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The LG G8 Has a Vibrating OLED Screen For a Speaker (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-and-shiny dept.

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.

24 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. LG is the worst. by hirschma · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sure would be nice if they could release OS/security updates as quickly as new hardware. LG is the worst.

    1. Re:LG is the worst. by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      LG is the worst.

      The digitizer failed on my Nexus 4 (LG E960). How much more rapidly will this cause the digitizer to fail on these devices?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:LG is the worst. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      yep; i bought previous lg flagship... never again

      the hardware was great but even simple android security updates lagged months behind release and after two years they stopped releasing updates at all

  2. Just in time for Valentine's Day... by Crash+Dummy+Redux · · Score: 2

    An 8K HDTV with a built-in vibrator. My pixellated girlfriend will be so happy.

  3. My phone has this. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    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. . . .
    1. Re:My phone has this. by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

      For best results, you need to hold the phone FIRMLY against your ear (experimenting for best placement).

      Strange, I would have thought the advantage of using the screen as speaker was better and louder sound, since it has the whole screen area to vibrate (like a ribbon speaker)... I guess it doesn't travel enough to really get very loud.

      Most modern phones are equally waterproof with speakers, so if it's not really got a sound quality advantage I wonder why they are sticking with that approach?

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    2. Re:My phone has this. by Narcocide · · Score: 2

      It might be hard to believe this, but the materials that modern speakers are made of these days are very close to the theoretical optimal balance between durability and flexibility. They're doing this because they can make the phone tougher by sacrificing some sound quality. My concern is just that any video with too much bass is gonna blur the screen, so they've actually in one fell swoop sabotaged both the viewing quality and the listening quality with a cost-cutting feature they're gonna be able to trick people into paying extra for.

      Disgusting. And to think that there's people in this thread afraid the worst problems will be delayed access to firmware updates. What a joke.

    3. Re: My phone has this. by aliquis · · Score: 1

      It definitely have a greater area but the weight vs area and range of motion may be crap vs mylar or whatever.

  4. It's my speaker and ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

    ... I can wear it anywhere I want to.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:It's my speaker and ... by aybiss · · Score: 1

      I like small speakers,
      I like tall speakers.

      --
      It's OK Bender, there's no such thing as 2.
    2. Re:It's my speaker and ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      This new TV will be "speaker of the house."

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  5. My smartphone has BOTH a Vibrator AND a Speaker! by ffkom · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  6. Exploit coming to an LG phone near you: by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

    Specially-crafted sound file, at exactly the resonant frequency and maximum amplitude, that shatters your display-speaker.

    1. Re:Exploit coming to an LG phone near you: by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Goodluck.

    2. Re:Exploit coming to an LG phone near you: by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Actually that's *exactly* how resonant frequency works - there's just a limiting factor to consider - damping, or how effectively the item in question can shed the energy it's receiving. At non-resonant frequencies internal destructive interference provides its own damping, but that's dramatically reduced or eliminated at resonant frequencies

      Fluids are generally great dampers - they'll convert vibrational energy into internal turbulence, and thence heat. Which is why the Earth doesn't shatter, it's basically a big ball of dissimilar fluids with an incredibly thin eggshell crust floating on the outside. (Well, that and the fact that you'd have to accelerate any broken fragments to escape velocity or they'd just re-coallesce - but it'd take something pretty outrageous for that to become a factor - like the impact that created the moon from fragments that couldn't quite escape completely - but that has nothing to do with vibration)

      Suspend a completely undamped crystal in a vacuum, agitate it with a tiny signal at its resonant frequency, and the standing waves will just keep building until it shatters. Do the same thing in air (a fluid), and you've got a fair chance that the vibrational energy can be shed as sound waves and dissipated in the air faster than new energy is being added. But not necessarily - hence the glass-shattering effect of singers who can hold a sustained note at their resonant frequency long and loudly enough.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    3. Re:Exploit coming to an LG phone near you: by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      "..or our planet would be pieces of dust long ago"
      LOL, you actually consider the Earth to be some solid mass of all the same material or something? Hilarious.
      Have to admit, though, you write pretty close to an adult, for a 4th grader.

  7. Re:Genuine innovation by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    Who did it before?

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  8. versus LG android customizations by digitect · · Score: 2

    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...
    1. Re:versus LG android customizations by G00F · · Score: 2

      Volume button doesn't work on lock screen?

      That's a feature, one that prevents you from missing calls because while in your pocket/purse the volume doesn't go down.

      It's locked, things shouldn't be allowed to changed while locked.

      --
      The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
  9. Re: My smartphone has BOTH a Vibrator AND a Speake by aliquis · · Score: 1

    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.

  10. Re:Genuine innovation by Immerman · · Score: 1

    There's at least one example listed near the top of this discussion

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  11. Re:Genuine innovation by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    So, done once before for the purpose of waterproofing. Now, done by LG for the purpose of having good audio quality (which the Kyocera did not) while saving front panel space. Why is that not genuine innovation?

    Sure beats round corners :)

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  12. Re:Genuine innovation by Immerman · · Score: 1

    Sure does. But that's an awful low bar to cross.

    Mostly I was just making sure you didn't overlook a comment with a possible answer.

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  13. Re: Genuine innovation by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    It's never Apple, according to Apple.

    And Apple astroturfers make me sick. How Apple of you.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.