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Camera
- Camera quality isn't much better than on the G5
- Decent image quality but not a match for the best camera phones
The LG G6 camera is upgraded in a way, but also remains very similar to last year's in others. The same normal and wide-angle camera lenses are back, but they're now both 13MP.
However, the aperture hasn't improved, nor the pixel size; in short, you're not going to get better snaps day to day with the new G6 phone.
The reason for making them the same resolution is apparently to stop the judder when zooming in – when jumping from wide angle to the closer sensor there was previously a judder that saw the image quality change, and LG says it worked with Qualcomm to bring features from the Snapdragon 835 to the new phone and help fix this.
However, it's not worked, as the judder is still there and there's a tangible difference between the two sensor qualities. It's not a big deal though, as most of the time you'll just tap the icons at the top to choose between the two focal lengths.
The main image sensor packs optical image stabilization, and appears to have a warmer image quality about it, with a faster f/1.8 aperture. The other wide-angle sensor is f/2.4 and lacks the same stabilizer, so images can come out less sharp.
Overall image quality was clear enough, without being mind-blowing. It doesn't quite stack up to the quality of the iPhone 7 or Samsung Galaxy S8 in most situations, but if you catch the light right and get things in the right conditions it can look really great.
That's the case with many smartphone cameras though, and you'd have to say that LG didn't have a strong enough sensor from last year to not really add in any upgrades.
The new 18:9 screen size has given LG a chance to have two Instagram-friendly squares on the screen at once, and it's used them pretty well.
Our favorite is the large preview, where you can take pictures on one side and have the full-screen previews alongside, which you can scroll through while still snapping.
Alternatively, there's an option to use the same size camera viewfinder as found on the G5, with the extra pixels used to show a strip of recently-taken photos, which again makes it easy to multitask using the camera.
The LG G6 is an advanced phone with a strong camera, even if it's not the best out – there are plenty of new features to enjoy, although they're rather hard to find (the square mode picture options are hidden under myriad menus, or a separate app on another home screen).
LG will struggle to overcome the negative press of not really improving the camera from last year, but with new square features and decent performance, users probably won't mind too much.
As you'll see with some of the samples, you can take some sharp and attractive photos, but in night mode things are very slow and a little blurry around the edges - the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Google Pixel are better options for sure.
We're also not taken with the dual lenses - it seems that the closer lens is too close, and the wider option gets too much into the frame.
With this, it very much depends on what you like though. If you're a fan of taking pics of lots of people, then this is a great camera... the wide angle lens is sharp enough and brings in loads of detail.
The square interface hasn't offered anything other than novelty so far, but we've not explored it as a way to take great Instagram photos as yet - which is what the square viewfinder and preview window together would offer.
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