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The LG G8 Has a Vibrating OLED Screen For a Speaker (arstechnica.com)
LG's next upcoming flagship smartphone is the LG G8, which is expected to debut at Mobile World Congress at the end of the month. While much of the phone is similar to last year's model, LG yesterday announced some news on the phone's audio capabilities. "The phone uses the same 'Crystal Sound OLED' branding that LG has used on some of its TVs before; this means that the entire display will vibrate to work as a speaker, which was previously rumored," reports The Verge. "The news also confirms that the G8 will be the first flagship G-series phone not to use an LCD." From the report: The G8 still has a bottom-facing speaker for louder use cases like speakerphone calls, and LG says this can be paired with the top part of the screen for 2-channel stereo sound. Elsewhere, the signature quad DAC from LG's recent flagship phones returns -- which means there'll be a headphone jack -- as does the "Boombox Speaker" functionality that produces surprisingly bassy sound when the phone is placed on a table. LG has already confirmed that the G8 will have a front-facing 3D camera with a time-of-flight sensor, while rumors suggest there could be an optional second screen accessory.
Sure would be nice if they could release OS/security updates as quickly as new hardware. LG is the worst.
An 8K HDTV with a built-in vibrator. My pixellated girlfriend will be so happy.
The Kyocera Hydro Vibe, I bought in 2015, has a vibrating screen instead of a regular ear speaker and it's not super, but I believe it helps with its water-proof certification [Certified waterproof for IPX5, and IPX7. Immersible for up to 30 minutes in up to 3.28 feet (1 meter).]. For best results, you need to hold the phone FIRMLY against your ear (experimenting for best placement). It does also have a rear speaker for speaker-phone use -- as well as a freaking headphone jack -- and they work great.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
... I can wear it anywhere I want to.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
And of course, a display too! Two SIM-slots, replaceable battery, SD-slot, LTE. It cost ~ 110,- EUR when it was new.
Seriously, these so called "flagships" are worse than much older phones in most of the criteria that matter to me.
And it's got ridges for HER pleasure!
OMG
Kyocera did this a few years ago, called it Smart Sonic it worked ok but not great, sounded a bit garbled, they eventually went back to conventional speakers , as the voice and sound quality was sub standard,
#commentFail
Now all we need is to migrate the pixels to quantum dots, so that we can have a screen that can also act as a camera and we can get rid of that god awful notch.
Specially-crafted sound file, at exactly the resonant frequency and maximum amplitude, that shatters your display-speaker.
Genuine innovation. Why can't Apple with all its riches and self described innovative genius, come with anything the least bit interesting?
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
This seems gimmicky - basically like most phone hardware and software “innovation” nowadays (*cough* 3-D emoji *cough*). Heck, at least based on the summary this would appear to be a significant step downward from a real speaker in terms of quality. Is there an actual, practical advantage to the consumer in doing this?
Where's the app to turn this into a sex-toy?
While I like LG hardware as a reasonable price-feature middle ground (currently using a V35), their customized Android negates any real enthusiasm.Volume button doesn't work on lock screen? Can't set a temporary DND? Worlds most baffling settings menu? Literally a dozen useless apps that can't be uninstalled redundant with native Android, except with less features and poorer interface? Spastic colors? I"m not interested in rooting my own version, why can't LG figure this out?
Every time I buy an LG phone I promise myself I won't by another one. And about every 5 years I forget that promise only to make it again.
There is no need to use a SlashDot sig for SEO...
Can you shove it up your ass?
I don't know. Please live stream an attempt.
They have better cameras for once which matter for me.
More ram, faster, better displays, water and dust resistant, faster.
Where they fail is having glass and price.
As is the case with TVs, if you care about sound quality at all, you don't use the built-in speakers; you send the audio to your receiver and have it drive your much better quality speakers.
For a phone--if you care about sound quality (eg, listening to music), then you use an external pair of headphones, or your home receiver or car radio. For actual calls, what everybody's got is already more than good enough (unless there's something really wrong with your phone). You *cannot* get good quality audio in that form factor--not wasting research money in that area means you can make (and sell me) a phone for less money.