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
System Performance
For system performance, we saw the Snapdragon 855 in the Galaxy S10 perform excellently, and there shouldn’t be any reason for the G8 to perform differently. It’s to be noted that the G8 is only our second Snapdragon 855 device we’ve received so the only comparison point we have is the Snapdragon variant of the S10.
Unfortunately, it looks like LG using an older version of the 855 BSP which is lacking some optimisations or lacking some configuration options which improve performance. Among the lacking features is the lack of boost mechanism for the top-app process groups, meaning the scheduler will be less aggressive than what we find on the Galaxy S10.
Let’s see how these differences end up affecting the G8’s performance:
In PCMark’s web-browsing test, the difference ends up as quite major between the G8 and S10 as the former largely lags behind Samsung’s flagship, ending up with scores similar to the G7. The performance here reminds us of the initial benchmark scores from Qualcomm’s QRD855 reference platform in January, which also lacked some scheduler optimisations were commonplace in many of last year's Snapdragon 845 devices.
In the subsequent tests and final PCMark performance score we see the LG G8 lag behind the Galaxy S10, again scoring similarly to the QRD platform.
JS Benchmarks
Since our review of the Galaxy S10 it seems Google has updated the system WebView to a newer version which has had a notable impact on performance, improving things by several performance points compared to a few months ago. We haven’t had the opportunity yet to update our database with the newest figures, which is why in some benchmarks the new G8 scores better than some previously reviewed devices.
In WebXPRT on the other hand we see the less aggressive scheduler settings overshadow the new WebView improvements, and the G8 again end up with worse performance than the Galaxy S10.
System performance verdict
Overall, I’ve actually been quite disappointed with the performance of the G8, even though the benchmarks rank it relatively highly among Android phones. The core issue here I think is software as seemingly the G8 is lacking some of the framework boosters and more aggressive scheduler settings found in competing devices.
Where this is most noticeable is when switching between applications or something as simple as browsing different views in applications. Here the G8 is not only noticeable slower as the new Galaxy S10 in both SoC variants, but it’s also noticeably slower than many of last year’s Snapdragon 855 devices.
What is most shocking however is the fact that the G8 feels slower than the G7. In side-by-side comparisons between the two phones, the G8 is slower in opening a lot of applications or in-app views. This is extremely disappointing and clearly points out that LG has messed up somewhere in terms of the SoC’s BSP integration.
We hope LG will address this in the future with a firmware update, however users shouldn’t be holding their breath on the matter.
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WildW - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
It looks the same as my G6. Maybe the screen and CPU are different but blah, it's a glass rectangle. I'm so bored of phones.Lord of the Bored - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
My first pocket computer was an HTC Evo 3D. The purple one, at that. I still miss the little guy.It was distinct even at the time, and the asymmetrical design made it easy to tell which end was up when grabbing it. And the purple looked REALLY GOOD in person.
...
I got zero usage out of the 3D screen. Neat idea, but being limited to a single model of dataslab meant that there was no software for it beyond the inbuilt camera. Even HTC didn't want to waste time on it.
nikon133 - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
Considering how well G7 actually works for me in real life - with all the observed shortcomings - I am pretty sure I'd find G8 equally good. Only if LG would make an effort of updating phones.I can accept their reluctance to quickly release new OS... as someone said here before, better stable old OS than unstable, buggy new OS... but I cannot accept that my G7 still has only October 2018 security patch, and nothing after it. At least model for NZ/AU/HK/China market.
Wardrive86 - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
Yeah I love my G7, amazing device. The lack of updates is surprising but not a big deal to me.andrewaggb - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
I went from a Note 5 to an S7 edge, to a G7. Overall I think the S7 edge was a nicer screen and the Note 5 had the best camera. I don't like the G7 camera at all, though otherwise I think the phone is completely fine. Next phone will probably be Samsung again, maybe a Pixel if Samsung hasn't gotten their low light figured out by then.zeeBomb - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
My goodness...that display is just pitiful.Saxyboy - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
Haha. The display miles aheaf of my samsung s8 display. I went to the store to upgrade to an s10 but came out with a G8 instead. The s10 screen looks washed out compared to the g8.Saxyboy - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
Haha. The display is miles ahead of my samsung S8 display. I went to the store to upgrade to an S10 but walked out with a G8. The S10 screen looks washed out compared to the G8. I thought it was my eyes deceiving me but two reviewers on youtube confirmed same.zeeBomb - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
You could always change the display mode in settings, Natural mode helps best or simply use Vivid and change the white balance. I personally love screens with OLED, when calibrated right too, but I never disliked the display on my previous G device (I think the 6?) with its crisp, sharp display. Enjoy it Saxy!cthunder67 - Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - link
Lol! You are out your damn mind if you think that display is pitiful. Even negative reviews on the G8 praise the display. Better yet go look at the different reviews comparing the Samsung S10E and S10.