
Something wonderful happens when you look at phones under a macro lens. Details that I didn't notice with the naked eye become clear. Take the LG G7 ThinQ for example.
The LG G7 is a high-end Android phone with cutting-edge specs like a blazing-fast Snapdragon 845 processor, dual rear cameras and AI technology inside. There's even a side button that launches Google Assistant.
Getting up close to the LG logo makes it clear that you're looking at a face. The "L" forms a nose and the "G" rounds out the rest.
Here's a look at the dual rear lens 16-megapixel camera and the LED flash. But keep going: We can get get even closer than this.
LED lights are tiny. On mobile devices, they're really tiny. You can see the rings on the lenses used to disperse and direct the G7's powerful little light source.
I focused this shot on the LED flash, but my eye is drawn to the colorfully blurred edge of the phone.
Do you see the green, purple, pink and blue lens flare? Lens flare occurs when light scatters due to a brighter light source refracting off of the lens. In this case, it was my camera's flash bouncing off of the LG G7's camera lens.
You can see the crystalized surface of the fingerprint sensor, right? In this case, looks are deceiving. The G7's fingerprint sensor isn't rough at all -- it's as smooth as glass.
The three speaker holes located on the bottom of the LG G7 look tiny in real life and commanding up close. They pump a lot of audio out of a small area.
You can see some of the 24 pins on this USB-C port. Since the LG G7 has a headphone jack, you won't need a dongle adaptor to plug in your wired headphones. Phew.
You can clearly see the gold contacts inside the headphone jack -- along with a reflexion of yours truly to the left.
As a reference, here is the top half of the LG G7. The notch is optional and fits in the time and other notifications on either side.
You're looking at the right edge of the notch now. It's a little more narrow than the iPhone X notch.
We are close enough to count each and every pixel on the LG G7's 3,120x1,440-resolution screen.
Macro photographs aren't forgiving and this particular image shows dings in the metal edge of the LG G7. It's always good to put a case on a phone on day one, no question about it.
What are we looking at? A fingerprint and reflection of myself shows how easily glossy phones pick up marks and reflect light -- and how challenging a macro shot can be.
This logo comes from the phone's back. Notice the "bleed" from the background gray into the darker text.
I photographed the LG G7 with a 100mm macro F2.8 lens, a Canon 5D Mark III camera, a Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT on camera flash and a tripod.
Hungry for more? Check out our LG G7 review and see my iPhone X macro photos.