Following the availability of the LG G8X ThinQ smartphone in the Korea market, LG has today announced the global launch of the dual-screen handset.
Teased in the build-up to IFA, the G8X ThinQ is essentially an amalgamation of the company’s current G8 ThinQ and V50 phones – but of course with a unique trick: a second-screen attachment. Because apparently, as LG's rather bizarrely marketing line reads, "the dual the better”.
Unlike the foldable phones that have forced themselves upon us in 2019, such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X, LG’s take sees a regular phone with a 6.4in FHD+ OLED screen snap into a case that has an identical OLED display as well as a more primitive 2.1in "cover" display on the front for displaying time and notfications. The Freestop Hinge allows the second screen to swivel the full 360 degrees.
As the case is detachable, it isn’t compulsory. According to LG’s research, 60 per cent of Korean owners only attach it when they need it. The dual-screen design is helpful for, say, multi-tasking between two web browser windows, or playing a compatible Play Store game with one whole screen dedicated to LG's custom Game Pad. LG's smart keyboard is optimised for the arrangement, too.
Elsewhere, the G8X ThinQ's are pretty familiar. Two 1.2-watt speakers and a 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC tuned by Meridian Audio are present and correct, as is a headphone jack. The handset runs Android 9.0 Pie and sports a 4000mAh battery and n-display fingerprint reader.
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