Samsung Galaxy S9 vs. Google Pixel 2: Which should you buy?

Samsung’s market leader versus Google’s idealistic view of a smartphone.

Samsung’s flagships may outsell Google’s in massive numbers, but that definitely doesn’t stop many of us from thinking that the Pixel phones are the absolute best expression of Android on a smartphone. The Google Pixel 2 launched into a world where the Galaxy S8 was already over six months old, and now the roles are reversed: we have the brand-new Galaxy S9 to compare to.

The Galaxy S9 shares a lot with its predecessor, but there are strategic improvements that help it match the Pixel 2 — and in some areas it continues to best Google’s little flagship. Here’s how the new Galaxy S9 compares to the Pixel 2 in hardware, software and value.

What’s the same

Despite dramatic differences in initial appearances, there’s a lot shared between these phones. Sure the materials and designs differ, but they’re actually nearly the same overall size. The Pixel 2 is a tad shorter and lighter, but both phones are pretty compact and easy enough to manage in one hand — especially compared to the ever-growing competition in the 6-inch (and-above) smartphone space.

Samsung Galaxy S9 specs

Throughout the hardware you’ll find matching spec and features. The Galaxy S9’s new fingerprint sensor placement on the back matches the Pixel 2, as does its water resistance, stereo speakers, 64GB base storage and relatively small battery capacity — though the Galaxy S9 does edge out the Pixel 2 by 300mAh there, real-world use of the Pixel 2 shows it can do great things with what it has.

The phones are almost the same size, and filled with the same core specs and features.

For all of the design similarities between the Galaxy S8 and S9, one thing that took a big upgrade was the camera — and it’s exciting enough to have it up here in the “same” section to be mentioned alongside the Pixel 2. The Galaxy S9’s new camera sensor is doing a lot of the same multi-frame advanced processing of images that we hear Google talk about with HDR+ on the Pixel 2. These phones take different types of photos and often come to notably different results in the same scenes, but seeing each one on its own will show you they’re both great. The Galaxy S9 is often a bit truer to the scene and more simple, while the Pixel 2 takes photos that have more color, contrast and drama to them.

Add in its adjustable aperture up to f/1.5 and we see low-light performance that takes a considerable jump up to challenge the Pixel 2 as well. Right now this is still the Pixel 2’s crown, but I’m glad the Galaxy S9 didn’t stick with an iterative setup from the Galaxy S8 — the GS9 has extremely low noise and accurate colors at night. At the same time, the Galaxy S9 adds in 4K 60 fps video, as well as 960 fps slow-motion — both of which best the Pixel 2’s video capabilities in terms of raw numbers, but we know the Pixel 2’s video stabilization is still king.

What’s different

Remember our comparison of the Galaxy S8 and Pixel 2? Well, for the most part, you can just press replay on that. It only takes a glance to tell these phones have completely different identities, with the Galaxy S9’s primarily glass build and glistening curves contrasting with the Pixel 2’s monolithic metal and subtlety. Both execute their designs well, but it’s easy to see why so many people prefer the flashy head-turning design of modern Samsung phones — even if the glass back is a bit more fragile. Not everyone is attracted to the subtle approach of the Pixel 2, even if its metal body may age better.

Polar opposites in design, all surrounding a startling difference in usable screen space for the size.

Then, of course, there’s the difference in usable screen space for the size of the phone. In the same overall hardware package, the Galaxy S9 has a 5.8-inch 18.5:9 display, versus the Pixel 2’s 5-inch 16:9 display. Put another way, over 83% of the front of the Galaxy S9 is screen, whereas under 70% of the Pixel 2 is screen. That’s a startling difference in usable screen space for the same size of phone. Sure the immediate sides of the Galaxy S9 are curved and therefore not all that usable, and full-screen content doesn’t always utilize the space, but it’s tough to shake the feeling that the Pixel 2 “wastes” space on the front of the phone.

What’s inarguable is the difference in screen quality. The Galaxy S9 took the Galaxy S8’s display and made it 15% brighter, adding more brightness to what was already a bright, vibrant and just generally wonderful display. The Pixel 2 also has an OLED panel, but it’s just on a lower level in terms of colors and brightness, not to mention its 1920×1080 resolution is a bit lower as well. The Pixel 2’s display is certainly good enough, but it’s not an industry leader like the Galaxy S9.

Samsung wins on the ‘number of features’ game, but loses by the same account in software.

Samsung is always going to win the “number of features” game, and that’s clear again here with its inclusion of extras like a headphone jack, wireless charging, and an SD card slot. You can argue that having an option of 128GB internal storage on the Pixel 2 negates some of the SD card value, and you could also say the wireless charging is more of a niche feature. But you can’t say that having a headphone jack isn’t a huge benefit — particularly when you don’t have to give up anything else in the hardware to get it. Samsung even adds a really nice pair of earbuds in the box; Google gives you a USB-C headphone dongle.

