As expected, LG has finally unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the G6, at its MWC 2017 event in Barcelona. Successor to the LG G5, the new smartphone brings major changes – right from new design with thin bezels to keep up with the current trends, dual-rear camera setup, water and dust resistance among others. The LG G6 will be offered in three color variants – mystic white, astro black and ice platinum.
The G6 represents a big change in LG’s strategy. Even though Google and Motorola were jointly working on a modular smartphone concept Project Ara, we are yet to see a commercial device. LG did manage to add semi-modular bits to the G5, but it wasn’t appealing enough for the buyers. LG’s approach had a lot of issues, for once, the modular functionality is limited – there is no option to upgrade RAM, chipset, camera module or display. Among the options it offers include a 360-degree camera, a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, and a camera control mod, all of which not only have limited availability, but also are very expensive. LG seems to have realized its mistake and the G6 is how it is trying to get back and capture the premium smartphone segment. Here’s what LG has to offer with the G6.
LG G6 Design and Display
The G6 features a metal unibody design with rounded corners and chamfered edges. The front is dominated by a 5.7-inch QHD+ display running at a resolution of 2880x1440pixels, aspect ratio of 18:9 (or 2:1) and pixel density of 564ppi. LG calls it a FullVision display fitted in body of a 5.2-inch phone, which means you get a large screen in a compact form factor. The ‘Always On’ display which we saw on the G5 is also present here. It offers information such as time, day and date, notifications, alarm, weather and more.
It is also the first smartphone in the world to support Dolby Vision and HDR10 on the display to enhance the image quality. The company has worked with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to bring 18:9 content for the LG G6 display. The top half houses the earpiece and selfie camera module, whereas the bottom half has a very small chin. The Android navigation buttons are on screen ones.
Dolby Vision aims to transform your TV and cinema viewing experience with astonishing colors, contrast and brightness to offer life-like viewing experience. In the UK, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are already offering Dolby Vision content which includes the likes of Like Cage, Jessica Jones, The Do Over, Marco Polo and Daredevil among others.
The left side has volume buttons, whereas the right side has a SIM card tray. The bottom houses the speaker and USB Type-C port for charging and data transfer. On the back of the G6, you have the dual camera module, dual LED flash and a power button in the top half. The power button also doubles as a fingerprint scanner for biometric authentication, something that we have also seen on the G5. Despite the metal body, LG G6 carries IP68 certification for water and dust resistance, meaning you can submerge the phone in up to one-and-a-half meter of water for up to 30 minutes without damaging the internals.
LG G6 Specifications
Powering the G6 is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821 quad-core SoC, which is tad disappointing considering the chipset was launched around July 2016, almost seven months old. It’s a flagship chipset that will undoubtedly be able to offer the best performance, but as a buyer, not having the latest SoC makes the phone obsolete right at launch. But then LG had no other option as Samsung is manufacturing the Snapdragon 835 SoC for Qualcomm and the first lot is reportedly been utilized on the upcoming Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones.
The chipset is paired with 4GB of RAM and 32GB / 64GB internal storage options. A microSD card slot for further expansion is also present. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS and USB Type-C. LG has also retained the 3.5mm headphone jack. The smartphone is fuelled by a 3,300mAh battery along with Quick Charge 3.0 technology for fast charging. LG has also added support for 32-bit Quad DAC for superior audio performance. On the software front, the G6 runs on Android 7.1 Nougat with a layer of LG’s UX 6 running on top. It is also the first non-Pixel smartphone to come pre-loaded with Google Assistant.
LG G6 Cameras
The G5 also featured a dual-rear camera setup – a 16-megapixel snapper (standard 29mm lens) of aperture f/1.8 and an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens of 12mm and aperture f/2.4. The camera allowed users to click standard and wide-angle photos. In case of the G6, LG is going the Apple iPhone 7 Plus way.
The dual-rear cameras implementation on the G6 now includes two 13-megapixel sensors – one is a wide-angle lens with field of view of 125-degrees and aperture f/2.4, whereas the other is a standard lens with field of view of 71-degrees, aperture f/1.8 and optical image stabilization (OIS). These cameras let you capture both standard and wide angle photos. The rear camera also supports 4K video with smooth optical zoom functionality.
The camera app will come with special shooting modes such as 1:1 mode which is apt for Instagram photos, a food mode, grid shot, match shot, guide shot and 360-degree mode. Up front, a 5-megapixel snapper of aperture f/2.2 is also present for selfies and video calling.
LG mentioned that they have conducted a number of battery heat exposure tests “to a temperature 15 percent higher than the temperature set by the international standards of the US and Europe.” They also conducted diverse tests such as piercing the battery with a sharp nail or something like dropping a heavy object on it.
The G6 also features heat pipes with high thermal conductivity to ensure heat is dissipated properly, a technique that is already used to deal with overheating issues in desktops and laptops. LG also mentioned that it has worked towards completely redesigning internal components to have more space between components so that heat is easily dispersed. Lastly, LG has also conducted anti-puncture and anti-shock tests to see the amount of torture the smartphone can withstand.
Desktop and laptops feature copper heat pipes with high thermal conductivity to ensure cooler performance, and LG has used the same technology for the G6. LG is going with the tried and tested method, where Microsoft had already used liquid cooling system on its flagship smartphones – the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL to keep thermal levels at low.
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