Lg G6 Vs Lg G6 Iced Platinum Review

The LG G6 fits in your hand. That's an impressive feat for a smartphone with a 5.7-inch display. In add-on, the $650 G6 includes many of the features we liked about LG's previous flagships, such as dual rear camera sensors, while adding new elements like a waterproof build and an HDR screen. The question is whether that's enough to pause through, especially with powerful contenders like the Samsung Galaxy S8 ($672.00 at Verizon) on the horizon. The G6 is the all-time phone LG has released to date, but we think it'south worth waiting to see what's just effectually the curve.

Pricing, Design, and Features

The G6 ($672.00 at Verizon) varies in cost depending on your carrier. T-Mobile—the carrier we tested on—is the most affordable at $650. Verizon is a scrap pricier at $672, with Sprint and AT&T coming in at $708 and $720 respectively. No matter where yous buy information technology, information technology'll cost a footling less than the Galaxy S8 (which is selling for around $750), but probably non enough to brand a difference in your decision.

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The G6 is an unusually long, narrow phone, with slim bezels and a 2:ane (LG says 18:9) screen aspect ratio. Metal sides combine with a pleasantly grippy glass dorsum that won't easily slip out of your mitt, though the blackness model we reviewed picks up fingerprints and smudges easily. It should be a fleck less noticeable on the silverish (LG calls information technology Ice Platinum) model.

There's a standard headphone jack on peak (the G6 doesn't feature dual speakers or quad DACs like the LG V20 ($672.00 at Verizon) ), a USB-C port on the bottom, and LG's signature power push button/fingerprint scanner on the dorsum, located under the dual photographic camera sensors. A pair of clicky book buttons are on the left side, while the SIM/microSD carte du jour slot on the right worked fine with a 256GB carte du jour.

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The phone measures five.nine by 2.8 past 0.3 inches (HWD), weighs 5.eight ounces, and is just narrow enough to reach across with your thumb. Compared with the behemoth Google Pixel XL (vi.one past 3.0 past 0.iii inches, 5.nine ounces) and the even heavier iPhone 7 Plus ($672.00 at Verizon) (half-dozen.2 by 3.1 by 0.3 inches, vi.six ounces), the G6 is much easier to employ with one hand.

It's simply a touch wider and slightly heavier than the Galaxy S8 (5.9 past 2.7 by 0.3, v.5 ounces), which squeezes a v.8-inch, 18.5:ix-screen into its frame. Despite the like dimensions, the S8 feels a flake easier to grip thanks to its gently curved display that ameliorate conforms to your hand. That said, both phones are sure to please fans of big screens you can comfortably hold and operate with simply one hand.

There's no carrier branding on the forepart or back of the G6, which helps information technology retain a make clean, premium look. Rounded sides spread shock and give the phone some bear upon resistance. Similar the V20, information technology'due south rated MIL-STD-810G, meaning it can withstand drops onto hard surfaces. It survived several five-pes drops onto the rubberized floor of our examination lab with no visible damage, though keep in mind if you lot drop information technology on physical, you're still probable to crevice the glass dorsum.

This is also LG's commencement phone to be IP68 waterproof. We dunked it and rinsed it off in the sink without whatever trouble.

Display and App Scaling

Equally touched on above, the real selling point of the G6 is its 5.7-inch, 2,880-by-1,440 LCD with a unique ii:1 aspect ratio. This means you're looking at a tall, narrow screen. Information technology tin can be a touch disorienting at commencement, but you lot get used to it. And i nice aspect is that when multi-window multitasking, you get a lot more content with each app.

The attribute ratio too means born apps take been contradistinct, and in that location may exist some compatibility issues with third-political party software that isn't properly scaled. Fortunately, in Brandish settings, there's an option for App Scaling that lets you lot selection betwixt attribute ratios of 16:nine (Compatibility), xvi.7:9 (Standard), and 18:ix (Full-screen). You lot're likely to encounter a similar issue with the S8, which has an 18.v:9 attribute ratio.

Stock apps similar the dialer, messaging app, address book, music player, weather, and email have been altered to take reward of the increased screen existent estate, usually with larger graphics toward the top of the screen. The photographic camera likewise gets a bunch of new modes where the top half of the screen is a viewfinder, and the lesser half shows an image preview or lets you coordinate with some other image. Equally the screen can be divided into two square halves, we run into some real Instagram potential hither.

Samsung may exist widely known for having the best displays on the market, but the G6 can give the S7 Border ($672.00 at Verizon) a run for its money. The screen resolution is 565 pixels per inch (ppi), matching the sharpness of the Quad Hard disk drive AMOLED console on the 5.five-inch S7 Edge (534ppi) and Pixel Twoscore (534ppi). But it's not just mere pixel density that makes the G6 stand out. The phone has unusually rich colors cheers to its support for HDR (both Dolby HDR and HDR10). When y'all see HDR and non-HDR content side by side, the HDR actually jumps out.

But despite cracking colour and viewing angles, the screen could use a bit more brightness for outdoor visibility since information technology's hard to see nether direct sunlight. Like the LG G5 ($672.00 at Verizon) , it has an "ever on" mode that keeps fourth dimension, engagement, and notifications visible when the screen is off, but it'due south dimmer than Samsung's.

Network Performance and Connectivity

The G6 is bachelor on all the major Usa carriers. We reviewed the T-Mobile version, which supports GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz), UMTS (i/2/4/5), and LTE bands (1/two/iii/4/5/vii/12/13/20/66), giving it good connectivity on T-Mobile and international roaming. We tested the phone in midtown Manhattan where nosotros recorded a top download speed of 9Mbps and an unusually high upload speed of 28Mbps.

