The LG G8 ThinQ smartphone features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, a 6.1 inch, 3120 x 1440 pixel OLED display, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Basically, the phone has everything you’d expect from a flagship Android phone in 2019.

But when LG unveiled the phone in February, the company also introduced a few features you might not expect, including a front camera system that uses Time of Flight (ToF) technology to sense depth, enabling secure facial recognition and support for using touch-free gestures to control the phone.

It’s also the first smartphone to let you use palm vein authentication to unlock your device.

Now LG has revealed US pricing and availability for the LG G8 ThinQ. It goes up for pre-order on March 29th and should be available in stores starting April 11th.

LG says the phone will be offered at AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular as well as Xfinity Mobile, Best Buy, and B&H.

With an $820 price tag, the phone isn’t exactly cheap. But LG says some customers may qualify for up to $150 off depending on the wireless carrier and/or retailer where they buy the phone.

The version of the phone sold in the US will have two rear cameras:

  • 16MP wide-angle camera (f1.9 / 1.0μm / 107Ëš)
  • 12MP standard camera (f1.5 / 1.4μm / 78Ëš)

On the front of the phone, there’s an 8MP (f1.7 / 1.22μm / 80Ëš) camera and a ToF camera.

Unlike many modern smartphones, the LG G8 ThinQ has both a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card reader that can support cards up to 2TB.

Other features include a 32-bit Hi-Fi quad DAC, HDR10 support, a 3,500 mAh battery, a USB Type-C port and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 support. The phone features 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC and it’s rated IP68 for water and dust resistance.

press release

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10 replies on “LG G8 ThinQ launches in the US on April 11th (for $820)”

    1. How is this phone boring? It has palm vein authentication, a headphone jack, a microSD card slot, a 32-bit Hi-Fi quad DAC and HDR10 support. None of these are easy to find on flagship phones these days.

        1. I also like that it has NFC, a Flat Display (Glass Protectors), IP68 waterproofing, and MTL-spec for some shock resistance (a major issue with previous LG phones and weak ribbon/lego connectors).
          …again, none of these things are common in flagships anymore.

          Not to mention it has a great screen, chipset and cameras.

          Though I wished it was a little shorter (16:9) and that it had a decent speaker (ie/ front-firing stereo loudspeakers) like the ZTE Axon7, Razer Phone 2, Xiaomi BlackShark 2, ASUS RoG Phone etc etc.

  2. I have to give it to LG. They keep trying to be relevant in the smartphone market. I like some of their unique features and even owned a LG phone a few years ago. The boot-loop fiasco which took way too long to correct and their continuing bad reputation when it comes to updates makes it hard to even consider them whenever it is time for an upgrade. Perhaps if they adopted Android One and gave a two year replacement guarantee for malfunctioning phones, I might put them back on the list.

    2. I didn’t think that their update policy was that bad. I seem to recall the security updates happening every other month. But yes, the boot loop thing and other reliability issues did hurt them.

      My problem is more with paying over $300 for a phone in 2019. As processors advanced and became more efficient I found the mid-range processors to be more than sufficient and offer better battery life. Unfortunately the mid-range processor market has stagnated some, so there are not a lot of new options there now, meaning buying a new phone would mean my old phone died.

      1. An alternative to mid-range is refurbished former flagships. A refurbished Pixel XL can be had for under $180 from Amazon’s Renewed program, which provides three month’s warranty and is guaranteed to work and look as new or money back. The original Pixels are also going to get Android Q later this year.

        The specs still match or better the newest sub-$300 phones in all aspects other than the form factor (i.e. small or no bezels).

        1. The only problem with that approach is that the clock is ticking on official support for older phones. With some phones you can sort of get around this by installing a custom ROM with the latest security patches, but that’s more work that some folks want to jump through.

          Then again, there are plenty of current-gen mid-range devices that barely ever receive OS or security updates. So maybe this isn’t as big a deal as I think. 🙂

          1. Yeah, I don’t think it’s a big deal either, especially since app support is pretty much guaranteed for around seven years by which time 99% of the Android market has moved on anyway.

            Most people stick to the same few popular apps, so the lack of security updates isn’t that big a deal as long as they stick to installing apps from the Google Play store, and I suspect most Android users aren’t even aware of the latest bells and whistles in Android Pie.

            Custom ROMs are great — the LG G2 I passed on to my parents sports Lineage OS these days — but as you say, that’s beyond what most users can do — the vast majority, in fact, so it’s not really a factor.

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