The LG G8 Review: Solid, But Not Great
by Andrei Frumusanu on April 30, 2019 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- LG
- Smartphones
- LG G8
- LG G8 ThinQ
Camera - Daylight Evaluation
We move on to the G8’s camera. Again this is a controversial topic as it was one of the areas where the G7 last year failed quite terribly, particularly on the matter of post-processing where the phone’s camera kept applying needless noise-reduction filters which blurred out details and made things look like watercolour paintings.
The G8 needs to redeem itself not only in this regard, but also needs to compete with excellent new cameras from the competition.
Among the differenes between the G7 and G8 is that the new 12MP sensor and f/1.5 aperture lens module comes with a slightly wider viewing angle on the main camera. Also it will be interesting to see the differences between the V40 and G8 as both have the same module, but different SoCs which will impact processing results.
For this review, I’ll also be taking a better look at LG’s AI Cam mode as since the V40 this capture mode is more balanced in terms of the results and overall I’ve deemed it to be an overall benefit to the camera.
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ]
[ V40 ] - [ P30 Pro ]
[ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ]
[ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]
Starting off with the main camera, we see in this first scene that the G8 produces much better results than the G7 with significantly better dynamic range and detail. LG seems to have toned down the noise reduction in subsequent firmware updates to the G7 which was one of its worst behaviours.
The AI mode helps the a tad darker and unsaturated result of the Auto mode on the G8, but for this scene it’s not as dramatic a difference as seen on the V40. I actually like the V40’s AI mode here as it’s a better representation of the scene under a cloud-free sky with the bright sun. Both the G8 and V40 in this mode have nearly the same exposure time yet the V40’s processing brings out better dynamic range and contrast.
The G8’s competition here is clearly the Galaxy S10. The LG device has better saturations, however Samsung is able to bring out more shadow details, especially on the shadow-cast wall in the middle of the scene.
While LG has improved its usage of noise reduction, the G8 still evidently uses some, along with a combination of a sharpening filter. On some parts of the scene this works ok, but for example in the middle left trees this gives an unnatural sharpening to the foliage compared to the Galaxy S10.
Wide-angle shots on the G7 could be pretty terrible, and this is one scene where the G8 again improves dramatically in this regard, having much better colours, details and dynamic range.
Oddly enough, again the G8’s AI mode doesn’t produce as nearly nice results as the V40’s, which although lacks detail, has excellent colours and dynamic range contrast.
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ]
[ V40 ] - [ P30 Pro ]
[ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ]
[ S9+ (S) ] - [ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]
The next scene the difference between the G7 and G8 is night and day. The former phone’s histogram in this picture is just sad too look at as it avoids the last 10% completely while having most content dynamic range in the 5-50% levels, which is absurd considering this picture is captured in broad daylight. The G8 is just much better in capturing the proper highlights while still maintaining shadows correctly.
The AI mode brightens things even a little bit further, in an even better representation of the bright scene. I would say I prefer the G8’s shot here over the V40 as the latter compresses things a bit too much.
Again the G8 here competes with the S10, although again in terms of details it lags behind as its noise reduction and sharpening is too aggressive, losing out details such as the roof tiles in the first building from the bottom.
The wide-angle lens is again a major step-up compared to what we see on the G7. Unfortunately when it comes to detail on the wide angle, LG still very much lags behind Huawei and now Samsung.
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ]
[ V40 ] - [ P30 Pro ]
[ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ]
[ S9+ (S) ] - [ View20 ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]
Although the G8 has less resolution than the G7, its camera actually has the better spatial resolution when it comes to details, and in this scene it’s evident that it’s not just a matter of the post-processing.
The differences between the G8 and V40 are more nuanced, and I like the new phone’s better preservation of highlights. The G8 is ahead in terms of colours and exposure, however it again lags behind in detail to the Galaxy S10.
In terms of the wide angle, this shot wasn’t great for any of the LG phones. Particularly the texture of the pavement on the G8 is quite terrible when compared to what Huawei and Samsung are producing.
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ]
[ V40 ] [ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ]
[ S9+ (S) ] - [ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]
On the main camera, the G8’s AI mode here happens to capture a nearly identical composition to the S10 even though the latter’s exposure is twice as long because of the f/2.4 aperture in bright scenarios. I like the G8’s colours more, however details again seem to go to Samsung.
This is again as scene where the V40’s HDR processing is a lot more aggressive which results in toned down highlights, while the G8 preserves them better.
Exposure on the wide angle is very good on the G8 however again can’t compete in terms of detail to Huawei and Samsung.
