One month with the LG G7: As competition stumbles, the G7 rises to the occasion
Just over a month ago I posted my full review of the LG G7 ThinQ and while it earned a respectable rating there were other phones that looked like better choices. However, all is not as it seems and a few of those other phones did not live up to their potential and the LG G7 is one I keep returning to with my T-Mobile SIM.
In addition to the LG G7 ThinQ, we have seen the release of the HTC U12 Plus, Huawei P20 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, and OnePlus 6 over the past couple of months. The following are reasons I keep putting these devices aside and choosing to go back to the LG G7:
- HTC U12 Plus: The haptic buttons, touchiness of Edge Sense 2.0, and below average battery life are disappointing with the haptic buttons causing near constant frustration. I cannot recommend the HTC U12 Plus to anyone at this time.
- Huawei P20 Pro: Excellent phone with wonderful still image capture performance and very long battery life. It's not available in the US and has an old-school front facing fingerprint scanner with average video performance. It is easy to see why the Huawei P20 Pro is selling well outside the US and is still my current pick for the 10 best smartphones of 2018 so far.
- Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus: Overall, the S9 Plus has every single thing you could ask for in a smartphone, but the battery life is just average and there is still a bit too much added by Samsung. The price is also rather high when compared to other Androids.
- OnePlus 6: This is a rather rather stunning smartphone priced at a reasonable level. It doesn't have a dust or water resistant rating, has no wireless charging or microSD, and its dual cameras don't offer much. However, it's the phone I would pick after the LG G7 out of this list of new Android smartphones.
Like the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, the LG G7 offers everything you could want with the newest Snapdragon processor, microSD expansion card, high level of water and dust resistance, MIL-STD 810G drop protection, wireless charging, dual rear cameras with wide-angle lens, reasonable $750 price, US wireless carrier support, attractive color options, and great audio performance. It is also designed well with a width that makes it fit comfortably in one hand with a weight that is lower than most other phones.
The LG G7 also has a dedicated Google Assistant hardware button with Google Lens integrated into the camera app. There was also some news that the Korean version of the LG G7 would be getting the Google Pixel-exclusive AR stickers with Star Wars and Stranger Things characters. Hopefully we see these come to the US model as well.
LG doesn't get much respect in the mobile space and it hasn't always done well with phone launches, but the LG G7 is a satisfying smartphone that continues to impress.