Review and Audio Measurement of LG G7 ThinQ Smartphone

[έχω δίκιο]

I too was suckered into the Apple walled maze and still have several remnants floating around this house that refuse to die.

I don't get "suckered" when buying tech products. I've got too many years of engineering experience for that.

 

[Frank Dernie]

I am stuck with Apple anyway since I minimise my exposure to Google, which rules out Android completel;y, however nice the hardware. Shame about youtube, can't watch that any more but hey-ho, I have Qobuz CDs...

 

[oliveoilthansnakeoil]

Good measurement! But I'm curious about 'Quad DAC'
Is that good measurement from 'quad thing' or just good implement.

 

[amirm]

Good measurement! But I'm curious about 'Quad DAC'
Is that good measurement from 'quad thing' or just good implement.

I think it is both since even their standard DAC measured well.

 

[n2it]

I am stuck with Apple anyway since I minimise my exposure to Google, which rules out Android completel;y, however nice the hardware. Shame about youtube, can't watch that any more but hey-ho, I have Qobuz CDs...

I am guessing you have a lot of videos purchased from/redeemed in iTunes? And it sounds like you don't want anything synced with google or to use google at all(e.g. contacts or calendar). If those are the constraints it does make it difficult.

In the US, I've found it pretty easy to mix and match (and it continues to get easier) - my family has a mix of Android, iPhones, iPads, Kindle Fire Tablets, Fire TVs, Roku, etc. Also, knowing that I was in mixed environment, I tried to pick services that support both devices.

For audio: I use Apple Music on my Android Phone (the latest beta even supports Android Auto) and I can cast it to a chromecast - and you can also side load Apple Music on Fire TV - and you can get 3rd party apps to cast the music from Android to AirPlay devices. Don't need to cast from Apple Music if you have and Apple TV. When I rip CDs, I rips to both FLAC and at the same time to Apple Lossless to sync with iTunes/Apple Music Cloud. I stream via DLNA server on PC if I want high quality streaming of my own collection (most of the time Apple Music is fine)

For mail/contacts/cal: I use gmail/google to sync contacts (on both Android and iPad/iPhone) - there are also ways to sync those between icloud and google if you want icloud to be the primary. Avoiding google, you can use Microsoft / outlook.com to sync across multiplatform (IOS/Android, etc). You can access icloud email from an Android mail app - I use gmail - my wife (only iphone/ipad) uses hotmail - my wife uses google to sync contacts and cal, but google for nothing else.

For video: I think video is probably hardest if you've got a lot invested and I think for UK you don't have all the same options yet; I am in US and I generally purchase/redeem video at Amazon (because it is now supported pretty broadly/cross platform on Android, IOS, FireTV, Apple TV) and at UltraViolet / Vudu if Amazon not available. Most movies in US (from Disney, WB, Sony, Fox, Universal) can be linked via Movies Anywhere to/from Apple, Amazon, Google, Vudu - so

For browser: I use chrome and sync to my Android Phone/iPad/PC/Mac, but you could use Firefox and do the same across IOS/Mac/PC/Android ...

 

[Frank Dernie]

I am guessing you have a lot of videos purchased from/redeemed in iTunes? And it sounds like you don't want anything synced with google or to use google at all(e.g. contacts or calendar). If those are the constraints it does make it difficult.

In the US, I've found it pretty easy to mix and match (and it continues to get easier) - my family has a mix of Android, iPhones, iPads, Kindle Fire Tablets, Fire TVs, Roku, etc. Also, knowing that I was in mixed environment, I tried to pick services that support both devices.

