We unbox the Q6!
While Korean manufacturer LG has always had solid flagship phones, we always felt that they were lacking competitive offerings in the highly lucrative mid-range segment in the past few years. Previous efforts by the Korean company has been forgettable to say the least which meant they were missing out in a price range that rival companies like OPPO, Vivo, Huawei and Samsung were making a killing in.
That’s finally changed with their new mid-range Q6. The new phone builds on LG’s unique FullVision tech that took center stage in their G6 flagship brought to a more palatable mid-range price point. The phone looks stunning with the display, though LG had to cut a few features from their flagship device to make the Q6 easier on the pocket.
LG Q6 specs
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor
- 3GB RAM
- 5.5-inch full HD+ FullVision IPS display (2160 x 1080 resolution)
- 32GB of storage, expandable via microSD
- 13-megapixel rear camera, AF, LED flash
- 5-megapixel wide angle selfie camera
- Dual SIM
- 3G, LTE
- WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
- 3000mAh battery
- Android Nougat
Packaging and contents:
The LG Q6 comes in a nice black box, with the words Q6 proudly printed in the front. Inside the box are all the accouterments that you’d expect from a phone: documentation and warranty card, headphones, charger and USB cable.
No free jelly case or screen protector is included, but that may change with the final retail unit that’s available to regular folks to buy.
Initial impressions: LG’s FullVision display looks fantastic, but the internals are a little underwhelming
Holding the LG Q6 in our hands, we couldn’t help but wonder how small it felt. Despite having the same 5.5-inch display as most phones in the market today, the Q6 is physically smaller than most of those phones. The Motorola Moto Z2 Play looks substantially bigger than the Q6, and even the supposedly bezel-less Doogee Mix is wider than LG’s newest mid-range phone.
LG’s FullVision display really does wonders for a phone’s physical size, since it greatly reduces bezel sizes on all sides of the phone, making for a smaller package. Of course, you’ll still have to contend with the 18:9 aspect ratio that was on the G6.
The Q6 also sports a display resolution that’s significantly higher than most phones in its price point, coming in at 2160 x 1080 resolution, versus the standard 1920 x 1080 resolution. LG is calling this full HD+ and the extra pixels is from the additional space on the top that’s made possible thanks to LG’s FullVision tech.
Of course, there’s more to the LG Q6 than the display. The frame is made from aluminum, and the glossy silver back on our review unit looks and feels like plastic. The back has gentle curves much like the G6, and is a literal fingerprint magnet.
The 13-megapixel rear camera is tucked on the upper left side of the device, with the speaker is located on the lower left side of the back.
The power button is on the right side of the phone while the volume rocker is on the left. Also on the left side is the two SIM slots as well as the dedicated microSD slot. Finally, no need to choose between extra storage or another SIM – you can have both.
The 3.5mm jack and the regular USB port (sorry, no Type-C kids) are located on the bottom of the device. Curiously, there’s no fingerprint scanner anywhere on the phone, which is a little disappointing, considering the Q6’s price bracket.
There is facial recognition tech baked into the Q6 that’s easy to setup and use (and unlocks the phone in less than a second) though it’s subject to the same limitations as previous implementations of the tech – there needs to be plenty of light around for the front facing camera to pick up your face, and as a whole the tech is more prone to spoofing than other biometric methods like fingerprint scanners.
While we’re all praises for the Q6’s display, we can’t say the same for the hardware powering it. Underneath that FullVision display is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 435 processor, paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Other versions of the Q6 have identical chipsets and differ only in storage, so the Philippines is basically getting the middle of the road version of the mid-range phone.
The Snapdragon 430 managed fine during our short time with it during the unboxing, though heavier use may reveal the SoC’s shortcomings as the review process moves forward. The good news is that the 3000mAh battery should last longer, though some users may not like the fact that they’re trading processing power for longevity.
That’s pretty much it for this unboxing and first look at the LG Q6. The Q6 was spotted earlier in the Philippines and is priced at Php 13,990. At that price point the phone’s going to be up against heavy competition with the offerings of Huawei, OPPO, Vivo and Samsung.