Now, here’s where things swing in the other direction: the Pixel 2’s software experience. This is a place where Samsung’s approach of “more features” can get in the way of having enjoyable and useful software for many people. Android 8.1 Oreo on the Pixel 2 is smooth, clean, consistent, and great to use. The Galaxy S9 has far more features, but so many of them are set up to be left unused and just sit in your way when you’re trying to do other things. Convoluted processes for doing so many things just seem unnecessary when you see how simple it all is on the Pixel 2. It’s a difference in philosophy and perhaps Samsung’s approach doesn’t bother you, but people who use Pixels know what I’m talking about here — using Google’s take on Android is fantastic, and it stays that way over time with three years of guaranteed software updates.

Bottom line: Which should you buy?

There’s a lot to digest in this comparison. Much of the core experience and features are shared between the Galaxy S9 and Pixel 2, but the exterior designs, screen and additional features differ widely. There are two clearly different approaches to a high-end smartphone at play here.

There are two clearly different approaches to a high-end smartphone at play here.

The Galaxy S9 is the features king, with hardware that bests the Pixel 2 with extras like wireless charging, a headphone jack, newer processor, bigger battery, and a larger (and nicer) display. The hardware is flashy, which is appealing to many people, even if it’s a bit more fragile. The Pixel 2 is much more subtle in its hardware and simple to use in its software. It has the core features you need, and little extra. There aren’t many headline-grabbing things you can point to, but just use one for a few days, and you’ll see what all the talk is about. It also has a proven great camera, and the track record of software support direct from Google.

Finally, we have to remember pricing. As high-end smartphone prices continue to rise, the Pixel 2 held its ground down at a relatively affordable $649. The Galaxy S9, on the other hand, is roughly $100 more depending which carrier you buy from — which I think is enough of a gap to matter to people when they’re cross-shopping these two phones. If you’re really keeping the budget tight, the Google Pixel 2 is obviously a better choice. If you’re willing to pay more money for more features, regardless of whether the overall experience may be better, you’re likely to go with the Galaxy S9.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint

Update May 2018: Refreshed with a new perspective based on the age and price of the Pixel 2.

RED Hydrogen One delayed until August to add even more impressive cameras

The extra time will also allow RED to launch the phone on multiple carriers at once.

RED threw us all a curveball last July with the announcement that it’d be shifting away from multi-thousand dollar cinema cameras for a second to make an Android phone. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer before we can actually get our hands on the thing.

The RED Hydrogen One was initially supposed to be released during Q1 of this year, but RED later pushed its sights back to this summer. Now, the company is saying it won’t be until August before the phone is launched.

Delayed releases are never cheery things to talk about, but RED’s reasoning for its decision here sounds more than fair.

The Hydrogen One will now be able to natively record 4V content.

One of the highlights for the Hydrogen One is its 4-View holographic display that’ll allow you to move your head to look around objects in certain photos and videos. RED was originally going to sell an attachment that’d allow you to capture 4V content on the Hydrogen One, but thanks to the delay, will be adding a second camera to the front and back so you can record it natively.

Additionally, RED notes that the August release date will enable it to launch the Hydrogen One on multiple wireless carriers simultaneously.

RED’s founder Jim Jannard recently said in the RED forums that the company has “no idea” what it’s doing and that the Hydrogen One will have “more firmware/software updates than any other phone ever made” seeing as how it admittedly “won’t be complete” upon launch.

Whether it’s amazing or a steaming pile of garbage, the Hydrogen One will undoubtedly be one of the most interesting phones we see all year. Are you still excited for it to come out?

RED Hydrogen One will have a 4500mAh battery and carrier support

LG G7 Specifications: An extra-tall media powerhouse with a too-small battery

6.1-inch display, Snapdragon 845, and dual 16MP cameras.

LG is back with another flagship phone, the G7, and it’s a very powerful, feature-rich device. The main improvements come in the form of a more powerful Snapdragon 845 processor, a brighter, taller 6.1-inch LCD display, and dual 16MP cameras, with a new Super Bright Mode for low-light performance. And like the V30, the G7 features a strong amplifier, a headphone jack, and a powerful new speaker.

As with the G6, LG is releasing the G7 in two variants: a G7 ThinQ with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and a G7+ ThinQ with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

What else? Here are all the specifications you need to know.

Operating System	Android 8.0 Nougat
Display	6.1-inch LCD 3120x1440Gorilla Glass 5Dolby Vision, HDR10 1,000 nits brightness
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Storage	64GB / 128GB (Plus model)
Expandable	microSD up to 2TB
RAM	4GB / 6GB (Plus model)
Camera (Main)	16MP (IMX351), 1.0µm pixels, ƒ/1.6, OIS71° lens, Super Bright Mode
Camera (Wide)	16MP (IMX351), 1.0µm pixels, ƒ/1.9107° lens, fixed focus
Front Camera	8MP, ƒ/1.9 80° lens, fixed focus
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, NFCUSB-C 3.1
Audio	32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC Boombox speaker Headphone jack
Battery	3000mAhNon-removable
Charging	USB-CQuick Charge 3.0Qi wireless
Water resistance	IP68 MIL-STD 810G certified
Security	Rear fingerprint sensor Face unlock
Dimensions	153.2 x 71.9 x 7.9 mm
Weight	162 grams
Colors	New Moroccan Blue, New Aurora Black Raspberry Rose, New Platinum Gray

LG G7

• LG G7 hands-on preview: All about that bass
• LG G7 Specifications: Everything you need to know
• Join the LG G7 forums

LG G7 ThinQ hands-on preview: All about that bass

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I’ve spent enough time now with the LG G7 — excuse me, the G7 ThinQ — that I’m positive it won’t change the fortunes of LG’s mobile division.

