LG's response to folding smartphones was to include an accessory on the G8X ThinQ that adds a second screen to the device. But does it work? check out
2019 was the year of folding and several manufacturers, as Samsung, Huawei and Motorola, presented their solutions on the market. THE LG he was also one of the examples, but his bet was somewhat “different”: instead of a screen, in fact, foldable, the G8X ThinQ won an accessory that adds a secondary screen to the smartphone.
The accessory, called Dual Screen, brings the same size, resolution, panel quality and display format as the G8X ThinQ, the most powerful smartphone in the LG in 2019 alongside the G8s ThinQ – that we already reviewed here on Showmetech. And by saying "next door", that we can consider him a model of respect, as well as his brother, but with some design differences and the possibility of winning a second canvas.
As a major highlight, be that the second screen of the G8X ThinQ good enough to justify the upgrade? We have been with the model for the past few weeks and our full review you can see in the next lines.
Construction and design
Just like the main smartphones of LG in 2019, the G8X ThinQ it has a very robust construction but does not leave elegance aside. Weighing 192 grams, the front and rear parts are made of glass, but only the front panel coated with Gorilla Glass 6, which gives more resistance against everyday falls – the rear still remains in the Gorilla Glass 5.
Construction of the G8X ThinQ follows the traditional robustness of LGIn addition to reinforced glass, G8X ThinQ brings military resistance MIL-STD 810G, standards developed by the United States Department of Defense capable of certifying telecommunications devices. This means that it has undergone rigorous durability tests, being subjected to extreme temperatures and shock, to withstand more than other external adversity models.
Rear also in glass and there is no leveling for the cameraIn spite of that, it is always good to make it clear: no playing with luck and letting the smartphone fall several times on rougher or harder surfaces – it is not unbreakable. To finish the set, the G8X ThinQ waterproof and dustproof (IP68 certified), that is, you can immerse it in fresh water for up to 30 minutes at 1 and a half meters deep without it being damaged. Alert: do not use it on beaches and avoid contact with chlorine water for a long time.
Its sides are metal and, looking from the side, it seems to be thinner than the G8s ThinQ – despite being 0.4mm thick. Still, the grip is just as good, even with just one hand. Leaving the rear, the fingerprint sensor jumped into the screen, which facilitates unlocking with one hand. A curious fact about the sensor is a light that emits from the screen as soon as it recognizes the finger. It does not affect the unlocking of the smartphone, fast and accurate, incidentally, but visually strange.
Fingerprint sensor is inside the screen and very accurateCorrecting the strange position of the On / Off button G8s ThinQ, O G8X ThinQ positioned the button a little more in the center, which facilitates touch with one hand. THE LG also kept the button dedicated to Google Assistant, 3.5mm headphone jack and USB-C port for charging and data transfer.
In the rear there were also changes: the LG removed the telephoto camera from G8X ThinQ and the gap in relation to the smartphone, but kept the main and ultra wide-angle cameras.
There are only two cameras, but no level differenceScreens
The screen G8X ThinQ increased by 0.2 inches compared to his brother, to 6.4 inches and occupying about 83% of the entire frontal area. Instead of clipping, or notch, in the style iPhone 11, a LG chose to follow the pattern of the 2019 models, in a drop shape, just to house the front camera. In practice, it gives more field of view and does not irritate much. Despite this, there is a software option that hides the notch by adding a black bar at the top.
OLED panel technology, LG, which, as expected, brings very vivid colors and a deep black. Here in the Showmetech we have already evaluated and praised several smart TVs of the company precisely for the OLED technology to bring so much quality in the images, and in smartphones in the different. With Full HD + resolution, watch movies, series, videos on YouTube It is a very good experience, even more combined with the HDR10 standard which makes the colors even more saturated – particularly, I like it a lot.
O Always on Display (Screen always on, in literal translation) sazq is also present in the G8X ThinQ to its full potential. With it you can view some information, such as date, time, notifications, with the screen off. The differential that only the essentials displayed on the screen, different from the screens IPS LCD that light up the entire front panel.
Dual Screen
Dual Screen makes the G8X ThinQ busierNow on to what matters: the second screen. O Dual Screen it works as a protective cover with a lid that offers two additional screens as a gift. The first is at the front of the accessory, with 2.1 inches, to show more basic information such as notifications, date, time and battery level. I noticed that the display quality is not so good, leaving some details kind of blurred. But it didn't get in the way.
