Friday, May 31, 2019

LG V50 ThinQ - Mind The Buttons! - Sprint Product Ambassadors

The LG V50 Thinq has an excellent set of buttons around the edge for power, volume and the Google Assistant.  But because of the placing you must beware of how your car mount grabs the phone.  I have the wireless charging phone holder for my car.  The grip arms will push the Google Assistant button if I have the phone slid down low enough to activate the wireless charging.  Be aware of this as you look for phone holders in your vehicle - side gripping holders may inadvertently activate your Google Assistant!




Note how close the side gripper is to the Google Assistant button!

I hope this helps others to find excellent phone holders that don't trigger the buttons on the LG V50 ThinQ!

- Will England


The Product Ambassadors are Sprint employees from many different parts of the company that love technology. They volunteer to test out all sorts of Sprint devices and offer opinions freely to the Community. Each Product Ambassador shares their own opinions of these devices, therefore the information in this post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprint. The PA's do not represent the company in an official way, and should not be expected to respond to Community members in an official capacity. #sprintemployee

LG V50 ThinQ 5G Setup Screen Recording - Sprint Product Ambassadors

Did you know the LG V50 ThinQ 5G phone from Sprint had a built in screen recorder?  Now you can capture your gaming, demonstrations, or more with the built in screen recorder.  I took a quick tour through setup and basic features of the phone on video - click to watch!


I hope this helps you have a better idea on the newest LG phone and the first 5G phone from Sprint!

- Will England

The Product Ambassadors are Sprint employees from many different parts of the company that love technology. They volunteer to test out all sorts of Sprint devices and offer opinions freely to the Community. Each Product Ambassador shares their own opinions of these devices, therefore the information in this post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprint. The PA's do not represent the company in an official way, and should not be expected to respond to Community members in an official capacity. #sprintemployee

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Setting up the Hand Recognition on the LG G8 ThinQ - Sprint Product Ambassadors

A phone you don't even have to touch to unlock - not news these days with facial recognition from most of the big phone makers.  But the LG G8 ThinQ goes one further with hand recognition!  It scans the patterns of blood vessels in your hand using the cameras and sensors on the front of the device.  Once it's set up, it's fantastic!  But to set it up, takes just a bit of finesse.  Watch the video to find out how to "crush it" setting up hand recognition!


Amazing!  It took a few tries to figure that out - but now that you know how to set up hand recognition on your LG G8 ThinQ you'll be crushing it like a pro!

- Will England


The Product Ambassadors are Sprint employees from many different parts of the company that love technology. They volunteer to test out all sorts of Sprint devices and offer opinions freely to the Community. Each Product Ambassador shares their own opinions of these devices, therefore the information in this post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprint. The PA's do not represent the company in an official way, and should not be expected to respond to Community members in an official capacity. #sprintemployee

Monday, May 27, 2019

LG G8 ThinQ Air Motion Controls - Sprint Product Ambassador

A phone you don't touch to control - amazing!  That's exactly what LG has designed in their LG G8 ThinQ.   They have new touchless technology called "Air Motion" that allows you to answer the phone, manage your alarm, capture the screen or open apps.

It does take a bit to get used to it - first, hold you hand two to five inches directly above the camera in the top until the blue bar lights up.  Then, you can make the desired action without even touching the phone!

You can see a brief demonstration of it live from my test phone here:


I hope this helps you to get more out of your LG G8 ThinQ from Sprint!

- Will England

The Product Ambassadors are Sprint employees from many different parts of the company that love technology. They volunteer to test out all sorts of Sprint devices and offer opinions freely to the Community. Each Product Ambassador shares their own opinions of these devices, therefore the information in this post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprint. The PA's do not represent the company in an official way, and should not be expected to respond to Community members in an official capacity. #sprintemployee

Saturday, May 25, 2019

LG G8 ThinQ Unboxing and Size Comparison - Sprint Product Ambassadors

This week we're looking at the LG G8 ThinQ phone from Sprint.  The current 4G top of the line phone from LG, it's an impressive device right out of the box!  Watch for more:


Looks like it's going to be a great test!

