The successor to the unpopular LG G5 – the LG G6 – has finally been unveiled at the MWC 2017 event in Spain’s city of Barcelona.
The phone has been in the rumor mills for months now and even though we already know a lot of what’s coming thanks to the many leaks that have come out, we now have our eyes on the real device for the first time ever.
As rumored, there’s no modular design on the LG G6, but the company has done an amazing job with the design language. The phone is without a doubt sleek and basing on the attendance of the event at the Sant Jordi Club in Barcelona, it is easy to say that the G6 will indeed be a success.
When compared to the G5, the new LG G6 promises a bigger and much better display screen, enhanced audio quality and cameras as well as a faster processor. In addition, you’ll have little to worry about when it comes to handling the phone thanks to the small inbuilt “hands” that will grab your fingers so that it doesn’t end up slipping from your hand. Nice huh!
In general, the LG G6 has been upped to a standard that offers a truly redefined user experience when compared to the G5. Without much hesitation, here’s a look at the official specs of the phone as confirmed by the South Korean company.
Design and display
The LG G6 has an all-new metal and glass body that the company says will be easy to hold in one hand despite the massive screen size on board. The front and back are flat with no camera bump like before and there’s no need to worry when around water thanks to the IP68 certification. The phone is also said to have passed up to 14 different MIL-810G tests, which makes it quite resistant to damage just in case it accidentally drops.
The screen is a 5.7-inch QHD+ (2880 x 1440 pixels) FullVision LCD panel that boasts a pixel density of 564ppi and support for a variety of content including HDR, HRD 10 and Dolby Vision. The aspect ratio is at 18:9, which is unusual compared to the normal 16:9, but this means the screen is now taller than the G5. Under the hood, the LG G6 has a Snapdragon 821 SoC that is paired with a 4GB LPDDR4 RAM and an Adreno 530 GPU. In terms of storage, the G6 gets 32GB (UFS 2.0), but there’s a microSD card slot that can handle up to 2TB.
The phone is also equipped with a 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC chip for better audio quality, be it from the speakers or headphones. However, there are no stereo speakers, something that some consumers might not take well.
Cameras and software
The LG G6 has a dual camera setup on the back, just like the G5. The phone comes with two 13MP sensors. Where the standard has an aperture of f/1.8, OIS and an angle of 71 degrees, the second lens has an aperture of f/2.4 and a massive wide-angle view of 125 degrees, but there’s no OIS. You can also capture videos of up to 4K with the main shooter, but this is not true for the front-facing 5MP shooter, which has an aperture of f/2.2 and a wide-angle view of 100 degrees.
The camera software comes with a Square Camera function that enables users to divide the screen into a pair of squares. One section is dedicated to the camera viewfinder and the other one can be used for, say, editing and sharing your photos with friends on social media.
In terms of software, the LG G6 has Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and on top is the latest LG UX 6.0. Interestingly, the G6 is the first non-Google phone to come preinstalled with the search engine giant’s Google Assistant. According to the company, all preinstalled apps work seamlessly with the Google-owned AI digital assistant.
To kick off your gaming life with the LG G6, the company will preinstall over $200 worth of Google Play Store games on the flagship. These include Temple Run 2, Spiderman Unlimited, SimCity BuildIt, Genies & Gems, Cookie Jam and Crossy Road.
Connectivity and battery
LG will not drop the 3.5mm headphone jack, which should be good news for many out there. The phone also comes with LTE-A support, NFC, USB-C port, but it uses the slightly older Bluetooth 4.1. The fingerprint scanner can be found on the back of the phone, just like the G5, but this time, there’s no removable battery.
The LG G6 has, however, the largest ever battery yet in the company’s flagship history, boasting a massive 3300mAh unit that supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 technology.