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Reviews<br />
The L6 G6 is a striking phone. Metal and glass<br />
shimmer, while the 18:9 screen is brought to life<br />
with the improved software and rounded design<br />
Vision and HDR 10. In basic terms,<br />
it’s the first handset to theoretically<br />
support superior audio‐visual<br />
standards normally associated<br />
with high‐end televisions.<br />
We say theoretically because<br />
while it supports both, streaming<br />
services such as Netflix don’t<br />
actually yet offer playback of this<br />
combined quality on mobile devices.<br />
Remember when everything was ‘HD<br />
ready’, before HD actually existed?<br />
It’s like that. Watch this space.<br />
Where it falls down slightly – but<br />
thankfully not too much – is in how<br />
it adjusts to display content that is<br />
by default 16:9 or similar. Netflix,<br />
foe example, will display the video<br />
in 16.7:9 on the G6. Swiping down<br />
from the top of the screen gives<br />
you a green icon, tap that and you<br />
have the option to view in 16:9 or<br />
expand to the full 18:9. If you opt for<br />
the latter, it warns you: ‘The app’s<br />
content may not be fully displayed’.<br />
It’s a bit fiddly and we found it<br />
meant having to return to the Netflix<br />
home screen. Plus, in every option,<br />
some form of black bar remained on<br />
at least one edge to make sure all<br />
the content was still visible. It’s far<br />
from ideal if you want to view apps<br />
using the full display.<br />
LG told us that it was working<br />
directly with Netflix to sort this<br />
out and bring a seamless 18:9<br />
video experience to the G6, but<br />
we remain worried that with the<br />
plethora of services and games<br />
out there, the G6 might be doomed<br />
to a life of black bar playback.<br />
Battery life<br />
The G6 has a 3300mAh nonremovable<br />
battery. This might bug<br />
LG fans of the G4 and G5 whose<br />
batteries you could remove, but in<br />
reality this is the correct decision.<br />
The battery is big enough to last a<br />
full day and the bundled fast charger<br />
continues Android devices’ pleasing<br />
trend of above‐average battery life<br />
and very fast top up times.<br />
Our review unit was a preproduction<br />
model, so perhaps the<br />
slight erratic nature of the battery<br />
life can be put down to that. It<br />
was the only area of use that we<br />
suspected might be improved with<br />
the final retail version. We were<br />
never left without charge, but<br />
some days the G6 would be on 75<br />
percent by bedtime with reasonably<br />
heavy use (which is outstanding),<br />
while other days it would reach<br />
that with light use by mid‐morning.<br />
Software<br />
The G6 ships with Android Nougat<br />
7.0, but then again it would be a<br />
crime if it didn’t. LG’s overlay has<br />
a certain playfulness in the pastel<br />
colours, square design focus and<br />
rounded edges influenced by the<br />
screen. It is, however, well refined,<br />
with everything from app animations<br />
to menus flowing well.<br />
It takes a bit of getting used to<br />
if you’re coming from Samsung’s<br />
TouchWiz or pure stock Android,<br />
but after a time it’s just as fun<br />
and practical to use as them.<br />
The G6’s software has been<br />
substantially overhauled from the<br />
G5’s in order to play nice with the<br />
taller 18:9 screen. LG’s own apps,<br />
such as messaging, weather and<br />
calendar, have been redesigned<br />
to better manage white space<br />
and information displayed since<br />
there’s more room to play with.<br />
Apps have more space to<br />
work with, so LG has worked very<br />
hard to bring the user a more<br />
aesthetically pleasing experience,<br />
working on attractive, modernised<br />
graphics in the main apps.<br />
The camera software, too, has<br />
been redone, with some excellent<br />
use of the extra screen space.<br />
We love that when taking photos<br />
landscape, you get a camera<br />
roll of the last few photos taken,<br />
rather than the smartphone norm<br />
of one tiny thumbnail of the one<br />
most recent photo.<br />
We also welcome LG’s decision<br />
to choose whether or not to<br />
display apps iOS style on the home<br />
screen or store them in an app tray.<br />
We don’t mind it on iOS, but given<br />
the choice on Android, we’ll pick<br />
the app tray every time.<br />
Multitasking is also good on the<br />
G6. As with all Android phones that<br />
allow it, you can’t use it with every<br />
app, but it’s handy if you want to run<br />
two apps simultaneously. It works<br />
best though without a keyboard<br />
on‐screen. As soon as you need it,<br />
even the 18:9 aspect can’t cope with<br />
the room needed, and multi‐window<br />
becomes useless. It’s still a feature<br />
that we don’t really use, even<br />
though some continue to push it.<br />
Verdict<br />
The LG G6 is a striking phone.<br />
Metal and glass shimmer, while the<br />
huge 18:9 screen is brought to life<br />
with the improved software and<br />
its rounded corner design. It is a<br />
more refined handset than both<br />
the G4 and G5, and should appeal<br />
to a broader audience. There’s a<br />
lot to cover with the G6, and it’s<br />
a complicated phone to assess.<br />
The differences in hardware and<br />
the tweaks in software mean it’s<br />
a phone that reveals itself to you<br />
more slowly than the immediacy of,<br />
say, the Galaxy S8. The design looks<br />
uniform at first until you realise how<br />
well it all comes together. LG has<br />
managed to build a mature phone<br />
with next to no bezels and some<br />
unique tweaks to software, leaving<br />
it feeling fresher and more creative<br />
than any Android phone we’ve<br />
seen for a while J Henry Burrell<br />
<strong>July</strong> <strong>2017</strong> www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews 51
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