- Will England, Sprint Product Ambassador

The Product Ambassadors are Sprint employees from many different parts of the company that love technology. They volunteer to test out all sorts of Sprint devices and offer opinions freely to the Community. Each Product Ambassador shares their own opinions of these devices, therefore the information in this post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprint. The PA's do not represent the company in an official way, and should not be expected to respond to Community members in an official capacity. #sprintemployee

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Introducing the LG G8 ThinQ - Sprint Product Ambassadors


A phone you don’t touch.  A phone with no speaker.  A phone that supports the fastest, widest LTE network.  The LG G8.  This is one amazing phone.  I’ve been using LG phones – and getting them for my family – for years, the G6, G7, v30, v40, etc. – and this one has features to outsmart and out work them all.    Running the latest QUALCOMM 855 chipset, supporting up to 2TB of storage for lossless audio storage and more.

The 6.1” screen itself is the speaker, combined with an integral bass chamber for low end reproduction, the sound from the LG G8 is nothing short of phenomenal for a handset.  But it really comes alive when you connect it to a high end set of Bluetooth headphones; the LG G8 supports the aptX protocol for high bitrate streaming to your Bluetooth devices.  Connect to the (still included!) 3.5mm headset jack and you experience lifelike surround sound in your headset.  The digital to analog converter remains best in class.  LG has partnered with Meridian, one of the big dogs in audiophile and high end audio, to tune the sound output on this phone, along with Dolby DTS:X 3D sound for the simulated surround from your headphones.

Once you buy this phone, you will quickly become a customer of Acoustic Sounds and HDTracks, two of the biggest vendors of high-resolution lossless audio.  You will find your old catalog of MP3’s start sounding tinny and find all sorts of new amazing music.  For the deep catalog, you can get great tracks from Bandcamp as well, again in lossless FLAC files.  Combined with the free subscription to Tidal that Sprint offers with their unlimited plan, you will rediscover your love for music with this phone, and find artists and tracks you’ve never heard before.  I’ve purchased over 480 new tracks, some 43 GB of uncompressed music since I started using the LG phones with their amazing sound quality!

Beyond the sound, the LG G8 offers touchless commands, super fast data speeds on the Sprint LTE network and a 6.1” edge to edge display using the latest in OLED technology for an immersive experience in movies, videos, games and more.  Stay tuned for demos and videos of the coolest new features of this brilliant phone!

The Product Ambassadors are Sprint employees from many different parts of the company that love technology. They volunteer to test out all sorts of Sprint devices and offer opinions freely to the Community. Each Product Ambassador shares their own opinions of these devices, therefore the information in this post does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sprint. The PA's do not represent the company in an official way, and should not be expected to respond to Community members in an official capacity. #sprintemployee


Links to external vendors not sponsored by Sprint, nor endorsed by Sprint.  No compensation was received for any external content or downloads.

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

A Quiet Mechanical Key Switch Keyboard

For *years* (1995 to 2018) I have been typing on IBM Model M keyboards with the buckling spring keyswitches.  I learned to type on an IBM Selectrics and that level of pressure and feedback is just what I'm used to.

This year we moved office into an open pod area with coworkers separated from me by only a foot or two and a thin foam wall.  I've had several warnings and hits (people leaving rubber dome keyboards on my desk etc.) regarding the noise of my typing.  Additionally, our new docking stations for the laptops have removed the legacy PS2 ports for serial keyboards, so I've had to find a good USB to PS2 converter.  (Tip - there arent' many at all).

I checked into all the current mechanical switch keyboards and they are mainly focused on video gamers - 'interesting' colors, RGB backlighting, price tags of $80 to over $100, etc.  Finally found the Logitech K840 - just came out recently, is very conservative in color and style, but offers a solid mechanical switch, the 'Romer G'.  TomsHardware reports that the newly designed Romer G switches have "[...] tactile, quiet switch that requires 45 g of actuation force, Romer-Gs are similar to Cherry MX Browns, but spring back a little faster."  This illustration from Logitech shows the build diagram of the Romer G switch:




The frame and body are built from anodized aluminum for a study long lasting feel. With 26-key rollover it'll keep up with the fastest of typers, and can be used for games.  But with the understated black and grey colors, clean lines and quiet actuation, this is the perfect keyboard for the office.


A quick check with DB Meter Pro on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 at 6" from the keyboard give a maximum SPL (C-Weighted) of just over 60dB.  From 2 or 3 feet away it's essentially un-noticeable. 


While the MSRP is $89, you can typically find them for $50 or so online.  Excellent keyboard, office friendly and great to type on.  I hope this hardware review helps you to find a quality keyboard with mechanical switches that won't drive your coworkers batty!
 
(Update - August 2020:  I was sent this excellent resource of mechanical keyboard switches, with all of the parameters for force, depth, and more! )

- Will England