The LG G8 Review: Solid, But Not Great
by Andrei Frumusanu on April 30, 2019 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- LG
- Smartphones
- LG G8
- LG G8 ThinQ
Video Recording
Video recording on the LG G8 is a straightforward matter. Videos are recorded in AVC/H.264 format as seemingly the camera app doesn’t allow for a switch to HEVC/H.265. Nevertheless , the resulting is very high bitrate with 24Mbps 1080p60 videos, 48Mbps 4K30 and 64Mbps 4K60 video.
60fps video recording works only on the main camera sensor and 4K60 recording doesn’t have EIS.
Quality in 4K recording is great. Particularly 4K30 on the wide camera sensor with EIS results is a great experience. 60fps recording at 1080p seems to be a compromise in terms of quality as I feel the bitrate isn’t high enough, resulting in a lot of loss of detail.
Finally 4K60 looks great, however the lack of EIS is immediately visible as things become extremely shaky. The lack of HEVC recording in this mode is also of a major concern as the resulting 54 second clip above results in a 421MB file – very quickly filling up your internal storage.
One disappointing aspect of the video recording was the audio recording. The audio wasn’t very clear and it really sounded as if recorded within a box, with the microphone picking up even the slightest amount of wind.
Speaker Evaluation
The speakers on the G8 are interesting. LG continues to advertise the “Boombox” feature of the main speaker design, which means that the phone has a large internal reverberation volume. This results in the back cover vibrating quite a lot with audio, but also has the benefit that when placing the phone on a flat surface it’ll amplify the sound significantly.
Also new on the G8 is the secondary “earpiece” which isn’t a traditional speaker. Instead, LG went with an under-screen piezoelectric exciter which vibrates the screen assembly, which in turn acts a speaker membrane. For the G8, this new speaker also acts as the left stereo speaker for audio, fixing one of the most major shortcomings of the G7’s mono speaker design.
In terms of maximum volume, we’re measuring pink noise while holding the phone both one-handed and also when holding it two-handed with cupped palms from a 40cm distance. This should represent the two most common use-cases for smartphone speakers.
Unfortunately, the G8 doesn’t get nearly as loud as its predecessor, showcasing one of the lowest maximum volume measurements of recent flagships. The phone is still able to somewhat maintain good frontal directionality as the delta between one-handed and two-handed measurements is in line with most phones at ~5dB, although Samsung’s new Galaxy S10 sets the bar at a mere 3.3dB
To test and showcase the new stereo separation of the new stereo speaker setup, I setup a volume measurement with help of a binaural recording rig. The phone is at a 40cm distance for the recording:
Here, we see the clear difference between phones with stereo and mono speakers. In particular, the G8 is able to massively improve over the G7, and this creates a much better listening experience. It’s to be noted that most phones still have a slight volume bias towards the right main speaker, with the Pixel 3 being the exception where the earpiece unit sounds louder than the bottom front speaker.
While in terms of stereo playback the G8 represents a big jump over the G7, the quality of the audio still very much lags behind the competition. While the G8’s speakers aren’t bad, they’re somewhat still prone to distortions at the highest volume levels. More importantly, Samsung’s S10 has much better bass, low-ends, and high-end treble than the G8, resulting in significantly better clarity.
Nevertheless, the G8’s speaker system is a good improvement over its predecessor. I was particularly surprised how well the under-screen speaker worked, even though again it’s just not as good as a proper powerful earpiece design. I wonder if LG would be able to shift the unit further up the phone, as currently it sits below the level of the rear cameras. One thing however is for sure: LG needs to improve its speaker audio processing as the competition has shown just how much better one can make speakers sound through software alone.