For audio: I use Apple Music on my Android Phone (the latest beta even supports Android Auto) and I can cast it to a chromecast - and you can also side load Apple Music on Fire TV - and you can get 3rd party apps to cast the music from Android to AirPlay devices. Don't need to cast from Apple Music if you have and Apple TV. When I rip CDs, I rips to both FLAC and at the same time to Apple Lossless to sync with iTunes/Apple Music Cloud. I stream via DLNA server on PC if I want high quality streaming of my own collection (most of the time Apple Music is fine)

For mail/contacts/cal: I use gmail/google to sync contacts (on both Android and iPad/iPhone) - there are also ways to sync those between icloud and google if you want icloud to be the primary. Avoiding google, you can use Microsoft / outlook.com to sync across multiplatform (IOS/Android, etc). You can access icloud email from an Android mail app - I use gmail - my wife (only iphone/ipad) uses hotmail - my wife uses google to sync contacts and cal, but google for nothing else.

For video: I think video is probably hardest if you've got a lot invested and I think for UK you don't have all the same options yet; I am in US and I generally purchase/redeem video at Amazon (because it is now supported pretty broadly/cross platform on Android, IOS, FireTV, Apple TV) and at UltraViolet / Vudu if Amazon not available. Most movies in US (from Disney, WB, Sony, Fox, Universal) can be linked via Movies Anywhere to/from Apple, Amazon, Google, Vudu - so

For browser: I use chrome and sync to my Android Phone/iPad/PC/Mac, but you could use Firefox and do the same across IOS/Mac/PC/Android ...

Thanks for your very helpful and long advice but it is not the sync problem which stops me, I fixed that during my period with an Android phone. I just don't like the way Google works. It may have said "do no evil" at the beginning but they have become greedy, they are the most voracious harvesters of personal data of all, and Android defaults are to a surprising extent orientated at their, and their clients, income not the Android user's benefit, who is offered "free" software.
I wrote software (starting 48 years ago...) and have considered going all Linux but as an old bloke can't be bothered yet, though Apple have sorely tested my patience over the last 2 or 3 years.
I don't stream video because I don't watch much video. I don't stream much music since I mainly listen to classical and the file structure used by everybody makes finding what I want to listen to on line frustrating.
Amazon sent me an email a while ago recommending me a boxed set. I tried to check on their store what was in the box set. It gave a track listing which didn't show the composer at all. This is typical of streaming services too. Qobuz isn't too bad but it is far from good. Roon is hopeless, as is its progenitor Sooloos, which I own and gave up using after a couple of months. Impressive for pop music though.

 

[έχω δίκιο]

I just don't like the way Google works. It may have said "do no evil" at the beginning but they have become greedy, they are the most voracious harvesters of personal data of all, and Android defaults are to a surprising extent orientated at their, and their clients, income not the Android user's benefit, who is offered "free" software.

It's the old saying, "If you're not paying, you're the product."

I wrote software (starting 48 years ago...) and have considered going all Linux but as an old bloke can't be bothered yet, though Apple have sorely tested my patience over the last 2 or 3 years.

I tried, many times, to make Linux my primary desktop OS and I always gave up in frustration. I'd get a distribution that looked promising. It would make it through the installation process and I'd use it for a few days or weeks. And then some problem would come up that would consume two days of my time. Or I'd just want a simple application and I'd have to build the entire thing using an automated build process that puked hundreds of files all over my disk -- whether the build succeeded or not.

I also got tired of all of the herding-cats model for development, with countless distributions, holy wars about window managers with fights breaking out when major upgrades to WMs came out, inconsistent GUIs on applications, and nobody in charge to say "we're not probing for, and supporting your ancient f*****g video, sound, or network card. Buy a new one or stop using computers -- this is asinine."

 

[Jimster480]

Thanks for your very helpful and long advice but it is not the sync problem which stops me, I fixed that during my period with an Android phone. I just don't like the way Google works. It may have said "do no evil" at the beginning but they have become greedy, they are the most voracious harvesters of personal data of all, and Android defaults are to a surprising extent orientated at their, and their clients, income not the Android user's benefit, who is offered "free" software.
I wrote software (starting 48 years ago...) and have considered going all Linux but as an old bloke can't be bothered yet, though Apple have sorely tested my patience over the last 2 or 3 years.
I don't stream video because I don't watch much video. I don't stream much music since I mainly listen to classical and the file structure used by everybody makes finding what I want to listen to on line frustrating.
Amazon sent me an email a while ago recommending me a boxed set. I tried to check on their store what was in the box set. It gave a track listing which didn't show the composer at all. This is typical of streaming services too. Qobuz isn't too bad but it is far from good. Roon is hopeless, as is its progenitor Sooloos, which I own and gave up using after a couple of months. Impressive for pop music though.

