The LG G6 is one of the first 2017 flagships to be released. In comparison with any of previous flagships from LG, this is pretty much different from them all. From the G2 to the G4, LG has obtained an iconic design from the rest of other manufacturers especially with all their button placement at the back of the phone. It was a strategy to run with and consumers welcomed these devices, until the G5. The G5 was LG’s attempt to try out something new. The G5 was a completely redesigned phone with an element of modularity which allowed users swap a few modules for other on the phone. Unfortunately this was not appreciated by consumers possibly because of poor implementation of the modular concept and in fact LG sales went down with the G5. LG went back to the drawing board and here we have something fresh, call it a fresh start from LG. The LG G6 is indeed a 2017 flagship worth mentioning among some of the best flagships to be released this year. Let’s take a quick look at what makes this device special.
Design
The G6 ditches the previous modular G5 design with plastic for more traditional premium mental and glass design. This means no more removable battery. The fingerprint sensor is again placed at the back for easy reach and buttons on the sides of the phone. With this you get a more compact business-like phone with unnecessary design features like curved display
Display
This is one of the most interesting feature on the G6. It is a 5.7 LCD-IPS display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. This is quite new since many big phones in this category have a 16:9 aspect ratio. But the main attraction here is the very thin bezels and curved edges. It actually makes the G6 a smaller (compact) device compared to the likes of the iPhone 6 Plus or Google Pixel XL yet retain a larger display than these phones. Thin bezels are what many manufactures are aiming from this year and it’s good to see LG take the first step here with it’s flagship.
Software
The G6 as of now is running a beta version of the software on top of Android 7.1 Nougat but good to see LG has kept the software light with minor animation tweaks especially with the launcher. No app drawer is found here. The UX is pretty much white in a number of system apps like in Settings and maintains the smooth animations found in Android 7.1 Nougat. Also worth mentioning is that this is the first phone that’s not a Google phone (Pixel) to have Google Assistant baked right in the software.
However, as mentioned, it’s an early version of the software so bugs are witnessed here and will hopefully be fixed with future updates.
Hardware
The G6 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip which is slightly an older Snapdragon chipset and this is because Samsung is first in line to use the latest Snapdragon 835 chipset. Not to say it’s a poor chipset but in 2017, high-end flagships are expected to use the latest available. The phone uses only 4GB RAM while many manufactures are shooting for 6GB RAM which is arguably too much for a phone. It also comes with 32GB storage with support for expandable storage via micro SD. Also to mention, this is the first LG phone to support wireless charging and on top of it, it’s IP68 certified meaning it’s water resistant. It still retains the audio jack as well but not the best speakers you would find in a flagship.
Camera
The G6 like many flagships today comes with a dual camera set-up and that is 13mp for both lenses. One is the normal portrait camera and the other a super wide angle range lens to fit in many subjects within one shot. It’s important to note that unlike the dual camera set-up on the G5, the super wide angle lens still retains the quality as the portrait lens. Also, to take advantage of the bigger display aspect ratio, the camera app leaves previews of previously taken photos at the top of the screen, a feature that may come in handy.
These are so far some of the main interesting features to talk about on the LG G6. Pricing and release date are not yet revealed. Until then, we wait to see how it will stuck up against upcoming flagships from the likes of Samsung and Apple.