The phone besides supports dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth 4.2. The Galaxy S8 is a bit more hereafter-proof thanks to its inclusion of Bluetooth five.0.

Phone call quality is acceptable. Earpiece and speakerphone volume are both loud, just calls made with the telephone tend to sound a chip robotic. Noise counterfoil was expert at handling the sound of traffic, but struggled to blot out current of air, sometimes resulting in garbled transmissions.

Processor and Battery

The G6 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor clocked at ii.34GHz, rather than the newer Snapdragon 835. In terms of benchmarks, the phone performs similarly to other Snapdragon 821-powered devices, scoring 136,907 on AnTuTu, which measures overall system functioning. That's a scrap lower than the Google Pixel 40 (140,121), which runs a pure form of Android. It'southward also lower than the OnePlus 3T ($672.00 at Verizon) (159,144), which benefits from a less-enervating 1080p screen and more RAM (6GB compared with 4GB).

Simply the primary concern here isn't day-to-day performance, equally you're unlikely to notice a divergence betwixt the G6 and other existing flagships when information technology comes to multitasking or playing games like GTA: San Andreas. However, the Snapdragon 835-powered Milky way S8 will non simply offer better performance, it'll also support gigabit LTE, letting you accept advantage of the faster networks that many carriers are in the process of rolling out.

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In most regards, the G6 is an improvement over the G5, simply if there's one attribute that may disappoint fans of the series, information technology's the demise of the removable battery. The iii,300mAh jail cell in the G6 is sealed in, partly to brand the phone waterproof . Thankfully battery life is fairly solid.

The G6 clocked 5 hours, 57 minutes when nosotros streamed full-screen video over LTE at maximum brightness. It's not as long as the Pixel XL ($672.00 at Verizon) (6 hours, 43 minutes), and falls far hours short of the S7 Edge (ten hours), but it's a big improvement over the V20 (4 hours, 38 minutes). LG has incorporated smart charging technology, assuasive the battery to better maintain its charging capacity for over 2 years. There's a built-in bombardment-saving manner that turns off the always-on display, reduces screen effulgence, and limits groundwork information to save juice. The included adapter supports fast charging, and the phone is uniform with wireless charging pads (not included).

Camera

The dual rear camera sensors from the V20 and G5 are back, but LG has made i big improvement: At thirteen megapixels each, both cameras are at present of equal resolution, so switching between normal and broad-angle shots doesn't compromise epitome quality. The main sensor offers a 71-degree angle, while the wide lens is 125 degrees. The phone does a smoothen zoom betwixt the two cameras, like the iPhone 7 Plus does.

And equally with the iPhone, the quality is striking. Unlike on other phones, you lot don't lose detail when you zoom in. The price is that there'south pregnant barrel baloney in wide-bending shots, with straight lines appearing curved at the edges of the frame.

The sensors excel outdoors. Racket is minimal and overall quality compares favorably with the Google Pixel Forty. Indoors, the Pixel XL has better white residual and colour reproduction, taking superior shots in low light. Notwithstanding, the G6 has manual controls, and so with some tweaking of ISO and shutter speed you tin ameliorate lower-light photos quite a scrap from the default settings. The phone likewise records 4K video with both rear cameras.

When it comes to selfies, the 5-megapixel front-facing camera takes decent shots, but tends to apply a bit too much smoothing while the Pixel Forty is sharper and truer to life. A wide-angle selfie mode is 100 degrees, which lets y'all easily fit some friends in the frame.

Software

The G6 comes running Android 7.0 Nougat, a step backside the newer Android vii.i you get on the Pixels. LG'due south software layer is quite heavy. Colors, icons, and much of the launcher have been modified, and LG adds its own gallery and music apps in addition to Google's options. Out of the box, the phone comes with the app drawer disabled and all of your apps strewn beyond the home screens, merely that'south easy to change in Settings.

There isn't much in the manner of useful new software features. Shortcut keys let you launch various applications by pressing the volume buttons twice, but that's about it.

If there's one thing we've come to expect from carrier phones, it'southward bloatware. The T-Mobile G6 comes preloaded with vii carrier apps, v LG apps, Evernote, and Lookout. The well-nigh egregious is LG Friend Manager, which helps you lot connect and manage LG'south defunct Friends accessories that were supposed to launch alongside the G5. Fortunately, information technology can be uninstalled, along with nearly other LG apps, just the T-Mobile ones can only be disabled.

Out of the 32GB of internal storage the phone comes with, y'all have 20.05GB available for use. Because the S8 comes with 64GB of storage, the G6 seems a flake short on space. Of course, you can always toss in a microSD carte if yous need more.

Conclusions

The LG G6 represents the refinement of ideas drawn from the company'southward previous flagships. You have the dual-camera setup from the G5 and V20, merely with both sensors existence of equal resolution. You accept a large, gorgeous screen that's possible to use with one hand. You also have proven crowd-pleasers like waterproofing, drop resistance, and wireless charging. The losers hither are the few, proud, removable-bombardment stalwarts, who now really have no major phone makers on their side.

All that said, a large, Samsung-shaped cloud looms over the G6. The Galaxy S8, which starts shipping April 21, matches LG's narrow, big-screen approach with a gorgeous curved brandish, and throws in a Snapdragon 835 processor with gigabit LTE speeds for good measure. Information technology as well comes with a custom AI assistant, Bixby, and a small ecosystem of accessories like Samsung Dex and the Gear VR that give information technology a leg up in both the productivity and multimedia departments. So while LG was smart to go the G6 to market place ahead of the S8, information technology may not be plenty of a head start.

LG G6

The Bottom Line

The five.7-inch LG G6 packs the biggest screen it tin in a trunk narrow enough to concur comfortably, only otherwise falls short on innovation.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/lg-g6

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