I'm a little confused by your post.
As evil as Google is... they aren't doing anything that Apple hasn't already been doing for quite a long time.
Data isn't safe on Apple devices vs Android devices. Its just a different party spying on you.

You can easily get an Android device with real security and limited/no spying, which isn't even possible on the Apple platform considering you aren't allowed to change most of the internal settings.

Most people I have found who "like their iPhone" are people who don't use phones for much of anything.
The problem is when those same people start making wild claims of "best" when they don't even have the foggiest clue of what that would mean.

It's the old saying, "If you're not paying, you're the product."

I tried, many times, to make Linux my primary desktop OS and I always gave up in frustration. I'd get a distribution that looked promising. It would make it through the installation process and I'd use it for a few days or weeks. And then some problem would come up that would consume two days of my time. Or I'd just want a simple application and I'd have to build the entire thing using an automated build process that puked hundreds of files all over my disk -- whether the build succeeded or not.

I also got tired of all of the herding-cats model for development, with countless distributions, holy wars about window managers with fights breaking out when major upgrades to WMs came out, inconsistent GUIs on applications, and nobody in charge to say "we're not probing for, and supporting your ancient f*****g video, sound, or network card. Buy a new one or stop using computers -- this is asinine."

I'm not sure what you are saying... if you are just using a computer normally then none of these things would literally ever be problems for you.
Linux has been mature for quite a long time now, and most apps are installed via an "app store" like portal on major distributions, where this work has been done for you and things "just work".
In terms of saying "I'm not supporting this old hardware, buy new stuff" there are plenty of distributions which do exactly that. They state what they support and what they don't support.
Sure people have always debated over window managers, desktop environments and distro bases (debian vs RHEL) but otherwise mostly everything is working quite well these days on any major distro. And really its been this way for the last 5 or so years now... with things only getting better over time.

I typically find those people who are defending Apple devices, or their use of Apple devices are uninformed or misinformed (sometimes by Apple themselves). Either that or they are simply grasping at straws to justify their usage of Apple devices, trying to ignore the elephant in the room that is Apple's complete lack of ethics, consumer choice or innovation.

 

[derp1n]

It sure would be nice if all this boring phone/ecosystem tribalism was moved to its own thread instead of shitting up this one.

 

[amirm]

I agree. Guys, if you want to debate apple vs android, or any other general topic, please create a dedicated thread for it.

 

[έχω δίκιο]

It sure would be nice if all this boring phone/ecosystem tribalism was moved to its own thread instead of shitting up this one.

I agree. Guys, if you want to debate apple vs android, or any other general topic, please create a dedicated thread for it.

Agreed. As I wrote several days ago, "Let's not turn Audio Science Review into the kind of site where people insult the intelligence and knowledge of others who prefer a different brand of computer or mobile phone."

 

[Jimster480]

Here is an audio-related contribution to this thread:

Especially for those who were debating before about "DAC's in dongles"

I just stumbled upon this video today after watching a Note9 review. Gives some interesting insight aswell as demonstrations of both types of dongles.

 

[audiobill]

Here is an audio-related contribution to this thread:

Especially for those who were debating before about "DAC's in dongles"

I just stumbled upon this video today after watching a Note9 review. Gives some interesting insight aswell as demonstrations of both types of dongles.

Here is an audio-related contribution to this thread:

Especially for those who were debating before about "DAC's in dongles"

I just stumbled upon this video today after watching a Note9 review. Gives some interesting insight aswell as demonstrations of both types of dongles.

Pretty stupid video. First the main reason for USB C is the fact that it is REVERSIBLE. Do you realize how many micro USB phones were damaged by users trying to stuff the plug in backwards! Moving forward, yes there is no clear audio standard which can be a problem, but not like the video shows. No user has a desk full of different phones, and a pile of different audio connectors.

