

Ron Amadeo



Ron Amadeo



Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

SPECS AT A GLANCE: LG G6 SCREEN 2880×1440 5.7" (564ppi) IPS LCD OS Android 7.0 CPU Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (two 2.35GHz Kryo cores and two 1.6 GHz Kryo cores) RAM 4GB GPU Adreno 530 STORAGE 32GB NETWORKING 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC PORTS USB 3.1 Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack CAMERA Dual 13MP rear cameras, 5MP front camera SIZE 148.9 x 71.9 x 7.9 mm (5.86 x 2.83 x 0.31 in) WEIGHT 163g (5.75oz) BATTERY 3300 mAh STARTING PRICE $650-$700 OTHER PERKS Quick charging, fingerprint sensor, wireless charging, MicroSD slot

Remember LG's last flagship phone? Most people probably don't, since the G5 was more or less a disaster. The G5 was a modular phone with modules that weren't really compelling; the "metal" body had a thick plastic coating on the outside; and the device had tons of build quality issues, like seams that didn't line up, an uneven display backlight, and sharp edges. Even LG has admitted the G5 was a disappointment—the company lost nearly $400 million in Q3 2016, which it blamed on "weak sales of [the] G5."

In response, the LG G6 is all new and much improved. The modular system has been scrapped in exchange for a solid phone with no removable parts. That means the battery isn't removable anymore, but you do get IP68 dust and water resistance in exchange. There are no build quality issues to be had here, and the front has a slick design with slim bezels. LG has done an outstanding job fixing the things people didn't like about the G5, but is a "personal best" from LG good enough in the cutthroat smartphone market?

The LG G6 seems to be launching in the US at the worst possible time. The phone uses Qualcomm's 2016 SoC—the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821—in 2017, making it already seem dated. The G6 is also launching right as Samsung's hype machine for the Galaxy S8 is revving up. G6 will hit store shelves one week after the Galaxy S8 launch event, which is sure to steal some customers away. Is there any reason to pick up a G6 when the Galaxy S8 is looking like one of the best Samsung smartphones in years?

Design

After the Xiaomi Mi Mix, the LG G6 is the latest in a line of slim-bezel smartphone designs. The top and bottom bezels have been shrunk from their usual size, leaving much more room for the 5.7-inch display. Rather than just go with a bigger 16:9 display, which would make the phone wider, LG is using a taller display—the aspect ratio is 18:9 or 2:1, with a resolution of 2880x1440.

As a result, we've got a 5.7-inch display that doesn't feel like the 5.7-inch devices that have come before it. Holding the G6 feels much more like holding a compact phone rather than the usual 5.7-inch behemoths like the Galaxy Note line. Width is what makes a phone feel "big." If we keep using Samsung as an example, the 71.9mm width of the LG G6 is closer to the 69.6mm-wide Galaxy S7 (with a 5.2-inch display) than the 76.1mm width of the Galaxy Note 5.

I'm a fan of the taller display. You get to see more list items, which means more e-mails, more messages, and more webpages, all without increasing the width of the phone and making it harder to hold. The tiny bezels make the phone look very modern, and the G6 blows away traditional smartphone designs like the Google Pixel or iPhone 7.

The display has rounded corners, a trivial design choice that seems like it's just aimed at making the phone look different. If you're a detail-oriented person, though, you'll quickly notice LG's rounded-over corners aren't executed very well. The transition from the straight edge to the curve isn't smooth, leaving pointy shoulders at the beginning and end of the curve. It's not particularly good looking, which is tough for a feature designed to do nothing other than look good.

Glass and fingerprints

The back of the LG G6 is glass, which is a disappointment. The expectation at this price point ($700+) is metal, which you can get from Apple, Huawei, Google (sort of), or from even cheaper manufacturers like OnePlus. A metal body is harder for the manufacturer to implement—all sorts of considerations need to be made for getting radio signals in and out of the metal box. A metal back is better for the consumer, though, and results in a more premium, durable device. With the glass back, one drop and something on the LG G6 will probably crack.

LG equipped the G6 with a rear fingerprint reader, which is definitely the fastest option for unlocking a phone by pulling it out of your pocket. A rear fingerprint reader does have some weaknesses, though, mainly when the phone is sitting on a table—you can't unlock the device with your finger unless you pick up the phone. Luckily, LG chose to keep Google Smart Lock around, a feature that allows you to set a ton of conditions about when the phone will automatically unlock.

You can have the phone stay unlocked when it is connected to a "trusted" Bluetooth device you own. You can also set geofencing zones when the phone will stay unlocked. This is useful for home or some workplaces—the place where your phone will most likely be on a table. The rear fingerprint reader is kind of a pain to use if you have to use it every time, but Smart Lock does a great job of mitigating the awkwardness of a rear fingerprint reader. You get the best of both worlds—a fingerprint reader that is speedy to use out-of-pocket, and a phone that easily handles home and work desktop scenarios.

