10 best travel apps for Android

Mobile phones are important tools for travelers. You can look up information, book hotels, book flights, find pit stops, and find out all kinds of information in the palm of your hand. More and more people are depending on their mobile phones for travel. Frankly, it’s easier that way. We’d like to help make your next trip easier too. Here are the best travel apps for Android! In the interest of variety, we do not cover any GPS or navigation apps here. You can find those linked just below if you need one!

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Airbnb

Price: Free


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


Airbnb is one of the best independent travel apps. It also has some of the most varied options out there. For those who don't know, Airbnb allows people to rent out spare rooms to random travelers. It boasts 2.5 million homes across over 190 countries. You can also add events to itinerary if you're interested in other stuff. The app has had its problems and the independent nature lends itself to the occasional problem. However, it's a really fun way to skirt the typical and go for something different.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY



Booking.com

Price: Free


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


Booking.com is among the most popular and highly rated travel apps out there. Its main feature is having over one million hotels, motels, and other accommodations at its disposal. Additionally, it has info on local attractions, landmarks, and even local WiFi hotspots. There are also some convenience tools like offline maps, paperless booking, adding reservations to your calendar, and more. It's a good place to start if you're planning a trip although you may want to cross-check with similar apps before making a commitment. The app itself is completely free to use.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY



GasBuddy

Price: Free


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


GasBuddy is a road tripper's best friend. Or at least it could be. The basic premise of the app is to help you find the cheapest gas that is also closest to you. Those on the road can find the nearest gas station in case they're in the need of a fill up. The app is crowd sourced so you can report new gas prices if the ones you saw in the app were inaccurate. That way it helps everybody to help everybody else. Not that it'll matter much, but they also run a daily promotion for $100 in free gas. The design is good and the whole experience is really easy to use. We definitely recommend it if you're traveling anywhere by car.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY



Google Translate

Price: Free


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


Not everyone has the time to fully learn to speak, read, or write a new language. Those people should probably reach for an app like Google Translate. It features the ability to translate virtually any language into almost any other language. Additionally, there is a camera feature that lets you point your phone at a sign or a menu to get an instant translation. Best of all, there's a real-time speech translator that can help you talk to people. It's one of the most essential travel apps out there. It's also totally free.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY



Google Trips

Price: Free


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


Google Trips is one of the relatively newer travel apps. It's a trip planner app that lets you put all of your reservations, plans, and stuff to do all in one place. In addition to letting you store all of that stuff, the app has a list of nearby attractions that are both interesting and family friendly. Best of all, the app works offline so you'll have access to the info even in areas with no web access. It's newer and that means it does still need a bit of work. However, it should work more than well enough for most. Did we mention? It's also free.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY




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Kayak

Price: Free


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


Kayak's app has been around for a long time. It's remained one of the more consistent travel apps for years. It's an all-in-one app that lets you book hotels, flights, and rental cars. Along with that, it has an explore option so you check out where you want to travel. It'll also let you track your pre-existing travel plans even if you didn't book with them. It rounds out the experience with things like price alerts, deal alerts, and price forecasts to help you find a better deal. It does virtually everything you'd need it to do.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY



Priceline

Price: Free


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


Priceline is one of the most well-known travel apps. We've all seen the commercials so you know what to expect. It features over 800,000 hotels along with thousands of rental car and flight options. It also features small quirks like Google Wallet support, future reservation tracking, and more. The app's claim to fame is its various deals, such as the Express Deals, Name Your Own Price, and last minute hotel room deals. It's not perfect, but it's a big name in travel apps.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY



Travel Money

Price: Free / $2.49


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


Going on trips is hard enough even before you consider how much it costs. An app like Travel Money can help. It's a simple budget app that lets you plan the financial side of your traveling. You can save your receipts and purchases during any given trip to track how much you spend. This is good if you're vacationing on a budget. Alternatively, it's essential if you're traveling for business and need a record for tax season. The free version limits you to 50 purchases. That's more than enough to let you test it out before forking out $2.49 for the full version.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY




Uber (and similar apps)

