LG Optimus F6 Review

Introduction

It was with great fanfare that LG introduced its flagship device this year, the G2. Lost in the shuffle at the time was T-Mobile’s announcement that it would be joined by the Optimus F3 and F6 on the carrier, giving smartphone buyers a choice at each step of the smartphone spectrum. The Optimus F6 falls squarely in the middle of the high end G2 and entry level Optimus F3. Features include a 4.5” IPS display, LTE support and a dual-core Snapdragon processor, but can they outweigh the compromises made to keep the device affordable?

Design

The Optimus F6 sticks to the basic design principles that LG has used on previous mid-range devices, and while it may not grab your attention the F6 is a good looking device. It is more rounded than the Optimus L9 it replaces, but the two devices share many other design elements including the physical home button below the display.



Around the edges you’ll find the usual array of buttons and ports, with two exceptions. The first is an IR port next to the headphone jack up top, and the second is a dedicated QuckButton key above the volume rocker on the left. By default the QuickButton opens LG’s QuickMemo, allowing you to make notes or doodle over the current screenshot, but the button is configurable and can launch any app installed. If you set it as a camera shortcut it will double as a physical shutter button. While the button placement is a bit odd, we really like the customization offered here. We would prefer the volume rocker be a bit larger and for a bit more travel to the side buttons, although there is a tactile click when you activate one.

The dark blue battery cover has a subdued digital pattern to it. The 5 megapixel camera with LED flash resides up top, and the phone’s single speaker at the bottom. The Optimus F6 is constructed entirely out of plastic- not out of the ordinary for mid-range phones- but avoids feeling cheap. The build quality is good, with tight seams and no plastic creak. It feels good in the hand, if not a bit slippery, and is up to par with similarly-constructed Samsung devices.

Display

The Optimus F6 features a 4.5” IPS display, which we really like, but only a 540x960 (qHD) resolution. That makes for a slightly underwhelming 245ppi, although there are certainly worse displays out there. It is easy to read at extreme angles and in harsh light, with good color and strong brightness. Thanks to these secondary features media generally looks natural and crisp, although individual pixels can be seen if you look. It is one of the better displays you can hope for on a mid-range device, although it does not compare to even last year’s flagship devices and their HD displays.