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ]
[ V40 ] [ P30 Pro ]
[ P30 ] - [ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ]
[ Mate 20 Pro ] - [ S10+ (S) ]
[ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ] - [ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ]
[ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]
This shot is quite hard on the cameras as it’s captured against the sun. Nevertheless, some phones manage to produce good results, however the LG phones all fail at the scene. The G8 isn’t able to maintain a black point and has no levels at all below 30% which results in a washed out image lacking contrast.
We see a similar issue on the wide-angle, with no levels below ~15%. Both the G8 and V40 showcase almost identical lens flares, pointing out to lesser quality optics and anti-reflection coatings on the lenses than say Huawei’s wide angle modules.
[ G8 ] - [ G7 ]
[ V40 ] [ P30 Pro ] - [ P30 ]
[ P20 Pro ] - [ P20 ] - [ Mate 20 Pro ]
[ S10+ (S) ] - [ S10+ (E) ] - [ S9+ (S) ]
[ View20 ] - [ OnePlus 6T ] - [ Pixel 3 ] - [ iPhone XS ]
In the last scene here again the G8 represents big improvements over both the G7 and V40, with better details and dynamic range and accurate colour balance.
The wide angle yet again is good in terms of its composition, however the details are still only about as good as a camera half of its resolution.
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PeachNCream - Thursday, May 2, 2019 - link
You audio people are oddities to say the least. Most of us don't really care about what umoos and ah-ahs are driving our transmorgofiers in high-low-moosepedience headphones and we don't think that one thing "destroys" another thing in terms of sound quality in our car (which is filled with road noise) because we don't live in our vehicles. While it's perfectly fine that you care and you hear things that the rest of us just shrug about, most of us use a cheap pair of earbuds or headphones we spent less than $20 on, never do anything to our car's sound besides turning the radio on or off, and sometimes spend hours playing 128kbps mp3s on a phone's integrated speaker because who cares anyway. I suggest not worrying about it. Do your research, live deep in that fidelity world, and don't hassle the reviewers for skimming over stuff that is entirely unimportant for the vast majority of us that only care to the extent that we can hear the phone ring when we get a call.ZolaIII - Sunday, May 5, 2019 - link
Don't, I mean even assume you are speaking for majority of people. There is a gear that is both affordable and sounds rather good. From product that are in music lovers category to entry level audiophile one's. So you can buy a more than decent can's for 25~30$ (for example Superlux HD-668B over the ear or MEE M6 Pro first gen EMI's), hopefully the good DAC for 25~30$ soon or a DAP (DAC, BT) for 100$ right now, while pair of good car speakers (main bass/mids unit's + twitters) is around 140$. Problem with LG is that their implementation simply isn't really good to shine with budget lo impedance headphones.joser0913 - Thursday, October 10, 2019 - link
Andrei, you might want to read this article (http://somegadgetguy.com/2017/11/30/how-android-po...I think Juan Bagnell, as well as many other reviewers are right, LG delivers the best wired headphone experience and that should be highlighted
ZolaIII - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
You don't use headphones for the measurement that's actually very wrong approach. I assume nothing changed much nor did LG make it right as usual so it probably stayed the same.https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php...
While DAC is very capable for actually enjoying it with low impedance headphones as most people use it anyhow you need to look elsewhere, recommended goes for times being to Shanling M0 DAP for some 100$. We will see how things go with Meizu's new USB DAC dingle...
dxcanas - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
The G8's site describes a "night shot mode" at the bottom of the page, and I've read of it in other reviews. I couldn't find any mention of this mode in the llow light evaluation - was it not helpful?https://www.lg.com/us/mobile-phones/g8-thinq/camer...
Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
There's no dedicated mode, it just automatically goes into a lower light mode. It's active in the sample shots.Andrei Frumusanu - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
As a correction, the mode is actually there as a dedicated mode buried in the "More" mode settings. It gives the same results as auto in low-light.dxcanas - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
Cool, thanks for the update and correction!Peddy2299 - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
LG makes some if the best phones on the market. The best phones for me on the market arr LGs. They meet my daily phone needs on the high-end basis. No other phone does that for me. All the comparing on stuff those other brands just don't work out for me.sonny73n - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
Sure. Because you don’t have much to choose from at local stores if you live in the US. It’s hard to buy something when you can’t physically feel it. But if you dare to take a risk with one of those Chinese phones like Huawei, Meizu, Oppo or ZTE, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed because they’re much better in terms of performance and quality per dollar. They won’t rob you like LG, Samsung, Sony or Apple do.I used to buy at least 2 “high end” phones per years just for myself. Glad I woke up. Now a $300 Chinese phone is just as good.