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G8X ThinQ is LG's dual screen bid to win over the high-end phone market

LG hopes to boost sales with a Dual Screen attachment and an in-display fingerprint scanner.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
Katie Collins
2 min read
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LG's G8X pops into a special case to give you two screens, not one.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The LG G8X ThinQ is the company's attempt to win back the ground it lost in recent years, Chinese newcomers like Huawei began to swallow up global phone market share. What sets this phone apart however is its compatibility with a Dual Screen attachment, which doubles the size of the display. This could make the G8X an alternative to a foldable phone like the newly improved Galaxy Fold, if you're not quite ready to commit to a totally new form factor.  

Other than the dual screen attachment, this updated version of the LG G8 ThinQ for the most part does away with the bells and whistles of its predecessor and focuses instead on the user experience and the camera.

Gone are the G8's different biometric authentication options. Instead we have just one in-display fingerprint sensor (a first for an LG phone). Also gone is the OLED sound system that LG's been pushing for the past few years on its phone. This is replaced with two "perfectly balanced" 1.2-watt stereo speakers at the top and bottom of the phone.

Watch this: LG G8X phone lets you pick two screens or one

The G8X features LG's new UX, which brings more space, higher contrast, bolder fonts and night mode to the interface. Other new additions are an updated camera that features a steady cam, AI action shot, an improved portrait mode and 4K time-lapse.

The one unusual standout feature of the G8X ThinQ could help it appeal to a specific but growing niche: people who make ASMR videos. "ASMR mode" is one of the specific video options available through the built-in camera app. Switch it on to boost the microphone capability by 10 decibels to pick up on and emphasize the minutiae of sounds you may be making.

A brief test of this, in which I sat whispering creepily at the phone and then watching the recordings back in a bar at a high-end London hotel, did prove to me that the recording volume was definitely boosted in this mode. But not being a connoisseur of ASMR, I find it tricky to say whether the mic setting truly enhances the experience of watching ASMR videos.

LG G8X with Dual Screen: A foldable phone alternative

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Key LG G8X specs

  • Display: 6.4-inch OLED FHD Plus.
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855.
  • Memory: 6GB RAM/128GB storage with microSD card slot.
  • Front camera: 32-megapixels.
  • Rear camera: 12- and 13-megapixels, OIS.
  • Battery: 4,000 mAh.
  • Features: In-screen fingerprint scanner, IP68, Fast Charge 4.0 compatible.

Pricing and availability hasn't yet been announced -- check back for details.

Originally published earlier this week.

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