Richard Goodwin 26/04/2017 - 12:40pm

It’s early in my review process, but the LG G6’s battery life seems a little, well… disappointing

I was a huge fan of the divisive LG G5. I loved the camera and the design of the phone, though the modular aspect of it was, admittedly, poorly executed. The handset did not sell well and this prompted a rethink inside LG’s HQ about where to go with its successor, the LG G6.

The LG G6 is a markedly different beast to its predecessor. It shares zero design elements with the LG G5 and, for all intents and purposes, is a ground-up redesign of the handset. The LG G6 is LG starting a new course, one that it hopes will bring it into contention in 2017/18.

LG G6 Key Specs:

  • Chipset: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 821 Processor
  • Display: 5.7-inch 18:9 QHD+ FullVision Display (2880 x 1440 / 564ppi)
  • Memory: 4GB LPDDR4 RAM / 32GB or 64GB UFS 2.0 ROM / MicroSD (up to 2TB)
  • Camera:
  • Rear Dual: 13MP Wide (F2.4 / 125°) / 13MP Standard OIS 2.0 (F1.8 / 71°)
  • Front 5MP Wide (F2.2 / 100°)
  • Battery: 3,300mAh (embedded)
  • Operating System: Android 7.0 Nougat
  • Size: 148.9 x 71.9 x 7.9mm
  • Weight: 163g
  • Network: LTE-A 3 Band CA
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 4.2 BLE / NFC / USB Type-C 2.0 (3.1 compatible)
  • Colors: Astro Black / Ice Platinum / Mystic White
  • Other: Water and Dust Resistant / Fingerprint Sensor / UX 6.0 / Dolby Vision™ / HDR10 / Qualcomm Quick Charge™ 3.0 / 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC

I got my review unit through a couple of days ago and have been using the phone exclusively since. I won’t go into too much detail here about the design, specs or performance of the handset, as that will be handled in my full review, but I do want to make some notes on the LG G6's battery life.

From the outset, I was confident the LG G6 would have decent battery performance; it has a larger, 3300mAh cell in it (versus the 2800mAh found in the LG G5) and this usually translates into better performance.

But it hasn’t – not that I can see, anyway. Perhaps my expectations were too high coming from a Pixel XL, which is one of the best performers on the market right now, but the best way I could describe the battery on the G6, based on a few day’s worth of usage, is mediocre.

LG G6 Battery Test Example

I will properly test the LG G6’s battery before writing my review. But in the interim I will just use the phone as my daily driver and see how it does compared to the other phones’ I’ve tested in 2016/17.

So how did it do compared to my trusty, old Pixel XL? Not great. The LG G6 consistently failed to make it through a full day without a top up, which is something I haven’t had to do for ages, as the Pixel XL can handle a full day (and a bit) with heavy usage.

And I haven't even been pushing the LG G6 all that hard, either. Yesterday I took some photos and video while walking the dog, made a few phone calls and listened to a couple of hour’s worth of music on Spotify, as well as the usual browsing and social media.

I didn’t play any games, download any massive files or do anything that CPU/Battery-intensive. But I did have to recharge the LG G6 around 2pm in order to ensure it’d still be alive and kicking come 9pm.

This was unexpected. I know it has a bigger battery than the LG G5, but I do not remember the G5 having any issues with battery performance when I tested it last year.

Benchmark tests show the LG G6 has better performance than the G5. But benchmark tests – whether video-playback-oriented or call duration-based – are never reflective of ACTUAL usage patterns. They’re just a yard stick tool for comparison’s sake.

I’m going to have a look into the setup of my phone, as I think the sub-par performance has something to do with the always-on display. I will retackle this issue in more detail in my review, once I’ve had more time with the phone. But I just wanted to do this quick piece on the phone in case any of you are wondering about the G6's battery life.

Initial impressions, besides battery performance, however, are very good. The handset looks very neat and tidy and performs like a champ, despite running an older Snapdragon chipset.

Keep an eye on KYM’s social feeds for more updates on the LG G6.