Price: Free


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


Uber, Lyft, and similar apps can help you find rides around town. They're decent alternatives to something like a rental car for those who don't plan on doing a lot of driving around town. Usually, their prices are fairly reasonable and you can always switch back and forth between them to find the better deals. They're available in plenty of countries and wait times shouldn't be too bad most of the time. We don't recommend using them if you plan on driving a whole bunch because the money will add up. Otherwise, they're great travel apps to pick up.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY



Yelp

Price: Free


DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY


Everybody knows about Yelp. It's one of the top places to go if you want to know information about a business. While traveling, it can help you learn more about the area, find out where the good spots are, and help you avoid the places that aren't great. The app uses a clean design that also makes it easy to use. You can also find various other services should you need them. It probably won't be something you use too frequently, but it's a handy tool should you ever need it. It's also a good way to reference a second opinion if you're not finding reviews on something like Google Maps.

DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY




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If we missed any of the best travel apps for Android, tell us about them in the comments! To see our complete list of best app lists, click here.

10 best travel apps for Android

Google has No Plans for Another Chromebook Pixel Right Now

Even though we spotted a job listing last year that hinted at the possibility of a new Chromebook Pixel in the works, Google squashed any hope of that becoming a reality today, during an interview at MWC. According to TechCrunch, Google’s hardware boss, Rick Osterloh, said that the company has “no plans to do one right now.” 
That’s unfortunate, as the Chromebook Pixel line was always looked at as a Chromebook innovator that provided a vision for a better Chromebook future. Even if the devices were ridiculously priced and not something most should consider buying, they often were the first to incorporate technologies, like USB Type-C and touch screens. They also featured high-end hardware and design that most Chromebooks frustratingly lack.
Of course, this news also puts a bit of a wrinkle in the building storyline over “Andromeda,” the rumored Android-Chrome merger operating system. Previous reports suggested that Google may use a new Chromebook Pixel to showcase the rumored OS, but with no plans to make another, you have to wonder if Andromeda is still so heavily in the works that it won’t be arriving this year or if Google will just choose one of its many Chromebook partners to release it with.
Either way, RIP, Chromebook Pixel line.
Via:  TechCrunch



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Google has No Plans for Another Chromebook Pixel Right Now is a post from: Droid Life

Google has No Plans for Another Chromebook Pixel Right Now

Niantic teases Pokémon Go updates, along with Ingress revamp and more

Developer Niantic Labs recently launched a major new update for its AR mobile game Pokémon Go, and it apparently has some big future plans for that title, as well as some other projects.


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The last Pokémon Go update added over 80 new creatures to catch to the game. In an address held during the 2017 Mobile World Congress trade show today, Niantic CEO John Hanke said players can expect three major new updates for Pokémon Go in 2017. There are no details yet on what will be contained in these updates, although there are rumors Niantic might be working on adding features like creature trading and Player vs. Player battles.
Hanke took no questions from the audience during his MWC 2017 address. However, he did reveal a few bits of interesting trivia about Pokémon Go. Fortune reports that, according to Hanke, players have captured a total of 88 billion Pokemon monsters so far. Those same folks have played the game with a total of 44 petabytes of mobile data.
Pokémon Go is not Niantic’s only game. Previous to its launch, it had developed and released a sci-fi themed mobile AR game called Ingress while it was still owned by Google. The game generated a devoted following and today Hanke said that a new version of Ingress is in the works and will be out later in 2017. He also mentioned that the developer has “some other projects” it is working on but he could not talk about them at the moment.
It seems pretty clear that Niantic Labs is doing very well, thanks to the success of Pokémon Go. Earlier this week at the Game Developers Conference, Niantic chief technology officer Phil Keslin said the game has been downloaded a total of 650 million times. The game reached the 500 million download milestone just two months after it launched in July 2016. That means the game has been downloaded 150 million times in the last five months or so.

