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LG Pay goes live in the US
More than two years after it arrived in South Korea, LG's long-delayed contactless mobile payment system has finally gone live in the US. LG Pay is available on the G8 ThinQ at launch. In the coming months, it'll be available on V50 5G, V40, G7 and V35 from Google Play, and it'll work on all future flagship devices.
LG G8 ThinQ will be available in the US April 11th
If you're more interested in LG's unabashedly weird G8 ThinQ than the relatively safe Galaxy S10, you're in luck. LG has announced that the G8 will arrive on April 11th, with pre-orders starting March 29th at major carriers including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon (Engadget's parent company). It'll undercut its South Korean rival's price by a fair margin -- pricing starts at $820 up front versus Samsung's $900, and that's before the usual promos that knock as much as $150 off the price.
Google brings dedicated Assistant buttons to more phones
Google Assistant buttons won't just be limited to a handful of LG phones this year. The internet giant has widened its partnerships to add dedicated buttons to a whole range of handsets in 2019, including returning partner LG (on phones like the G8 ThinQ, V50 ThinQ and K40) and Nokia (3.2 and 4.2). Phones from Xiaomi (Mi Mix 3 5G and Mi 9), Vivo (V15 Pro) and TCL are also in line for Assistant buttons later on. Google expects over 100 million phones to ship with a hardware shortcut to its AI helper, and that's not including Samsung phone owners who remap their Bixby buttons.
What to expect at MWC 2019
There's always plenty of news from MWC, and it's either entirely expected or word gets out early. This year is shaping up to be slightly different, though, as companies are preparing their version of the future of smartphones. From foldable designs to 5G and more, this year's Mobile World Congress won't only be jam-packed with news, but it should also be exciting once again.
LG's G8 uses its OLED screen for audio too
Even though we've likely seen all of the outside of LG's next flagship phone, there's still a lot to learn about the G8 ThinQ and the company is sticking to its custom by slowly releasing info as we near its MWC 2019 launch. Tonight LG has revealed more about its audio setup, which includes a "Crystal Sound OLED." Similar to LG-developed OLED technology we've seen come to market in Sony's TVs, it vibrates the screen to produce sound, with an effect that the company claims increases volume, with musical notes more discernible and voices clearer. Vivo's all-glass phone appears to be using tech that's either similar or the same. This doesn't mean the phone's screen will be shaking all the time, however, as LG explains that in speakerphone mode it will deliver audio through the bottom speaker, and step up to two channels with the top part of the screen. Other audio features we'll need to experience in Barcelona include support for emulated 7.1 surround using DTS:X with or without headphones, and its "Boombox Speaker" design that uses space within the phone as a resonance chamber to fill out its sound. It even supports the Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) encoded audio that Tidal uses and has a Hi-Fi Quad DAC.
LG G8 ThinQ leak shows the flagship phone from every angle
We might see LG's G7 ThinQ successor in a little over a week -- so naturally, leaks have already started pouring out of the company and onto the internet. One of those leaks is a group of images showing the upcoming G8 ThinQ from every angle, and based on those photos, the flagship phone will bear a strong resemblance to its older sibling. It's also an all-screen device with a notch for the front camera, though it looks like its rear ones have been rearranged into a horizontal format.
LG's G8 will fight Face ID with its own 3D front-facing camera
LG isn't ready to show off all of the details around its next flagship phone just yet, but tonight it has revealed the technology we'll see in the G8 ThinQ's front-facing camera. By including a "Time of Flight" image sensor made by Infineon, LG claims it can deliver features like facial recognition, augmented reality and better selfies in all kinds of lighting conditions while using less power than other solutions like Apple's Face ID. While Apple's TrueDepth technology for Face ID is similar to what we saw in the Xbox 360 Kinect where it projects thousands of laser dots then measures the distortion to figure out where things are, Time of Flight is the tech Microsoft hoped it would get better results from for the Xbox One Kinect device. By capturing IR light as it reflects off of a subject, the idea is that it will give more accurate results with less computing power. There have been rumors that Apple is considering implementing it in the iPhone's rear-facing camera, however well-sourced analyst Ming-Chi Kuo shot those down, saying the device's existing dual-camera setup would suffice.