I’ve also spent enough time to know that that’s a shame. Because, see, the phone is quite good, excellent even, in the ways that count. And LG’s new focus on ABCD — that is, AI, battery, camera, and display — is the right move after years of failed experimentation.

But at the heart of the G7 is a new form of experimentation, or more accurately an investment in an unproven theory, that AI and its ability to unite an ecosystem is fundamental to LG’s future. With that lens, it seems somewhat ironic that at once the G7 is detrimental and significant to its bottom line — detrimental because LG’s mobile division consistently loses money every quarter, and has done so for over three years; significant because mobile is today the glue that binds corporations, the platform on which all other products stand. The world is mobile, and LG, which last quarter posted record profits on the back of televisions and appliances, not phones, is what drives innovation.

Which leads us to the LG G7 ThinQ. It’s the poster child for the company’s new ThinQ branding, soon to be appended to everything from phones to televisions and appliances, and it’s an important next step in building cohesion throughout LG’s disparate product lines. Executives within the company don’t even know if the strategy will work — some have admitted that fact — but the G7 can’t be viewed in isolation without acknowledging that it’s but one cog in an enormous, amorphous machine.

So is the cog any good?

LG G7 The pieces

There are four main tenets to focus on this year: display, sound, camera, and AI.

At its core, the G7 is both a sequel to the G6 and a minor revision of the V30, and it benefits tremendously from the combination of the two. A 6.1-inch super bright IPS LCD panel represents the display, and even though its branding capitalizes Super Bright, it really is just that — 1000 nits, in fact. Not only is that the most luxurious LCD panel on the market today, it’s the brightest manually-controlled panel of any kind, since Samsung’s 1000+ nit achievement is not user-configurable.

LG, on the other hand, lets you manually enable Super Bright mode for three minutes — a battery-saving endeavor — which boosts visibility from the default 700 nits on Auto mode. It’s a really good screen, and reassuring given LG’s recent OLED issues. (As you’ll discover later, LCD versus OLED will be one of the few differentiating features of the G and V series going forward.)

Yes, there’s a notch. It’s fine. Seriously, it’s fine. It’s certainly not a good thing, but it’s better than the fat bezels alternative, and LG’s done a better job than Huawei getting apps to behave in its presence. And if you’re one of the vocal minority dead set on never buying a phone with a notch, know that you can disable the New Second Screen (yes, that’s how LG refers to it), or augment it with colors or patterns, if you’re into that sort of thing.

The notch is fine. What’s not fine is calling it a ‘Second Screen’ like it’s innovative and useful.

Let’s talk sound next. LG says that the G7’s single downward-facing speaker is nearly twice as loud as the average smartphone speaker, and in a meeting with Android Central at the company’s headquarters in Seoul, engineers walked me through exactly how that is achieved.

First, the actual speaker is 40% larger than the one in the G6, but the G7 uses the phone’s metal enclosure as a resonance chamber, bouncing the waves of sound around a space 17 times larger than in last year’s flagship. Finally, the amplifier is the most powerful LG’s ever put in a phone, resulting in top-volume output that rivals some Bluetooth speakers, the company says.

This all culminates in new “Boombox” branding we’ll see on the G7 when it’s released. Yes, the speaker is loud — very loud, even compared to devices with dual front-facing speakers — but the biggest improvement is in the low-end. Bass is a thing here, and it forms by literally vibrating the entire metal chassis; you can feel it when holding the G7 in your hand. Put the phone on a surface with its own hollow chamber — a guitar or sturdy box, for instance — and the effect is even more pronounced.

To be clear, the single downward-firing speaker on the G7 isn’t some miracle cure for the physics-based limitations of smartphone audio, but for what it’s worth, it did sound better to me than the Galaxy S9’s dual speaker setup, at least in a controlled environment. And while such an acoustic achievement would ordinarily seem superfluous on a phone, LG says that it didn’t have to radically change the design or components within the G7 to do it.

The sound coming out of this phone is ridiculously good.

Instead, its engineers realized that the core tenets were already there: a metal chassis, a powerful amplifier, and a perimeter-spanning waterproofing seal that allowed the sound to reverberate so willfully throughout the chamber. (Mind you, this isn’t the first time a company has used a phone’s metal frame to amplify audio; HTC did it with the HTC 11.)

We also have a headphone jack — on the bottom, natch, which is an improvement over the V30 — and the same beloved Quad DAC has made the LG V series so prized among audiophiles. Indeed, LG isn’t leaving much room between the G and V series anymore.

