Shouldn't the PRICE at least be an Advantage?

[bembol]

Where is LG right now in the market?

Reminds me of RIM/BlackBerry back in the day where they continue to price their devices as if it can compete.

I love the G3, the G4 was amazing and not sure what happened since then. I mean they tried to be creative with the G5, the G6 was just bland. TBH I only got the G6 because it was CHEAP upgrade and did I mention I'm an addict. LOL I sold it after a few weeks.

I just watched MKBHD's review on the G8. I completely what incentive does LG offer to buy it over the competition that are cheaper and overall better. Samsung Galaxy S10e, OnePlus 6t, etc.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

In my opinion, LG stopped being competitive for flagships in western markets in 2016. After the failures of the G4, G5 and V10, they seem to have given on innovating (as has much of the market) and are now trying to catch up to too many different strategy orientations at once. They want to look like Samsung, but also differentiate from Samsung, etc. In the US, LG hovers near 15% market share, though this past holiday season they dropped to 12%. Globally they're too small to get their own line, meaning they're not in the top 7 and they're included in the "other" category, which includes them, HTC, OnePlus, Google, TCL (BlackBerry branded), HMD (Nokia), Essential, Asus, Cat, Sony, Razer, etc, etc.

 

[Mike Dee]

In my opinion, LG stopped being competitive for flagships in western markets in 2016. After the failures of the G4, G5 and V10, they seem to have given on innovating (as has much of the market) and are now trying to catch up to too many different strategy orientations at once. They want to look like Samsung, but also differentiate from Samsung, etc. In the US, LG hovers near 15% market share, though this past holiday season they dropped to 12%. Globally they're too small to get their own line, meaning they're not in the top 7 and they're included in the "other" category, which includes them, HTC, OnePlus, Google, TCL (BlackBerry branded), HMD (Nokia), Essential, Asus, Cat, Sony, Razer, etc, etc.

There was a time when Moto would be mentioned in their somewhere. Now they are barely a thought.

 

[tadpoles]

Its very hard to compete against Apple and Samsung. LG knows this. I do wonder why they stay in the game. Perhaps their mobile division is doing better than I give them credit for.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Well, from a profitability standpoint if they're coming anywhere close to break even then they're doing very well. They're also a much huger player in Korea, so that can't be discounted without mentioning it. But LG's main business lines coincide with mobile, consumer electronics and all other types of products. the biggest thing we all have to remember that the volumes are getting from the users of their devices is data about how consumers use devices. that is worth many many times more than a $300 discount on the phone, especially with companies like Samsung and LG, who directly monetize that data.

 

[Morty2264]

Its very hard to compete against Apple and Samsung. LG knows this. I do wonder why they stay in the game. Perhaps their mobile division is doing better than I give them credit for.

You're right. And sometimes, I truly think people go for "what's in" and so LG - which makes good products - ends up taking a backseat.

However, they could do with better marketing and advertising. If no one knows about their products, they won't buy them.

 

[Mike Dee]

LG needs to stop relying on gimmicks and beef up their game. Improving the camera and screen would be a good place to start.

 

[X1tymez]

Nope. No price can replace user experience.

 

[General Tso]

Why would anyone think the G8 isn't a top-tier device? What does the S10 do that the G8 can't do?

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Holy crap, Google passed Moto and LG in the flagship space for the US consumer market: https://9to5google.com/2019/04/16/pixel-top-5-united-states/

Yeah, no. LG is done in the premium space.

 

[X1tymez]

Why would anyone think the G8 isn't a top-tier device? What does the S10 do that the G8 can't do?

It's not the hardware. LG software needed to tune up.

 

[chanchan05]

Why would anyone think the G8 isn't a top-tier device? What does the S10 do that the G8 can't do?

For one thing, when the UI hasn't been updated for 3 years that it still warns you not to pull out the battery in a phone whose battery is not removable, it just doesn't cut it.
Not to mention LG's horrendous update history. We're 8mos after Pie was released, and not a whiff of an update for the G7 and V40. LG promised Q2, and there's like just a month and a half left. It's not like they can release it within 1 month to all units. Not even Samsung can do that.

