ll, now the G6 is finally here, with an extra-tall display Assistant built into the OS, it’s every bit the flagship it was promised to be. Even without any surprises— even with a soon-to-be-outdated processor—the G6 is a beast that puts back on the Android map. y this matters: needs a hit. st year’s modular G5 swung missed big time with its series of attachments, the V20 failed to capitalize on the Note7 recall. On paper, the G6 ticks off all the right boxes, bringing a sleek, modern design with a big battery, giant screen, excellent camera. But it remains to be seen whether ’s 18:9 aspect ratio display is enough to lure buyers, especially with the Galaxy S8 launch looming on the horizon.

Screen to spare

As expected, the G6 brings a (deep breath) 5.7-inch, 18:9 Quad HD+, 2880×1440 FullVision D display that takes up much of the front of the device. It’s not entirely bezel-less like its marketing campaign would have you believe, but has managed to cram a lot of screen into its 5.9-inch by 2.8-inch body. ong with its generous size, the display supports Dolby Vision HDR10, so compatible movies can be viewed in all of their billion-color glory. Another unique display feature: rounded edges rather than corners with traditional right angles. says this was done to improve durability, as rounded corners are able to absorb impact better than square ones, resulting in reduced likelihood of cracks upon dropping. A copper pipe built into the body to dissipate heat also adds to reliability. wering all those pixels is a Snapdragon 821 processor (as expected, Samsung snatched up the first batch of 835s) a 3,300mAh battery, which, for the first time, isn’t removable. Some diehards may gripe about the loss of a swappable battery, but the tradeoff brings I8 water resistance wireless charging, which even works when the phone is wet.

Of course, has also upgraded its cameras. The rear of the phone sports dual cameras like previous models, but this time around both are 13M And, surprisingly, is sticking with a wide-angle secondary rear camera rather than going for a system for faking a bokeh effects, a la Apple’s approach. The wide-angle rear shooter allows a 125-degree field of view, while the front 5Mcamera spans 100 degrees. The camera app also allows for 360-degree panorama shots, the interface has been tuned to take advantage of the 18:9 screen. For example, you can divide the screen into two perfect squares for perfectly sized Instagram shots, while a new Guide Shot mode lets you overlay what you see over a previous image to help with composition. Furthermore, there’s also a 2x optical zoom with electronic image stabilization to keep shakiness to a minimum when filming videos.

Newer Nougat

The square motif can be seen all over ’s UX 6.0, which has been updated for Android 7 Nougat. You can stitch multiple photos together in a collage for a lock screen wallpaper, or run two apps side-by-side for full-sized multitasking. For example, when you’re in the calendar app, you can put the G6 in lscape mode to display the calendar on the left a more detailed schedule on the right. And even though it is based on Android 7.0 rather than 7.1, the G6 is still the first non- phone to include support for Assistant, which can be summoned by saying OK or by long-pressing the virtual home button. And, perhaps most importantly, has resisted the temptation to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack, though unfortunately the U.S. version of the phone won’t get the quad DAC experience that’s on the model bound for Korea other Asian markets. U.S. buyers will also have to settle for 32GB of storage, though there is a microSD card slot to help make up for it. icing availability for the G6 hasn’t been announced.