Niantic teases Pokémon Go updates, along with Ingress revamp and more

Google’s YouTube TV is a streaming cable TV service for $35 a month

Google is making another big move for its YouTube service. The company has announced its plans to launch YouTube TV in the US, an internet-based television service that will offer access to local broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW, along with a bunch of cable networks, for $35 a month. The service will first launch later this year in the largest TV markets in the US, and will expand to more metro areas in the future.


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In addition to the broadcast networks, YouTube TV will also offer access to over 40 cable channels. They will include entertainment channels like USA, FX, and SyFy, sports networks like ESPN and Fox Sports 1, and news channels like Fox News and MSNBC. The service will also offer access to the YouTube Originals shows that are available for subscribers to its YouTube Red service. YouTube TV will also offer access to the Showtime and Fox Soccer Plus premium channels for an additional fee.
One of the big features of the service its its cloud-based DVR.
One of the big features of the service its its cloud-based DVR. Google will offer an unlimited amount of cloud storage to save live TV shows, and YouTube TV will also support the recording of as many channels at the same time as you want. Each recording can be saved on the cloud account for up to nine months. The service will support up to six accounts for each paid subscription, and those folks can access up to three concurrent streams at a time. Each account can have its own personal cloud DVR storage, along with its own recommendations for TV shows.
While this service sound promising, especially its cloud DVR feature, the truth is that YouTube TV will be launching in an already crowded market. Similar internet-based TV services like Sling TV, PlayStation Vue and more recently DirecTV Now, are already online, and Hulu plans to launch a similar service later this year as well. There certainly won’t be enough room for all of them to stay afloat. Also, the $35 a month price for YouTube TV may be a bit too high for some users, as Sling TV already offers 30 channels for just $20 a month. and over 40 channels at $25 a month.
There’s also the fact that, at least at the moment, YouTube TV seems to be lacking a bunch of the major cable networks in its service, including CNN, TNT, AMC, Comedy Central and premium channels like HBO. It remains to be seen if the service will be able to add those networks sometime in the future. Not being able to come to terms with the many. many TV networks was one of the big reasons why Apple reportedly decided to cancel its own plans to launch a internet TV service.
Google plans to release a separate YouTube TV app for Android and iOS, and you will also be able to stream the video from those apps to your big screen TV with a Google Chromecast dongle or with a Chromecast built-in smart TV. There’s no word if a YouTube TV subscription will also include support for YouTube Red’s features like getting rid of ads or offline viewing of video.
If YouTube TV does launch in your market, would you consider paying for it and, as a result, make the move away from your standard cable or satellite service? Will this new service end up not offering enough channels and value for fans of TV? Do you think we will see one or more of these internet-based cable services shutting down because it can’t handle the competition and won’t be able to sign up enough people? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Google’s YouTube TV is a streaming cable TV service for $35 a month

BMW backtracks on Android Auto, says it won’t support it after all

In November 2015, during BMW’s quarterly conference call, its CEO Harald Krüger said that the company would add support for Google’s Android Auto OS, as well as its main rival, Apple’s CarPlay, in its future vehicles. Well, it looks like BMW has had second thoughts about those plans. In a new interview, a BMW exec has confirmed that it won’t be adding Android Auto support for its cars after all.


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In a chat with TechCrunch during the 2017 Mobile World Congress trade show, Dieter May, BMW’s senior vice president of Digital Services and Business Models, he stated that while Apple CarPlay will continue to be supported, Android Auto will not. The reason May gave is that BMW wanted to be able to control the customer interface inside its upcoming cars, and because of that, the company felt that didn’t include room for an Android Auto screen.
BMW is creating its own ConnectedDrive platform, a cloud-based service that will allow its upcoming vehicles to offer features like smartphones apps to its drivers. In fact, May says that the company is excited about working with Google and other companies to integrate their voice-command digital assistants in its cars.
However, it has to be disappointing to Google that BMW has made the move not to support Android Auto. It would appear that some car makers are still debating whether or not they should use third-party operating systems in their vehicles, or make their own that can work with a number of different services. At the moment, the future of car technology still looks quite fluid, and it may take a few years before everything shakes out in this industry.
Are you disappointed that your next BMW won’t be able to use Android Auto, or did the car maker make the right decision? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

BMW backtracks on Android Auto, says it won’t support it after all

Gionee A1 and A1 Plus hands on: big batteries and high megapixels galore

While most of our time at MWC 2017 has been focused on flagships from LG, Huawei, and Sony, we’re not forgetting about the little guys either. During our time on the floor, we had the chance to check out two new phones from the brand Gionee.
So what do they bring to the table? Let’s jump right in and find out.

