The LG G7 ThinQ features a 6.1" IPS LCD screen - an improvement over the 5.7" screen on the G6 and the 6.0" unit on the V30S. It has a resolution of 1,440 x 3,120 pixels (564ppi) and the tallest aspect ratio on a smartphone yet at 19.5:9. The previous LG flagships had the screen resolution of 1,440 x 2,880 pixels, but the LG G6 was the one with 564 ppi density and the G7 is keeping it just as pixel dense.
Fitting such a tall screen while keeping a relatively similar footprint means tiny bezels, while its underlying RGBW pentile matrix promises high brightness and OLED-like sunlight legibility with up to 1000 nits with the outdoor boost mode.
The G7 boasts spectacular contrast for an LCD - upwards of 2000:1. It has impressively deep blacks and a very good maximum brightness of 460 nits. That is if you opt for the default Auto mode.
When we triggered the outdoor brightness, which can last for up to three minutes, we measured a maximum brightness of 920 nits. That's close to the promised 1000 nits by the manufacturer.
Minimum brightness is 3.3nits, so it'll be easy on the eyes if you're using it in a dark setting.
Display test | 100% brightness | ||
Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
0.225 | 460 | 2044 | |
0.499 | 920 | 1844 | |
0.228 | 468 | 2053 | |
0.277 | 564 | 2036 | |
0.17 | 306 | 1855 | |
0.20 | 378 | 1881 | |
0.002 | 414 | 207000 | |
0.032 | 616 | 19250 | |
0 | 370 | ∞ | |
0 | 658 | ∞ | |
0.2 | 366 | 1830 | |
0.214 | 389 | 1818 | |
0 | 679 | ∞ | |
0.431 | 618 | 1434 | |
0 | 412 | ∞ | |
0 | 582 | ∞ |
Sunlight legibility is very good without the outdoor boost. Activating this mode will help for an OLED-like sunlight contrast with excellent visibility and colors.
LG promises a complete DCI-P3 color space support for the G7 display and we confirm the display covers all those colors. The reproduction is far from accurate though with an average DeltaE of 7.5 and maximum deviation of 13 at point white. There is a noticeable bluish tint over the white and grays, while the rest of the base hues look over-saturated.
If you want more accurate presentation, you can drag the slider for color temperature all the way to Warm. Then you'll get a fairly accurate screen with an average DeltaE of 6.
On the subject of colors, the G7 is compliant with both Dolby Vision and HDR10 video formats. Among other things, the former means the G7 is capable of displaying 12-bit color (or 68 billion colors). Of course, this won't make much difference without the right HDR10 video content.
The LG G7 is powered by a 3,000mAh battery - that's some 300 mAh less than last year's G6. The G7 has a larger display, but it also has a new chipset that in theory should be more power efficient.
Just before we were ready to publish this review, a new OTA update arrived on our South Korean unit (ver. V10p),, and it had a long changelog. One of the improvements it claimed was improved battery life. And indeed, upon retesting, the standby endurance improved noticeably post-update. The Endurance rating below reflects that.
The individual tests, the LG G7 scored somewhat similar scores to the G6's (the call test and video test), and did better on web browsing.
That is with the always-on display turned off. Switch on AOD and you'll be looking at a significantly lower number (52h). Of course, this is with the visualisation always turned on. As a middle ground, you can always have it on during specific hours of the day.
LG states that the G7 is Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 compatible and bundles a charger to do the job. It's rated at 9V/1.8A and a 30min charging session gets the G7 from flat to 40%. LG has also optimized its charging algorithms to fine-tune the charging process depending on the battery's age and current temperature thus improving the battery's long-term life. We get the feeling it might be something along the lines of Qnovo tech implemented in Sony Xperia phones.
The LG G7 also has wireless charging support built-in. We tried it with the Samsung Fast Wireless Charging Pad (rated 9V/1.67A) and it takes a few minutes north of three hours for a full charge. Not bad, all things considered.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the LG G7 ThinQ for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern, so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
The new Boombox speaker is firing at the bottom of the phone. It uses the empty space in the G7's hull as speaker chamber and thus it amplifies the sound by some extent. We won't call it exactly 'room-filling' audio (unless it's a really small room we're talking about), but it definitely sounds and feels louder than the current competitors we've tested.
Naturally, we've put the speaker through our loudspeaker test and we measured some quite high numbers. And mind you, we've excluded the occasional peaks which went beyond 90db.
As expected, the LG G7 scored one of the loudest numbers in our database and received an Excellent mark for that. The sound is crisp and deep. We would have preferred a stereo speaker setup, but we sure do acknowledge LG's efforts as the results are quite satisfactory.
Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing | Overall score | |
66.8 | 68.8 | 74.5 | Good | |
68.7 | 70.9 | 73.5 | Good | |
70.2 | 74.7 | 70.0 | Good | |
66.1 | 71.8 | 78.1 | Good | |
68.9 | 74.0 | 76.2 | Very Good | |
68.1 | 72.3 | 82.2 | Very Good | |
66.9 | 72.3 | 84.5 | Very Good | |
68.5 | 74.3 | 81.1 | Very Good | |
71.8 | 69.2 | 91.0 | Excellent | |
78.3 | 76.4 | 82.3 | Excellent | |
76.0 | 73.6 | 88.5 | Excellent |
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
The LG G7 ThinQ impressed in the active external amplifier part of our audio test through the jack. It delivered high loudness matched with perfect clarity, wrapping up a performance as good as they come.
Plugging in the headphones brought the volume down significantly - the G7 ThinQ was actually below average in this case which was surprising and means bigger headphones might not be as loud as we would like.
The good news is clarity was barely affected and even the usual increase in stereo crosstalk was very minor. So unless you have very high impedance headphones, which the G7 might struggle to drive at sufficient loudness, its performance is really exemplary.
Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
+0.01, -0.02 | -94.0 | 93.6 | 0.0011 | 0.0066 | -93.0 | |
+0.04, -0.03 | -93.7 | 93.2 | 0.0017 | 0.046 | -73.0 | |
+0.02, -0.01 | -93.2 | 93.1 | 0.0008 | 0.0069 | -94.2 | |
+0.03, -0.02 | -92.9 | 92.9 | 0.0057 | 0.051 | -68.1 | |
+0.01, -0.02 | -93.6 | 93.7 | 0.0009 | 0.0069 | -93.8 | |
+0.17, -0.10 | -92.9 | 93.2 | 0.0043 | 0.158 | -61.3 | |
+0.02, -0.15 | -94.3 | 94.3 | 0.0021 | 0.0069 | -94.3 | |
+0.18, -0.13 | -93.7 | 93.6 | 0.0024 | 0.104 | -52.7 | |
+0.44, -0.12 | -90.1 | 90.2 | 0.0056 | 0.016 | -88.7 | |
+0.51, -0.12 | -89.8 | 89.9 | 0.0097 | 0.043 | -39.9 | |
+0.01, -0.03 | -92.6 | 92.5 | 0.0012 | 0.0076 | -93.4 | |
+0.03, -0.03 | -92.2 | 92.2 | 0.0017 | 0.042 | -76.3 |
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
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