Inconspicuously. Stephanie Tresch is filming next to me and laughs. Her look lets me know: You and inconspicuous? Haha. All right, not then. I'll do it anyway.
The new second screen
Marco Scholz, Head of Training at LG Mobile, is a fan of Han Solo. The LG G7 is the perfect co-pilot for digital life. Like Chewbacca on Langstrasse or something. Next to me, the phone takes its first steps. The setup is running. Funnily enough, Scholz is talking about the bright display just as the device is dazzling me in the dim cinema atmosphere. The G7 delivers up to 1000 nits across the entire colour space. This means that the colours are not washed out even at maximum brightness.
Source: Stephanie Tresch
The whole thing is controlled via a brightness booster. However, this mode can only be activated for three minutes, as otherwise too much battery would be consumed.
The second screen, which I liked so much on the LG V20 back then but is completely absent on the V30, is set to experience a revival. I'm happy about Marco Scholz's announcement, but at first glance, all I can see here is that the notch can either be shown or hidden. If you hide the notch, then the screen is simply shortened by the few pixels that the notch is high and so the indentation at the top of the phone disappears into the blackness of the switched-off screen. Unless you apply a theme to the top of the inactive notch strip. That looks strange, but since I like notches, I'm not going to worry about the tastes of notch opponents.
A little more V-Series for the G-Series
Marco Scholz continues to speak. The camera setup is very reminiscent of the V-series, which recently raised questions with the V30 and its successors. It seems as if LG has adopted the findings from the bold and experimental V series into the G series, which is considered the flagship series. This suddenly makes the G7 incredibly exciting. Because where the G series has usually always shown performance and comfort, the V series has always shown teeth, courage and a willingness to experiment. What happens when the experiments become a series product?
The dual cam on the G7 appears to have been refined. You'll recognise the setup from other LG phones. Two 16-megapixel sensors at the back drive two lenses. A 71-degree lens and a 107-degree wide-angle lens. The wide angle was already wider. This was deliberate, says Scholz, because the phone avoids excessive distortion in the image.
Hardware for the intelligent software
So far so good. Suddenly Scholz is talking about new hardware features. In particular, LG is doing right what Samsung is doing wrong with Bixby. There is a button on the left side of the phone called the Walkie-Talkie button. If you press and hold this button, the Google Assistant listens in. All the time, even if you take a break. With Samsung, it's either Bixby or nothing at all.
Has LG carried over the joy of experimentation from the V series to the G series? I'd like to see that, because LG proved back then with the V20 that the rectangular form factor with rounded corners is not exhausted.
GLG has also built the ThinQ features into the device. In other words, the cameras think for themselves, analyse the image and set presets. This is standard this season and LG will have a hard time with this feature. The competition is strong, but listening to Scholz, he is optimistic. The test will show whether and how LG has implemented this as a unique selling point or a great feature.
Other than that: flagship in 2018
The rest of the specs are straightforward and will be seen in many phones this season. Snapdragon 845 and 4 GB of RAM. Where other manufacturers go for 6 GB, LG sticks to four. The battery has a capacity of 3000 mAh and speculation is high that the promised optimisations of the Snapdragon system-on-a-chip (SoC) will drain the battery far less than the previous models.
A first short test during filming at Berlin Zoo station shows that the battery can certainly take a beating. I unpacked the device on 41% battery and then connected it to my power bank. At the time of the live stream, the battery was at 73%. After over 50 pictures and short videos, 61% remained.
A phone for media consumers
The G7, which I have so far perceived as a fairly average phone, shows the first signs of strength after the speeches. Ten minutes break, then a preview of the Star Wars film. But I want to test one of the features LG is famous for: the audio system. For the uninitiated: no other manufacturer manages to get as much out of a 3.5 mm jack as LG. With the feature called "Quad Hifi DAC" in the quick access bar, LG brings a lot of noise to your ears. The sound that comes out of your headphones is not particularly loud, but above all rich.
But that's not all. LG has continued to work on it and given the audio system another nudge. In the default settings right next to Quad Hifi DAC, you'll find a switch called "DTS:X 3D Surround".
Woah.
I'm listening to "Smells like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.
DTS:X is designed to simulate surround sound or even a concert atmosphere. Similar to Dolby Atmos, DTS, a company from California, has developed DTS:X as a direct competitor to Atmos. The system can simulate three-dimensional sound with any speaker layout that has a hemispherical layout.
On the LG G7, however, this does not work with the speakers, but with headphones. If you have the option switched on, the system breaks down your music or video sound into twelve virtual channels, simulating surround sound. As abstruse as it all sounds, the result is impressive. I'll say this again in the review of the phone, but I'll say it here: if you like good sound and want proof of why the headphone jack doesn't have to give up just yet, then take a closer look at the G7.
The first impression is right. LG shows some teeth with the G7. The aggression and fun from the days of the V20 are still a little way off, but I think the phone could be good for a few surprises. <p
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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