We’ll get to camera and AI in a moment, but I want to touch on a couple other parts of the phone’s internals. In 2017, much ado was made about the G6 launching with a Snapdragon 821, a mishap necessitated by launching (or at least, announcing) before the Galaxy S8, which purportedly snapped up the first run of Qualcomm’s then-new Snapdragon 835 SoC. This year, LG wasn’t going to let that happen again, so it took its time with the phone’s development, ensuring that there was ample stock of the components that it needed, including the now-flagship Snapdragon 845.

LG G7 Specifications: An extra-tall media powerhouse with a small battery

Along with that well-received chip, the base model will have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, with a G7+ arriving with 6GB and 128GB respectively. The base storage numbers are double that of the G6, but it’s still a bit concerning that you have to pay extra for 6GB of RAM — then again, Samsung makes the same distinction between the two Galaxy S9 models.

The phone continues to be IP68 water and dust resistant, which is great, and it still maintains the MIL-SPEC certification that lends the phone some drop-test credence. There’s also wireless charging in every model, which is a nice change from the G6 where it was absent in all markets but the U.S.

Perhaps the only number to give me pause is the G7’s 3,000mAh battery. It’s 300mAh smaller than the one in the G6, and we’ve seen battery regression on phones running Oreo — the Galaxy S9 comes to mind — so I’m worried the same thing will happen here. Right now my concern is only speculative, as the unit I used wasn’t running final software, but given the phone’s slimness, and the extra space afforded to the speaker (and the presence of a headphone jack), LG clearly decided to forgo longevity for convenience.

LG G7 The Cameras

These days, a phone is only as good as its cameras, and the G7 doesn’t change the hardware formula a whole lot.

Like the G6, the phone shares the same shooter between the primary and wide-angle cameras, but this year LG is using the 16MP Sony IMX351 sensor that debuted in the V30. The main lens, which has a ƒ1.6 aperture, is optically stabilized while the ƒ/1.9 wide-angle lens isn’t, but the upside is that you’re getting pretty much the same image quality from either camera this time around, and that’s fantastic. I love that LG cares about wide-angle photography, and I appreciate that it’s making appreciable improvements to the experience every year.

Of all the reasons to like the G7, the camera experience tops the list for me. The interface is sparse but innovative — zoom sliders are positioned by your thumb and provide lovely, subtle haptics — and the transition between standard and wide lenses is much smoother than on the G6, even on this early software build. And the manual mode retains pro features from the V series, like focus peaking and intelligent video zoom, which are practical, useful tools.

An example of the primary camera (left) and wide-angle camera (right) on the LG G7.

I was very impressed by the photo quality and low-light abilities of the G6, which had dual 13MP sensors; I was far less enamored with the V30. LG’s decision to prioritize resolution over pixel size is a well-known narrative in the industry, but the company’s justification here is twofold: a new, more intelligent image signal processor in the Snapdragon 845, and a Super Bright Mode that uses a technique called pixel binning to combine four pixels into one in low-light situations.

The resulting 4MP photo isn’t four times as bright, but it’s certainly an improvement. (The technique itself debuted on the V30S ThinQ, but no one owns that phone outside Korea.)

An example of LG’s new Super Bright Mode on the G7.

Super Bright Mode kicks in automatically in scenes under 3lux, which is very dark, and in my testing it worked quite well, though the photos produced didn’t rival that of the Huawei P20 Pro, which applies the same binning technique to its 40MP sensor, resulting in 10MP photos.

Ultimately, I would have preferred physics over algorithms — Samsung, Google, and Apple agree that 12MP sensors with 1.4 to 1.55 micron pixels is the sweet spot for a mobile sensor — but LG clearly sees things differently.

At the same time, LG is doubling down on its AI Cam mode, which automagically applies filters to photos based on one of 19 scenes, from food to outdoors to portrait, built atop thousands of tags that have been generated by studying millions of photos.

This machine learning-based photo enhancement isn’t without controversy or frustration — I may prefer extra saturation when photographing a stunning landscape but not additional contrast when ‘Gramming my dinner — but it’s easily disabled. It’s also off by default, which as a photo purist I appreciate, but in doing so LG may be limiting its eventual uptake.

Examples of AI Cam’s color-saturating modes on the LG G7.

In the vaguest terms, LG says that AI Cam is supposed to improve over time, but there doesn’t appear to be a mechanism by which the company learns your preferences — other than disabling the feature entirely, there is no override for individual scenes, nor does LG upload any data to its servers (which is ultimately a good thing), so it’s not clear how the AI Cam will self-correct over the course of phone ownership.

There’s also no plan for data migration, which means any on-device learning performed on the G7 will not impact algorithms on the V40 or G8 when the time comes to upgrade.

An example of Michael Fisher (MrMobile) on a boat, taken with the LG G7.

One benefit to having the same sensor on the wide-angle camera as the primary is the seamless transition between shooting modes. While that was also true of the G6, this year the secondary lens isn’t quite as wide — 107 degrees compared to 120° on the V30 and 125° on the G6 — resulting in less distortion and barrel effect, though some users may miss the exaggerated, almost-fisheye experience from those devices.

