LG G7 ThinQ Review: Worthy PHP 43,000 Flagship phone?

The LG G7 ThinQ officially launched here in the Philippines this June 14, 2018. This is LG’s latest flagship phone. One of the features that the smartphone is known for is its Boombox Speaker feature. The LG device is water and dust-proof as well.

• Top Features of the LG G7 ThinQ
• LG G7 ThinQ vs Huawei P20 Pro – Specs Comparison

Fortunately, our team was able to win a unit in a raffle so we took this opportunity to review it. With a price tag of almost PHP 43,000, is this device worth it? We’ll find out here.

Design

The LG G7 ThinQ sports a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 front and back along with a metal frame. It measures 153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9 mm and weighs 162g. Similar to other recently released flagships, the smartphone has thin bezels as well as the infamous notch. The notch houses the front camera, LED notification light, earpiece/speaker, and some sensors. No physical or capacitive buttons can be seen at the front since LG made use of on-screen buttons.

Moving on to the rear part of the device, the dual rear cameras are positioned at the center with its LED flash and some sensors beside it. Underneath this, the circle-shaped fingerprint sensor can be found along with the device’s name. The LG brand logo can also be found at the bottom part.

The usual power button can be found on the right side of the smartphone. The volume rockers, as well as a button designated for the Google Assistant feature, are at the left side of the phone. The bottom houses the 3.5mm audio jack, speaker grille, USB Type-C port and a microphone whereas the top has the SIM tray and a sensor.

Overall, the design of the LG G7 ThinQ looks modern, elegant and minimalistic. The only downside is its glass rear back. It is easily smudged with fingerprints.

Display

The LG G7 ThinQ features a 6.1″ QHD+ notched display with a resolution of 3120 x 1440 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The screen brightness can go up to 1,000 nits with its FullVision Super Bright Display. When we tried watching movies with the device, we noticed that the color doesn’t change when viewed from different angles. We also tried taking some shots outside and we didn’t have any issues with looking at the screen.

The only problem we had with the display was the notch since it was a distraction while we were watching movies. Fortunately, LG offered various ways to remove it. Users can either choose to put a black bar over it or make the color of the bar gradient or even rainbow-themed.

Camera

The latest LG smartphone features a dual 16 MP (f/1.6) + 16 MP (f/1.9) rear cameras with laser and phase detection autofocus, along with an LED flash. It also sports an 8MP front camera with portrait mode.

In our hands-on of the device, we mentioned that its AI CAM automatically detects the object that the user is taking and directly suggests the best filter and angle for the shot. The smartphone also contains a feature called the Super Bright Camera. It will help deliver bright photos even in extremely low-light situations

To fully test the LG G7 ThinQ’s camera capabilities, we took some sample shots.

This first sample shot was taken on the rooftop during the afternoon. The LG G7 ThinQ’s camera seems to be supported by AI since it automatically adjusted the picture. Color-wise, the photo was accurate. The details are also sharp.

This is the same as the previous shot except that it was taken with the Super wide angle mode. As you can see, the camera was able to capture a lot more. My only concern in this photo is that the angle looks a bit off. It almost looks like the photo was taken with a Panorama mode.

This time, we tried taking a photo that included a lot of details. The LG G7 ThinQ was still able to take a detailed photo while still maintaining accurate colors.

We took the same shot again but with Super wide angle mode. Unlike the previous sample shots, the angle here didn’t look off but as you can see, there’s a huge difference between the contrast in the right side and the left side. The right side ended up looking brighter and a bit dull compared to the left side.

I was surprised when I saw the final result of this shot. Although I didn’t change its mode, the color of the image changed and it had a yellowish tint. This might be due to the AI camera. The shot even included a bokeh effect. As for its details, the subject at the middle looks sharp although it appeared brighter compared to the real thing.

The LG smartphone includes a Portrait mode. Although the difference between the two should only be the mode, the two shots also had slightly different color tones. The one with portrait mode seems to appear darker based on the tree’s trunk and the leaves. Detail-wise, both shots did well. In regards to the portrait mode, it was able to capture the subject. Although the bokeh effect looks a bit unnatural, it still looks pleasant to the eyes.

We tested the portrait mode once more but this time with a closer subject. This time, there wasn’t much of a difference between the colors in the two shots. The bokeh effect here was able to accurately capture the whole subject and it looks good. The final shots also had crisp details.

We didn’t change modes while taking this photo although it still differed in colors. The one on the left is brighter than the one on the right. Unfortunately, because of its brightness, the first shot had some overexposed parts and the lights looked harsh. As for the one on the left, the lights look a bit softer and it was much more pleasing to the eyes.

We tried taking close-up pictures with the LG device. It was able to focus on the tower and it delivered a detailed and sharp image. However, when we tried to use portrait mode, it wouldn’t let us. We had to back away from the subject in order to use it.

Here is another sample of the phone’s portrait mode. It seems that the device only allows the user to use portrait mode within a specific distance. I had to back away from the subject just to take it with this mode.

