After years of chasing gimmicks, LG decides to just make a good phone.
The quick take
The quick take: LG achieves its goal of packing a balanced, powerful Android experience into a more hand-friendly form factor. But it remains to be seen whether the G6 is a true "flagship" to compete with the upcoming Galaxy S8. The LG G6's success (or otherwise) will depend on its price tag, and how the competition measures up.
RETURNING TO FORM
LG G6 Full Review
"No gimmicks" is this year's LG gimmick.
For the past several launch cycles, it seemed like LG needed to have some eye-catching new thing to attract attention to its phones — a single crutch which would, hopefully, make consumers care about its G-series handsets over Samsung's dominant Galaxy range. Recent efforts have included shiny shiny crystals, notification tones from singing schoolboys, lasers!, cow parts glued to the back and bad modular accessories.
Sure, we can make fun of the LG Rolling Bot and the Vienna boys' choir, but the ideas weren't universally awful. The real problem was that LG, in the past three years, seemingly hadn't progressed much further than the old metaphor of throwing shit at a wall. Some of it has stuck — features like dual cameras, OIS, laser autofocus and super-sharp displays have become staples of the modern Android flagship. Others, like buttons on the back, haven't made the cut.
And it's no surprise that in 2017 we're adding the LG G5's ill-conceived modular system to that conceptual dumpster.
Perhaps the G6's 18:9 2:1-aspect ratio screen is just this year's LG thing, to be discarded in another 12 months or so in favor of the next thing. But after a few days of using the phone ahead of its MWC 2017 unveiling, I'd argue that it's more than mere gimmickry. There's a solid, if slightly understated phone built around this lanky display, and LG's attitude with its latest handset is less "look at this crazy thing we did" and more "look at our cool new phone."
At the same time, the company isn't targeting spec hounds with 2017's G-series phone, which isn't an enormous leap beyond the V20 in raw horsepower, and actually lacks a couple of that phone's major features. (All part of an effort to better differentiate the G and V lines, LG tells me.) I'd hope to see that reflected in the eventual price point, which I don't yet know at the time of writing.
Anyway, is this new, gimmick-free LG phone actually any good? It's time to find out.
About this review
We're publishing this review after a total of just over two days with a U.S.-spec LG G6 on software that isn't quite final yet. I (Alex Dobie) have been carrying the unlocked model (LGUS997) on firmware v09l, with the March 1, 2017 Android Security Patch, based on Android 7.0 Nougat. I've been using the phone in Barcelona, Spain on the Orange network ahead of MWC 2017. Prior to reviewing the phone, I spent a few days in Seoul, South Korea, where I was able to use a number of pre-production G6 models.
METAL AND GLASS
LG G6 Hardware
At first glance, the LG G6 is both familiar and something of an oddball. For a 5.7-inch phone, it's smaller than you'd expect. There's an entirely obvious reason for that — for a modern smartphone of any kind, the screen is a good deal taller than any previous model. And while the curved glass back panel has echoes of Samsung's Galaxy line, the front is almost aggressively flat, with a chamfered metal trim that's essentially flush with the display.
That's a deliberate design decision, LG tells us, with the idea being to avoid exposed "2.5D" glass protrusions on the front, which would be a structural weakness should the phone take a tumble. (You'll still need to deal with curved glass on the back, however that panel is furnished in Gorilla Glass 5, as opposed to version 3 of the material, which makes up the screen.) The front face has an unconventional look, but it's also a welcome respite from the sea of phones with slightly curved glass displays.
This is a phone which feels both big and small at the same time, and the form factor is just a tad reminiscent of traditional candybars like LG's own Chocolate phones of yesteryear. Of course there is an argument to be had about just how useful a 5.7-inch, 18:9 display is, given that most videos, shot at 16:9, conjure up black borders on the G6. But for the most part, Android apps fill the extra space without issue.
This thing feels so much more sturdy than any previous LG design.
The G6 is crafted from metal and glass, and now the battery is fully sealed in, so you won't be popping off the back to swap power packs — or, for any other reason. As a result, this thing feels solid and well-built, with clean lines, precise joins and a pleasing contrast between the deliberately flat front face and the more ergonomic curved rear. This isn't a rugged phone by any means, but it feels much more sturdy than anything LG has produced before. Your three color options are black, white and "platinum" — my personal favorite — the back of which has a neat brushed texture beneath the glass.
(In meetings in Seoul, Korea ahead of today's launch, LG hinted that more G6 colors would likely be arriving sometime after launch.)
Google Assistant is handy, but still not a reason to buy the G6 in itself.
The solid outer frame holding everything together has a pleasant brushed texture, and the chamfers on either side help with gripability. These side walls aren't as intentionally slim as many of Samsung's recent phones — the G6 wears its 7.9mm thickness on its sleeve. But again, there's something reassuring about a phone which doesn't try to chase numbers like this.
No matter how much you baby it, the back of the G6 is going to pick up scratches.
