A first look at the LG G6 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) earlier in 2017 had set the tech world buzzing. We all thought that LG’s flagship is going to be this radically loaded smartphone with groundbreaking specs and an undisputed portfolio.
In the end, the LG G6 in India turned out to be a classic case of ‘khoda pahaad nikli chuhiyaa’ (Dug a mountain, found a mouse).
Diving into the LG G6 price, if you’re paying more than 50k for a phone, you at least hope that it delivers all that other flagships can – but the G6 misses the mark by a huge margin.
So, before we start bashing the phone for all that it’s NOT, let’s start with what’s exciting in the G6.
Pros:
- Great display with lesser bezels
- Quad DAC: Good audio output
- Water Resistant
- Dual rear camera with wide angle lens
- Multiple camera/gallery modes
Cons:
- Overpriced
- No Modules
- Second tier Snapdragon chipset
What’s Good?
On some grounds, certain LG G6 specifications really deserve the spotlight. The G6 display is a good one. Standing at 5.7 inch, it really doesn’t feel that big in the hand. Minimal bezels with more to see – that means a screen ratio of 18:9. It’s a QUAD HD display that comes with Dolby Vision technology that gives it a great picture quality with the right amount of contrast and sharpness. So no complaints on that front.
The dual camera on the rear is a good offering. Not the best out there, but still good. It’s got a lot of modes to play with, but we feel that it’s just to compensate for the lack of quality of the phone itself. The 120 degree wide angle lens on the rear is fantastic, and gives good depth. The camera is a combination of two 13-megapixel lenses with f/1.8 & f/2.4 aperture in each. The front camera is a 5-megapixel shooter. You get a lot of additional tweaks in the camera app like split window and ‘square photo’. So for us, the camera of the G6 is aces.
A 3300mAh battery powers the G6, which we feel is ample battery juice. Storage wise, you have 64 GB internal storage, which is expandable up to 256 GB. Plenty of both, power and space. With an average use, it lasted us the whole day with little charge remaining in the end. Although, we still would have liked a removable battery.
What’s Bad?
Get ready for the bitter disappointment. Firstly, the G6 comes with a Snapdragon 821 chipset, coupled with 4 GB of RAM. Yes, it packs in Android 7.0 Nougat and near stock Android experience, but a second tier Snapdragon 821 processor kills the deal for LG. Though, it was snappy when we used it, but on paper, not many will be willing to pay over 50k for a second tier chipset, which is now available in phones under 25k.
Also, a question we would like to throw at LG – Why did you ditch your ‘friends’? We really liked the modules which LG had with the G5 and they should have kept it with the G6.
Sometimes being simple is good, but in this era, where being simple is considered boring, LG is playing a risky hand with the G6. Yes, there is more Gorilla Glass with more protection, but that’s about it.
Why Buy It?
Trust us, we’re trying really hard to come up with a compelling reason why you should buy the LG G6, but somehow we don’t have much to offer. For movie and gaming freaks, who spend long hours in front of their phone’s screen, the G6 is a good phone. It’s got a good camera setup, decent battery life and great audio. So all in all it’s a decent phone.
Where we feel that LG is pushing the envelope is asking for Rs 51,990 for the LG G6. Yes, its a flagship phone, but doesn’t feel flagship at all. An LG fan might trot towards the G6 in a snap purely because of the love for the brand but over 50k for the G6 is pushing it a little, no doubt it’s a good phone but LG could have priced it a bit lower.
Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S8 vs LG G6: Welcome to the Flagship Battle
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)