The new LG G6 puts a huge screen inside a truly compact body, the best of both worlds. The G6 is the followup to the G5, a phone that tried to redefine smartphones with its modular construction. The G6 is more standard looking, and with its new features, this flagship is a contender for some of the best phones out there.
LG G6 Design
The LG G6 has a whopping 5.7-inch screen, but as mentioned, feels very small in your hand thanks to its nearly bezel-less design and its 18:9 aspect ratio, making it longer and thinner than the more standard 16:9 aspect ratio phones, and video with this newer 18:9 aspect ratio looks fabulous. You can easily operate the G6 with one hand.
The LG G6 is also the first phone to come with both HDR 10 and Dolby Vision support. This technology, previously only reserved for TV, is designed to make the image more lifelike with better colors, more accurate contrast levels, and wider viewing angles.
The front of the G6 looks sleek and modern, thanks to the rounded corners of the screen and the rounded screen itself. Combined with the rounded corners of the phone, it helps absorb impacts from any drops. The thin top and bottom bezels make the screen stand out even more, and enhance the minimalist style of the phone. This is a glass and metal phone, with Gorilla Glass 3 on the front, and Gorilla Glass 5 on the back.
On the rear is a fingerprint sensor, which doubles as a power button below the dual-lens camera and flash unit. The phone comes in black, white and platinum, the latter which looks most sharp. The G6 is thicker than many phones, but not by much, and it gives you a lot more phone to grab on to, which we love. In fact, we love the whole physical shape of this phone, and foresee many other future phones following design suit.
Apps
The LG G6 is loaded with the latest Android 7.0 Nougat. LG’s user interface is placed over Android and has a few additions to make better use of the 18:9 aspect ratio screen. The phone is ideally suited to multi-window app use, providing a perfect square for two apps to appear at the same time.
LG only installs a few of its own apps, such as QuickMemo+, which handily syncs with Google Drive, LG Health, a Tasks app, and its own music, calendar and file manager. Additionally, there’s an audio recorder, FM radio app, and LG’s Square Camera, which splits the screen into two, with the top half for square format pictures and the lower half for previews, or custom shots. Google Assistant is also onboard. The G6 is the first to use the Assistant outside of the Pixel phones, ahead of its wider release on other Android 7.0 Nougat phones.
The LG user interface is a bit different from the standard Android UI, but it still works very well, and doesn’t slow anything up. LG’s UX 6.0 looks fantastic.
LG G6 Camera
The G6 has an unbelievable camera, with two 13-megapixel camera lenses on the back. One has a wider-angle lens than the other, 125-degree wide-angle lens to be exact, but it doesn’t have optical image stabilization and it has an f/2.4 aperture, while the 71-degree standard lens has OIS and a far better f/1.8 aperture.
The standard angle lens produces pictures with more detail, and the G6 can take some fantastic nighttime or evening shots. In daylight, it takes perfect photos, and is on par with some of the other best camera phones out there, including the Pixel and iPhone.
Taking photos with the G6 is super easy, and the wide-angle mode presents new creative opportunities. There’s also a manual mode for both stills and video. The G6’s selfie camera has 5 megapixels and a single 100-degree, wide-angle lens, and like the main camera, the two modes are alternated using a button on the screen. There are also several filters options, and the wide-angle lens makes it easy to take great group shots.
As mentioned earlier, the camera app can split up the screen into two screens. You can use the top screen as a preview gallery, showing the last four pictures taken so you don’t have to jump into the gallery app to view them.
Processor and Battery
The LG G6 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor inside, plus 4GB of RAM. The 821 is not the top-of-the-line, but it’s still blazing fast. There’s plenty of power to run numerous apps at once, without any lag or hiccups.
While the LG G6 doesn’t have a removable battery, LG did this for a reason. Because the phone is sealed up, it now has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating. While having a replaceable battery is great, having to replace the entire phone after you dunk it in the pool is less than ideal.
Out of the box, the battery life isn’t stellar, but a software update will improve it. The G6 also comes with wireless charging, a feature not included on international versions of the phone. Charging the G6’s 3,200mAh battery will take about 1 1/2 hours.
Bottom Line
The LG G6 is a very cool phone, thanks to a big, beautiful screen that doesn’t sacrifice for an oversize phone. It also has a wide-angle camera lens. No other phone offers this combination. The processor is quick and nimble, and the design is beautiful and simple. The software is very usable as well, with Google Assistant installed rather than a third-party alternative, ensuring it works cohesively throughout the phone.
Best of all, it’s compact and easy to use with one hand, but offers a screen larger than its direct competitors. We’d argue that the LG G6 is the best Android phone you can currently buy. The LG G6 is available through Verizon for around $672 or $20/mo with contract. You can purchase it Click Here.
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