LG G8S ThinQ finally landing with five cameras and Hand ID

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But we still don't know the price

(Image credit: Future)

Announced back at MWC 2019 in February, the LG G8S ThinQ is finally hitting store shelves starting sometime this month (July 2019).

The phone includes many of the same specs and features as the LG G8, but is ultimately slightly lower end, and presumably therefore cheaper, though the G8S price still hasn’t been confirmed.

Highlights of the LG G8S ThinQ include a top-end Snapdragon 855 chipset, 6GB of RAM, and a triple-lens rear camera, with a 12MP f/1.8 main lens, a 12MP f/2.6 telephoto one, and a 13MP f/2.4 super-wide one with a 137-degree field of view.

(Image credit: LG)

The LG G8S ThinQ also has a dual-lens camera on the front, with an 8MP main lens and a Time of Flight (ToF) secondary sensor which LG has called a ‘Z Camera’.

That camera supports both facial recognition and 'Hand ID' – a feature which lets it scan your hand's circulatory pattern to unlock the phone. It’s an interesting idea, but we found that it didn’t work very reliably on the standard LG G8, so we’re not optimistic that it will here either.

The camera also supports 'Air Motion', which lets you carry out actions without touching the screen.

Speaking of the screen, the G8S ThinQ has a 6.2-inch 1080 x 2248 OLED one, along with stereo speakers, a headphone port, IP68 certification (so it’s water resistant), a 3,550mAh battery, a fingerprint scanner, 128GB of storage, and a mirror-like glass finish in Mirror Black, Mirror Teal or Mirror White.

On paper the main area where the standard LG G8 has it beat is the screen, which is higher resolution on LG’s flagship. The LG G8S ThinQ also lacks the vibrating speaker of the G8.

Still, if the price is right then the LG G8S ThinQ could prove a tempting alternative. We should find out exactly what it will cost soon, as well as where it will land – so far LG has just said "select markets in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, among others." 

So it sounds like the US and Australia might not get the phone, but fingers crossed for the UK.

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James Rogerson
James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.