An example of the excellent front-facing camera on the LG G7.

Perhaps the G7’s biggest camera improvement, and its saving grace over the V30, is its 8MP front-facing camera.

It’s a night-and-day difference compared to the potato shooters on both the G6 and the V30, and with the addition of portrait mode (using, like Google’s Pixel 2, a single sensor), and the retention of an extensive array of manual shooting modes, this is the vlogging powerhouse that the V30 should have been.

LG G7 ThinQ

On the left side of the G7 is a button. It’s not the volume button (of which there are two) but a dedicated Google Assistant key, situated in what appears to be the same place as the Bixby button is on the Galaxy series.

Except this one is far better.

First, it’s a Google Assistant button — hard to get mad at that. This isn’t some half-baked Samsung attempt at a near-useless on-device lackey, but an instant walkie-talkie to the best consumer AI on the market today.

Just because you can add a Google Assistant button to a phone doesn’t mean you should.

Would I have preferred not to have an unnecessary protrusion on the left side of what is arguably one of the best phones of the year so far? Absolutely. But having it default to Google Assistant is the only justification for its existence.

Before you ask, no you can’t remap it to whatever you like (at least not officially. I assume there will be half a dozen such apps in the first week of the phone’s release). You can merely disable it. But in my time with the phone, it didn’t get in the way; it’s far enough down the left side of the perimeter not to be easily mistaken for volume keys, which has an additional benefit of not being accidentally activated when pressing the power button.

Oh, the power button is on the right side of the G7, not embedded in the rear fingerprint sensor like the G6 (and every other LG flagship since the G5). Why? Who knows — LG said something about a lack of space in the chassis, but the phone is the same 7.9mm as its predecessor — but I’ll be honest, I missed the old way of doing things.

AI is a big part of the G7’s narrative, but it’s clear from the sparsely-populated intelligence feature set that, at least right now, the benefits are slight. A dedicated Assistant button is little more than institutionalized bragging about LG’s close business ties to Google, and despite promises of device-specific optimizations — LG says Assistant can, like Bixby, perform local actions like opening the camera and taking a portrait photo — I’m not overly impressed.

It’s also unclear to me why, aside from name recognition, I should care about ThinQ. Apple doesn’t append ‘Siri’ to the iPhone, though it lives in almost every product the company makes. And despite Samsung’s assurances of Bixby’s ubiquity in the near future, it’s still just a feature, not an ecosystem.

The ThinQ brand is as much about the name itself as the features it will eventually offer.

LG admits this much: when talking to executives during a recent trip to Korea, one admitted to me that ThinQ is as much about creating an AI-first platform that allows all of LG’s smart devices, from TVs to appliances to phones, to easily pair and communicate with one another as it is about reminding people who buy LG’s TVs and appliances that it also makes phones. It’s about seeing the word so often, and in so many places, that it creates a mental map of LG’s divisions.

It may not work, but what does LG have to lose?

LG G7 Software

The best thing I can say about the G7’s software is that there isn’t much to say.

It runs Android 8.0 Oreo and doesn’t barrel you over the head with choice. Sure, digging into the software there are plenty of things to tweak — six display modes, an assortment of navigation key combinations, a full-featured manual camera mode with focus peaking and subject tracking — but it doesn’t feel heavy the way LG phones used to.

Despite using very early software, the G7 was snappy and pretty stable, and I look forward to digging into it further in the review.

LG G7 Fundamentals

The first thing I noticed about the G7 was its haptics. They were clean, precise, and sharp. They were exactly what I wanted them to be.

I thought the same of its screen, of its sound, and of its camera.

I am bullish on the phone itself, which despite a few nitpicks I believe to be LG’s best one yet. I’m not bullish on its ability to transform the company’s smartphone business, but I don’t even think that’s LG’s intention with the G7. Instead, it took its time to produce a competent smartphone that speaks to LG’s other components, to its broader goals of being seen as a company capable of producing well-built, nicely-designed hardware — hardware like washing machines and refrigerators and televisions and, yes, phones.

But LG has to overcome a few important things, too. After the boot loop scandal of the G4 and V10, LG’s reputation took a dramatic hit and despite improvements to reliability since, customer support concerns linger. An LG executive admitted to me that the company didn’t act quickly enough to resolve its phones’ reliability problems in 2015, nor did it proactively attempt to make amends with affected customers, forcing them to sue and eventually find compensation through class action.

To its credit, LG is not only promising better-than-ever hardware longevity with the G7, but it’s publicly committed to faster and more consistent updates, both for its previously-released phones and ones yet to come.

The G7, like all LG phones, will debut in Korea much earlier than it will in the rest of the world. In fact, fans in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia will need to wait until late May or even mid-June to pick up the phone, and we still don’t know its price or carrier spread. When the G6 hit the market, it cost close to $700 outright, but quickly dropped in price to spur demand; should the G7 experience the same arc, it will probably find an LG version of success.

