LG has today unveiled local availability of their LG G7 ThinQ in Australia. They’ve opted for direct retail sale at $1099 via JB HIFI and MobileCiti, the same price point as Huawei’s P20 Pro.
Key Features
At the event LG marketing executives made it clear that across their broad range of products their priorities are wireless connectivity and artificial intelligence, leveraging the power of Google Assistant, Google Lens etc.
As far as Ausdroid is concerned this is a great strategy. Much more useful than if LG had decided to create their own smart assistant.
As an example of this plan in action, the LG G7 ThinkQ has a dedicated Google Assistant key on the left hand side. Pressing once launches Google Assistant, pressing twice launches Google Lens.
LG were also keen to promote how the G7 ThinkQ audio features differentiate from the competition. The resonance chamber inside the phone aims to make the speaker louder.
Of more interest to audio enthusiasts and speakerphone users is LG’s well known high quality DAC that enhances sounds outputted from the headphone jack (yes it’s still there) and the claimed improved far field voice recognition up to 5m away.
LG claims that the MLCD+ RGBW screen technology made by their researchers can be viewed easily under direct sunlight with brightness up to an industry-leading 1,000 nit, displaying 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut.
Onto the camera, or should I say cameras as the G7 ThinkQ has two 16MP rear cameras, one standard f1.6 and one super wide-angle f1.9, as well as a front facing 8MP selfie camera f1.9.
LG claims that this new phone has vastly improved artificial intelligence to automatically detect the type of subject that you’re taking photos of and adjusting settings accordingly. Video and Photo modes both have a manual option.
LG continue to offer a super wide angle rather than a zoom as the second rear camera, which kind do you prefer?
New to the G7 ThinQ is a super bright camera mode for very dark scenes, what you can see in the example below is the G7 ThinQ using the light gathered by each group of four darkish pixels in the camera sensor to create one brighter pixel in the saved 4MP JPG file.
Specifications
Hardware includes the expected Qualcomm 845 with 64GB internal storage. A pleasant surprise is Dual SIM functionality with 4G supported for each SIM. However a bit disappointingly RAM is 4GB instead of 6GB.
Software at launch is Android 8.0 Oreo with LG’s UX 6.0 skin. The security patch is dated 1 May 2018 which is good, let’s hope that updates arrive regularly for 2 years or more.
| SIM Card Type | Nano Sim, Dual SIM, Dual Standby 4G/4G |
| 2G Network | 2G/GSM, 850, 900, 1800, 1900 |
| 3G Network | 3G/HSDPA, 850, 900, 1900, 2100 |
| 4G Network | 4G/LTE, 2100 (B1), 1800 (B3), 850 (B5), 2600 (B7), 900 (B8), 800 (B20), 700 (B28), 2300 (B40) |
| Network Lock | Unlocked |
| Network Branding | Unbranded |
| Camera | Rear Dual: 16MP Super Wide Angle (F1.9 / 107°) / 16MP Standard Angle (F1.6 / 71°). 8MP Wide Angle (F1.9 / 80°) |
| Storage | 64GB UFS 2.1 ROM |
| RAM | 4GB LPDDR4x RAM |
| CPU | Octa-core (4×2.8 GHz & 4×1.7 GHz) |
| Chipset | Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 845 Mobile Platform |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 5.0 BLE / NFC / USB Type-C 2.0 (3.1 compatible), Headphone Jack |
| Battery Capacity | 3000mAh |
| Card Slot | Yes as long as you don’t use a 2nd SIM. MicroSD (up to 2TB) |
| Screen Size | 6.1-inch* QHD+ 19.5:9 FullVision Super Bright Display (3120 x 1440 / 564ppi). *Diagonal length : 6.09’’ (in full rectangle), 5.94” (excluding notch region) |
| Fingerprint Sensor | Yes |
| Weight | 162 g |
| Dimensions | 153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9 mm |
| OS Version | Android 8.0 (Oreo) |
| Warranty | 24 Months |
Availability and Pricing
The LG G7 ThinQ is currently available from JB Hi-Fi and Mobileciti for RRP $1099 in the following colours (Aurora Black, Platinum Gray, Raspberry Rose and Moroccan Blue). It’s yet to be confirmed which retailer has each colour.
As an early purchaser bonus customers who buy the LG G7 ThinQ from now until 30th June 2018 will receive a bonus LG ThinQ Speaker with built-in Google Assistant (valued at RRP $299).
Note the fine print, the speaker is available via online redemption from LG. Claims must be submitted within 10 days of purchase.
Good luck getting the speaker on redemption
. .
PS some new info: Aurora Black is available at: JB Hi-Fi, Mobileciti & Officeworks. Platinum Gray is a JB Hi-Fi exclusive, while Moroccan Blue & Raspberry Rose are @ Mobileciti