After watching its marketshare nibbled away by online-focused rivals, Korean smartphone maker LG Electronics seems to have decided to borrow a leaf from the playbook of its competitors like OnePlus.
Against the usual price of Rs 52,000-56,000 for its flagship devices, the company has priced its 128 GB G7+ ThinQ at just Rs 39,999 — equalling the price of the 128 GB variant of OnePlus 6.
The Korean company has also junked its traditional distribution model, opting to go with Flipkart as its sole distributor in India.
This makes LG the first of the non-Chinese brands to explore the online-only model — a strategy that Chinese players like Xiaomi and Oneplus used to steal marketshare from the likes of LG, Samsung and Sony.
For the record, LG’s G6, launched in April last year, was priced at Rs 51,990.
In terms of specifications, the G7+ ThinQ is practically as good as the OnePlus 6, even though it comes with only 6 GB of RAM against 8 GB on the OnePlus. In practical terms, the extra 2GB of RAM on the OnePlus 6 hardly makes any difference.
The LG G7+ comes with 16MP+16MP lenses on the back in both standard and Super Wide Angle configurations and with an 8MP camera on front for higher resolution photos with more details.
However, in terms of sheer ability, the OnePlus 6 supports 240 fps (super slow motion) recording in full HD, while the LG G7+ supports it only in 720p or HD.
LG also claimed that G7+ThinQ will be one of the first devices to get upcoming Google Lens features.
“Google Lens is a new way to search using the latest in AI and computer vision. Available inside the Google Assistant and Google Photos, it can deliver more information on objects such as landmarks, plants, animals, books as well as identify text. Visit websites, add a business card to contacts, add events to the calendar or look up an item on a restaurant menu ― all right from Google Lens. More details on Google Lens will be revealed at Google I/O.”
Just below the phone’s volume rocker is a dedicated AI button that launches the Google Assistant with a single tap, while two quick taps will launch Google Lens.
“With Super Far Field Voice Recognition (SFFVR) and the smartphone’s highly sensitive microphone, the Google Assistant can recognize voice commands from up to five meters away,” LG added.
Against the 400 nit brightness seen on most phone screens, LG claims a brightness of 1000 nit on its G7+ display.
The 6.1 inch IPS screen has a resolution of 3120 pixel by 1440 pixel, implying an aspect ratio of 19.5:9.
Unlike OnePlus and Samsung, which use AMOLED technology for their high-end devices, LG relies on its own advanced LDC technology.
It said it has empowered the G7+ ThinQ with its latest LCD technology called Super Bright Display, which enables the display to be viewed easily even under direct sunlight at 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut.
LG G7+ ThinQ Specifications
| Mobile Platform | Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 845 Mobile Platform |
| Display | 15.49cm(6.1) QHD+ 19.5:9 FullVisionSuper Bright Display (3120 x 1440 / 564ppi) |
| Memory | 6GB LPDDR4x RAM / 128GB UFS 2.1 ROM / MicroSD (up to 2TB) |
| Camera | Rear – Dual: 16MP Standard Angle (F1.6 / 71°)+16MP Super Wide Angle (F1.9 / 107°)
Front – 8MP Wide Angle (F1.9 / 80°) |
| Battery | 3000mAh (Non Removable) |
| OS | Android 8.0 Oreo |
| Size | 153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9mm |
| Weight | 162g |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 5.0 BLE / NFC / USB Type-C |
| Colors | New Platinum Gray / New Aurora Black |
| Others | Super Bright Display / New Second Screen / AI CAM / Super Bright Camera / Super Far Field Voice Recognition / Boombox Speaker / Google Lens / AI Haptic / Hi-Fi Quad DAC / DTS:X 3D Surround Sound / IP68 Water and Dust Resistance / HDR10 / Google Assistant Key / Face Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / Qualcomm Quick Charge™ 3.0 Technology / Wireless Charging / MIL-STD 810G Compliant. |