Cover screen has dubious quality, but serves for basic informationThe internal screen of the cover is identical to the main screen, including the format with the notch on the top even without a front camera. Its performance is also excellent, bringing vivid colors, intense shine and a very deep black.
The secondary screen connects to the smartphone via the USB-C port, an interesting solution that brings a shorter response time than if connected via Bluetooth.
Experience of a second screen on the G8X ThinQ
G8X ThinQ's second screen a little confusingTheoretically, promising. Practically confused. THE LG had a brilliant idea of ​​making the Dual Screen more of an extension of the first screen than a second screen itself. For example, it’s interesting to have a second screen stored in your backpack to use when you want to work and watch videos at the same time, or play using the Dual Screen like a gamepad. The problem is that you can't use it as a cover, because it makes your smartphone MUCH heavier and thicker.
Another point that needs to be highlighted is the adaptation of the LG to work with two screens. With the exception of some apps owned by LG and partnerships with game developers, the two screens do not work very well together. The impression is that there are two separate smartphones sharing the same hardware and software, but that do not interact with each other.
Accessory, dubbed Dual Screen, adds a second screen to the G8X ThinQMost popular applications, such as Chrome or YouTube, are not adapted for multitasking on both screens, that is, it is not possible to drag content from one screen to another, open a video without leaving the other, for example.
To mention that there is no synchrony between the two screens, you can even browse the internet in horizontal mode, taking advantage of the entire length of the screens to read content, but there is a big hinge in it that makes reading somewhat strange.
Still, the Dual Screen it can be an excellent choice mainly for gamers. The virtual gamepad is particularly the best resource. It is possible to change formats, customize for each game, and the most interesting thing is that the latency is drastically reduced, since the connection is made via USB-C and Bluetooth, that is, there will be almost no delay between your command and the action in the game. .
Making Dual Screen a gamepad is one of the best features, since latency is not so highCameras
Theoretically one downgrade in relation to G8s ThinQ, O G8X ThinQ It is equipped with “only” two rear cameras – and I say “only” because the current standard calls for three upwards. The main camera has 12MP with f / 1.8 aperture, Dual Pixel and OIS, followed by a 13MP ultra wide angle with slightly larger aperture, f / 2.4, which captures more objects in the same scene. Both cameras support HDR.
In the clicks, I noticed a very good quality in the photos with the main camera in open scenery and almost perfect lighting. Post-processing to the measure and adds more saturation to the images, which particularly pleases me more than the realism of G8s ThinQ.
Even without a telephoto lens, the G8X ThinQ makes the famous portrait mode, but via software. The result is not one of the best I have tested, the object photographed is not contoured correctly.
Indoors or in low light, a smarter night mode or something similar to Motorola put on your intermediate smartphones with Quad Pixel. The f / 1.8 at aperture helps to bring more light into the sensor, but still has noticeable noises and little sharpness.
The second camera, in turn, is ultra wide angle, which I define as “camera to fit the whole family” and that's it. The angle of view is decent, but there are distortions that can be annoying in landscape photos, besides that at night you will find much more noise than in the main camera.
The front camera has 32MP with f / 1.9 aperture and HDR. The images surprised me, but neither do they stand out in relation to the competitors.
Hardware and software
As well as the G8s ThinQ, O G8X ThinQ equipped with the Snapdragon 855 processor, from Qualcomm, an octa-core with the following clocks: 1 Ă— 2.84 GHz Kryo 485 & 3 Ă— 2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4 Ă— 1.78 GHz Kryo 485. In practice, it means that you will be able to rotate everything with the device without choking or locking. It even comes with an Adreno 640 GPU, 6GB of RAM and 126GB of storage, more than enough set for multitasking features or various apps and games in memory. An increase in capacity would be welcome, but luckily there is an entry for a memory card of up to 1TB.
THE LG it also removed some “bullets” from the G8s ThinQ, as the function Air Motion. This allowed the screen to make better use of the front area, which is much more useful.
We have already commented on how the software behaves with the two screens, but it is worth mentioning that the LG has been improving a lot with the interface. It takes advantage of an efficient night mode thanks to the OLED screen, in addition to bringing Always on Display, simpler icons and smoother transitions.
Drums
There are only 4,000mAh of battery that stay on average but also do not stand out. In particular, I expected more because of the addition of an extra screen, which has the same resolution, size and quality. But the autonomy was not bad. During a stress test with maximum brightness only on Wi-Fi, the G8X ThinQ made, on average, 6 hours of screen on. In another test, simulating everyday use, we left the house at 7 am and arrived home at around 9 pm and we still had 35% of battery left.
