LG has finally moved away from the modular approach with its brand new flagship – the G6 smartphone. Instead, the company has focused on a streamlined design, two wide-angle cameras, and a maximized screen size – improvements that work in favour for the company.
The LG G6 comes with a 5.7-inch QHD+ (2880-by-1440 resolution) FullVision display, and for the first time ever in a smartphone, an 18:9 screen aspect ratio. As soon as you lay your eyes on the phone, you will realize that it indeed offers more viewing space, when watching movies or playing games.
The phone is not made entirely of metal – instead, LG opted for a glass unibody scenario. This means that the edges or the frame of the phone are made of metal, while the back panel is made of curved glass. Thankfully, the back panel is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. The front screen, meanwhile, is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.
The phone does look very unique when compared to most phones on the market – mostly because of the way LG has managed to cram in a bigger (and taller) display into the usual smartphone body. The phone also fits comfortably in one hand, thus giving you a big screen experience without the inconvenience of a big phone.
The LG G6 does feel solid and well-built. It features clean lines, precise joins and a pleasing contrast between the deliberately flat front face and the more ergonomic curved rear. The phone is available in three colours – black, white and platinum. I received the “platinum” version for review and I simply love the brushed texture beneath the glass on the rear.
The phone features IP68 rating – so it is dust and water resistant. Under the hood the LG G6 runs on a Snapdragon 821 chip with 4GB of RAM. In terms of performance, the LG G6 was able to handle any task I threw at it, including editing short videos and running YouTube and Chrome side by side. The LG G6 also features Dolby Vision technology, in addition to supporting HDR 10.
In terms of storage, the phone features 32GB of built-in storage, which can be further expanded to up to 2TB using a micro SD card. On the front of the device, you get a 5MP wide angle camera setup. We were able to capture some awesome-looking selfies with the front camera, which was able to accommodate a lot more people into the frame.
On the rear, you get a dual lens setup – one is a 13MP wide angle lens, while the the other is a 13MP OIS lens. Picture and video quality was amazing even under low light conditions. Under broad daylight, the LG G6 was able to click some astonishing shots.
Other features on the phone include the fingerprint scanner, which is situated just below the dual camera module at the rear. In addition, the phone also comes with a wide range of features, which are, for some weird reason, geographically restricted. The Quad DAC — an upgraded version of the audio feature from the V20 — is only available in Korea and a handful of other Asian markets.
The wireless charging feature is exclusive to the US markets. So, other regions will have to make do with good old-fashioned cable charging over Qualcomm Quick Charge 3. And if you want a 64GB LG G6, you might have to travel to either Asia and Eastern Europe to get it.
Software-wise, LG has also cleaned things up across the board, to produce a UI that looks like an evolution of last year’s software efforts. LG’s latest interface is built upon Android 7.0 Nougat. The phone also packs in a 3300 mAh battery, which lasted close to 1.5 days on a single charge.
With the G6, LG has finally returned to form in the smartphone game. The G6 is definitely the smartphone we all have wanted to see LG come up with from the start. In the crowd of flagship smartphones out there, the LG G6 truly shines.
Price: AED 2599
