LG G7 ThinQ vs Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus: Which One Should YOU Buy?

Video transcript below:

Hey guys, dan here from CLE Tech and in this video were going to compare the LG G7 ThinQ vs the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, and do a first impressions based comparison and from there maybe decide which phone you might want to upgrade to.

So as mentioned earlier, the point of this video is to maybe help those who might be deciding between the two phones for an upgrade. Now the LG G7 is currently available for pre-order, which means you most likely won’t have a whole lot of hands on time at a store until its released and so thats where I can hopefully provide you with my thoughts on the device as my retail unit arrived a few days ago.

Now in terms of hardware and design, both of these phones are fairly similar. In 2018, talking about hardware specs seems like kind of a waste of time to me. Unless there is something major or groundbreaking, I am probably going to skip most of this section. They are both flagship phones with flagship performance. Battery life is pretty similar between the two devices, even though the G7 has a smaller battery the LCD display helps power consumption. There is 6GB of RAM on the S9+ over the LG G7’s 4GB but I honestly haven’t noticed a difference in this area either.

Both phones are sporting all glass backs, edge to edge displays (with a difference that we will get into more in just a minute) and aluminum edges rounding out the rest of the phones. Fingerprint sensors has moved to the back of the phone and in the center, which is a great place for a fingerprint sensor and of course they are both located underneath the dual camera systems. I will also add that both phones have a headphone jack at the bottom BUT the G7 comes with its coveted hi-fi quad DAC.

As far as displays go, both have almost the same screen size at a little over 6 inches but of course, do a great job at fitting all that screen in a smaller form factor. The S9 definitely has the better display, as I Am a huge fan of how crisp and bright an AMOLED display can be but the G7’s screen is nothing to sneeze at. Its probably one of the best IPS LCD displays that I have used in the last few years and can get incredibly bright.

Getting to the elephant in the room, the G7 does come with an infamous notch. Now, before this deters you from buying this phone because youre so not about that notch life, dont worry, you can actually toggle this “feature” off in the settings menu. Me personally, the notch doesn’t bother me what so ever, you really do get used to it and I like having apps go near edge to edge when it takes advantage of the full corners.

This might seem like a cop out, but when it comes to the design of these phones, I have no real preference to either/or but since the G7 is not as tall as the S9+, it does have a slightly better form factor.

I think the decision on which phone to purchase will come down to software features and camera. In terms of software, both phones run their own skin of android and it will ultimately boil down to your preference. Samsung and LG in the past have had two of the worst skins but over the last few years, both companies have improved their software experience tremendously. Both phones offer ambient displays, which will give you access to your clock, battery percentage, notifications, and much more conveniently displayed on your lock screen at all times.

I find LG’s version to be a bit more functional as you can add quick toggles for things like flashlight, camera, bluetooth, wifi, etc

Some other features offered by each phone include the floating bar, which was introduced in last years LG V30 and adds a floating bar that you can swipe in when needed and gives you extra shortcuts, music controls, quick access to contacts, and more. This feature can probably be compared closely to the Edge Panel on the Samsung Galaxy S9. I dont really use either of these features all too often but I do think the edge panel is far more functional and feature rich than the floating screen. With apps, tasks, and people edge, you have a full suite of productivity one quick swipe away, and there are a plethora of downloadable edge panels for whatever you might need.

Really, both phones offer a ton of extra features over something like stock android (whether you prefer this or not is a different story) and if youre into all of this extra fluff, I dont think there is really one feature that is a deal breaker over the other phone.

I will say that the S9+ does offer iris scanning and face unlock while the LG G7 only offers a face unlock along with the fingerprint sensor.

There is ONE thing that I believe LG has edge in when it comes to software and thats actually with its choice of assistant and the dedicated assistant button. The S9 and G7 both have a dedicated hardware button that can launch their virtual assistant. The s9 has bixby, which is not the favorite for most people and can be disabled but cant be remapped to something like the google assistant. On the G7, the hardware button is also non customizable but that might be okay for most people because the G7 did not give us a first party assistant and instead is just using Google Assistant, which in my opinion is probably the best option available today, in step with Amazons Alexa. So you can use the hands free voice commands to launch each assistant or you can hold down the dedicated button and access them that way. I will say, even though Bixby isn’t as good as Google Assistant overall, it does have a few features that I wish other assistants adopted. There are actually programmable shortcuts that you can use with bixby to customize certain actions for your phone. These are called quick commands and for example you can have one that says shoot super slo mo and then customize exactly what bixby might do when this command is dictated. There are tons of recommended quick commands available and I really like this bixby specific feature.

Overall, I prefer the look and feel of Samsungs skin these days, I feel like it has a more modern feel but honestly, they both offer a lot of the same features in their own style and so it will come down to what you might prefer. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in whatever your choice may be.

This same theory carries over to the camera. Both phones are capable of taking some great pictures and video with super rich detail and when in portrait mode, can really capture some stunning photos with shallow depth of field. Overall, I give the edge to Samsung when just taking your phone out and snapping a quick photo on auto mode but both of these cameras are pretty close in quality. If you prefer a wider angle, the G7’s secondary lens on the back offers an awesome wide angle view and can be really helpful when taking pictures of large groups or landscapes.

LG also offers a new mode called AI Camera, which can use AI to analyze your surroundings and what your subject is, and once it is identified, the camera will adjust its settings to best suite that specific scene. Its pretty cool when it works but sometimes, it makes the photos look a bit less natural. Ill let you guys decide which camera you like and I would love to hear your opinions in the comments down below.

Honestly, both phones are flagship quality, and unfortunately are flagship priced and you’ll be looking at shelling anywhere from $800 - $1000 depending on which phone you get and they are not very far off from each other. I think they are both great devices but in terms of what each company offered last year in the G6 and S8, they are NOT huge upgrades and I think thats what has me itching for more. I am not sure that I can say either one of these phones have blown me away in any aspect. They are solid all around. If you had to pick from these two, I would probably go with the S9 because I just prefer the software experience over the G7 but thats really about it.

If you made it this far without calling me a Samsung or LG fanboy, congratulations and thank you for not jumping to conclusions. I am definitely on the fence for each phone more than I am actually leaning one way but like I said, if I had to pick, it would be the S9+.

Let me know which one you would pick in the comments down below and I hope you subscribe and hit that like button if you enjoyed this video. Thanks again for watching and I hope to see you in the next one.