LG G7+ ThinQ launched in India with Snapdragon 845 for ₹39,990 ($582)

LG has been going through tough times lately. The company disclosed that its Mobile Communications division incurred an operating loss of $171.95 million in Q2 2018. With respect to the Indian smartphone market, LG has always found it tough to compete with Samsung at the high-end price segment and with Chinese smartphone vendors at the budget and mid-range segments. In December, the company launched the LG V30 in India, three months after its US launch. The LG G7 ThinQ was made official back in May, and it went on sale in select markets starting June. Three months after the phone’s announcement, LG has now launched the LG G7+ ThinQ in India.

The LG G7+ ThinQ is LG’s latest flagship (the “G7+” branding is because LG is launching the 6GB RAM/128GB storage variant of the G7 in India, while the “ThinQ” branding is because of “AI”). It brings many notable upgrades over the LG G6, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC (the G6 was powered by the Snapdragon 821), a better display, better dual camera setup, and more RAM/storage.

In terms of pricing, LG has surprised us positively by pricing the G7+ ThinQ at ₹39,990 ($582) in India. This makes the phone cheaper than the LG V30, which was launched for ₹44,990. The price tag is also lower than the G6’s launch price.

The specifications of the LG G7+ ThinQ are noted below:

LG G7+ ThinQ – Specifications at a glance

Specifications	LG G7+ ThinQ
Dimensions	153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9 mm
Software	Android 8.0 Oreo with LG UX 6.0
CPU	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (4x 2.8GHz Kryo 385 Gold cores + 4x 1.8GHz Kryo 385 Silver cores); Adreno 630 GPU
RAM and storage	6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage; microSD card slot
Battery	3,000mAh; Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0
Display	6.1-inch Quad HD+ (3120×1440) (6.09-inch – full rectangle, 5.94-inch – excluding notch region) notched FullVision “Super Bright” M+ LCD with a RGBW matrix, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, Super Bright brightness mode (1000 nits) for limited time (approximately three minutes)
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0
Ports	USB Type-C, Nano SIM, 3.5mm headphone jack
Audio	Boombox Speaker DTS:X 3D 7.1 Surround Sound Hi-Fi Quad DAC
Rear cameras	16MP primary camera with 1.0μm pixels, f/1.6 aperture, 71-degree field-of-view, OIS, phase detection autofocus, laser autofocus 16MP wide-angle camera with f/1.9 aperture, 107-degree field-of-view Video recording up to 4K at 60fps
Front-facing camera	8MP with f/1.9 aperture

We have already published a mini-review of the US variant of the LG G7 ThinQ. We found the phone to have a great design and camera. We also remarked that even after having a great design and camera, the G7 ThinQ would find it tough to stand out in the flagship segment.

Like other 2018 flagships, the G7+ ThinQ has a metal frame and a glass back. The phone’s fingerprint sensor is placed on the back, separate from the power button which moves to the side. It also has a dedicated hardware button to launch the Google Assistant. Finally, it has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

Display

The LG G7+ ThinQ has a 6.1-inch Quad HD+ (3120×1440) notched M+ IPS LCD FullVision “Super Bright Display” with a tall 19.5:9 aspect ratio.

The display can reach up to 1000 nits of brightness for a limited time in bright light (approximately three minutes) thanks to the use of a RGBW matrix. It also has 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, but unfortunately, LG still refuses to provide proper color calibration modes such as sRGB mode to ensure color accuracy.

LG states that the the profile-switching feature helps the display to be 30% more power efficient than the G6’s display.

Cameras

Both the standard-angle and wide-angle sensors of the LG G7+ ThinQ have 16MP resolution. The standard-angle camera has a 16MP sensor with a 71-degree field-of-view and a f/1.6 aperture. The wide-angle camera has a 16MP sensor with a 107-degree field-of-view and a f/1.9 aperture.

The dual camera module has many “AI” features that are branded as “AI Cam.” AI Cam analyzes subjects in a photo and provides recommendations on how to improve the photo.  It also comes with filters such as Person, Flower, Landscape, Sky, Low Light, etc. The “Super Bright Camera” mode kicks in when conditions are extremely dark and automatically increases the brightness of each photo.

The cameras can do Portrait Mode to blur the background of the subject. The bokeh effect can be applied in real-time or after the shot is captured. The wide-angle camera now now has less distortion.

Audio

The LG G7 ThinQ has a “Boombox Speaker.” The phone uses its inner space as a resonance chamber to “amp up the bass and deliver a premium, loud and room-filling audio experience.”

The phone also has “Super Far-Field Voice Recognition.” According to LG, the G7 will be capable of hearing the user from a further distance, and it will pick up the user’s voice even in noisy places.

At a time when smartphone vendors are doubling down on the removal of the headphone jack, LG did the right decision by retaining the 3.5mm headphone jack in the G7 ThinQ. The phone has a 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC, and it also has 7.1 channel DTS:X 3D Surround Sound.

Pricing and availability

The LG G7+ ThinQ costs ₹39,990 in India for the single 6GB RAM/128GB storage variant. It will go on sale exclusively via Flipkart starting August 10.

Thanks to its competitive pricing, the LG G7+ ThinQ manages to undercut the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy S9+ by a substantial amount (it’s ₹25,000 cheaper than the Galaxy S9+, to be precise). It can even be termed as an affordable flagship as it competes with the OnePlus 6 in terms of pricing. Other Snapdragon 845-powered competitors include the Asus ZenFone 5Z (which costs ₹32,999 for the 6GB RAM/128GB storage variant), and the Vivo NEX (which costs ₹44,990 for the 8GB RAM/128GB storage variant).

Our view: LG’s decision to price the G7+ ThinQ competitively in India is a step in the right direction. The company will undoubtedly still face issues competing with the likes of OnePlus and Samsung, but at least the G7+ ThinQ has plenty of technical merits. It even has differentiating features such as the inclusion of a Hi-Fi audio DAC.

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