Gionee A1 Plus

Let’s start with the specs. The Gionee A1 and A1 Plus both pack full HD displays, with the former coming in at 5.5-inches and the latter at 6. They both have MediaTek Helios chipsets, with the A1 powered by a P10 and the A1 Plus giving us a Helio P25.The A1 and A1 Plus also have 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, support for microSD, and Android 7.0 Nougat onboard.
However, where the phones really stand out is in the camera and battery departments.

Gionee A1 Plus

On A1 there’s a rear 13MP camera and a 16MP front facer. The Gionee A1 Plus takes things a step further with a 13MP and 5MP dual configuration on the back and a whopping 20MP front facing camera. Both devices have front and rear flash.
From our brief time with it, we can see the interface isn’t the fastest out there and the beauty modes are pretty aggressive. That said, the cameras should provide a reasonably decent experience, especially for selfie fans.

Gionee A1 Plus

Onto the batteries, you get a massive 4010mah for the Gionee A1 and a slightly bigger 4550mah battery with the Plus variant. This is quite a bit above what you’ll typically find in most similar sized phones these days, with many devices hovering around the 3,000 mAh mark. You can also expect fast charging, with 18W fast charging onboard.

Gionee A1

Spec wise, the Gionee A1 and A1 Plus are reasonably capable but what about the design? While there’s nothing wrong with the construction and design of the Gionee phones, we’ll admit they are a bit on the generic side. The solid metal construction makes them feel a bit more premium, but there’s not a lot of frills or thrills when it comes to the look or feel of these devices.
And that pretty much sums up the new A1 family. The Gionee A1 will arrive first in March, priced at 349 Euros. The A1 Plus will follow in April, priced 100 Euros higher at 449. There’s no word on a US launch, but Gionee has a history of licensing their designs over to Blu so it’s possible we could see one or both of these models surface in the US market in some form.

Gionee A1 and A1 Plus hands on: big batteries and high megapixels galore

Xiaomi Surge S1 VS: more than your typical mid-range SoC

The announcement of Xiaomi’s first in-house mobile processor, the Surge S1, is big news not just for the company, but for the processor industry too. Xiaomi joins the ranks of Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung, Huawei HiSilicon, Apple, and a few others, in the market for mobile chips, throwing in additional competition that could be a boon for us consumers.
What makes Xiaomi’s announcement particularly important is its share of the global smartphone market. Xiaomi is the fourth largest brand in the huge Chinese market and a growing influence in India, which means that there are millions of potential customers for its in-house SoC. A little worryingly for Qualcomm and Mediatek, they could lose Xiaomi as a customer in these markets too.


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At the moment, the Surge S1 is only one chip and a mid-range one at that, which isn’t going to worry the performance kings. However, the super-mid market is a big segment these days and we could certainly see more powerful processors from Xiaomi in the future which could shake up the market.
With this all in mind, let’s stack up the chip against some of its closest competitors and see if Xiaomi is on the right track. I’ve picked out the latest mid-tier Qualcomm 626, MediaTek Helio P25, and HiSilicon Kirin 655 as the closest likely rivals to the Surge S1, both in terms of performance and target products. Let’s dive in.



