The past week saw about 10 smartphones announced in the region. And we’re going to take a close look at the latest flagship from LG, the G6.
Now the main question everyone’s asking is, Samsung S8 or LG G6? I haven’t handled the S8 enough to tell you guys about it, so we’ll save South Korea’s blue contender for one of the upcoming weeks.
The G6 is a great device. Early reviews and stats indicate that the S8 is better. However we really shouldn’t forget that the G6 is still a pretty good device.
Now, forget the S8 exists for the next few minutes, and read on. Let’s give the G6 a fair chance.
At first glance
While some phones are delicate, petite and pretty, the G6 is a straight-up solid and handsome device. While it isn’t as thin as the smartphones you have probably handled in the past year, it’s not bulky either. It might look it, but it fits naturally in your palm. It’s waterproof as well and is fitted out with Gorilla Glass.
One of the main features is its screen. LG calls it FullVision and it’s honestly quite refreshing; it’s new and they are one of the first companies to do something like this. It’s a 5.7” Quad HD+ screen feature an 18:9 ratio. Basically, the screen is much larger than what you would be usually used to. They have fitted a larger screen in an average smartphone-sized body by slimming out the bezels of the device. The screen-to-body ratio of the G6 is an impressive 80.7 per cent.
Powering the G6 is a 2.35Ghz Quad Core, Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of memory and an expandable micro SD slot up to 2TB.
On the camera front, the G6 rocks dual 13-MP rear cameras that can shoot in a 125-degree wide angle mode — brilliant for the pesky Burj Khalifa shots. The front camera is a wide-angle 5MP camera. It does shoot decent pictures in normal mode, but disappoints in the wide-angle mode as it lacks clarity.
On paper the battery seems average at 3,300mAh. However I’ve been getting a day and a half of normal usage on a full charge. Which genuinely surprised me.
The G6 will be available this week in the UAE for Dh2,599.
Here’s what else you missed last week:
Sony Xperia XZ Premium
Sony announced their latest flagship, the Xperia XZ Premium, in the UAE on Monday last week. The phone features a beautiful reflective finish that screams classy and a camera that’s capable of shooting so-motion footage at 960 frames per second. It is also the world’s first device with a 4K HDR screen. The device will go on sale within the next few weeks in the region.
Moto G5
Motorola announced their devices on Tuesday last week. The budget-friendly Moto G5 and G5 Plus feature metal unibodies and run on Android 7.0 Nougat straight out of the box. They run different processors; and octa-core Snapdragon 430 processor on the G5 and a Snapdragon 625 on the Plus. The rear cameras differ too, with a 13MP snapper on the G5 and 12MP dual-pixel sensor on the Plus.
Huawei P10 and P10 Plus
Tuesday was a busy day for tech. Huawei announced their latest tech toys: The P10 and P10 Plus. The P10 is a 5.1-inch device with all the latest bells and whistles, the best feature of which is its Leica 20MP and 12MP monochrome rear cameras. The Plus rocks a similar camera. Pricing was announced at Dh1,899 for the P10 and Dh2,599 for the Plus.
Samsung S8 and S8+
The devices that everyone’s been waiting for and they will be available within this week in the UAE. The S8 was announced on Tuesday as well at an event in Dubai that saw Samsung S8 branding take over the Burj Al Arab. Both S8 models run on 2.3GHz octa-core Exynos chip set, and rock 12MP rear and 8MP front-facing autofocus cameras. Pre-orders for the devices would set you back about Dh2,799 for the S8 and Dh3,099 for S8 Plus.
-Hit me up on twitter @theGKW for any tech-related questions, opinions or general random chatter!
