Today marked a big day for the South Korean giant, LG. The company just introduced its next iteration G Series flagship smartphone, the LG G6. All went down starting at 6:00AM EST in Barcelona, Spain and accompanying satellite events in major cities. The device will be showcased during the upcoming week at MWC 2017, the largest trade show of the year for mobile hardware products. Here’s everything to know about it.

The long-rumored and much-anticipated LG G6 flagship has finally gone official. LG just took the stage to announce the smartphone in all its beautiful glory. It has become almost an annual tradition to have LG unveil its latest mobile hardware during MWC, and today that tradition continued. Rumors, leaks and reports regarding this model date back quite a bit, and most of which we got, was already known, if you’ve been paying attention to the recent teasers from LG. Very few surprises were left, but we did get hear of some new features and the device’s pricing, availability and release information.

The LG G6 is the successor to last year’s LG G5, which hadn’t sold all that well despite the positive reviews it got. With the LG G6, LG seeks to turn things around, and it all starts up front this time around with the handset’s design, which is just everything we’re not used to seeing out of LG. It’s a bold stance for a company trying to get things right, and we hope they did enough to appeal the eyes of consumers. If it does, this could prove to be the game-changer LG has been needing.

Just as we expected, the LG G6 packs a monster 5.7-inch QHD+ curved glass display with beautiful colors, high contrast, support for HDR, and improved outdoor visibility. Gone is the tinker display that once existed, all unnecessary elements, and the ability to swap in and out mods and batteries. LG made a big deal about the G6’s large screen and high screen-to-body ration, which will allow users to still interact with the phone in a single hand. LG followed up on its recent teasers and delivered the world’s first 18:9 or 2:1 (aspect ratio) screen. The company proclaims it as ‘Full Vision’, and it brings a multitude of abilities we never thought were possible on a smartphone.

Powering the LG G6 is a perfectly optimized Snapdragon 821 processor, which may upset some of you who might have been hoping for the newer Snapdragon 835 chipset. LG reportedly did so in order to avoid stiff competition coming later this Spring, as the newer processor wasn’t quite ready for production. Supported at the core is Dolby Vision and HDR 10 for enhanced graphics and image-quality, faster camera zooming and richer colors. This the first smartphone to ever support the standard. On board is a whopping 6GB of RAM, upping that present inside just about every smartphone we’ve seen to launch this year thus far. For comparison purposes, the LG V20 included 4GB and the LG G5 had just 3GB inside. The LG G6 also has a larger battery than its counterpart, the LG G5, at 3,300mAh compared to 2,800mAh. Included with it is support for Quick Charge 3.0 through a wired connection, the fastest in the business, as well as wireless charging. LG has also brought back its always on display feature to help users save power. In the LG G6 will be either 32GB of 64GB of storage space, depending on the model you desire. No matter which model you choose, you’ll be able to expand its capacity externally via a microSD card up to an additional 2TB of space.

Taking a look at cameras, LG has yet again improved both the front and rear on this year’s G6 smartphone. The rear contains 13MP dual-camera sensors with laser auto-focus, slimmed down rear petrude, dual-LED flash, improved wide-angle, new features, and a full-blown manual mode for advanced photography. The front side camera is of an 5MP sensor, which like the rear-facing shooter, has been improved in that it can take some wider-angle shots.

The LG G6 also gets it right when it comes to software. Google’s latest and greatest in that of Android 7.1 Nougat will run the house from the moment the phone is taken out of its retail packaging. It will also be first in line of LG’s mobile products to get the latest security patches and Android updates as they arrive. See our Droid Updates Weekly Series. Google’s latest software will bring about a range of new features including doze on the go, bundled notifications, split screen multitasking, enhanced security, new emojis, and a new Vulkan API for better overall graphics performance. You’ll also have some Android 7.1 Nougat exclusive features like app shortcuts, GIF touch keyboard support, live wallpaper metadata, and more. Perhaps the greatest addition is the Google’s Assistant, making this the first device other than Pixel to run the technology based on AI and machine learning and improve with time and use. Further topping this is the icing on the cake, which is LG’s user interface on top of Android. The LG G6 includes a brand new version (UX 6.0) that’s more flat in design and is scaled back to improve overall performance. Buyers will also notice some added touches made throughout the interface that compliment the company’s new ‘Full Vision’ screen.

Also boarding the LG G6 is the fan favorite Quad DAC for an enhanced audio and video experience. This has made a well-deserved return from the LG V20, which launched last Fall. Unfortunately, though, it will only be available on select models. LG has also equipped its G6 flagship with added durability, and we mean it. The design is now thinner but also stronger. For the first time on an LG flagship, there is an IP68 rating against water and dust-full environments. Even with all that, the LG G6 somehow manages to include the most premium design we’ve ever seen on an LG phone made almost entirely of aluminum. And have you ever seen bezels so thin? Taking a look around the device, we see a lower-mounted USB Type-C port for charging Also present are side-mounted volume controls in addition to a fingerprint scanner on the rear of the device that doubles as a power button, yet another first. Oh, and don’t forget the headphone jack (it’s here!).

In response to recent events, LG has implemented advanced safety measures. These include a new heat pipe and air gap that will easily disperse heat generating from processing power. Rather than causing strain on the device’s battery, excess heat will be easily flown out and the device will go into cooling mode. Recyclable green materials included on the G6 could help guide in the process.

LG will begin selling the G6, as it normally does with flagship smartphones, in Korea later this month. Other countries including the US, Canada and many more are said to start offering it a few weeks further down the road. Color choices include Mystic White, Astro Black and Ice Platinum, but may vary by your location and carrier. Pricing is yet to be known. We’ll keep you updated as the news rolls in.

Full details and specs are available at the source link to LG’s website below, where the G6 is now listed. You can also view our full spec list overview, which was written up by a member of our team. We’ll update you with product links once pre-orders go online. For now though, you can register for updates over at LG.com. Be sure to let us know your initial thoughts about the LG G6 in the comment section below this post. We want to hear from you!

See the full LG G6 spec sheet here.

Learn more in the official videos down below.

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SOURCE [LG]