The LG G8 will make you feel like a magician, somehow

LG's G Series phones have been in a strange place for a while. Take the G7 for example. It's a solid phone, but it's not sophisticated enough or good enough to follow Samsung or Huawei's spearhead. It's also a little too expensive to compete with mid-range handsets like the OnePlus 6 or 6T. So, for the G8, LG decided to be piquant by testing a whole new biometric security method, while trying to revive what was once a long-abandoned gadget.

It is no coincidence that these two features are linked to the G8's front cameras, which, in addition to a standard 8 MP selfie camera, also include a time-of-flight "Z Cam". Normally, time-of-flight cameras are used. to collect depth information more accurate than a normal camera can capture (we'll talk about it later), but on the G8, LG also uses it to read your palm. OK, technically, it reads the blood vessels in your palm using infrared light to unlock your phone, not your face or fingerprint, but by placing your hand on the G8's front cameras, even in the darkest full.

It's a bit silly, but it's also unique, and you feel a bit like a magician, because with a simple gesture and an optional "Abra Kadabra", there's now a potentially safer way to access the device.

But that's not all that the Z Cam can do, because it can also use its depth detection powers to track your hand movements to open apps, pause or play music , and even adjust the volume with a few finger beats. For anyone who remembers the Galaxy S4, Samsung has tried something similar with its aerial gestures. But on the G8, LG calls its new Air Motion interface.

However, unlike the recognition of the palm of the G8 hand, getting used to LG's aerial motions requires a little patience. First, you need to place your palm on the sensor to activate Air Motion, and then, for some reason, you have to pull your hand back an extra three or four inches to reach the point of attack of the Z Cam. From there, you must somehow pretend that your hand is gripping an imaginary arc while letting your fingers hang down to the phone.

Once you understand these movements, you can move your hand to the left or right to open various applications (which can be customized in the settings), turn it to adjust the volume or you can even skip tracks or play the next one. video during the playlist or watch YouTube.

The simple observation that others are trying to imagine that our Air Motion is their own kind of entertainment, but the real purpose of Air Motion is to create situations like the one where you wash the dishes and you do not want not completely stop what you do or get. The soap spreads all over the screen to answer. And while it sounds a little ridiculous to use aerial motions, with an open mind you can see that there is also potential.

Aside from the two great new G8 tips, the phone itself has a beautifully elegant facade. At the back, the 12 MP main camera and the G8's 16 MP wide angle camera are perfectly aligned against his body. And at the beginning, instead of equipping the G8 with a traditional speaker, LG avoided this feature with its new Crystal Sound OLED display, which uses a piezoelectric motor to vibrate the screen whenever you need to. audio.

It's a clever trick. When I tried, I struggled to tell the difference between a conventional headset and LG's Crystal Sound. And when you're listening to music or watching a video, the Crystal Sound display combines with the G8's speaker to deliver stereo sound.

Elsewhere, LG has enhanced the G8's photo and video capabilities with a new night mode that takes up to 10 photos and then merges with each other, as well as the ability to record portrait-style clips while to adjust the effect of depth in the middle of the shoot. .

And inside, the G8 will not suffer from either performance or longevity because the LG is crammed with Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB RAM, 128 storage cards, a microSD port , a headphone jack and a 3,500 mAh battery, slightly larger than the Galaxy S10's 3,400 mAh battery.

The question now is: Will all new G8 features be enough to destroy the Galaxy S10? For the moment, I am rather skeptical, because the two features are a bit too clumsy to really like. But damn it, if they're not interesting, and even if you do not consider its biometrics and Air Motion controls, the G8 still seems like a solid device. With a little refinement and second generation hardware, LG could be on the road to discovering a new identity for its mobile portfolio.