Nevertheless, the LG G7 ThinQ is a stand-out phone even by 2018’s already-high standards, and one with which I can’t wait to spend more time.

LG G7

• LG G7 hands-on preview: All about that bass
• LG G7 Specifications: Everything you need to know
• Join the LG G7 forums

You won’t regret buying one of these $6 stands for your phone or tablet

Keep them safe!

There’s no denying that these things are a bit silly, but they are also extremely practical. Lamicall’s adjustable phone stand is down to just $6.49 when you use the coupon code 7LM3H6FB at Amazon. This is a savings of just over $3 and drops it right into impulse purchase territory.

It can hold your phone in both portrait and landscape mode, and it’s designed to work with devices from 4 to 8 inches in size. This means it will work with your iPhone, Galaxy device, and even Nintendo Switch. It’s made from a durable aluminum so it will keep your device steady and the rubber cushions help prevent scratches.

The stand comes with a lifetime guarantee.

See at Amazon

Samsung Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?

This one is a tough sell — but a sell Samsung isn’t really trying to make in the first place.

It doesn’t take long to realize the Galaxy S9 is very similar to its predecessor. Hand the two phones to an average person, and they wouldn’t likely know which one is the “newer” device. They have extremely similar designs, the software is near-identical and the insides haven’t dramatically changed either.

Nevertheless, people who love their Galaxy S8 are likely to be interested in anything Samsung has to offer, and will want to know whether the next flagship is worth their time and money. Here’s what you can expect when looking to upgrade from the Galaxy S8 to the Galaxy S9.

What’s the same

Samsung seems happy with its current design language because it kept things nearly identical for its 2018 flagship. The Galaxy S9 is almost the exact same physically as the outgoing Galaxy S8, with only a 1.2 mm reduction in height and 8-gram increase in weight separating the two. The metal and glass are both thicker, but you’d be hard-pressed to tell if someone didn’t let you in on the secret. You may notice the subtle change from a glossy to lightly textured finish on the metal — but the actual feel of it isn’t much different.

Physically, these two phones are nearly identical.

That means that the screen size remains the same at 5.8-inches in the Samsung standard 18.5:9 aspect ratio, with the same resolution, curved sides, rounded corners, and Gorilla Glass covering. The buttons all remain in near-identical positions, including the Bixby button on that left side underneath the volume rocker. Inside you have the same 64GB storage (plus SD card slot), 4GB of RAM, wireless charging, fast charging and all of the other Samsung standards. It also notably did not improve charging speeds, leaving things at Quick Charge 2.0 levels.

The important thing to note here is that nothing has gotten worse or less capable for 2018 — Samsung only built upon and improved from the Galaxy S8. In a way that’s a feature of this release, as so many times we see companies try to push the envelope year-over-year in a way that ends up leaving behind well-liked features from previous versions. So, look on the bright side.

What’s different

The most substantial change in the Galaxy S9 is an all-new camera setup, comprised of a new “Super Speed” Dual Pixel sensor and a lens with a physically variable aperture. The sensor offers dramatically reduced grain and improved fine edge processing, which was a sore spot of the Galaxy S8 in low-light scenes. Speaking of, the move to an f/1.5 aperture also lets in more light in badly lit scenes, giving that improved sensor even more to work with. The result is notably improved low-light photography that’s among the best in the industry. The new sensor also gives the Galaxy S9 a 960 fps super slow-motion mode, going well beyond the Galaxy S8 for a super dramatic effect.

Lots of subtle improvements, and absolutely no downside.

Even though the battery hasn’t gotten any larger, the Galaxy S9 has more efficient processor that can help a little with overall longevity. Whether you get the Snapdragon 845 or Exynos 9 version, both processors are more frugal with power for normal tasks, which in the end will save you battery (though the Snapdragon model seems to be the better of the two this year). Just how much is really going to depend on how you use the phone, but considering the rest of the experience has remained effectively constant, don’t expect this to be a massive improvement.

Samsung’s only claimed improvement with the 5.8-inch display for 2018 is a bump in brightness, but at a 15% increase that’s pretty substantial. That puts the GS9’s display roughly on par with the Galaxy Note 8 in overall brightness, and that’s noticeable over the Galaxy S8. The Galaxy S9 bests the S8 and the Note 8 with audio, though, firing up a second speaker above the screen for stereo sound that’s louder and has crucial stereo separation.

And it’s a relatively small thing, but the one real change to the usability of the Galaxy S9 is its fingerprint sensor, which is far easier to reach and use than on the Galaxy S8. It makes the swipe-down gesture for the notification shade useful, and generally reduces frustration when you’re trying to unlock your phone — something you do hundreds of times a day.

Should you upgrade?

I’ll say it right away: most people who have a Galaxy S8 shouldn’t expect to upgrade to a Galaxy S9. And with all of Samsung’s product decisions and messaging around the Galaxy S9 launch, it doesn’t expect many people to make the one-year upgrade either. There’s a massive base of Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7 owners out there that are being targeted here, getting a refreshed and improved Galaxy S8 that’ll still look fantastic compared to those older phones.