 

[Bl00dRunzC0ld]

For one thing, when the UI hasn't been updated for 3 years that it still warns you not to pull out the battery in a phone whose battery is not removable, it just doesn't cut it.
Not to mention LG's horrendous update history. We're 8mos after Pie was released, and not a whiff of an update for the G7 and V40. LG promised Q2, and there's like just a month and a half left. It's not like they can release it within 1 month to all units. Not even Samsung can do that.

I'm pretty sure LG said end of Q1 for G7, so they missed that deadline, and June for V40. V40 should have been released with Pie since it came out a couple months after Pie was released. LG being LG.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

My standards for software updates are: A public release rolling wide within 24 hours of a security bulletin release, every month, no excuses and major release updates within 30 days of public drop, every time, no excuses.

Android Pie came out on August 6th, so I would expect every OEM who is going to try to state that they take security seriously to be on the September security patch running Android 9.0 to be doing so no later than September 4th, which was the first Tuesday in September.

The only OEM's that met this expectation, which I would state is a bare minimum, were Google and Essential. Next in line were OnePlus, 45 days and HMD (Nokia) at 53 days. At least those 4 companies are trying. LG doesn't care, at all. The only device they've updated is their Android One device, and even that took over 100 days.

 

[chanchan05]

My standards for software updates are: A public release rolling wide within 24 hours of a security bulletin release, every month, no excuses and major release updates within 30 days of public drop, every time, no excuses.

Android Pie came out on August 6th, so I would expect every OEM who is going to try to state that they take security seriously to be on the September security patch running Android 9.0 to be doing so no later than September 4th, which was the first Tuesday in September.

The only OEM's that met this expectation, which I would state is a bare minimum, were Google and Essential. Next in line were OnePlus, 45 days and HMD (Nokia) at 53 days. At least those 4 companies are trying. LG doesn't care, at all. The only device they've updated is their Android One device, and even that took over 100 days.

Considering how much additional features other OEMs put on their devices, what you're asking is pretty much impossible for phones not running stock or very near stock OS.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

Considering how much additional features other OEMs put on their devices, what you're asking is pretty much impossible for phones not running stock or very near stock OS.

I strongly disagree, for two reasons: 1) Treble is designed to separate the core firmware from the vendor layer, which would be the skin, additional features, etc. 2) Vendors receive the software and can begin building a LONG time before the public thinks they do.

Android Pie, as an example, August 6 is when we got the official build dropped to the public, but that's not when the clock starts for vendors being able to begin production, merging and testing. The first public developer preview dropped 5 months earlier, on March 7th, but that's not when the clock started either. Because by that time, vendors had already had early previews in hand for over two months. Now, obviously they can't have a final working version much before August 6th, because things are changing in the entire 9 month process that they have that code, but the core of it doesn't change much and it is done in a way that, if the vendors are properly leveraging the advantage of Treble, it's read, merge, test. That's why I allot 30 days afterwards, because they can read through it on day 1, the second it drops into AOSP, they can merge it on day 1 and begin testing on day 1.

That's for a major version update. How about a security update?

Well, the vendors get all of those changes at least 30 days in advance. The April security bulletin was released to the vendors at the beginning of March, giving them 30 days to read through the updates, decide which ones are applicable to their devices, merge the code and test it.

 

[General Tso]

Ok, so only Pixel or iPhone for you I guess. Lol.

 

[Golurk]

Its very hard to compete against Apple and Samsung. LG knows this. I do wonder why they stay in the game. Perhaps their mobile division is doing better than I give them credit for.

Cough cough Huawei

 

[Golurk]

As for LG’s software ‘experience’, I agree that it’s probably the worst in terms of updating software on time or at all. I’d advise using a launcher (such as Nova, Action or Evie) as they are (mostly) free and provide a relatively clean, customisable, fast and (most importantly) regularly updated Android experience.

 

[RapidTurtle]

For some reason, reviewers love to bash LG phones. Then they get a bad rap. As far as the software, I would take LG's over Samsung's any day. It seems so much more intuitive than Samsung's mess.