LG Stylo 6 evaluation: The stylus cellphone your pockets will love

Samsung’s Galaxy Word line has lengthy been the cream of the crop in terms of stylus telephones. Nonetheless, you need to be able to drop some critical money to deliver one house. Then again, LG is able to put a stylus-toting phablet in your pocket for lower than $300. How effectively does the Stylo 6 stack up towards its closest rivals? Discover out in our LG Stylo 6 evaluation.

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• LG Stylo 6 (3GB / 64GB): $249 / £179 / €249

The LG Stylo 6 landed because the OEM’s newest stylus-toting system in Might 2020, changing the Stylo 5. It introduced a critical design overhaul to the road and tripled the variety of rear-mounted cameras. You’ll solely discover the Stylo 6 in a single 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage configuration, although it carries a microSD slot in case you want further room. The phablet is obtainable in white unlocked, or Cricket Wi-fi gives the Stylo 6 in Holographic Blue and Titan Grey. Our Stylo 6 arrived with Android 10 on board, and it has not acquired an Android 11 replace but. There’s no phrase on future help, although with LG exiting the smartphone enterprise it’s unlikely to obtain safety updates long-term — hold that in thoughts earlier than parting along with your money.

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LG ditched Qualcomm when it launched the Stylo 6 — as a substitute choosing MediaTek’s Helio P35 processor because the star of the present. It’s a slight improve over the Helio P22 you’ll discover on the LG K51 and different entry-level units. We’ve already talked about the RAM above, and the Stylo 6 packs a 4,000mAh battery to maintain you transferring. The large 6.8-inch IPS LCD panel gives a Full HD+ decision, and the one interruption is a U-shaped notch for the selfie digicam.

Contained in the Stylo 6’s field, you’ll get a white USB-A to USB-C cable and charging block. There’s a fast begin information alongside along with your typical guarantee data, however no headphones to faucet into the headphone jack.

The LG Stylo 6’s closest rivals embrace the Motorola Moto G Energy and Moto G Stylus, in addition to the OnePlus Nord N200. All three are available in at simply over $200, although the Nord N200 provides 5G to the combination. If you need further pace to accompany your stylus, you’ll be able to at all times attempt the Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G.

The LG Stylo 6 is one large boy, which is nice for catching up in your favourite exhibits. Its 6.8-inch show boasts Full HD decision, which simply tops LG’s different funds choices, and also you get stereo audio system in addition. The 20.5:9 facet ratio implies that you’ll have the very best expertise with widescreen content material.

Nearly all of LG’s funds units provide respectable construct high quality and hand-feel, and the Stylo 6 isn’t any exception. The edges are thick sufficient that you may hold a stable grip, and the glass rear panel feels extra premium than the value tag would recommend.

We even have to speak concerning the Stylo 6’s defining characteristic: the built-in stylus. It hides away alongside the underside edge till you’re prepared to make use of it, after which it’s so simple as clicking a pen. The stylus itself is slim and made from metallic, and the comfortable tip is responsive, with good palm detection. It’s also possible to hop proper right into a memo pad for those who launch the stylus whereas your Stylo 6 is locked, which I discovered myself utilizing ceaselessly.

The Stylo 6 additionally gives nice battery life. No, the 4,000mAh cell isn’t the most important amongst stylus telephones, however I had no bother breezing by means of greater than a day of utilization. In spite of everything, it doesn’t have to make use of further juice trying to find 5G speeds, so the Stylo 6 can simply concentrate on maintaining the lights on.

What’s not so good?

Though the Stylo 6’s big show is nice for streaming, it may be troublesome to make use of in day-to-day life. Granted, I don’t have the most important fingers, however one-handed use is just about out of the query if you could attain the highest of the show. You want two fingers to work the stylus anyway, however it could be good to achieve extra of the display with out unleashing mentioned stylus.

Additionally, this stylus isn’t any S Pen. It’s spring-loaded, and the again finish makes a pleasant click on, however it doesn’t provide a lot performance outdoors of tapping the show or writing notes. It does the job, however don’t count on Samsung-like options to go together with it.

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LG made just a few attention-grabbing software program decisions on the Stylo 6 — specifically the truth that there is no such thing as a app drawer by default. The app drawer is one among my favourite issues about Android, because it lets me hold my house display good and tidy. You may, nonetheless, deliver the app drawer again, however you’ll need to hunt round within the Settings menu for it.

The larger drawback I discovered on the Stylo 6 is bloatware. It comes with 5 video games preinstalled, Fb, Instagram, Tubi TV, Motels.com, and extra. LG additionally places its administration options like an replace middle and sensible cleansing into their very own apps once they might simply be a part of the Settings menu. All informed, these apps take up almost 4GB of storage on high of an already hefty 18GB system which implies that you’ve already misplaced 22GB of your 64GB of storage. You may, not less than, delete the video games and non-LG apps for those who don’t need them, although.

The Stylo 6 generally finds itself too large for its internals, too. MediaTek’s Helio P35 chip and the lowly 3GB of RAM can’t at all times sustain, particularly when multitasking. I couldn’t hop between Twitter and YouTube with out slowing each apps to a crawl. Even duties so simple as launching an app and instantly opening the keyboard induced some delays.

I recognize that LG tripled the variety of rear cameras for its Stylo 6, however it didn’t essentially nab the very best set. Most pictures work wonderful in good lighting, however you’ll discover that they provide up on particulars as quickly as you zoom in. The 5MP ultra-wide lens is especially responsible of this. The digicam app falls sufferer to the Helio P35’s weaker efficiency with lengthy waits for pictures to course of and pictures usually look far worse within the stay preview, making it more durable to know in case your shot will prove okay.

LG Stylo 6 digicam samples

The LG Stylo 6 gives a fantastic display, a helpful stylus, and glorious battery life. You’ll additionally discover that the construct high quality is much above the asking worth. Nonetheless, the MediaTek Helio P35 holds it again when you begin to work too laborious. It’s a great cellphone if you wish to stream your favourite widescreen exhibits with stereo audio system, however it’s not a phablet for the power-hungry. LG’s exit from the smartphone business additionally means you shouldn’t count on long-term safety updates.

In the event you actually desire a cellphone with a stylus that doesn’t value an excessive amount of, you’ll have to have a look at Motorola. The Moto G Stylus ($299) and Moto G Stylus 5G ($399) are nice picks, they usually provide extra aggressive specs than the Stylo 6. Then again, you’ll be able to at all times ditch the stylus altogether and faucet into the Motorola Moto G Energy ($249) with its 49MP fundamental digicam and 5,000mAh battery as a substitute.