The latest flagship from the Korean company LG is the G6. The USP of the smartphone is the dual rear cameras and a compact design thanks to its bezel-less design. The LG G6 is set out to give competition to the likes of the Galaxy S8 and Google Pixel. But will it succeed? Let’s find out.
Design and Display
The LG G6 is made up of a metallic unibody, which is a departure from the design language of its predecessor, the G5. Despite of the big 5.7-inch screen size, it easily fits in the hands. That’s because the phone doesn’t have significant bezels around the sides. The edges are curvy and the rear panel has a glossy finish. The build quality seems sturdy and handy.
Talking about the ports, the 3.5mm audio jack is on the top along with power and volume rocker keys on the right side of the edge. The Type-C cable in on the bottom with speakers.
Overall, the design is minimal and really appealing.
The QHD display with 18:9 aspect ratio has a resolution of 2,880 x 1,440 pixels. It has good colour reproduction and seem vibrant. It can be also be seen under different viewing angles and under direct sunlight. The display also supports HDR videos, which ensures better viewing experience, although there’s not much content with the high dynamic range, yet.
Hardware and Software
The LG G6 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset with 4GB of RAM. The SoC seems to be slightly old considering its successor has already been launched in the form of the SD835. There is 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card.
On the software end, the G6 runs Android 7.0 Nougat with its custom UX 6.0 out of the box. The UI seems attractive but not as refined. The UI allows good customisation features but has bloatware.
Performance
The SoC works good enough to run all the apps and to do multitasking well. Apps open smoothly and switching between them is also instantaneous. The touch response is good but not that quick like the Samsung Galaxy S8 or Pixel.
The gaming performance of the device is good and I didn’t find any type of lag on the LG G6 while playing high end games like Asphalt 8 and Modern Combat 5. Although there was minimal heating issue but that can be neglected.
On the connectivity section, it offers the usual options like dual-SIM 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Everything is easily accessible and works well. I was using Airtel 4G VoLTE and didn’t face any call drops.
Camera
There is a dual camera setup at rear, with the primary sensor rated at 13-megapixels with f/1.8, and the other also of the same 13MP resolution, but with f/2.4. Similar to the G5, the LG G6’s dual cameras offer the ability to shoot a wide-angle shot. The camera works quite well and captures great photos with lots of in-depth details. The low light performance was also pretty good. It offers one of the best macro and wide-angle images.
The front camera is of 5-megapixel and shoots decent selfies. It has nice and colour tones.
Overall, the cameras on the LG G6 are really impressive and comparable to the S8, and the wide-angle capabilities give it an additional edge. As the smartphone is water resistant we tried some under water shots which came out very well.
Battery
The LG G6 is packed with 3,300mAh battery that gives a full day backup with moderate usage. In our usage, it seems that the camera drains a lot of battery, but even then the phone manages to last a full day. If you use it more judiciously, then it can even last a day and a half.
Gizmo Verdict
The LG G6 offers great design and camera features, but the older SoC is a major drawback. Although the smartphone is a good option to go if you like to shoot a lot of images, the Galaxy S8 comes across as a better offering. However, considering the fact that the G6 is now available around Rs 37,000, it becomes quite an attractive deal.
