LG G7 ThinQ touts a notch, headphone jack and AI camera

The LG G7 ThinQ is now an official thing, this after countless leaks made its official launch practically pointless.

Nevertheless, this is LG’s latest swing at topping the two towers of Samsung and Apple at the top of the smartphone world. And on paper at least, it goes some way towards achieving its goal.

For one, it now uses Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 CPU — something that was neglected in the V30 — coupled with 4GB of RAM and a base storage count of 64GB. There’s an option to further expand that via a MicroSD card.

LG G7 ThinQ specifications:

Dimensions: 153.2mm tall, 71.9mm wide, 7.9mm thick
SIM type: Single SIM or Dual Nano SIM
Weight: 162 grams
Screen: 3120×1440 | 6.1-inch | IPS LCD | Dolby Vision and HDR10 support | 19.5:9 aspect ratio | 564 pixels per inch | 82.6 screen-to-body ratio
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 | octa core | 4 2.8GHz Qualcomm Kyro 335 Gold cores and 4 1.7GHz Qualcomm Kyro 385 Silver cores
GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 630
Base RAM: 4GB
Battery and power: 3000mAh fixed | wireless charging | Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0
Base storage: 64GB, microSD card support
Rear camera: dual camera array | 16MP sensor with f/1.6 lens and Optical Image Stabilisation, Laser and Phase Detection autofocus | 16MP sensor with f/1.9 107-degree lens and Laser and Phase Detection autofocus
Selfie camera: single camera array | 8MP sensor with f/1.9 80-degree lens and autofocus
Video support: 2160p at 30 frames per second
Radios: Bluetooth 5.0 LE | dual band WiFi 802.11 ac | 4G LTE | FM Radio | NFC | A-GPS and GLONASS
I/O: USB Type-C 3.1 | 3.5mm headphone jack | DTS-X 7.1 surround sound support
OS: Android 8.0 Oreo
Other features: IP68 water and dust resistance | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | fingerprint reader | dedicated Google Assistant button
Colours: New Platinum Gray, New Aurora Black, New Moroccan Blue, Raspberry Rose

This cocktail powers its 6.1-inch 19.5:9 screen, which LG claims creates its “most immersive viewing experience ever”. Well, apart from that notch.

The notch itself can be hidden, or tinseled further with custom notch overlays. But on an LCD screen — a technology that can’t switch off individual pixels like OLED — we’ll have to wait and see if it does a capable job.

Still, said LCD, LG claims, is extremely bright. But that’s worrying, considering that the battery is just a 3000mAh unit.

But the real kicker is, of course, the camera setup.

Hands up if you’ve heard this one before: dual cameras, wide-angle lens, and AI savvy.

At the rear, the G7 ThinQ sports two 16MP sensors. Previously, LG skimped on the wide-angle camera sensor, but it now claims it “captures even more beautiful landscapes with less distortion”.

And if you’re want great results but too lazy to adjust the settings manually, LG’s AI CAM steps in to help.

“AI CAM now offers 19 shooting modes, up from eight, for even more intelligence-optimized shots. And users can improve their photos by choosing among three other effect options if the one recommended by AI CAM doesn’t suit their tastes,” the company claims.

There’s also a portrait mode, and up front you’ll find an 8MP selfie camera.

So how much will it cost? When will it be available? And how long before memes of its name begin emerging?

Frankly, we don’t know. No international media does, in fact, largely because LG has yet to release that information. However, it will need to undercut the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Huawei P20 Pro to remain competitive.

There’s also no clarification on when it will launch globally, let alone South Africa.

And finally, we’ll just leave that up to you, internet.

Feature image: LG