Before I give you my whys of it, here’s a little disclaimer: I’ve always bought flagship phones. From Blackberry to Nexus to IPhone to the Note series, these flagships have been my daily drivers over the years. When the Blackberry gave way to stock Android, Nexus became my prime interest. When IPhone introduced Touch ID and the most fluid OS experience, 5s stuck with me for two years. As Apple stopped innovating and Samsung ditched plastic for glass and metal, Note 5 with its S Pen, served me well for couple of years. (I played around with the One Plus when it launched, and for all the big numbers at a throwaway price, it never was a flagship killer). Come 2017, and it was time for a new phone yet again. And this time, I went with LG.

THE HONEYMOON PERIOD

Yes, even smartphones have a honeymoon period. That best ever camera has you clicking all over town for a couple of months. (Or selfies during vacations, because most of you carry a DSLR for those trips, don’t you?) That gorgeous display has you consuming all the content all the time, or if truth be told, for only two months. Then the laptops and desktops and Chromecasts, Apple TVs and Amazon Fire TVs of the world take over. (Now, some of you might be consuming everything on your phone, but then not all of you must be spending over 60K for that.) So, two months down the line, your premium smartphone is reduced to just another smartphone. So, for me, the smartphone had to excite me all over again, and in those regards, only the LG ticked all the right boxes.  

BUT WHY LG?

That’s the first question everyone asked me. It’s like the brand is carrying a lot of baggage of not being heard enough in the smartphone circle. LG has been trying to push the envelope for a while actually. Last year, they tried going the Modular way with MODS way (Detachable mods for LG G5 were made - one for camera, one for battery, etc.), but didn’t really have as many takers as they would’ve liked. LG made all the right noises a few years ago, when they were making the NEXUS line of phones. But, that was in the past. So, what’s changed this year? This year, LG went with reliable basics in hardware, and smart software inside. Somewhat like Samsung, with their design philosophy from the Note 5 – solid glass and aluminum body and great features underneath. They nailed it with their 18:9 display. LG stuck to the basics, and in the process ended up making a serious flagship that's seriously worth your attention. 

DUAL CAMERAS DONE RIGHT

Dual cameras are all the rage now. iPhones, One Plus 5 and even the Note 8 is sporting them. But all of them use a telephoto lens that gives you a creamy bokeh. Honestly though, how many of us click portraits all the time. The standard lens offers enough bokeh that’ll satisfy the average consumer. LG G6 comes with two 13mp cameras. But one of them is an ultra-wide angle lens. This comes in particularly handy when you don’t have enough room to back up to take in the entire scenery. The ultra-wide lens does what your feet can’t – move back and capture the entire scene. Beyond its practical value, it lets you capture wild shots with crazy perspectives. What this gem of a lens essentially does is bring the fun back into photography. It’s innovative, it’s fun, and it’s something your phone camera never had before. It is dual cameras done right.

PITCH PERFECT

The LG G6 comes with a QUAD DAC. That’s a professional amp sitting right inside your phone to give you the most optimal sound a phone ever can. Pair with the right audiophile earphones, and you’d hear instruments you never knew were there before. Voices sound more pronounced, essentially you hear music the way it was designed. Now most of us still listen to MP3s, but if you care for hi-resolution audio, this phone is capable of decoding those files and give you crystal clear audio. The G6 can match most media players from FIIO when it comes to audio quality. Since most of us are consuming music through the phone itself, this is the best there is.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT THE 18: 9 ASPECT RATIO

Traditionally, all phones come in the 16:9 aspect ratio. Most content is produced in 16:7:9 aspect ratio. So why this new aspect ratio? There are two reasons for that. Firstly, this is the closest to cinemascope you can get – which means, most movies are shot in this format. And going forward, most TV content too is moving in this direction. Stranger Things and House of Cards are shot in this 2:1 ratio, so you get edge-to-edge immersive content wrapped in a whopping 5.7 inch Quad HD+ display. Samsung and even Apple (almost) have now adapted this ratio – so going forward you’ll see more content designed for these screens. Secondly, and this is a biggie, is the size of the phone. With this aspect ratio, you get bigger taller screens in a much smaller size. The LG G6 is much smaller than the Note 5 or the Pixel XL, and yet has the same screen size. The screen to body ratio is excellent, making the phone accessible with one hand as well. As the screens are becoming bigger, the bodies cannot – because that will make the phone more like a tablet. This innovation is here to stay, and LG has championed it with the G6.

THAT FINGERPRINT PLACEMENT

You’d be surprised how something so small makes a big impact on handling. It’s ergonomically placed just below the cameras at the rear of the phone. Samsung has the worst placement which is always out of reach, and the new iPhone, well, it doesn’t have any. Now you may argue about FACE ID and IRIS SCANNING and FACE DETECTION. But these are still at its nascent stages and are still a hit and miss. FACE ID is yet to be proven. And if you so desire, the LG G6 too has these features. But when it comes down to handling, a well-placed fingerprint sensor makes all the difference.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

Ridiculous pricing has become a norm with premium flagships from all companies. There was a time when ₹55,000 was the accepted price, however steep that might seem. But in today’s day and age ₹60,000 and above has become the norm. The iPhone 8 starts at ₹64,000, 8 Plus at ₹73,000 and the Note 8 at ₹67,990. The iPhone X is rumoured to be around ₹89,990. After a while, these numbers just stop making sense. The LG G6, when launched was at ₹55,000. But now, it can be had at ₹37,990 at leading retail stores and even cheaper on Amazon. I even got a free pair of LG’s TONE ACTIVE PLUS Bluetooth headphones worth ₹12,000, which are sweat-proof, waterproof, have Dual Mems Microphones for better voice clarity, have speakers on them, yes, speakers and have the APTX Profile that supports hi-fidelity audio. I didn’t know about the offer when I walked into the store. Talk about landing a great deal! Some might ask at this price point, if One Plus 5 is better, but I would have my reservations about that. A different camera system, expandable memory (you can save offline Amazon Prime Video and Netflix shows on it), a gorgeous edge-to-edge almost bezel-less Quad HD+ display, IP68 water and dust resistance; there’s a lot more going for the G6.

The LG G6 is the most underrated phone of the year. And if you’re looking to bag one, chances are you’d find a great price for it, and if you’re lucky, a great deal too. It’s been a while since a phone has excited me as much, so much so that both of us have shifted to the G6. Life’s Good indeed.