 
Xiaomi Surge S1
Qualcomm Snapdragon 626
MediaTek Helio P25
HiSilicon Kirin 655



CPU
4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.2GHz
4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.4GHz
8x Cortex-A53 @ 2.2GHz
8x Cortex-A53 @ 2.5GHz
4x Cortex-A53 @ 2.1GHz
4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.7GHz


GPU
Mali-T880 MP4
Adreno 506
Mali-T880 MP2
Malit-T830 MP2


RAM
2x 32-bit LPDDR3 @ 933MHz
2x 32-bit LPDDR3 @ 933MHz
2x LPDDR4X @ 1600MHz
2x 32-bit LPDDR3 @ 933MHz


Flash
eMMC 5.0
eMMC 5.1
eMMC 5.1
eMMC 5.1


DSP / co-core
32-bit DSP
Hexagon DSP
N/A
i5 co-processor


Camera support
36MP, Dual ISP (14-bit)
24MP, Dual ISP (12-bit?)
24MP single or 2x 13MP dual (12-bit)
Dual ISP


Modem
150Mbps down
50Mbps up
300Mbps down
150Mbps up
300Mbps down
50Mbps up
300Mbps down
50Mbps up


Video
4k 30fps playback & capture
4k 30fps playback & capture
4k 30fps playback & capture
4k 30fps playback & capture


Process
28nm HPC
14nm FinFET
16nm FinFET
16nm FinFET



Right away we can spot a common theme on the CPU side across all of these mid-tier chips; varying takes on an octa-core ARM Cortex-A53 configuration. Although way behind the flagship tier, these energy efficient CPU cores can certainly offer a smooth performance when there’s enough of them. The Surge S1’s peak clock speeds quite happily sit right in the pack, so CPU performance should be near identical across the selection here.

Xiaomi's Surge S1 is being built on an older 28nm HPC process, which raises some concerns regarding energy consumption and peak performance sustainability compared with smaller 16nm chips.However, Xiaomi’s Surge S1 is being built on an older 28nm HPC process, rather than the 16 / 14nm FinFET technology picked up in the latest competing chips. This raises some questions about energy consumption and peak performance sustainability compared with these smaller 16nm chips. However, the S1’s second cluster of A53s features a lower peak clock, which might help to sidestep this drawback at the expense of some performance.
The Surge S1 also features a very similar memory setup to the other SoCs on our list. Dual 32-bit channels of LPDDR3 at 933MHz is the standard, and it’s only MediaTek’s newly announced Helio P25 that goes one better here with LPDDR4X. LPDDR4X is a boon not only for faster transfer speeds, but it also has a low power mode that can save on battery life. While LPDDR3 is fast enough for loading up apps and the like, memory bandwidth is a more important factor when gaming or recording high resolution video, and the Helio P25 could have an edge in some situations as a result.
Speaking of gaming, we start to see Xiaomi’s chip stand out here as it features a fast ARM Mali-T880 design configured in an quad-cluster configuration. This gives the chip double the core count over the Helio P25 and is based on a much faster core than the Kirin 655’s Mali-T830, so the chip should easily win out here. It’s tougher to compare this on paper to the Snapdragon 626’s Adreno 506, but a selection of benchmarks from existing handsets suggests somewhere around a 50 percent performance advantage for the S1.








Xiaomi also seems pretty confident in its GPU setup, and posted its own GFXBench result (above, right) in its announcement that shows a large gap between the S1 and some of the older competitors on the market. Of course, we should take this with a little salt, but the data out there definitely suggests that the S1 could have a strong advantage, even over the newer chips in our comparison.
On the performance side then, the Surge S1 looks like a strong competitor against other mid-tier chips on the market, and the boost to GPU performance could end up helping to bridge the gap with more expensive flagship SoCs. That said, we’ll want to go hands-on before drawing any definitive conclusions, and that old 28nm manufacturing process does have drawbacks that are tough to ignore.

