LG Teases G8 Audio Capabilities: Confirms OLED Display
by Andrei Frumusanu on February 14, 2019 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- LG
- Mobile
- OLED
- LG G8
- LG G8 ThinQ
Starting last year, LG seems to have made a marketing strategy out of teasing features about their upcoming flagship devices. LG continues this strategy with today’s reveal of an interesting aspect about the upcoming LG G8 ThinQ, which we expect to be unveiled at MWC in Barcelona on February 24th.
For the G7, LG had teased the capabilities of the new generation LCD screen, revealing its brightness characteristics as well as its customisation options. While the screen was indeed very bright, it was rather handicapped by bad colour calibration as well as high base power consumption. The LG V40’s OLED screen showed great picture quality characteristics, however again suffered from even worse base power consumption issues, resulting in quite disappointing battery life results of the phone.
Today’s teaser announcement addresses two things: the main point is LG disclosing about the audio speaker design of the G8, while inadvertently confirming the screen technology of the upcoming flagship.
The new screen/audio technology is called “Crystal Sound OLED”. In essence, LG is using the display assembly and front glass as a speaker diaphragm in order to provide a better audio experience. Based on LG’s description of the feature, it sounds (pun intended) that this display speaker will be optimised for higher frequencies, while we’ll still have a traditional bottom firing main speaker that will take care of lower frequencies such as bass.
Interestingly, LG describes this setup as capable of stereo 2-channel output. This is achieved thanks to the display speaker exciter being located at the top of the phone, opposite the main bottom speaker. Stereo output was something I criticised the LG G7 on as its sound directionality was something the phone lacked in, so I’m glad LG is attempting to address this.
Even though the sound solution is interesting, the most important aspect of today’s announcement is the fact that LG is confirming that the G8 will be coming with an OLED display. LG has attempted OLED phones in the past, but most had mixed results. The company and has had some success in establishing it as a feature of the V-series starting with the V30, but still lagged behind Samsung Display in terms of quality.
The issue is that up till today LG hadn’t managed to deliver a device that didn’t have some picture quality issues all while delivering competitive power efficiency. The LG V40’s OLED screen had addressed the picture quality concerns, however it still showcased vast power issues – something that most of 2018’s phones with LG OLED displays suffered from, in varying degrees of severity, ranging from the Pixel 3, to Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro.
With the confirmation that the G8 will be coming with an OLED display, this marks the first time that LG has decided to use the technology in the G-series. This is an important distinction for the company as the G-series is LG’s “mainstream” flagship with global availability, compared to the more limited market strategy of the V-series. Subsequently, it will be important for LG to get the OLED screen right without any compromises.
We’re looking forward to get our hands on the G8 ThinQ and will be reporting about it at LG’s launch event on the 24th.
Related Reading:
Source: LG Newsroom
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GreenMeters - Thursday, February 14, 2019 - link
Allow the US variant to have its bootloader unlocked or this is DOA.PeachNCream - Thursday, February 14, 2019 - link
There are a lot of phones with locked bootloaders that have no problems in the US market. Not many people are doing the sort of tinkering with their phones that requires that type of access -- which sucks, as far as I'm concerned, since I like having a level of control over a phone that allows me to grab root and load my choice of custom roms that may or may not include shovelware pre-installed apps like the Play Store or two different photo programs, Chrome, and other creep-shot Google bullsh*t they use to collect data.niva - Thursday, February 14, 2019 - link
Just because phones with lack of features have done ok in the US, doesn't mean they couldn't have done better. The truth is that some people, me included, won't ever buy locked phones that can never be updated. I assure you, my money is as green as anyone else's who pays in USD, and I've bought multiple LG Nexus phones over the years, but never any of their locked variants regardless of other "features".Anyways, it's their choice how they conduct business, and our choice as consumers on whether we accept it. None of the major Android manufacturers have gotten it right over the years, that's why Apple continues to dominate the market.
damianrobertjones - Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - link
I remember it well.-New custom cooked rom appears
-47 pages of people posting how amazing the rom is.
-10 more pages saying how awesome the maker is.
-427 pages asking for help with stuff that doesn't work.
-Ignored.
-New rom appears.
I don't miss it at all.
jjj - Thursday, February 14, 2019 - link
Synaptics should have a new display driver for OLED that's lower power, not sure if they announced it yet. Maybe when you take a look at this phone, you could remember to check?Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, February 14, 2019 - link
Synaptics has the design win in the BOE Mate 20 Pro's.I very much doubt LG would use a third-party DDIC.
jjj - Monday, February 18, 2019 - link
Yeah but that's the first gen DDIC, not the lower power new one.Quantumz0d - Thursday, February 14, 2019 - link
Its great on how they are bringing the OLED TV Acoustic Surface type audio to phones. Especially considering how this phone even has an SD Slot, Bass centric speaker system with Apple type chassis spaces / V40 type technology add wireless charging too.And the best part is IP rated, Battery health saving Qnovo Tech, And the hero 3.5mm Headphone jack which is damn good, basically #1. I have a V30S model it has solid panel. Maybe second batch, and the DAC is just phenomenal powering up to 600Ohm sets and 10Ohm as well, really fantastic.
LG G series with G5 had this stupid Localization DAC issue which was fixed with G6 and V30, I hope they get that Bootloader unlock program fast as well. I like their ROM on V30, super good optimization. Why notch, get rid of that as well we will have a super device.
Its a shame how Sony with all their Audiophile centric "Signature" series removed jack for some bs Vibration Motor gimmick. And no Space for Apple ? Another truck load of Koolaid there... See Samsung and LG phones.
Huawei doesnt deserve anything. Show off like some premium brand yet all EMUI looks cloned as hell and HW is cloned from Samsung and Apple shamelessly and bandwagon on worst abominations like Notch. No jack, hole etc. bs when Sh1t hits the fan they made that Proprietary NanoSD rubbish. Bleh..
Xex360 - Thursday, February 14, 2019 - link
I hope they don't put a stupid ugly notch and allow the bootloader to be unlocked, I adore LG phones (I still have a v20) but after the "disaster" of the G6 when they made the stupid decision to go with a year old SOC, even worse when they put the unnecessary notch to essentially make the phone unusable even though they had a way more usable and pleasing solution with their v10 adn v20. LG have an opportunity to make a great phone and bring back some personality if they stear from of the stupid trends we are stuck in.