Soon after announcing the Q6, Q6a, and Q6+ mid-range smartphones, South Korean electronics giant LG on Friday expanded its Q lineup of smartphones with the launch of a new flagship device, dubbed as “Q8” in the Italian market. The LG Q8 is a new member of company’s new and fresh “Q” smartphone series that we have seen the recently launched Q6 model with FullVision display, which is basically a toned-down version of the G6 flagship and now the LG Q8 (model number LG H970) can be considered as a smaller and compact version of the company’s another flagship, LG V20 in terms of hardware spec. However, the new LG Q8 has been launched in Italy with a price tag of EUR 599 (approximately, Rs. 44,800) and will be available for purchase sometime later this month in Europe in Titan colour option.
Unfortunately, the company has made no official announcements about the pricing details and availability of the new LG Q8 for other markets. The LG Q8 is currently now listed on the company’s official Italy website, revealing almost all the specifications and features about the new LG device. The key highlights of the smartphone are of course its dual screen and dual rear camera setup, while it also features a 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC (digital to analogue converter), HD Audio Recorder, and IP67 certification.
Jumping straight to the specifications, the LG Q8 comes equipped with a 5.2-inch QHD IPS touchscreen display with a screen resolution of 2560×1440 pixels and a scratch resistance Corning Gorilla Glass 4 coating on top of the display. Similar to the LG V20, the LG Q8 also has an always-on secondary display with 160 x 1040 resolution, which sits beside the selfie camera placed on top of the main display. The secondary display offers a quick way to show notifications, email alerts including upcoming events, weather forecasts or customised notifications. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by a 2.15GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor clubbed with Adreno 530 image processing unit to handle the graphics.
In terms of memory, the LG Q8 is backed up by a 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32GB of native storage, which can be further expanded up to 2TB via a MicroSD card. Talking about its software front, the new LG Q8 runs company’s proprietary UX 5.0 light custom UI skin, based on Google’s Android 7.0 Nougat operating system. The device also features a fingerprint recognition button for biometric security. The LG Q8 is a IP67 certified smartphone, that means the device is water and dust resistance. The handset should be able to survive up to 1.5 meters underwater for up to half an hour. The LG Q8 also features an IR Blaster (infrared sensor) that can be used as a universal remote to control third-party electronics & appliances like set-top boxes, audio consoles, TVs, fans, air conditioners or DVD players.
For photography, the LG Q8 houses a dual camera setup at the rear that comes combined with a 13-megapixel sensor and an 8-megapixel sensor, accompanied by a dual LED flash module. Among these two camera sensors, the main camera features a 13-megapixel sensor with a large f/1.8 aperture and 1.12-micron pixels, 78-degree wide-angle lens, while another camera sports an 8-megapixel sensor with an f/2.4 aperture, 1.12-micron pixels and 135-degree ultra- wide angle lens. The rear camera features include 0.5X lossless Zoom, 8X digital Zoom, optical image stabilisation, autofocus with 9 focusing points and object tracking, Pro mode with manual control, HDR, Face detection, ISO, panoramic shooting, Burst mode, and 4K (Ultra HD) video recording. On the front, the LG Q8 sports a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter with an f/1.9 aperture and 1.12-micron pixels, and 120-degree wide-angle lens that captures a wider view, up to 105-degree field-of-view group selfies than a regular 80-degree lens field of view. Selfie camera features include auto Face detection, virtual flash and full HD (1080p) video recording support.
On the connectivity front, the nano-SIM based LG Q8 offers various connectivity options including 4G LTE, Bluetooth v4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (dual band), GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, DLNA, IR blaster, Miracast, NFC, FM Radio with RDS, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a USB Type-C port for superfast charging and data transfer. With all these high-end specifications, the device is fuelled by a 3,000mAh non-removable battery that is rated to deliver up to 4 hours of talk time and lasts up to 4 days in standby mode. Sensors on the phone include a Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, E-compass, Barometer, Gyroscope, Motion and a Fingerprint sensor (rear-mounted). Dimensionally, the handset measures 149 x 71.9 x 8 mm and weighs 146 grams.