We all know that extra features are usually the differentiating factor when it comes to SoCs these days, and Xiaomi has included a few tricks of its own to compete with the feature set of its well established rivals. Like its competitors, the Surge S1 supports fast charging, at 9V/2A, which rivals Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 inside the Snapdragon 626.
Xiaomi has also designed an in-house dual ISP, which presumable supports two cameras although that hasn’t been stated. However, we do know that the S1 ups its ISP to support 14-bit data, up from the usual 12-bit that seems common in this tier. This increase in throughput supports higher resolution sensors that match what we see from some flagship chips. Xiaomi also states that this powerful ISP can be used for some smart noise reduction algorithms, although it’s impossible to say if this is better than its rivals at this stage. With Qualcomm, MediaTek, and HiSilicon all now supporting dual cameras in their low-cost chips, this is a very competitive move by Xiaomi.
Heterogeneous compute is also becoming more important in order to support advanced features on a small power budget, and a number of SoC manufacturers are including dedicated DSP units in their latest chips. Qualcomm has Hexagon, Kirin uses its i5 co-processor, and Xiaomi has implemented a 32-bit DSP which it uses for high quality voice recording and processing. Performance wise, we can’t know how much of a difference these chips make, but they’re mostly about power saving and offloading common background tasks to lower power processors.


See also:


MediaTek launches Helio P25 chip with dual-camera smartphones in mind
3 weeks ago





Xiaomi has implemented an impressive dual ISP, DSP and fast charging units into the Surge S1, but the Category 4 LTE modem is a little behind the curve.Unfortunately, Xiaomi hasn’t spilled the details on the chip’s interconnect, so we don’t know how fast and closely integrated all of these processing units are and exactly how capable its heterogeneous compute capabilities are. Still, this further demonstrates that Xiaomi is opting for similar optimizations and features as seen by other major SoC vendors, and is a promising sign for future generations of Surge.
The last feature we’re going to look at is modem technology. Unfortunately Xiaomi’s Category 4 LTE modem is a little behind the times here. The peak download and upload speeds are still far ahead of what most carriers can provide and the chip does support 2x carrier aggregation. However, Category 4 LTE doesn’t support MIMO or 64QAM, meaning that the chip is unable to fully utilize more advanced networks and might see slower speeds in poorer areas of coverage, such as at the cell edge. This isn’t to say that the S1 will provide a poor 4G experience, just that other vendors have moved on to better technology.
Wrap up
Even though Xiaomi hasn’t targeted the flagship market with its debut SoC, the Surge S1 looks to offer impressive performance for affordable smartphones, and appears to hold its own against the latest announcements for established manufacturers. The chip is not without its drawbacks, but a strong feature set that rivals other options out there ensures that Xiaomi will be able to produce a variety of handsets from this single design.
The older LTE modem and 28nm manufacturing process are perhaps the S1’s biggest problems, but these issues will likely be addressed in any future Xiaomi chips. For a debut, a 28nm design offers high yields on a thoroughly refined process at a lower cost than cutting edge 16nm FinFet, and on balance this seems like a sensible decision for a first manufacturing run. If you look at the performance offered by the 1,499 Yuan ($220 USD) Mi 5c, this seems like a quite acceptable trade-off.
The Surge S1 is a promising development from Xiaomi and an exciting sign of things that may come in the future. Are you impressed by Xiaomi’s debut into the competitive mobile SoC market?

Xiaomi Surge S1 VS: more than your typical mid-range SoC

LG G6: Exploring the new camera

Mobile World Congress is in full swing in Barcelona, and one of the most talked-about devices on the show floor is the new LG G6.
Read: LG G6 hands-on – A return to form
Following on from last year’s less-than-successful LG G5 was a challenge, but in 2017 LG has gone back to basics by focusing on bringing the features that make its handsets stand out. Rather than the ultimately polarising modularity of the G5, the G6 brings the form factor and functionality of the LG V20 in a smaller, more compact body despite having a screen that’s the same size.
The new screen is the first HDR-ready display – with support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision – and the first to sport the new 18:9 (2:1) aspect ratio that many OEMs are expected to adopt this year, including Samsung with the Galaxy S8. Alongside this, LG has kept the dual camera array of the LG V20 and the G5, although overhauled based on consumer feedback.
What’s different with the new LG G6’s camera and what features does the 18:9 screen (which can be viewed as two perfect squares stacked on top of each other) brings? Let’s take an in-depth look!

