Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
- LG’s new G8 ThinQ flagship smartphone was announced on Sunday.
- It has an odd vein recognition system designed to detect the veins in a user’s palm to unlock the phone.
- In every respect, the LG G8 seems like a good, solid smartphone that’s conservative in design and features, especially compared to the recently announced Galaxy S10.
I recently had some hands-on time with LG’s new G8 ThinQ smartphone, and I came away thinking that it’ll be a good, solid smartphone with some extra LG quirks that makes it unique.
One of those quirks is an odd vein recognition system that detects the veins and characteristics of a user’s palm to unlock the phone. That’s adventurous for LG, or any smartphone maker; It’s far more adventurous than going for an in-display fingerprint sensor like those that have been adopted by OnePlus and Samsung in their most recent smartphones.
Apart from that, the LG G8 will be a phone for the conservative Android user who doesn’t necessarily want to pay for Samsung’s "everything-and-the-kitchen-sink" approach to smartphones.
With that said, we don’t know what LG’s asking price for the G8 will be just yet — a lot still hinges on the LG G8’s pricing announcement.
But for now, check out the LG G8:
Design-wise, LG remained conservative.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
The LG G8 has a typical notch, which is already starting to look dated ever since the OnePlus 6T and its water-drop notch was released. And notches in general are starting to look dated next to Samsung’s new punch-hole selfie camera ports.
In fairness to LG, perhaps the company couldn’t ditch the notch this time round to make enough room for technology designed for a brand-new feature called "Hand ID" (more on that later).
One of the new features on the LG G8 is an OLED display, which isn’t a new feature at all on other smartphones — it’s more like a "finally" moment for LG G-series flagship devices.
The display on the LG G8 is 6.1 inches and has quad HD (1440p) resolution. At that size and resolution, it’s among the sharper displays on smartphones.
It’s a simple, smart, minimalist design, and that’s fine because you’ll probably put a case on it the moment you buy it.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Here are some of the internal specs:
- Within LG G8’s classic exterior is a 3,500 mAh battery.
- The LG G8 is running on Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 chip, which is what we’re expecting for flagship devices in 2019.
- Alongside the Snapdragon 855 is 6GB of RAM for smooth performance while switching between apps.
- Storage-wise, you’re getting 128GB as base storage, and no other storage options will be available. You can, however, upgrade the storage up to an extra 2 terabytes (2,000 GB) with a microSD card.
One of my favorite things about the LG G8 is just how lightweight it is, but it’s not the lightest phone you’ll be able to buy in 2019.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
The LG G8 is one of the lightest phones you’ll be able to buy in 2019 at 167 grams. It’s not a small phone, either, as it has a 6.1-inch display.
With that said, the new Samsung Galaxy S10 with the same size display is lighter at 157 grams. But, somehow, the S10’s lightness wasn’t as obvious to me during my hands-on time with the device. Perhaps the LG G8 is better balanced, which would explain why it felt so light when I first picked it up compared to the S10.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- Samsung and Huawei are both launching foldable smartphones this year — here’s how they compare
- I tried Samsung’s newest smartphones, the Galaxy S10, S10 Plus, and S10e — and there’s a clear winner
- 13 reasons you should buy Samsung’s $750 Galaxy S10e over the Galaxy S10 or S10 Plus
SEE ALSO: I tried the entire lineup of Samsung’s new Galaxy S10 phones. Here’s what they’re like in person
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Antonio Villas-Boas)