The LG G7 has been pretty well leaked ahead of its May 2nd unveiling in New York. One of the mysteries remaining has been the appearance of an additional button in renders, but a new report suggests it’s actually a hard-wired button to Google Assistant.
The report, from CNet, quotes ‘people familiar with the smartphone’, who say that the LG G7 ThinQ (gah, that name!) will have a dedicated button on the left hand side of the phone that will call the Google Assistant.
The remaining buttons will be the volume rocker above the Google Assistant button. Unlike the LG G6, there will be a dedicated power button on the right, with the fingerprint scanner remaining on the rear as simply a reader.
The inclusion of a physical button for Google Assistant is a first for a smartphone CNet points out, though HTC has included their squeezable sides, called ‘Edge Sense’ which can be used to call the Google Assistant in a number of phones. It’s also been included by Google in the HTC built Pixel 2, and LG built Pixel 2 XL as well.
Samsung has famously included their ‘Bixby’ button, that calls their virtual assistant, though it hasn’t been very well received due to the lack of functionality of Bixby. How well received the inclusion of the dedicated button for Google Assistant, which has far more functionality, will be received is yet to be seen.
A number of vendors, including ZTE, include a ‘magic’ button that can be programmed by the user to any function on the phone. Samsung has resisted changes to their Bixby button, playing an ongoing game of virtual whack-a-mole with developers who try to skirt the permanent mapping of Bixby to the button. Whether LG will do the same is another big question.
We’ll know a lot more about the LG G7 when LG unveils it in New York on May 2nd.
Would you buy a phone with a permanently mapped button to Google Assistant?
