LG Q7 Plus Review
LG has been trying hard to make its presence felt in the midrange Smartphone segment for some time. The intense competition from home turf rival Samsung and Chinese competitors like Huawei and Oneplus has kept the South Korean technology giant on its toes. That explains why the company has unveiled a mid tier offering- Q7 Plus. The LG Q7 plus along with Q7 sits at the higher end of the mid tier Smartphone segment. It locks horns with popular rivals like the Moto G6, Redmi Note 5 Pro and Samsung Galaxy J8. In the US market, it is available on network of T-Mobile.
Design & Display
The LG Q7 Plus is a handsome device, though it cannot outshine the flashier offerings from the stables of Honor and Oppo. You get a 5.5-inch IPS LCD screen with 2160×1080 pixels resolution. It is adequately bright and color reproduction is good-even in the outdoors. It still cannot outshine the AMOLED displays found in Samsung’s mid range devices.
The Q7 Plus is encased in metal and there is acrylic-like glass coating atop. This makes the phone look classy. The sides have metal too, and the buttons do not seem flimsy. LG says the device is IP68-certified which means it is resistant to dust and water. It is also MIL-STD 810G military standard compliant, though the back side is prone to developing scratches. There are two color choices available-Moroccan Blue and Aurora Black.
Camera
While most companies are equipping their Smartphone models with dual camera setups, LG has chosen not to tread that path for the Q7 Plus. The rear camera has a resolution of 16 MP and at the front sits a camera with 8 MP fixed focus. The performance of front lens is decent, but low light photography is just not its forte.
The back camera equipped with PDAF and an LED flash, fares better and takes clear, sharp images in good lighting conditions. Color saturation and white balance works well. LG has used QLens AI which is a mixed bag. The camera app does not give you many options to tweak. Video recording (1080p max) is decent and the image stabilizer works quite well to prevent shakes.
Hardware & Software
In hardware, the LG Q7 Plus gets most things right. It is powered by a Mediatek MT6750 SoC and graphics are handled by an ARM Mali T860 MP2 GPU. The 1.5GHz Octa core CPU, coupled with 4GB RAM, leads to reasonably smooth performance. However, at the same price point Asus and Motorola offer models with more capable Snapdragon chipsets. The device has 64 GB internal memory and microSD card slot is there too.
In the Q7 Plus, LG has refrained from customizing stock Android much. So, you get close to stock Android 8.1 Oreo experience. The only bloat included is the Amazon Assistant which cannot be removed. There are a few LG apps, but they are actually useful.
Battery & Other Features
The LG Q7 Plus is equipped with a 3000 mAh battery-which has become standard across the mobiles in the mid range. It is a decent performer, but cannot match the might of contenders fitted with 4000-5000 mAh units.
In terms of features, the Q7 Plus scores well and punches above its weight! It supports LTE, 3G and GSM networks. It also supports almost all wireless communication protocols and standards like Bluetooth, WLAN and USB. The USB reversible Type C Connector ensures fast charging. It is also an OTG capable device. There is a fingerprint reader, at the rear which works quite well. The Dolby DTS X technology works great on earphones- though the bundled earphones are not suitable for audiophiles. The device also supports NFC.
