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Common LG G7 ThinQ problems, and how to fix them

LG G7 owners experiencing dreaded bootloop will have to wait a few days for fix

Steven Winkelman
Simon Hill
By and
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The LG G7 ThinQ is an interesting phone that offers great sound quality, speedy software, and solid battery life. It’s a solid, if unremarkable, flagship, but it doesn’t always work as expected. We’ve been digging around to find the most commonly reported LG G7 ThinQ problems and we’ve identified possible workarounds or fixes to help you overcome them.

It’s a glass phone, so if you don’t want problems with cracks or scratches, you’ll want to start by investing in one of the best LG G7 ThinQ cases.

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Problem: Phone will not start

In December 2018, some LG G7 ThinQ owners began reporting a major issue with their handsets. After installing a software update, some European G7 ThinQ owners were no longer able to start their phones. That’s right, the G7 ThinQ is LG’s latest phone to suffer from bootlooping problems.

Solution:

  • As of December 6, 2018, there’s no fix for the issue, but LG will release a software update in the coming days to fix it. A spokesperson for the company offered more information about the fix stating, “In cooperation with the operator, LG will be issuing a software solution within the next several days which will allow affected customers to roll back the update and return their device to its previous state.”

Problem: Backlight bleed

There have been quite a few reports of backlight bleed on some LG G7 ThinQ handsets. This is when the backlight that’s used to light up the LCD is coming through unevenly at a certain spot and illuminating it more than it should. There are threads at XDA Developers forum and on Reddit about this problem and it seems to appear mostly at the bottom of the screen to the right of the home icon.

Solution:

  • There’s no fix for backlight bleed, as it’s a manufacturing issue. If your LG G7 ThinQ has backlight bleed, then you’ll want to contact LG, your carrier, or your retailer and arrange for a replacement handset.

Issue: Battery percentage not appearing

A few people have been complaining that the battery percentage isn’t showing in their notification panel, even when it’s turned on in the settings, as in this XDA Developers forum thread. Luckily, it’s easy to fix.

Possible fix:

  • Start by going to Settings > Battery and make sure that Battery percentage on status bar is toggled on. Go to Settings > Display > New Second Screen and make sure it’s set to Standard. You should also go to Settings > Display > Display size and turn it all the way down to the smallest.
  • If none of that worked, then back up your files and try a factory reset. This will wipe your phone. Go to Settings > General > Backup & Reset > Factory Data Reset and tap Reset phone.

Glitch: Auto brightness too dark

There are discussions at the XDA Developers forum and on Reddit about the auto brightness on the LG G7 ThinQ being too aggressive and making the screen too dark. Some people have also found that they’re unable to adjust the brightness level when auto-brightness is turned on – this seems to be specific to T-Mobile.

Workarounds:

  • If you’re able to adjust the brightness level while auto-brightness is on, then go to a dark environment and drag the brightness slider as low as you want it to go to recalibrate it. This should set a minimum brightness for that light level.
  • Go to Settings > Display and toggle Auto off, then set the brightness level as low as you ever want it to go and toggle Auto back on.
  • There is a brightness boost icon at the left end of the brightness bar that you can tap to boost the brightness level.
  • Try an app like Lux to get more control over your screen’s brightness.

Problem: Camera lag

We noted a little camera lag in our review, and it’s something that has cropped up in discussions on Reddit and at the XDA Developer forum and Android Central forum. Some people are having issues with the time between tapping the shutter button and the photo being taken; others have found that it takes a while for the photo to save to the gallery.

Workarounds:

  • Try opening the Settings in the camera and turn HDR off and then test to see if it’s faster. Unfortunately, the quality won’t be as good, but you may notice that the lag is gone.
  • The problem is more pronounced indoors or in low-light conditions, so try to snapshots in well-lit environments. Unfortunately, this is par for the course with cameras in general.
  • Open the camera and tap Mode > Manual Camera. You can adjust various settings in here including the shutter speed, which is second from the end on the right.
  • If your problem is with slow saving to the gallery, you might test without a MicroSD card in the phone to see if that’s slowing things down.

That’s it for issues so far but check out our LG G7 ThinQ tips and tricks to get more out of your phone.

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Steven Winkelman
Steven Winkelman
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven writes about technology, social practice, and books. At Digital Trends, he focuses primarily on mobile and wearables…
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