Then we look at users, and why his conclusion to put the jack back was stupid. We are moving forward not backward. First the majority of users never even use headphones with phones and if they do they will be better served with Bluetooth, either talk or music. Bluetooth is better for talk, and gives more than enough quality for the major majority of music users.

Now to the dongle debacle, most will if they need to, will use the proper one for THEIR phone. They will not grab the incorrect one from the imaginary pile they do not have!

Now let's get to you or the others users who want better audio, they will just get a phone with better audio quality (DAC) and a headphone jack exactly like you have. HCT 10, LG V20, V30, G7 etc. Why build every phone with a headphone jack, that often go bad BTW on every phone for a small percentage of users.

 

[Jimster480]

Pretty stupid video. First the main reason for USB C is the fact that it is REVERSIBLE. Do you realize how many micro USB phones were damaged by users trying to stuff the plug in backwards! Moving forward, yes there is no clear audio standard which can be a problem, but not like the video shows. No user has a desk full of different phones, and a pile of different audio connectors.

Then we look at users, and why his conclusion to put the jack back was stupid. We are moving forward not backward. First the majority of users never even use headphones with phones and if they do they will be better served with Bluetooth, either talk or music. Bluetooth is better for talk, and gives more than enough quality for the major majority of music users.

Now to the dongle debacle, most will if they need to, will use the proper one for THEIR phone. They will not grab the incorrect one from the imaginary pile they do not have!

Now let's get to you or the others users who want better audio, they will just get a phone with better audio quality (DAC) and a headphone jack exactly like you have. HCT 10, LG V20, V30, G7 etc. Why build every phone with a headphone jack, that often go bad BTW on every phone for a small percentage of users.

What?
The comments you make suggest that you have never went outside.

Just go to a local mall, you will see people walking around EVERYWHERE with headphones on.
Either IEM's, earbuds or full blown headphones. Most of them wired.

Ride on a train/tram/subway... you will find ALMOST EVERYONE with headphones on, most of them again.... wired.

He's never complaining about USB-C in this video, hes complaining about headphones working or not working.
Btw there are quite a few USB-C headphones on the market now, some are passive and some are active just as he is describing.
They even sell these headphones in TJ Maxx on the way to the checkout line... they are in Best buy and basically every other cell phone/tech store on the planet. Not every one of them is active, and as he points out when you use active ones on some phones you must supply them power.

No progress has been made and Gordon Mah Ung is one of the most respected tech reviewers if not the most respected reviewer / writer on the planet. Hes been reviewing tech for 20+ years now.

 

[Soniclife]

Just go to a local mall, you will see people walking around EVERYWHERE with headphones on.
Either IEM's, earbuds or full blown headphones. Most of them wired.

Ride on a train/tram/subway... you will find ALMOST EVERYONE with headphones on, most of them again.... wired.

I'd be surprised if headphones attached to phones was not the most frequent way people listen to music now, or if not quite yet, soon.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/749709/music-listening-location-age/

 

[Jimster480]

I'd be surprised if headphones attached to phones was not the most frequent way people listen to music now, or if not quite yet, soon.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/749709/music-listening-location-age/

Thats a paid link.

Its surely the most popular way. Just literally leave your house and stop trolling.
You will see it everywhere.... even with people driving on the highway or in traffic with headphones on (the dumbest thing ever).

 

[Soniclife]

Thats a paid link.

Weird, it isn't for me.

 

[Jimster480]

Weird, it isn't for me.

It wont show me any of the details without purchasing some "premium subscription"

 

[amirm]

It wont show me any of the details without purchasing some "premium subscription"

Same here. It quickly hides the data with a pop up that my ad-blocker is not blocking either.

 

[έχω δίκιο]

It wont show me any of the details without purchasing some "premium subscription"

Same here. It shows a fake bar graph with no data or axis labels and then puts up a pop-up advertising a $49/month "Premium Account" subscription to view the actual data.