Within days of launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG India has introduced its flagship LG G6 for a competitive price of Rs 51,990 bundled with cashback offers and freebies. Both the smartphones are the first ones to offer an almost bezel-less design with 18:9 aspect ratio. While the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ have been touted as one of the most beautiful Android phones, LG is banking on durability, battery safety and a reminder on the overall quality.
With several drop test videos raising concerns on the breakability of the S8 and S8+, LG India Head – Corporate Marketing Amit Gujral went all ahead to flaunt the “military standard” durability and superior quality batteries of the LG G6 during the launch. In fact, LG executives at the launch event were more than willing to offer units for a drop test comparison with the Galaxy S8.
The 5.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S8 (top) is more compact when compared to the 5.7-inch LG G6. (Image: Debashis Sarkar/News18.com)
The Samsung Galaxy S8 costs Rs 57,900 and the S8+ comes at a price tag of Rs 64,900. This means both the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8 are priced higher than the current iPhone 7 (32GB) which costs around Rs 50,000. It would be interesting to see how consumers in India would react to Android flagships which costs more than the current iPhone models – iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
Here is a closer look at LG G6 versus Samsung Galaxy S8.
Both the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8 flaunt displays with 18:9 aspect ratio and higher screen to body ratio. The Samsung Galaxy S8, despite housing a 5.8-inch display, feels smaller than the earlier 5.5-inch Galaxy S7 edge. The screen to body ratio of the Galaxy S8 is 83.6 per cent. On the other hand, the LG G6 offers a 5.7-inch screen in a compact 5.2-inch body with a screen to body ratio of 80.7 per cent.
The dual curved display makes the Galaxy S8 feel more compact and easy to grip. The square finish of the LG G6 makes it a bit bulky to hold. However, the all-glass finish of the Galaxy S8 makes it slippery. It is highly recommended that Galaxy S8 buyers should invest in good quality back covers to protect the rear glass.
The rear of the Galaxy S8 (left) and Lg G6. (Image: Debashis Sarkar/News18.com)
The LG G6 claims to be “military standard” in terms of durability. The company claims that the shock-dispersing material and design in the LG G6 makes it less likely to break when dropped. But the rear panel of the LG G6, when compared to the Galaxy S8, appears less appealing.
LG is continuing with the fingerprint scanner cum power/wake button at the back while the Galaxy S8 comes with an awkwardly-placed fingerprint sensor at the back.
The Galaxy S8 weighs 155 grams, making it slightly lighter than 163 grams LG G6.
The LG G6 comes with a 5.7-inch QHD+ Full Vision display with a resolution of 880 x 1440 pixels, aspect ratio of 18:9 and 564 ppi pixel density. It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S8 offers a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 1440 x 2960 pixels protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. While both the flagships offer good multimedia experience, the Galaxy S8, no doubt, offers the best experience.
The LG G6 is the only smartphone to offer Dolby Vision for immersive video experience.
The LG G6 is powered by a tried-and-tested Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with 4GB LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB UFS 2.0 ROM. It supports microSD cards of up to 2TB. The Samsung Galaxy S8 runs an octa-core Exynos 8895 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 256GB. Both the smartphones run Android Nougat operating system.
The Galaxy S8 sports 12-megapixel rear camera with ‘Dual Pixel’ technology. The camera features include optical image stabilisation and f/1.7 aperture. In the front, there is an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus. The image quality is similar to what the S7 edge had offered.
The LG G6 offers a dual lens wide-angle rear camera with 13MP (F2.4 / 125°) and 13MP Standard OIS 2.0 (F1.8 / 71°) lens. On the front, there is a 5MP Wide (F2.2 / 100°). The camera quality is similar to the earlier LG V20. Overall, it is a decent shooter.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 is powered by a 3,000mAh battery with Quick Charge support. You can expect to get one day battery life with Wi-Fi and 4G VoLTE connectivity. You can get around 30 per cent battery (from zero) with 25 minutes of charging. The Galaxy S8 offers ultra-power saving mode to help get more juice when required.
On the other hand, the LG G6 is backed by a 3,300mAh battery and claims that users can get 50 per cent battery in 30 minutes of charge. There is a game battery saver mode and LG claims that the Dolby Vision Mode saves around 15 per cent more battery.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 comes with Bixby assistant along with Google Assistant. However, without voice search, the Bixby assistant is of very little use. The LG G6 offers the regular Google Assistant out-of-the-box.
The Galaxy S8 offers regular Edge Screen panels, as seen on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. In terms of software, there are very little changes made in the new Galaxy S8. However, Samsung has improved multi-tasking greatly.
Apart from the display, LG has paid attention to the audio quality as well. The LG G6 comes with Hi-Fi video recording with high AOP mics and offers Hi-Fi quad DAC which claims to convert any music file format to Hi-Fi quality and sounds great irrespective of the earphones used.
Samsung, on the other hand, is offering premium AKG earphones bundled with the Galaxy S8.
Both the smartphones are IP68 water and dust resistant.