While the G6 may feel like a well-built, premium smartphone, it's worth pointing out that like every other device with a flush glass back, the rear of this thing is inevitably going to accumulate scratches. I've already picked up one particularly gnarly one right in the center of my G6's back panel after just a few days of use. (At least it has no trouble staying still while laying on a flat surface, unlike, say, the notoriously slippery Honor 8.
Other hardware staples include IP68-rated water and dust resistance, meaning you don't need to worry about your G6 getting drenched out in a rainstorm, or rinsing it off if it ends up on the wrong end of a spilled beverage.
| Operating System | Android 7.0 Nougat |
| Display | 5.7-inch LCD 2880x1440 Gorilla Glass 3 Dolby Vision, HDR 10 |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (MSM8996) |
| Storage | 32GB (U.S., Europe) 64GB (Asia, Korea, Hong Kong, India, CiS) |
| Expandable | microSD up to 2TB |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Camera (Main) | 13MP (IMX258), 1.12µm pixels, f/1.8, OIS 71-degree lens, phase-detect AF |
| Camera (Wide) | 13MP (IMX258), 1.12µm pixels, f/2.4 125-degree lens, fixed focus |
| Front Camera | 5MP, f/2.2 100-degree lens |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, NFC USB-C 3.1 |
| Audio | 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC (Asia only) |
| Battery | 3300mAh Non-removable |
| Charging | USB-C Quick Charge 3.0 Qi wireless (U.S.) |
| Water resistance | IP68 |
| Security | One-touch fingerprint sensor |
| Dimensions | 148.9 x 71.9 x 7.9 mm |
| Colors | Black, white, platinum |
And on the inside, there's a dependable assortment of high-end, early-2017 specs. At its core, the G6 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (not the upcoming 835, which won't be around for another couple of months), backed up by 4GB of RAM. The base model, somewhat disappointingly, only comes with 32GB of storage, though that's offset by the microSD slot, to which heavier content can be offloaded. (System data, in case you were wondering, takes up a whopping 11GB on my U.S. unlocked G6.)
Some of the G6's other tentpole features have weird geographic restrictions. The Quad DAC — an upgraded version of the audio feature from the V20 — is only available in Korea and a handful of other Asian markets. And wireless charging is exclusive to the U.S., so other regions will have to make do with good old-fashioned cable charging over Qualcomm Quick Charge 3. And if you want a 64 GB G6, that's also restricted to parts of Asia and Eastern Europe.
For everyone else, it's 32GB, no Quad DAC and no wireless charging, which seems unnecessarily stingy given that few other manufacturers split up features like this. (It also means there's no single G6 model with all these features.)
A phone's display is always one of the most important hardware characteristics, and that's especially true of the G6's extra-tall screen. It's a 5.7-inch IPS LCD at 2880x1440 resolution (think Quad HD with an extra 300 pixels or so stacked on the top), and it looks great. After all the well-documented issues with the G5's disappointingly, dark, weirdly green panel, it's fantastic to see this return to form in the G6. LG claims the panel can reach over 600 nits in brightness to stay clearly visible under sunlight, and that matches my experience using the phone for a few sunny days out in Barcelona.
The display is also Dolby Vision and HDR 10-ready, and LG told us the phone would "just work" when HDR content starts to hit the mobile versions of streaming platforms like Netflix. We don't have any specifics on exactly how that'll work, though.
The speaker setup is more run-of-the-mill. There's a single, bottom-firing can that'll get reasonably loud, but without the bass and clarity of rivals like the iPhone, HTC 10 and Huawei Mate 9. It's decent, but nothing to write home about.
LG's dual camera system returns, this time with 13-megapixel sensors in both rear shooters — the 71-degree standard camera and the 125-degree wide-angle. Around the back, you get both standard and wide-angle shooters at 13 megapixels, this time using the same sensor. There are some differences in terms of the optics though. The standard camera has a bright f/1.8 lens and optical stabilization, on the wide angle it's f/2.4 without OIS. So, predictably, the wide-angle camera doesn't perform quite as well in low light. We'll dig deeper on this in later in our review.
A lot of fuss has been made about the fact that the G6 is technically launching with last year's processor, and that it's stepping down from 13 megapixels in its main camera. Yet while it remains to be seen how the G6 will measure up next to the wave of new phones expected to arrive in the months ahead, I'm largely OK with the hardware on offer here, both on the inside and the outside.
UX 6.0
LG G6 Software
It's easy to look at the software on the LG G6 G6 next to an V20 (or even a year-old G5) and say that not a whole lot has changed. And you wouldn't be entirely wrong in saying that. The color palette, rounded rectangular icon style and lack-of-an-app-drawer by default have held over from the previous generation. However the fact that LG hasn't completely scrapped its software design and started over is a good thing. Instead of a completely different visual style, LG has cleaned things up across the board, to produce a UI that looks like an evolution of last year's software efforts.