LG went with a much more conservative design than what Xiaomi was able to come up with. Despite the slim bezels, all the usual components are in their normal place. The earpiece, camera, and sensors all live above the display, while the bottom is reserved for the LG logo. The sides have a chamfered metal band interrupted by the occasional antenna line. Overall, the G6 feels great, and while I'd rather not have a glass back, the exterior design is definitely the high point of this phone.

LG's Android skin: Out of date, but mostly harmless













The LG G6 is equipped with Android 7.0, an old version of Android. You aren't missing much of what you could get in Android 7.1.2, but it's a bad sign for the future.

LG's software goes for a very iOS look and feel on the home screen, with rectangular icons and no app drawer. The lack of an app drawer means every app needs to take up a spot on the home screen, which leads to a messy home screen. The home screen is one of the most easily replaceable parts of Android, so a quick install of Nova Launcher or the Google Now Launcher easily gets you a more stock look.

Everything else is "change for change's sake," painting over all of Android just to make the G6 look slightly different, without the addition of too many new features. The quick settings panel is white now, but more or less works the way normal Android does and is customizable. The settings are renamed and moved around a bit, which makes following most online documentation impossible, but everything is still there somewhere. The Recent Apps has mostly been left alone, aside from a few harmless (though maybe cluttered) buttons in each app's title bar. The lock screen is intact, too. LG's software is mostly harmless and mostly replaceable by a dedicated user. Nothing critical seems broken.

Before launch, a big deal was made of the Google Assistant being pre-loaded on the LG G6, but during the eternity between the G6's announcement and its actual launch, Google has released the Assistant for all phones running Android 6.0 and up. Still, seeing the Assistant here is appreciated, and the "OK Google" hotword is supported in always-on mode, meaning it will work even when the screen is off, just like a Pixel.

Smart World is neither smart nor a world

As far as additions go, LG has an all-encompassing app store called "LG Smart World." It is one of the most poorly coded apps I have ever used. It's outrageously slow and doesn't even seem like it's aimed at the G6. The store's low resolution imagery and incorrect aspect ratios stretch app and theme previews horizontally. The app scrolls terribly and is full of multi-second loading spinners. Since LG Smart World is hosted in a server in South Korea, any network activity or download takes forever. Even pressing the search button brings up a loading spinner, and thanks to a poorly implemented find-as-you-type system, the display is usually five to six letters behind your actual typing. You'll type your query, lift up your fingers, and watch the query slowly type onto the screen.

You will mostly be using this disaster of an app store for the theming function. Themes can recolor the app icons, notification panel, settings screen, and some of the built-in apps. The G6 comes with five pre-loaded themes, and you can download more from LG Smart World if you can bear to use it. Here you'll find about 80 themes, all made by about two different companies. You can also use the store for the special G6-specific 18:9, HDR10 movies. There are a whopping four videos, covering the usual "TV display demo" subject matter—nature films!

Other than that, the G6 has the usual load of crapware. Stuff from LG, stuff from your carrier, an antivirus app, Facebook, and a smart cleaning app. A lot of it is removable, which is nice.

Updates

Besides how the software is now, updating the phone over its lifetime will also be LG's responsibility. The best indicator of this is to see how LG has treated its customers in the past on other flagship devices. Android 7.0 rollouts first started hitting last year's LG G5 in November, two-and-a-half months after the first availability of Google's new OS. That rollout was only to a select group of unlocked G5s in Korea, though. In the US, LG actually just finished the Nougat rollout in February, taking almost six months to update everything.

Once the phone is a year old, LG support gets iffy. LG originally said it would not update its 2015 flagships, the LG G4 and LG V10, to Nougat. It you count from the initial release of Nougat, that would have given the G4 less than 15 months of major update support, and the LG V10 would have had less than nine months of update support. After a public outcry, LG reversed course. The company now says (in Korea) it will deliver Android 7.0 Nougat to "the V10 in the second half of this year and for the G4 in the third quarter." That would be at least 10 months after Nougat's launch, but keep in mind this is the release date for Korea, which usually gets the updates first. In the US, the timing of the updates is probably left to your local carrier.

Even the suggestion of less than a year of support is awful, considering Google supports phones for two years with major updates, and Apple typically supports devices for a whopping five years.

The LG G6 isn't even launching with the latest version of Android. While Android 7.1 is out, and Google is already launching alphas of Android O, the LG G6 is shipping with Android 7.0. This seems in line for the usual LG flagship software experience: expect to perpetually be one to two versions behind the latest release of Android.

LG is at least providing monthly security updates. The LG G6 shipped to me with the "March 2017" update and even updated to April 2017 while I was reviewing it. The company even has a security bulletin page up at lgsecurity.lge.com. Whether these updates actually get delivered to you depends on your carrier, as LG's page warns that "Depending on regions and carriers, updates may be released monthly, quarterly, or irregularly."