If you bought your Galaxy S8 on Day 1 last year and have had it for over a year now, you may be willing to sell off your phone to a third party and pay up the difference, but even in that case you’re looking at hundreds of dollars of outlay to get this newer phone that isn’t that much better. The one thing you could say for upgrading is that the Galaxy S9 does everything the S8 does, plus more — you don’t lose anything in the upgrade process. Even with that in mind, it’s tough to argue that a new camera system, moved fingerprint sensor, slightly faster processor and brighter screen is worth the hundreds of dollars it’ll cost to make the jump.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Update May 2018: Updated to reflect the Galaxy S8’s age and new pricing.

PlayStation 4 games releasing in May 2018

What are the PlayStation 4 games coming out in May?

There are some pretty amazing titles for the PlayStation 4, and we’re here to keep you updated on all the new ones! Be sure to check in with us once a month to see what new titles you should be expecting or excited for!

Notable release this month

Here’s what we’ve found so far!

Dark Souls Remastered

Coming May 25, 2018.

Time to rekindle your friendship with Solaire and get back to praising the sun. This remastered copy will run in high-def, 60fps. Not just that, but the game includes the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. Remote play will be compatible on this as long as you have your PSVita and a strong internet connection ready! It’s time to show them that you, too, will die a colossus! Pre-order your copy of Dark Souls Remastered from the PlayStation Store today for $39.99!

See on PlayStation Store

Harvest Moon: Light of Hope

Coming May 29, 2018

We all remember playing Harvest Moon for the first time on the Super Nintendo back in the late 90s. Since then each sequel is just enough like the others to remind you of everything you fell in love with, but just different enough to have you hooked all over again. This time around you’ll find yourself on an island that has recently been hit by a devastating storm. Grow friendships and crops going by helping this town rebuild everything they lost. You can pre-order your special copy from Game Stop for $39.99.

See at Game Stop

More PlayStation 4 releases

We’ve collected a list of upcoming PlayStation 4 games below. No worries, if any surprise titles pop up we’ll be sure to add it to the list!

• Guns of Icarus Alliance – May 1
• City of Brass – May 4
• Conan Exiles – May 8
• Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr – May 11
• Dragon’s Crown Pro – May 15
• Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time – May 15
• Tennis World Tour – May 22
• Persona 3: Dancing Moon Night – May 24
• Persona 5: Dancing Star Night – May 24
• Detroit: Become Human – May 25
• Everspace – May 29
• Owlboy – May 29
• Sega Genesis Collection – May 29

Upcoming PlayStation Vita Releases

No notable releases this month. Check out more next month!

Upcoming Downloadable Content

No notable releases this month. Check out more next month!

What are you playing?

Which PlayStation 4 game are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments section!

Updated May 2017: We will continue to refresh this list at the beginning of a new month to ensure you’re in the know when it comes to the PlayStation games being released soon!

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

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MrMobile can’t stop ThinQing about the LG G7

The LG G7 has had a long and strange road to release, at least from an outsider’s perspective. A flurry of reports back in January indicated that LG would delay the launch of its newest smartphone; that it might ditch the “G” branding entirely; even that it was considering redesigning the flagship “from scratch.” Well as it turns out, only one (and a half) of those predictions panned out: the phone was indeed delayed from its expected February release until May, and while the G brand remains, it’s now augmented by the “ThinQ” suffix LG is slapping on all its AI-enabled products.

Sadly, the rumor that the company would dump the iterative approach in order to completely rethink its smartphone strategy proved false: the G7 is an LG phone through and through. That carries a lot of positives, from the superwide cameras to MIL-STD durability to an impressive new audio system – but it also means LG is likely to focus its marketing on the phone’s more buzzworthy (and far less impressive) “AI” features.

I’ve spent four days with the LG G7 ThinQ. Join me for the Initial Review / Hands-On – and stay tuned for the full LG G7 Review coming soon. In the meantime, be sure to check out Android Central’s comprehensive hands-on preview here!

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Huawei and ZTE phones banned from being sold on U.S. military bases

This latest order comes straight from the Pentagon.

Huawei and ZTE have been prime targets for the Trump Administration over the past few months, and in the latest move against the two companies, the Pentagon is now banning the sale of Huawei and ZTE phones from United States military bases.

According to the Pentagon, the ban is being put in place due to the reported possibility that smartphones from the two Chinese companies could spy on U.S. soldiers and send any collected data back to Beijing.

Commenting on the announcement, Army Major Dave Eastburn said –

Huawei and ZTE devices may pose an unacceptable risk to the department’s personnel, information, and mission. In light of this information, it was not prudent for the department’s exchanges to continue selling them.

Soldiers can still continue to use phones from Huawei and ZTE if they already own them or purchase them elsewhere, but Eastburn notes that they “should be mindful of the security risks posed by the use.” Additionally, the Wall Street Journal says –

The Pentagon is also evaluating whether a military-wide advisory regarding the purchase or use of the devices is necessary.

