Sunday, May 21, 2017

LG G6 Review


With the G6, LG shows that it's no longer willing to settle for playing catch-up with the likes of market leaders Apple and Samsung. Instead, it's not afraid to take some chances and innovate.

It starts with the display, an oblong, extra-wide screen that presents you with a broad, 5.7-inch display that maintains a thin form factor while pumping out visuals at 2,880x1,440 pixels. This makes it so your field of view is comparable to that of a Galaxy S8+ or iPhone 7 Plus, while keeping the device easy to keep in one hand, allowing you to operate it without straining your thumb.

Judging from the durability of the loaner unit, the G6 seems built to last. Should it slip out of your hand, it handles tumbles with resilience. The tough, pragmatic design -- with rounded corners that make for better ergonomics -- negates the need for a case and handles drops on tile or concrete surfaces, as well as plops in puddles, thanks to water resistance that stacks up well to competitors.

The 32GB of onboard memory is expandable with a micro SD card -- which is key because pre-installed apps eat up close to half of the original storage.

A weak spot is the 3,300mAh cell battery, which struggles to keep up with heavy use throughout the workday -- especially if you plan on watching video or gaming on full brightness settings. Luckily, the USB-C charger juices the device back up in short order. As long as you pick up an extra charger for the car and juice up at your desk, you should be fine.

The dual, 13MP rear cameras are another highlight, allowing you to shoot absurdly wide panoramics -- up to 125 degrees. Included software allows you to preview pics without leaving the shooting app, or trick out pictures in such ways as combining a pair of similar shots to craft a hybrid.

The 821 2.35 GHz + 1.6 GHz Quad-Core Custom 64-bit Qualcomm Kryo processor can handle heavy lifting that keeps it on par with the iPhones, Galaxies and Pixels of the world. Whether you're juggling apps via multitasking work apps, pausing videos to get in some gametime while catching up on email or snapping and editing photos and videos to share on social media, the G6 has you covered. The included Google assistant keeps it on par with the Pixel, allowing you to use voice commands to look up facts, call up apps, maps or music.

The LG G6 is a phone for an iconoclast who makes it a point of avoiding following the crowds, and the device rewards those well who make the leap from the comfortable brands. What it lacks in name recognition it more than makes up for in performance.

LG provided a device for review.

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