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How to scale the LG G6 display for apps and games that don't fit in 18:9

Published: Mar 17, 2017, 4:59 AM

Daniel Petrov

Many apps and games are done with 16/9 in mind, so the 18/9 display aspect ratio on the G6 will letterbox them

LG got none other but the inventor of the 2:1 format on stage during the G6 unveiling to explain why it comes with a screen in the unorthodox 18:9 aspect ratio. When LG announced this brand new 5.7" display panel with 1440 x 2880 pixels resolution, we thought "Oh, that's just LG being LG, they are always doing something with modular phones or extra ticker screens like on the V-series, so that might be it."

It turned out that LG had a deeper meaning when it crafted a 2:1 Dolby Vision-certified display for the G6. This standard is called Univisium, and is not widespread yet. As the name implies, it strives to unify the current widescreen 1.78:1 (16:9) HD standard, aimed at digital TV broadcasting, with the theatrical release 2.20:1 (70mm) standard of films shot for movie theaters. According to its founder, the cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, in the future all releases will boil down to those two formats, thus he proposed Univisium as closest to the mathematical average of the 2.20 (70mm) and 1.78 (HD) formats, so that no cropping or artificially keeping the action inside one rectangle would be needed while filming for any purpose.

The vast majority of today's smartphone displays, however, use the more common 16:9 ratio, which is the widespread widescreen 1:78:1 HD standard you see on your TV. That is why you may see cropping in apps, games or YouTube vids that aren't developed with 2:1 in mind, which is not the actual issue, but rather apps whose interface goes completely mismatched due to the new resolution. Thankfully, LG has provided different settings to somewhat remedy this on the G6, here's what you need to do: