The new G6 is unlike any other smartphone LG has made

lg g6 front

Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider

LG announced its new flagship smartphone, the G6, on Sunday during the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona.

The G6 brings several new features to the G series that finally puts LG’s flagship series on par with the competition. To add those new features, LG also had to remove some signature features, but we doubt many people will be too upset.

We had some hands-on time with the G6 at a pre-brief event in NYC. Check out what we thought about LG’s latest bets:

 

The LG G6 has a 5.7-inch display that’s a little taller than most smartphone screens, but it doesn’t look or feel much bigger than phones with 5.5-inch displays.

In true LG fashion, the G6 has comparatively narrow top and bottom borders, which helps keep the G6′s size manageable while donning a display that’s larger than most of the “plus” models from other companies, like Apple and Samsung, which have 5.5-inch displays.

LG has also given the G6′s display an 18:9 aspect ratio, which makes it taller than most smartphone displays that have a 16:9 aspect ratio. 

The display is quad-HD, which translates to 2880 x 1440 with the 18:9 aspect ratio.

LG also added both standards of HDR (high dynamic range) to the display (Dolby Vision and HDR10), which will give richer colors and better clarity in dark, shadowy scenes to HDR-supported content. So far, Netflix has 15 titles that support HDR, and Amazon Prime has 39.

The corners of the display are more rounded than they are on most smartphones, too, which LG claims makes the screen less prone to cracking if you drop the phone.

Apart from supposedly giving the glass screen more durability, LG also pointed out that the rounded corners on the display give it a more “balanced silhouette.”

It’s an interesting look, and the rounded corners do match the rounded corners of the phone more nicely than the regular sharp corners you’ll find on most phones.

For the first time, LG is using glass for the back of the G series, which means the battery is no longer removable.

LG finally ditched the removable battery, which was a legacy Android feature that’s recently become less important. And judging by the lackluster interest in the G4 and G5, removable batteries weren’t a selling point anymore.

It’s a familiar look if you’re used to glass-backed phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S7, but it’s a brand new look for LG’s flagship G phones, which previously had plastic backs.

LG’s G phones used to have plastic backs that could be removed so you could swap out the battery. As functional as the plastic backs were, they couldn’t match the beautiful glass and metal designs from its competition. Form had superseded function.

It also comes in a silver color option, which looks stunning.

The back is made of glass with a slightly brushed metal finish.

Having a unibody design also means that LG could make the G6 water resistant.

LG has you covered should you want to shower with the G6. It has a water and dust resistance rating of IP68, which means it can be submerged at a depth of five feet for up to 30 minutes.

It’s the same water resistance in the Samsung Galaxy S7, which also means it’s more water resistant than the iPhone 7′s IP67 rating that technically only allows it to go down to three feet underwater for 30 minutes.

Embedding the battery will let you charge the G6 with a wireless charger, which is also a first for LG G phones.

The G6 has a metal frame, which adds to its premium feel and design.

As expected, the G6 has a USB-C port for fast charging and quick transfer speeds.

USB-C is pretty much standard now, at least for premium flagship devices.

And yes, you’ll still be able to plug in your wired headphones into the G6.

For those who aren’t prepared to make the jump to wireless headphones, the G6 comes with a headphone port. Unfortunately, however, it’s found at the top of the phone, which makes less sense compared to headphone ports on the bottom of the phone, in my opinion. 

With the port at the bottom, I can place my phone into my pocket without switching the orientation of the phone, and I can pull it out again in the same orientation I’d normally hold it. The only time a headphone port at the top would make sense, at least for me, is if I placed the phone in my front shirt pocket.

You’ll find a dual camera around the back, with both lenses sporting 13 megapixels, and one of them is an ultra-wide angle lens that captures more than the regular lens.

LG’s ultra-wide angle lens for its secondary rear camera has a wider 125-degree angle than the regular 71-degree camera.

This is a picture taken with the G6′s regular lens. It makes a good first impression.

And this is taken with the G6′s ultra-wide angle lens from the same distance from the barn, but I shifted to the left slightly. It clearly captures far more of a scene than the regular lens.

My initial impression is that LG removed much of the distorted fish-eye effect we saw from the LG G5′s ultra-wide angle lens, which is for the better. We’ll need some more time with the G6 to test out the camera.

LG’s new camera app and tall screen allow you preview the last shot you took, which is great for the social media sharing crowd.

The G6′s tall 18:9 screen splits the screen between the square photo mode and a preview of the last photo you took. It makes it easier to check your last photo than to switch screens to see the last photo you took, which you have to do on most smartphones.

There’s also the usual array of regular auto camera modes, as well as the advanced manual mode that gives you more control over the camera’s settings.

LG’s phones are known for having great manual controls for the camera app so you can adjust settings like exposure, shutter speeds, and ISO. 

If you look at the top of the screen, you’ll see thumbnails for the last few photos you took, which is made possible by the G6′s taller 18:9 display. Most phones with 16:9 displays can only show you a tiny thumbnail of the last photo you took.

The G6 will come with Android 7.0 out of the box, and it’ll come with Google’s Assistant built in. LG hasn’t yet revealed when it’ll be released or how much it will cost.

Behind the curtain is a speedy Snapdragon 821 and 4GB of RAM for switching between apps quickly and smoothly. The G6 will only come in a 32GB option, but you can expand the storage with a microSD card.

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