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New LG flagship due in SA in June

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 24 May 2018
The LG G7 ThinQ smartphone.
The LG G7 ThinQ smartphone.

LG's flagship device, the LG G7 ThinQ, will be available in SA for R13 999.

The South Korean company skipped the usual launch of its top-end smartphone at Mobile World Congress in February, and instead chose to delay the unveiling by a couple of months.

Compared to its rivals, the LG G7 ThinQ is competitively priced. And unlike Huawei, Samsung and Apple, LG released a flagship in only one size. The 6.1-inch bezel-less device has a 19.5:9 ratio (which means it is longer but not wider) and features 64GB internal memory with an expandable SD card slot.

The only flagships that are cheaper than the LG G7 are the 5.8-inch Huawei P20 (R12 999), and the 4.7-inch iPhone 8 (R13 499). The 5.8-inch Samsung S9 is close in price at R14 599.

Deon Prinsloo, GM for mobile communication at LG Electronics, says every device sold in SA will come with a premium accessory kit that includes a 64GB SD card, wireless desktop charger and Bluetooth headset.

The LG G7 ThinQ is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform, has 4GB of RAM, is dust- and water-resistant, and has a range of artificial intelligence (AI) features. LG has partnered with Google to integrate the tech giant's virtual digital assistant into the device.

Google Assistant now has a dedicated button under the volume buttons on the side of the phone. Pressing it once launches Google Assistant without users having to say "OK Google". However, the phone features "super-far-field voice recognition" which lets Google Assistant recognise voice commands from up to 5m away.

Pressing this button twice will launch Google Lens, a smart camera that uses AI to give users more information about what the phone is being pointed at, such as landmarks, plants, animals, books as well as identify text, visit Web sites, add business cards to contacts, and add events to calendars.

The new flagship keeps its double rear dual-camera set-up, both 16MP but one wide angle and one standard angle. The front-facing camera features 8MP. Its camera has 19 pre-set camera modes which use AI to identify what is in the scene and apply the most suitable settings to get the best picture.

The LG G7 ThinQ has a super-bright display with means it can be viewed clearly even in direct sunlight.

"The LG G7 ThinQ is strongly focused on the fundamentals and its launch marks a new chapter for our company," says Prinsloo. "Through the combination of personalised and useful AI functionalities with meaningful smartphone features, this is LG's most convenient and 'in the moment' smartphone yet."

LG G7 ThinQ specifications:

Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Display: 6.1-inch
Memory: 4GB RAM / 64GB ROM with microSD slot
Rear camera: 16MP (F1.9 / 107^0) / 16MP (F1.6 / 71^0)
Front camera: 8MP (F1.9 / 80^0)
Battery: 3 000mAh
OS: Android 8.0 Oreo
Size: 153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9mm
Weight: 162g

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