The camera specs
Before we get into what the camera can do, let’s look at the specs that make up the two cameras. Unlike previous generations which had disparity in resolution between the two lenses, the G6 comes with two 13MP cameras, one for wide angle shots and the other for more traditional shots.
LG’s decision to go for the same resolution on both cameras comes from listening to customer feedback. At an briefing in South Korea, they said that one of the biggest issues with previous devices was that the wide-angle lens – which was traditionally much lower resolution – was often treated as a second camera, mainly as the quality wasn’t on par with the main camera.
With the G6, both cameras are now the main camera and there’s a seamless transition between lenses without a loss in quality. For video and photos, this makes it much harder to discern the transition point and between the different lenses, resulting in better overall footage.
The two lenses do differ slightly as you’ve got a 125-degree field of view with the wide-angle camera and optical image stabilisation on the regular camera, which has a much-narrower 71-degree field of view. The wide-angle camera sits behind a f/2.4 lens while the regular camera sits behind a much shallower f/1.8 lens resulting in more natural bokeh. Both lenses have 1.12µm pixel size, which is also the same for the 5MP 100-degree dual-angle camera on the front.
An updated camera interface
The switch to an 18:9 aspect ratio on the display does lead to some inherent challenges for LG, but in the case of the camera interface, the company has a solution that’s rather useful.

As soon as you take a photo, what’s the first thing you do? You tap the icon on the corner, then open the image and if you took multiple, swipe until you find them. Imagine doing all that, without having to tap away from the camera interface. With camera roll, you can do just this. To take advantage of the additional screen real estate, you now get your photos in a camera roll on the side making it easy to access recently captured shots.
The camera roll aside, there’s not a lot different in the camera app from previous generations. The various modes are located under the mode option; you can switch the type of shots by tapping the icon in the top left and you can switch between the front and rear cameras just by swiping on the screen in any direction. Enabling HDR is not the easiest as it requires going into the settings menu but Auto HDR does a good enough job in most conditions.
18:9 camera app features
Without doubt, the 18:9 screen does give the LG G6 some unique capabilities, specifically as the screen is made up of two perfect squares. With that being the case, there’s a new square camera that shows off the display more than the camera but makes taking photos fun and a breeze.
There’s four new modes designed to take advantage of the two squares:

Snap shot – take a shot and preview it right away
Match shot – take two shots organised side by side
Grid shot – take four shots organised in a square
Guide shot – take a photo matching the composition of another photo

Here’s what to expect from each one.
Snap shot

Snap shot is rather self-explanatory and is designed for people who want to preview a photo straight away and have the ability to take another image at the same time.
Match shot

Match shot is rather interesting as it’s a great way to be a little creative. The principle is rather straight forward – you take two images and they’re stacked on top of each other to create a photo. What makes it interesting is the ability to use an image from the gallery for one of the shots or create the shot by using an image from the front and rear cameras simultaneously.
This last use case specifically could be great if you’re at a ball game and want to show off your reaction; the front camera is focused on you for the top half of the photo and you could use the wide-angle lens to capture the stadium. The result would be an incredible photo!
Grid shot

We’ve all seen those collage apps where you can combine four or more images into a perfect square and I remember using these a lot when Instagram first came out. Now, you can make a collage using your G6 and it’s straight forward and easy to do. You take four images, can retake a shot if you like and it saves it as a perfect square.
Guide shot

The guide shot is a unique feature we’ve not seen on phones before and seems to be designed primarily for food bloggers. To ensure consistency when taking several images in the same conditions, it allows you to pick an image as a guide which is overlaid across the screen in a translucent way to make it easy to get the same shot.
Guide shot has a hidden feature that is very useful: you can take multiple shots in guide shot mode (without changing the overlay) and then save them as a GIF. It takes a couple of seconds to do and is loads of fun!
Pictures from the LG G6









Our initial verdict
The dual camera array on the G6 may not be new, but the tweaks that LG has made have certainly gone a long way to address user concerns with previous setups. While it’s too early to say definitively how good the camera is, the initial photos look fantastic and the square camera takes advantage of the new aspect ratio in a unique way. Overall, the LG G6 camera certainly has us impressed from first glance but we’ll find out in the full review whether it delivers in all of our testing

LG G6: Exploring the new camera