The next sample shots were taken inside a dim-lit room. Although the room was dark, the camera still produced a bright image. Furthermore, the shot is also detailed and the lights don’t look harsh at all.

As we’ve mentioned earlier, this image was taken inside a dark room. Looking at the photo, you’ll think that it was taken inside a room with the lights turned on because of how bright it is. In regards to the details, the subject looked sharp enough considering this was taken in a dim-lit room. Unfortunately, this shot contains an over-exposed part.

We also made sure to try the portrait mode with a human model. For some reason, the shot with the portrait mode turned darker which can be seen on the subject’s clothes. Furthermore, her skin also looked smoother in the portrait mode.

In regards to the bokeh effect, it looks good and it was able to capture the subject fully.

Let’s move on to selfies. The subject’s skin color looks accurate and the colors of the clothes didn’t change too. It’s a good thing that the front camera can also use the portrait mode. Once again, the bokeh effect may look unnatural but it still looks good.

We also tried testing the LG G7 ThinQ’s beauty mode. The mode looks a bit unnatural and it even removed the subject’s beauty marks. Furthermore, the subject’s skin also looked a lot smoother with the beauty mode which made it look as if it was post-processed.

Here is a selfie that was taken inside a dim-lit room. Similar to the previous shots that were taken in the same lighting condition, this shot looks bright enough and the details also look clear.

Lastly, the LG G7 ThinQ also contains some “stickers”. Here are some sample shots. As you can see, there are stickers that have their own filters.

Features and User Experience

The LG G7 ThinQ is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 along with an Adreno 630 GPU and an octa-core processor clocked up to 2.8 GHz. It arrived with a 4GB RAM and an internal storage of 64GB. The smartphone runs on Android 8.0 Oreo.

In terms of features, the LG G7 ThinQ contains some interesting ones although it may be difficult to find all of them at first.

We’ll talk first about its new second screen feature that also enables the user to hide the device’s notch. The user is able to adjust the display’s corners as well as change the color around the notch according to their preference. ‘

In regards to the smartphone’s display, you may also change its screen color and temperature.

In addition to this, the LG smartphone also contains an Always-on display feature. You may also re-arrange its Home Touch buttons. What differentiates the LG G7 ThinQ’s on-screen buttons from other smartphones is the existence of the Sim card switch key which lets the user change between sim cards.

In regards to security, the smartphone sports a fingerprint scanner, a face-unlock feature, and voice recognition. The three security features were easy to set up. Both the face-unlock and the fingerprint scanner work fast. On the other hand, the voice recognition was not that quick although it was good enough. It’s good to note that the feature doesn’t work if the user’s eyes are closed so you don’t have to worry about your phone getting unlocked when you’re asleep. Unfortunately, it also doesn’t unlock when the user is wearing glasses or if their hair is blocking the face.

The LG G7 ThinQ performs smoothly and fast with no lags in between opening various applications. Opening applications were also fast.

We also made sure to test the phone’s gaming performance. The games we played were Asphalt 8 and PUBG Mobile. Launching the games were quick and there weren’t any problems during gameplay as well. No lags occurred and the graphics were really clear and detailed even in games with heavy graphics. Unfortunately, the more we played, the more we noticed that the device heated up.

Additional features that are included in the LG G7 ThinQ is a Floating bar as well as some shortcut keys. Not only that but the device also has a feature called the Far-Field Voice Recognition that has the capacity to hear the user’s voice even if the user is a bit far from the handset.

Another thing to note of in the LG G7 ThinQ is its IP68 dust/waterproof certification. The device can be submerged in 1.5m water for around 30 minutes.

Benchmarks

We tested the LG G7 ThinQ using the following benchmarking tools and here are the results:

Battery

Compared to other flagship smartphones, the LG G7 ThinQ′ s battery isn’t that huge. The handset is fueled by a 3,000mAh battery. It’s a good thing the company decided to support it with Fast Charging.

The LG smartphone lasted approximately 11 hours with continuous light usage and it took 1 hour and 39 minutes to charge the device fully from 20%. The device also contains some power saving options.

Audio

Its audio is one of the LG G7 ThinQ’s main highlight. The smartphone contains 32-bit/192kHz audio as well as DTS-X sound. Moreover, it also comes with a feature called Boombox Speaker which lets the handset use the inner space as a resonance chamber to make the user’s listening louder. For clarification, the DTS-X can only be used with earphones.

When we tried playing some music, we noticed that it produced a clear sound even in maximum volume. Unfortunately, on medium volume, the sound was too quiet for our liking. This means that, without earphones, it might be better to play music on maximum volume.

Verdict 

The LG G7 ThinQ is available through official local stores as well as in their official online store. The handset has a price tag of PHP 42,990. The device is a bit pricier than other flagship phones that contain almost the same specifications. Nonetheless, the LG G7 ThinQ is a good quality smartphone. It was able to take good shots and the phone works fast as well.

The device also has a good audio which is a given since it includes a Boombox speaker. In addition, the LG G7 ThinQ is water and dust proof.

Do you think this smartphone is worth its price tag? Let me know in the comments!