So much for speculative. LG, contrary to what the company’s Ken Hong had to say a few weeks back, has revealed that it’s indeed chucking the speaker in the upcoming G8 ThinQ. Except ‘chucking’ is the wrong term. LG is augmenting its internal speakers with something else. Something a little different.
We’re getting a vibrating OLED display that functions the same way that some (Sony) OLED TVs do. That is, screen vibrations will transmit sound rather than running (completely) through traditional speakers. Bold move, that. According to LG, the new G8 will ship with “… Crystal Sound OLED (CSO), an innovative technology that utilises the phone’s OLED display as an audio amplifier”. This will function in addition to the phone’s internal speakers, boosting audio when you need it really loud.
LG’s CSO was developed internally and the company reckons it improves audio and voice clarity considerably. We’ll have to see (or, um, hear) for ourselves.
We’re not especially surprised by the move, as LG’s gone all-in on their audio tech this year. The G8 ThinQ launches with emulated 7.1DTS:X 3D Surround Sound (without headphones), their Hi-Fi Quad DAC, LG’s Boombox speakers and Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) tech for high-end audio streaming. At this point, LG’s not going to have much to share when they show the phone off at MWC in Barcelona.
Would you look at that?
LG’s bucket has been particularly leaky this year. We suspect we know most of the surprises in store and images of the device have been appearing all over. Yesterday noted leaker Evan Blass showed off the device from every possible angle, with an image (seen above) that LG likely put together. Whether LG meant to let it out this soon is debatable but it does show us that the G8 is going to bear a strong resemblance to the G7 ThinQ — right down to the 3.5mm audio jack. The major changes all seem to be internal or nigh-invisible this year. We suspect we know what those changes are already, too.
The weirdest bit? Only a double rear-camera setup, rather than the triple-hitter found on the recent LG V40 ThinQ. Perhaps that’ll mean a really aggressive price point. We’ll know soon enough.