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liteon163 - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
More evidence to be used against LG when upgrading from my V30 when it breaks...MananDedhia - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
I currently use a V20 and feel exactly the same.rocketman122 - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
I have a V20 and the reason I never upgraded was no swappable batteries.for those whove never tried it, you should. you go from 5% to 100% in 1 minute. I carry no extra charging cable or charger, I slip an extra battery in my wallet and always have my screen brightness at 100%. never worried about battery draining.
at home the phone is never connected to any cable. I simply charge the other battery in the cradle
LG has massive issues with their phones imo. the g4 bootloop I went through. issues with the camera glass breaking on my v20 and aftermarket batteries dont work well as well.
unfortunately im getting a 2nd v20 to have because of the swapping batteries. huge plus for me.
amosbatto - Saturday, May 11, 2019 - link
For the life of me, I can't figure out why at least one phone manufacturer doesn't offer a decent phone with a removable battery. All the phone makers have decided that we want to throw away our phones after using them for 2 years, because the batteries no longer hold a decent charge.For the love of God, give us a phone that is designed to survive a drop or two. Making phones with glass backs, no bezels for protection and curved edges where the screen is higher than the bezel is insane. It really bothers me that this review had no evaluation of how well the LG G8 will survive a drop, but it spends so much time talking about its 0.6 mm increase in the thickness, as if anyone cares. The LG V20 was the last decent phone that LG made because it had a removable battery and was designed to survive normal drops.
HTC, Motorola/Lenovo, LG and Sony are losing millions of dollars every quarter trying to sell phones, but none of them have figured out that maybe they should off something different, like a durable phone that is not based on planned obsolescence. The reviewers like Frumusanu would tell us how horrible it feels to hold a phone with a polycarbonate case, compared to a glass case, and how thick the bezels are, and how we simply can't live without IP68 rating, but those of us who care about the longevity and lasting value of our phones would buy it in droves.
I have gotten so disgusted with the planned obsolescence in the phone industry and the monetization of my data and the collection of my data to train AIs, that I have decided to crowdfund the Purism Librem 5. I am willing to accept a lousy processor (NXP i.MX 8M), low screen resolution (720p), and a low camera quality, just to get a phone that is designed to last 5 years, protects my personal data, respects my digital rights and allows me to unlock the bootloader and install any operating system that I want (PureOS, Linux+KDE Plasma Mobile, UBports, LineageOS or PostmarketOS).
Here is what a phone should have, but is is impossible to buy such a phone:
1. Removable battery
2. Plastic or metal case with thick enough bezels to protect the screen
3. MicroSD slot
4. 3.5 mm audio jack
5. Dual front facing speakers
6. Unlockable bootloader
7. Designed to be opened using a Phillips screwdriver, so it can be repaired, not pried apart using a heat gun, suction cups and plastic spudgers, and I shouldn't have to reglue the f*ing thing.
jifarina - Tuesday, May 14, 2019 - link
Maybe add an IR blaster ;). I love my v20.Vitor - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
LG and its crazy colors...I would feel disappointed the day their displays are not a disappointement. It always deliveries the lulz.PeachNCream - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
Non-flagship phone...Starting at $620...
It should be a real pleasure to take that one up the financial backside. I hope LG includes some sort of lubricant with the higher end V50 since the price is likely in the $1K range given how they price out the supposedly more affordable G8. I did just buy an LG, but it was a refurb Rebel 3 from Tracfone for $10 - 5 inch screen, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, removable battery (oddly absent from anything high end), and if it lives the next couple of years, I'll have sunk a total of $345 into two years of mobile service plus the cost of the handset (300 for airtime, 10 for the phone, 35 for a case, screen protector, and possibly a fresh battery after a year). It's balls out stupid to pay anything more than that for a phone when you could be tossing that money into some sort of interest bearing investment or workplace-funded retirement account so it can compound for you over the coming years. Every little bit makes a considerable difference over a long time horizon.
Bulat Ziganshin - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
poor americans. here in russia i have 100 Mbit landline, 400 min voice + unlim 4G on smartphone - all that for $5/monthNicko_ - Thursday, May 2, 2019 - link
Here in france, you can have unlimited voice/sms/rcs/mms & 60gigs of data (in 4g+/LTE) for just 9.99 bucks (or unlimited data for 15.99€ it depends). So when I look for google fi or other I just fell in apple so much that is expensive xDPeachNCream - Thursday, May 2, 2019 - link
Eh, there's nothing I can do to change the costs associated with living in the US.