LG launched three variants of the Q6 with different RAM in early July. And Q6 with 3 GB RAM has been introduced in India. The LG Q6 smartphone has been brought with an aggressive price tag of under Rs 15,000. And LG hopes budget customers will like this price. However, will Q6 be successful on the basis of display? Let’s find out.
LG Q6 design and build
Coming with a 5.5-inch display, the LG Q6 is definitely the most convenient smartphone we have used recently. And the credit for this goes to its very slim screen border. The edges of the display are curved like the G6, but the 2.5D Gorilla Glass is flat rather than curved. The screen resolution is 2160×1080 pixels. But, the phone doesn’t have a notification LED or always-on display to catch missed notifications, so you’ll have to keep the display turned on to see notifications. There is free space above the screen for the front camera and sensors, while there is only an LG logo at the bottom.
7000 series aluminum sheet has been used to make this phone, which impresses. Because usually this type of metal is used for more expensive phones. The edges of the phone are also curved to match the display. The rear of the phone is made of plastic and it easily gets stains. And the phone can look a little wonky during everyday use. The phone also gets scratched easily, so you have to be careful while using the phone.
The power and volume buttons on the left side of the phone are fine to operate. The phone has a slot for two nano-SIM cards and a microSD card. The first slot can accommodate a Nano SIM and a microSD card, while the second slot can accommodate a second SIM card. This phone has a headphone jack and a micro-USB port at the bottom. There is a mono speaker at the rear. The absence of a USB Type-C port in the phone is disappointing, while the phone only works at USB 2.0 speed. The good thing is that the camera module on the rear is flat and we did not notice any problem due to any kind of bulge during the review.
If you have not noticed yet, then let us tell you that there is a major drawback in Q6 and that is the lack of fingerprint sensor. Don’t know for what reasons, LG has not provided this security feature in the phone. Instead of this, face recognition has been provided in the phone, which works well but there are some flaws in the phone for which you have to be aware. By default, face recognition is pretty fast – all you have to do is bring your phone in front of your face and the phone will automatically unlock. However, the phone can also be easily unlocked by placing a user’s photograph in front of the camera. Additionally, users are allowed to register only one face, but you can technically store someone else’s face as well by going to the ‘Improve face recognition’ option. However, to use this feature you will need a pattern or PIN.
Apart from this, ‘Advanced face recognition’ is also a way to make face recognition more secure. With this enabled, the 2D image cannot be used in place of your face, but it does take time to unlock the phone. Besides this, this entire process does not work even in low light.
Overall, the Q6 is a good looking device, thanks to the display of the phone. The phone has a good build, remains stable in the hands and overall its design is comfortable. But we were disappointed due to the lack of fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C port and notification light in the phone.
LG Q6 specifications and features
The Q6 is not a very powerful smartphone and it has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor which is also given in the sub-Rs 10,000 category phone Xiaomi Redmi 4 (Review). This phone has a 64-bit octa-core processor which comes with a maximum speed of 1.4 GHz. Talking about graphics, the phone has Adreno 505 GPU. The phone’s benchmark figures were pretty average.
Talking about other specifications, the phone has 3 GB RAM, 32 GB storage, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi B/G/N, USB-OTG, FM radio and 4G VoLTE. The Q6’s dialer app doesn’t have the option for direct video calling, which is typically seen on Samsung phones. We were happy to see the latest version of Android in the phone, the company has given Android 7.1.1 Nougat in Q6. Security patches are also available on the phone quickly and easily. (July 1 during our review)
LG’s default themes aren’t very light but you can customize them. And through the Settings app, you can get the feel of stock Android to a great extent. The phone has onscreen navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen that can be customized and re-ordered. Additionally, there is also a fourth button for switching SIMs or pulling down the notification shade. The default single layer look can be replaced with the traditional app drawer layout. Apart from this, there is also Google Assistant.
The phone comes with the LG Mobile Switch app, which helps in easily transferring data from an old device to the Q6. Through the RemoteCall Service, users can control your phone to get help from LG customer care, troubleshooting, LG product information and The portal for themes is found in LG Smart World. With the help of Smart Doctor, you can check your phone’s battery, storage and RAM usage. There is also a toggle in the notification shade called Capture+, which allows you to draw on the screenshot and also write text.
The Settings app is divided into two tabs that help you find a feature. Downloaded apps can be adjusted to scale to 18:9 screens. Same is the case with game apps, the aspect ratio can be switched but doing so will restart the app. The font, text size and thickness, and blue light filter settings can be changed through many other settings.
LG Q6 performance, camera and battery life
Despite the poor benchmark figures, the Q6 does all the important tasks with ease. We liked the interface of the phone. Surprisingly, multitasking is easy and apps load fast. The phone does not get hot during normal use, but the metal frame does get hot while playing games. Most 3D games can be played smoothly on the Q6 with playable framerates. Games like Xenowerk run smoothly but there is difficulty in playing games like Asphalt 8.
LG has given a feature called ‘Game battery saver’. It can adjust the quality of graphics rendering and framerate to reduce battery consumption. We noticed a slight improvement in Asphalt 8’s framerate but the game didn’t run as smoothly as expected. Apart from this, there is also a feature called ‘Break time’ which pauses the game when the phone is not in use and reduces the screen brightness and processor performance.
The Q6’s display is good for media playback. However, 4K video files do not play in the phone. The screen reflects a little but the brightness is good and the colors are well saturated. The speakers are loud enough when watching and listening to games and media, but since the speakers are at the rear, the experience isn’t the best.
The 13-megapixel rear camera captures landscape and macro photos with good detailing. Colors are good in pictures and focus is also very fast. The Q6 camera’s viewfinder has a DSLR-style green square that shows the autofocus point, but that doesn’t always mean the subject is in focus. It’s best to tap your subject in the viewfinder to get proper focus. The camera takes good pictures even in low light but there is some noise and information like text can also be read in the background.
The video quality recorded is good but the resolution is limited to 1080 pixels. Using a ‘Steady recording’ toggle in the settings keeps the footel quite stable. The 5-megapixel front camera produces pretty average selfies, but you do get a wide-angle mode that lets multiple people easily fit into the frame.
The camera app is plain and easy to navigate. All buttons and toggles are placed as expected. The phone has a square camera mode which is similar to the one on the G6. Through this, you can use half the screen as a viewfinder and the other part for the frame of your shot. LG has also provided a hidden cursor for quick sharing on social media.
Battery life is good but the 3000 mAh battery drains fast during continuous video watching. The battery lasted less than 10 hours in our video loop test, which is not good. The absence of fast charging support is also disappointing.
our decision
The 18:9 screen aspect ratio is definitely going to be popular in the smartphone world. And despite its budget price, LG Q6 is equipped with this premium feature and this is also its biggest selling point. In fact, the Q6 should probably look modern even after a few years. It is not the most powerful smartphone in its category, but if you are looking for a phone with strong specifications, then Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Review), Honor 6X (video review) and Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime (Review).
The Q6 remains in the race with its design and display, and we also liked the level of customization with the custom Android UI. Apart from these things, the phone also has some other good things. The budget level processor limits the high demand for games and apps in the phone. The rear camera is great but the front camera could have been better. Battery life is also not very good. Apart from this, absence of fingerprint sensor also makes the phone inconvenient.
We recommend that if you’re looking for a phone with great looks and some performance, the LG Q6 is a good choice.