LG's latest interface is built upon Android 7.0 Nougat — unfortunately not the newer 7.1.1 Nougat right this second, but LG tells us the G6 will indeed launch on 7.1 in when it comes to the U.S. (In Korea, you'll get the 7.0-based firmware we've been using for the past few days.)
The new, taller display lets LG crank up the information density and introduce new design flourishes.
The new 2:1 display lets LG crank up the information density and introduce some interesting new software features to take advantage of its lanky proportions. That taller display lets LG split many of its own apps — like Contacts, Music and Calendar — into two (mostly) equal square sections, with rich visuals up top and extra room for information down below. And obviously a taller screen is great for multi-window too, allowing you to see more of each individual app.
LG's flirtation with "squircles" — rounded rectangular bubbles for each of its app icons — continues in its latest software, giving both first-party and third-party apps a rectangular border for added visual consistency. Although if you're not a fan, these can be easily changed in the home screen settings panel.
The rest of the software builds on the work LG started last year with the G5 and V20, making things a bit more visually consistent throughout, and settling on a refreshed design language with lighter colors, plenty of rounded rectangles and geometric graphics that fit with Google's Material Design language. LG's color scheme is vivid, but not obnoxious, and the company has taken a leaf out of Google's book with wallpapers based upon layers of colored card, and abstract graphics in apps like Weather and Clock.
The company has also built out a range of themes to complement each of the G6's colors, with icons and wallpapers to match the outer hues of each model. Some of these look pretty jarring, however, so I've stuck to the default theme on my device.
LG UX 6.0 is an evolution of what we saw on the V20 last year, with some neat design tweaks suited to the taller 2:1 display.
Other LG staples like KnockOn (double-tap to wake) are back, and extra-useful because the power key and fingerprint sensor live around the back. However if you were hoping LG would mimic the Pixel's swipe-down shortcut on the fingerprint scanner for quick notification shade access, you'll be disappointed — the gesture isn't enabled on the G6. That's a shame, because this kind of gesture shortcut would be amazingly useful on such a tall device, where reaching the top of the screen can be challenging. You can at least conjure up a notification shortcut button in the nav bar down below.
All in all, I'm pleased with the software tweaks LG has made here, though Android purists may view it as a little too customized.
It's just unfortunate that few third-party applications are likely to take advantage of the new, taller screen in the same way LG's own apps do. (That may change when more devices adopt this taller aspect ratio.) And obviously an 18:9 screen will leave you with unsightly black bars on the sides when you're watching standard 16:9 videos, giving you a significantly smaller viewable area than the 16:9 diagonal of the physical display.
Meanwhile, the rounded corners of the screen, while they're a neat design touch, annoyingly don't quite match up with the corners of the bezel — it's a minor thing, but something you can never un-see. (Your screenshots, for what it's worth, have plain old squared-off corners.) Google Assistant is handy, but still not a reason to buy the G6 in itself.
As on the Pixel, there are instances where Assistant can startle you with its wisdom — like correctly identifying a building based on your description. Other features, like the ability to recognize songs (something built into the regular Google app on Android), are oddly still not there.
The LG G6 also has the honor of being the first non-Google phone to ship with Google Assistant, the same Google-powered AI that first arrived on the Pixel to mixed feedback. Assistant on the Pixel is useful, but not quite the killer app Google has promised, though it has been improving significantly in the four months or so since launch. There isn't anything particularly special about the G6's implementation of Assistant, it looks and works exactly like it does on Google's handsets, allowing you to ask questions directly to Google, and receive spoken answers back based on the knowledge graph, and the information in your Google account.
LG G6 Battery Life
The move away from removable batteries gives LG the chance to fit a slightly beefier cell in its new high-end offering. And that's exactly what it's done, with an ample (but not numerically outstanding) 3,300mAh internal battery keeping the G6 chugging along. And you'll be able to rapidly juice it up using Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0, just like the G5.
Americans also get wireless charging support to boast about, a feature sadly exclusive to the United States. Given that Samsung has been offering wireless charging as standard for almost two years, it seems crazy for LG to limit this functionality to specific regions.
3,300mAh isn't an enormous amount of juice for a 5.7-inch phone, but the G6 manages just fine regardless.
3,300mAh gets you a full day, but not much more.
I've found the integrated power pack to be good for a solid day's use out here in Barcelona, even over the course of a few busy days getting ready for Mobile World Congress 2017. Bouncing between LTE and Wifi, and taking a couple of hundred photos each day, I found I'd take the G6 off its charger at around 8am and start running out of juice again around 10pm. That said, making extensive use of the cameras can quickly drain the G6 into the danger zone. On a couple of heavier days when I was taking lots of video as well as still images, I hit the 15 percent warning level by 6pm in the evening.
That's pretty much standard for a high-end Android phone right now — a full day's use, but probably not much more than that, and extra power suck from using demanding features. Naturally, should you need a mid-day refresh, Qualcomm Quick Charge 3 has you covered.
Since we've been using the LG G6 with pre-production firmware, we'll update this review when we're on final G6 firmware to note any differences, as well as any changes — good or bad — in battery performance over time.
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