Late last month, both Huawei and ZTE were faced with breaking points in the United States. Huawei announced on April 18 that it would be shifting its focus away from the U.S. market following constant backlash from the country and ZTE was hit with an 8-year Denial Order from the FTC – essentially stopping its smartphone business in the U.S.

This latest move from the Pentagon shows that the United States isn’t done pushing Huawei and ZTE as far away as possible, so it’ll be interesting to see where it goes next in this ongoing clash.

ZTE is DOA, but has the U.S. government gone too far?

What is an APN, and how do I change it?

Having the right mobile network settings makes a difference. Here’s how to change them if you need to!

Unlocked phones and alternative carriers are more popular now than ever before. Most every company makes an unlocked model or two that you can buy directly from their website or a retailer like Amazon with the necessary parts and software to use it on any GSM network around the world. And when you don’t have a phone that’s tied to a carrier through financing you’re free to try other carriers and see who offers what’s best for you.

Shifting things around and trying someone new for phone service is pretty simple and pain-free, but you might need to know how to set the APN on your phone. Let’s take a look at what an APN is and how you go about changing or adding one.

What is an APN?

The Access Point Name (APN) is the name for the settings your phone reads to set up a connection to the gateway between your carrier’s cellular network and the public Internet.

You carrier reads these settings, then makes sure to determine the correct IP address, connect to the correct secure gateway, and see if you need them to connect you to a private network like a VPN. All the heavy lifting is done on the carrier side, but we need to make sure the right settings are in place to get on the network we need, in the way we need to connect.

An APN has the network settings your phone needs to connect to your provider.

Depending on how your carrier’s network is structured, different settings are mandatory. The rest can be slightly altered to change some of the parameters, but for most of us, we will need to use the exact settings provided by our carrier.

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The good news is that most of the time, your phone has several “default” APN settings and one will work for phone calls automatically. Very handy if you need to call for help because unless you’re using one of the Big Four networks (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon) nothing else will work correctly and you’ll need to add an APN yourself.

The bad news is that carriers can customize the software on any phone they sell, and that includes blocking the ability to change the APN. Even if your phone is unlocked. You might be able to find a workaround posted on the internet, but there is also a good chance that you’re just not going to be able to use any other network. We suggest buying your next phone from someone else.

How to change your APN

The first thing you’ll need to do is find the right APN settings for the network you want to use. You’ll be able to find these at the support pages at the carrier website. The settings will look like this example for Mint SIM:

• Name – Ultra
• APN – Wholesale
• Proxy – (leave blank)
• Port – 8080
• Username & Password – (leave blank)
• Server – (leave blank)
• MMSC – http://wholesale.mmsmvno.com/mms/wapenc
• MMS Proxy – (leave blank)
• MMS Port – (leave blank)
• MNC – 260
• Authentication Type – (leave blank)
• APN Type – default,supl,mms
• MCC – 310

These are the settings you’ll need to enter for a new APN that can use Mint SIM’s service for data and MMS. Now we just need to find where to enter it.

This is going to be different depending on who made your phone, but it’s always going to be in the Wireless & networks section of the settings. You’re looking for a setting for Access Point Names and it might be nested in another setting like Cellular Networks. That’s where you’ll find it on the Pixel or Moto Z, and it should be similar to your phone. Don’t worry, you can’t mess anything up by tapping the settings and looking inside. Just try not to make any changes while you’re looking.

Once you’ve found the “Access Point Names” section. Tap to open it.

You should see a list with at least one APN on it. If things aren’t working with the current APN, you need to add another. Don’t modify or delete the one you see, instead make a new one and we can choose it when we’re done. At the top of the page, (or possibly in a menu, if your phone has a menu button) press the plus sign to bring up the “Edit access point” screen.

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This is where you will enter the settings you got from your carrier’s website. Two very important things here:

Not every setting in the “Edit access point” screen will need to be filled in. Only fill in the items your carrier provides, and leave the rest as-is.
Be sure to type in everything exactly as provided by your carrier. For example, default,supl,hipri is different than default, supl, hipri because of the white space between items. Your carrier’s system is set up to read an expected set of values, and any changes — no matter how minor — can and will break things.

Once you have the settings provided by your carrier entered, you need to save the APN. You do that by pressing the three dots in the upper right (or the menu key if your phone has one) and selecting the “Save” option.

Once your APN information is saved, go back one screen to the list we saw earlier. On this screen, tap the new APN settings you just entered to make them active. Your phone will lose its data connection for a little while as it connects to the new network using the new network settings. If you can’t get a connection after a few minutes, you might need to restart your phone.

On rare occasions, your provider may have two APNs that need entering. This is because they use a separate gateway for MMS or other data that’s separate from your data plan. If this is the case, you’ll find a full explanation of both APN settings on your carrier’s support site. Most times, one APN is all you need, though.

And that’s it! Now your phone should work for calls, SMS, MMS and data. Now be sure to set up any Data Saver or warning settings your phone might have to monitor how much data you use and if you are getting close to your allotment.

Updated April 2018: We made sure to have up-to-date information and changes for the latest phones.