LG's MWC teaser hints at phones with more touchless gestures
Besides the potential of foldable/expandable devices and 5G, what else can we expect to see at Mobile World Congress next month? According to LG's invite to its Premiere event on February 24th, we'll say "Goodbye Touch." The video clip shows a hand summoning and dismissing text with a simple wave, similar to things we've seen from tech like Samsung's Air Gesture that arrived in the Galaxy S4. Presumably LG's implementation will be far more advanced than what we experienced back in 2013, but we'll have to wait and see.
LG's 2018 4K TVs include AI and smarter HDR
After a fair amount of teasing, LG is ready to take the wraps off of its 2018 4K TV lineup -- and in many ways, it's an evolution of what you saw last year. Its flagship OLED lines (the Signature-badged W8 and more-conventional E8) and the LCD-based SK9500 have designs that are largely familiar to their predecessors but carry some significant upgrades under the hood. The centerpiece, as LG mentioned earlier, is AI: All three lines support deep learning and Google Assistant control to allow for natural language voice control over everything from the TV itself to smart home devices. They also bring active HDR that improves the image quality of HDR10 and Hybrid Log Gamma content by analyzing individual images.
Irish government seeks emergency power to cut mobile services during G8 summit
The Irish Defence Minister, Alan Shatter, has put forward a law that would give his government the right to cut off mobile services "in a limited area" to prevent a bombing. In particular, he fears that militant groups may attack next month's G8 summit in Northern Ireland to "garner publicity," and that they may try to detonate explosives remotely using phone signals. Ireland already has a voluntary system for requesting operators to suspend services if there's a threat, but the new legislation would make this compulsory, in case the authorities should face any "difficulty in getting a telecom company in an emergency to cooperate." The idea of deliberate blackouts may sound strange, at least outside of oppressed nations like Egypt and Syria, but Shatter says the Boston Marathon bombing, which possibly also involved cellphones as detonators, proves that such measures are necessary.
Heads of Google, eBay, Facebook and Twitter will advise G8 summit on how to search, sell, poke and RT
So what if Barack Obama managed to bring the vast majority of US tech leaders in for a private meeting recently? Nicolas Sarkozy can do it too! The French président and soon-to-be host of the next G8 gathering is said to be preparing some rather handsome invitations to Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt and a few other big timers from the internet in order to discuss the world wide web's future direction. The input from these web sages is to be filtered down into a volume of extremely precious wisdom, which is to then be conveyed to the multinational meeting taking place in Deauville near the end of May. Sarkozy just needs to make sure the other seven participating nations don't object before sending out the official invites. We have a pretty good idea of what Eric Schmidt thinks our future will involve, but Zuckerberg and the others? That'll be interesting to hear.
Special Edition Lite, stickers, and ... global issues?
What better way to celebrate Independence Day than by putting the faces of governmental figures on a sticker? The real story behind the above isn't quite that hilarious, actually. Late last month at the G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Kyoto, this beautifully redone DS was spotted, alongside stickers bearing the faces of the ministers. All that's missing is a sticker on the DS, though frankly, that Lite is way too pretty to muck up with stickers.We'd probably do it anyway, though, for the lulz.%Gallery-26441%
Condi Rice's custom DS lite: proof that G8 globalization is important
It really does pay to be a foreign minister representing the 8 richest countries in the world. This Japanese-lacquered DS lite is just one of the items presented to the G8 ministers participating in last week's talks in Kyoto. The other items included a scented perfume ball and manga-styled stickers for each of the participant to attach to their diplomatic tricycles.
Condi, other foreign ministers receive custom DS
Preventing the world from plunging into economic chaos can be dirty, joyless work. Thankfully, foreign ministers of the ultra-exclusive G8 club were handed their very own perfume balls and custom DSs when they gathered in Kyoto recently to lay the groundwork for next week's leadership summit. You'll never guess what Condoleezza pictochatted Miliband. Poor Steinmeier, always the butt of their jokes...[Thanks Ittousai!]
