It’s time to call it out. Smartphone innovation has plateaued. With hardware getting more efficient every year and software optimised, there’s precious little manufacturers can do with each new iteration of their flagship products, but to refine the little things. Until a major breakthrough in battery technology comes along, it seems everyone is now turning to the cynosure of all eyes, literally, the display.
LG has always been great at extracting the most of the screen-to-body ratio on their devices — even from inception of the G and G Pro series — managing to cram large screens on extremely pocket-friendly phones.
Last year’s V20 was an impressive feat of engineering, but the G6 has it beat — squeezing in a 5.7-inch QuadHD display into a body smaller than most 5.5-inch phones from a few years ago. They’ve done this by making bezels smaller, yes, but also by making the phone taller, giving it an unconventional 18:9 aspect ratio instead of the conventional widescreen format of 16:9.
What this means in everyday use is that playing videos in landscape mode will result in thin black bars appearing on either side of the screen. On a display this large and this vivid, it’s not a deal breaker, and picky watchers can choose to have the video fill the screen at the expense of losing a little content from the edges as a result of the zoom effect. The display also boasts support for Dolby Vision and HDR 10, so buyers are relatively well future-proofed in this department.
Build
There’s a lot going on with the G6 apart from that screen. The phone is made out of a premium aluminium and glass combination, and has a hefty industrial feel in the hand, giving it a sense of style and durability. The unsightly bump that accentuated the G5’s fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone is gone, and the G6’s sensor/power button sits flush with the back panel below the dual camera setup that has become the norm for the company. The glass back panel manages to resist fingerprints quite well too, striking a balance between style and practicality. The slightly fiddly volume switches take up the left of the phone, while the USB-C port and speaker are at the bottom. Unfortunately, they aren’t stereo, but they get decently loud.
While on the topic of sound, the G6 comes with a Hi-Fi Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC) on the Indian version (North American variants drop this in favour of wireless charging) to keep audiophiles happy. This means even higher-end headphones can work at full potential with the G6, without being limited by its hardware. And the final jewel in the G6’s build quality crown is that it features an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, meaning a little exposure to the elements won’t ruffle it in the slightest.
Under the hood
Powering the G6 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821, perhaps the ‘weakest’ chink in the phone’s armour. While the best of last year’s crop of processors, its rivals like the Galaxy S8 and even the upcoming OnePlus 5 use the Snapdragon 835. While the difference in the real world is sure to be marginal at best, specsheet lovers will balk at this particular detail. Everywhere else, the G6 has its bases covered — 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and microSD expandability, apart from NFC, Bluetooth and WiFi, with all new standards covered. The one connectivity area where the G6 loses ground to the S8 is Bluetooth, with the latter launching with Bluetooth 5, which offers some improvements in connectivity range and quality.
Camera
The cameras are more familiar — dual 13MP rear sensors (that prompt you to shoot at 8.7MP for the full 18:9 aspect ratio images if required) with 71 and 125 degrees field of view (FOV) and a 5MP front camera with a 100 degree FOV. The wide-angle lens allows for a landscape mode that pulls in much more into the frame, yielding some great shots in the right conditions. The cameras automatically switch between each other while zooming, and even the front camera offers a portrait and wide mode to accommodate group selfies. The camera comes with the usual tips and tricks, skin tone lightening, image and selfie filters, face and gesture-based shots, to name a few. LG’s handy manual mode is back, and more easier to use than ever. It features a useful little indicator to make sure your shots are aligned with the horizon, control for ISO, white balance and shutter speed, and options to lock parameters like exposure and shutter speed, which the camera otherwise auto-detects. On the image quality front, the G6 produced great results in good lighting, with a little noise and oversharpening creeping in, in less-than-ideal lighting.
UI
LG’s UI is not the most loved in the Android paddock, but the company has taken steps in recent years to streamline it. The results are visible in this version, on top of Android 7.0 Nougat, but it isn’t our go-to launcher choice. Some useful features include the ability to add extra buttons to the navigation bar to pull down notifications or launch QSlide apps (mini apps that float above the UI and can be temporarily suspended by making them semi-transparent). While QSlide is useful, the lack of QSlide apps like a calculator, which were included in previous LG phones, is puzzling. The screen dimensions allow for multi-windows to split the screen exactly in half, but many apps still don’t play nice with the functionality. LG does offer some app scaling options to help users and apps adjust to the new dimensions.
Battery and verdict
The 3,300mAh battery on the phone held up well in our time with it, offering superb standby time and getting us through the day easily on moderate usage. Unlike the V20, however, this one is non-removable.
So, how does the G6 stack up against the mighty S8? Quite well, in fact. Yes, it loses out on some fancy screen wizardry and the processor and a couple of features like wireless charging and advanced Bluetooth, but it is a very well-balanced phone. Unlike the S8, it is quite rugged, has a large screen without much compromise involved, a long feature list, great cameras and a powerful DAC. But the kicker is the price. Launched at ₹55,000, the G6 has already seen a price cut to ₹42,000, undercutting its biggest rival by the price of a good budget smartphone. This makes the G6 a no-brainer for anyone looking for a modern phone without splurging extra, until OnePlus shows its hand.
LG G6
Display: 5.7 inches (1440 x 2880 pixels)
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Storage: 64 GB
Camera: (Rear) 2X13MP (71 degrees, 125 degrees FOV)
(Front) 5MP (100 degrees FOV)
Battery: 3,300mAH
Price: 41,499 (Amazon)