Remember that the smartphone has fast charging, in case you need to charge it during the day. In this scenario, we recovered about 50% of the battery in just over half an hour, a very good result.
Sound
The sound system is also the same as the G8s ThinQ: there are two narrow speakers with DTS: X 3D technology, which offer a 360 degree immersion sensation with and without headphones. And speaking of headphones, the LG maintained the 3.5mm inlet. During our tests, the stereo is loud and clear, and the pair of headphones that come with the smartphone is quite satisfactory.
Final considerations
Smartphones with an additional screen accessory are not common in the market, and the G8X ThinQ the only one that presented a well thought out solution. However, the adaptation of the UX 9.0 interface to two screens is the main problem that makes the purchase more a choice of status than usability, since multitasking is still quite limited and the screens do not talk to each other. In particular, I would find it more interesting if the LG make available Dual Screen as an accessory part of the smartphone, where the user could choose whether he would like a second screen or not.
As a premium smartphone, the G8X ThinQ it repeats the same quality as its older brother, with a robust and elegant construction, respectful hardware and high quality sound. The cameras are behind most of the 2019 line tops, but they also don't look ugly in most scenarios. However, if you liked the overall G8X, but you think you would not make much use of Dual Screenunfortunately there is no other official way to buy it separate from the Dual Screen, having to spend R $ 5,099 for each package.
And you? Tell us what you think of the solution LG to foldable smartphones. You would make a lot of use of Dual Screen? Leave it in the comments!
Technical specifications
| Technical specifications | G8X ThinQ |
| Dimensions and weight | 159.3 x 75.8 x 8.4 mm |
| Build | Front glass (Gorilla Glass 6) Rear glass (Gorilla Glass 5) Aluminum on the sides |
| Resistance | IP68 (Resistance against water and dust) MIL-STD-810G standard |
| Display | 6.4 ”OLED Full HD + (1080 × 2340 pixels) Gorilla Glass 6DCI-P3 100% HDR10Always on Display |
| Dual Screen | 6.4 ”OLED Full HD + (1080 × 2340 pixels) |
| Operational system | Android 9.0 PieInterface LG UX 9.0 |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Octa-core (1 Ă— 2.84 GHz Kryo 485, 3 Ă— 2.42 GHz Kryo 485.4 Ă— 1.78 GHz Kryo 485) |
| GPU and memory | Adreno GPU 6406GB RAM128GB UFS 2.1 storage Memory card up to 1TB |
| Cmeratraseira | Main: 12MP, f / 1.8, 27mm, 1 / 2.55 ”, 1.4m, Dual pixel PDAF, OIS
Ultrawide: 13MP, f / 2.4, 9mm, 1.0m Recording: (email protected) / 60fps, (email protected) / 60 / 240fps, 24-bit / 192kHz stereo sound rec., Gyro-EIS |
| Front camera | 32MP, f / 1.9, 26mm, 1 / 2.8 ″, 0.8m HDR
Recording: 2160p30fps, gyro-EIS |
| Sound | Narrow speakers 3.5 mm headphone jack DTS: X Surround SoundMic for active noise cancellation |
| Features | WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspotBluetooth: 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX HDGPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDSNFC : YesRadio: FM radioUSB: 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible |
| Drums | 4000mAhFast charging 21W (Quick Charge 4.0) USB Power Delivery 2.0Wireless charging 9W |
| Color | black |
| Price | R $ 5,099 |
G8X ThinQ Dual Screen, LG's dual screen smartphone
- Construction – 10/10
- Design – 9.5 / 10
- Screen – 10/10
- Dual Screen – 6.5 / 10
- Hardware – 9/10
- Software – 6.5 / 10
- Cameras – 8/10
- Drums – 7.5 / 10
- Sound – 9/10
8.4 / 10
Final considerations and cons and cons
The LG G8X ThinQ is a premium smartphone with good design, robust construction, powerful hardware and satisfactory cameras. Its biggest difference, however, the Dual Screen slips on the company's poorly adapted software and makes the accessory something more chic than useful.
Pros
- Military certification and IP68;
- Elegant and sober design;
- High quality OLED screen;
- Top of the line hardware;
- Battery lasts all day;
- Quality stereo sound;
- Dual Screen.
Cons
- Limited software from LG is not yet ready for dual screens.
