Most US consumers still get their phones from carriers because of subsidies. It makes the purchase feel less expensive than it really is, even if the total is almost always a lot more than retail. OEMs and retailers have tried to come up with ways to wean buyers away from that tradition. Amazon's answer is the somewhat controversial Prime Exclusives phones, which now welcome the already budget-friendly LG K30 among its ranks.
While most people might have eyes on the incoming launch of the LG G7 ThinQ, today the company is also bolstering its mid-range Q line. LG has announced the Q7, which claims to further blur the line behind mid-range and high-end devices. In fact, there are three different models being announced today: The standard Q7, Q7α, and the Q7+.
The LG G7 ThinQ is on the horizon, which means that it's time for carriers to begin announcing the deals and promotions they'll offer on the phone. T-Mobile, like it does with a lot of flagship phones, revealed today that it'll be running a buy one, get one free promotion on the LG G7 ThinQ. While we've come to expect such promotions from T-Mobile, the pricing it's given the G7 ThinQ leaves us scratching our heads.
There were rumors that LG, like HTC, would be cutting down on its flagship devices this year. Apparently that's not entirely true. While LG has yet to actually show any sign of having something for later this year, like an LG V40, it isn't done with modifying last year's V series phone. After the LG V30 and the LG V30S ThinQ comes the LG V35 ThinQ. And if this leaked spec list is true, it's going to be an LG G7 ThinQ in a V30's clothing.
A bunch of new LG ThinQ TVs were announced this week at Google IO 2018. This isn't the first we've heard of this connection - it's just that now, it's for realz. It's a strange thing, announcing once back at CES 2018 that LG and Google had plans to do this, then again, now, when Google and LG confirmed that, yes, they are indeed going to push that Google Assistant to the LG TVs that are otherwise branded LG OLED TV AI ThinQ.
With the launch of the LG G7 ThinQ, some might despair that LG will start to have selective amnesia over its previous phones. Luckily, LG is trying to turn over a new leaf and even established a new center dedicated solely to speeding up software updates. Last year's LG V30 and V30+ just recently got its Android 8.0 Oreo update from carriers like Verizon and AT&T, and now T-Mobile is doing the same with one catch: you have to manually install the update.
Most of the news on LG this week has been focused on the introduction of the new G7 ThinQ flagship, but the company has another new phone arriving in the US. Dubbed the K30, it's a budget-friendly, midrange device that's an updated version of the K10, which was announced at this year's Mobile World Congress back in February, and it's being offered by T-Mobile.
LG told us we could expect its new G7 ThinQ on all the major US carriers, but it seems at least one is sitting out the new Android smartphone. Though unveiled earlier this week, the G7 ThinQ isn't due to hit shelves until the start of June, with preorders expected across multiple carriers toward the end of May.
Twenty-four hours after a new flagship smartphone debuts, we're meant to be excited, and that means the LG G7 ThinQ has a problem. Yes, the name is silly - it's pronounced "Think-Cue" not "Think," incidentally - and sure, the notch is controversial, but LG's biggest issue is apathy. A new smartphone is meant to be exciting. The G7 ThinQ is not.
The LG G7 ThinQ was a poorly-kept secret, but the bigger question is how this new Android phone fits in with the rest of LG's range and the smartphone segment as a whole. It's not short on buzzwords, certainly, with LG name-checking AI and promising tech to keep audiophiles, photographers, and even notch-haters satisfied. Read on for what you need to know.
The LG G7 ThinQ is official, but two big questions remain: when can you buy it, and how much will it cost? In the aftermath of LG's big reveal, carriers are wading in to give at least some of the availability details you need on this AI-savvy smartphone.
In some ways the new LG G7 ThinQ shares more in common with the LG V30, than it does its G Series predecessors. The smartphone company's 2018 Android Oreo flagship is its latest bet on artificial intelligence (AI) as a mobile must-have, baking machine smarts into everything from the camera to dedicated hardware. As I found out when I tried the G7 ThinQ myself, in some ways that works better than others.