Gadgetory

The LG G8 ThinQ. LG has been playing it safe on the sidelines for the past few years. You might have even forgot they existed. But LG is back with the new G8 and a few magical features you probably never thought you might need. It's time to find out if the new LG G8 is durable. This video is sponsored by ExpressVPN. Let's get started. [Intro] LG went with a super minimal design this year with no camera bump and a pretty average looking notch up top. I do think it's pretty funny that the phone still comes with a warning about not removing the battery...like that could ever happen on accident. The whole thing is still glued shut ridiculously tight. It takes a professional like 10 minutes to open up the glass with blazing heat, so no one's ever gonna take the battery out on accident. Let's start with the scratch test. These Mohs hardness picks help us differentiate between different minerals and materials. Plastic scratches at a level 3, glass scratches at a 5 or a 6, and sapphire scratches at an 8 or a 9. The G8 is using Gorilla Glass 5 on the front, which means we should start seeing scratches at a level 6, with deeper grooves at a level 7. And indeed, we do. It's pretty much the standard. Normal car keys and coins won't cause any damage, but anything above a level 5 will scratch your screen. Like granite, quartz, or other minerals found in nature, they can make way into your pocket as dust and cause micro abrasions. So screen protectors are always a good idea. The LG G8 has two cameras on the front: a normal 8 megapixel selfie camera, and another time-of-flight 3D camera like the one we saw on the Huawei P30 Pro. I'll talk about how cool this TOF camera is in a second, but first notice that there's no earpiece. LG is using the same under screen vibration projection technology that that P30 Pro used instead of having a physical earpiece speaker. I'll check it out from the inside of course in the teardown video. LG calls it a crystal sound OLED speaker, but I bet it's just a vibrator. It is pretty aesthetic though to see the curve of the glass continue all the way up to the frame instead of having a hole up top. I like it. And yeah, the LG G8 does some interesting things like remember where you parked a car, or remember when it's time to get off the subway. But the coolest thing about LG G8 is its ability to be magically controlled by gestures using that 3D time-of-flight camera on the front. Like check this out – without touching my screen, I can hold my hand above the display, bring my fingers together and then activate my YouTube app, or turn on music by shifting my hand left or right. And then do it again to get my video to play or pause. And I can rotate my hand left or right to adjust the volume all the way up or down. You can see my hand rotating in real time in the center. [YouTube video volume getting louder.] Granted, the technology is still in its infancy and isn't perfect, but I can definitely see this getting way cooler with time....Ironman-style. Especially now that so many other companies like Samsung and Huawei are using time-of-flight cameras in their phones. Like let's say my timer goes off, but my hands are dirty from a project, I don't have to touch the phone, I can just turn the alarm off with the gesture. [Beeping sounds] I think it's pretty cool. The sides of the LG G8 are made from aluminum, but doesn't have the same thin anodized feel as other phones. The paint seems more glossy and smooth. It doesn't matter much to me since I always have a case on my personal phone, but it's still interesting. The LG G8 does have expandable memory with an SD card slot inside its ip68 water resistant SIM card tray. It fits up to two terabytes – gotta love that. Nothing cool up here at the top though, just more of the glossy painted aluminum. The left side has a dedicated Google Assistant button, and the normal volume keys – all made from metal. Down along the bottom we have our loudspeaker grill, the USB-C port, and a headphone jack. LG remains one of the more feature rich phones on the market. The back of the phone is covered in a slab of glass with wireless charging. All of the logos are underneath the glass and protected from scratching. The rear physical fingerprint scanner is also unscratchable which is nice. The oddest thing about this back panel is the lack of camera lens. Every other smartphone has a separate piece of glass covering and protecting the internal camera lenses, whether raised or flush, but this time around LG just used the back glass panel itself to protect the 12 megapixel standard camera, 16 megapixel ultra wide camera, and 12 megapixel telephoto camera. Some markets only have two rear cameras by the way, but the minimalist flush look is rather nice. I do think that with the whole back panel being the lens, it might be more prone to breaking, but it does look sleek. Another interesting aspect of the G8 is beyond the normal fingerprint and face unlock features, it also has something called Hand ID that unlocks the phone using the veins and hand patterns on your palm, like some kind of Jedi trick or something. It was pretty quick and only worked on the hand that I set it up with. My other hand was not able to unlock the phone, so that's good. I do like that LG is over here doing cool things and being unique. The bezels might not be the smallest, but the screen of the LG G8 is 6.1 inches at 1440 x 3120p resolution, and lasts 18 seconds under the heat from my flame before turning white like other LED displays. Liquid crystal displays would go black and recover – these marks are permanent. With the simple curved glass screen and flush rear camera lens, it's time to see how structurally sound the LG G8 is. LG has usually done pretty well on my durability tests, and this flagship appears to be no different with the subtlest of flexes when bent from the back, and a minor flex when bent from the front. There's no sign of damage or kinks or adhesive separation along the front or rear glass panels. The LG G8 is a solid device and I am looking forward to see what LG does with that gesture technology in the future. Plus, LG has a free two year warranty option instead of the normal one year manufacturer warranty. You gotta like a company that treats their customers well. I approve. Speaking of being treated well, the internet is not always a nice place, and the best way to keep your personal information secure is with a VPN. Thanks to ExpressVPN for sponsoring this video. With one click, ExpressVPN can encrypt all your online traffic and mask your IP address so people can't follow you around on the Internet. This is important when using public Wi-Fi. A VPN allows you to watch YouTube or Netflix videos that might not be available in your country. With 160 server locations in 94 different countries, and 24/7 live customer support, ExpressVPN can keep you safe online, and has a 30 day money back guarantee. To take back your internet privacy today, and find out how you can get three months free by clicking the link in the description: expressVPn.com/jerryrig. That's e-x-p-r-e-s-s-v-p-s dot com slash jerryrig j-e-r-r-y-r-i-g. I've like using ExpressVPN because it's easy and can protect three of my devices simultaneously, like my computer, cellphones, or even gaming consoles – all for less than $7 a month. Thanks again to ExpressVPN for sponsoring this video. Link is down in the description. Let me know what you think of the LG G8 down in the comments. Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. Thanks a ton for watching, and I'll see you around.