If there was ever a company that needed to return to the basics, it’s . st year’s G5 was a concept wrapped in flagship clothing, as such, its family of snap-on attachments never really caught on.

So this time around, went to the people to see what they wanted in a flagship phone. Somewhat surprisingly, the results weren’t wild, pie-in-the-sky features. They were actually fairly pedestrian: a big screen, small body, durability, waterproofing, all-day battery life. And the G6 checks off all these boxes.

th a svelte frame, dual cameras, an all-glass body, the G6 is certainly the phone of the moment. Stack it up against the xel, Galaxy S7, or even HTC’s yet-to-be-released U Ultra, it more than holds its own, based on specs features. But the question remains: Is a practical phone that delivers everything we need good enough?

Screen test

The G6 could well be ’s best phone in years, but it’s also its safest. ck one up, you won’t find any gimmicks you have to try. Sure, the 18:9 screen is interesting, but the difference between it a stard 16:9 one is fairly nominal, most people won’t even realize that it’s proportionally bigger at first.

has played up the usefulness of having a screen that can be divided into two perfect squares, but the majority of buyers will just see another phone with a big screen packed into a small frame. ed, the 5.7-inch G6 is comfortable enough to use with one h, it’s quite impressive how much screen has packed into its body. But even there, its bezels aren’t quite as striking as the ones on the Xiaomi’s Mi Mix or even the Galaxy S7 ge. They’re thin, but not to the point where you need to see the G6 to believe it.

The screen also supports Dolby Vision HDR content, but like Sony’s 4K Xperia XZ emium, it’s kind of overkill on a screen so small. Yes, the colors are much more vibrant when watching HDR-enabled videos, but watching movies on a phone is more about convenience than getting a theater-quality experience. HDR seems much more suited to a tablet or a television than a screen small enough to fit in one h.

Die-hard dilemma

The G6 is in a much more difficult place than the upcoming S8 or the xel 2. It needs to give people an incentive to switch to a new br of Android phone, not just upgrade from an older hset. The company has admitted that sales of the G5 V20 were less than stellar, so it needs to convince people to join its fold.

That’s a tall order. By the time the G6 hits U.S. shelves, that Galaxy S8 will likely be days away from its unveiling, unless the G6 is priced several hundred dollars less (which seems unlikely), its launch is going to be seriously muted by the Samsung hype train. But even once the initial excitement dies down, the Galaxy S8 is going to be a sales monster, any phone is going to have a hard time competing with it.

That’s why is trying to get a jump-start on sales, but an extra week or two of orders might not be enough to do it. From what we’ve heard, the S8 has a lot going for it, most notably the newest generation of Snapdragon chip. It was a calculated decision for to utilize the soon-to-be-outdated 821 processor rather than wait for the 835, but it’s going to be a hard sell convincing Android die-hards who see through the ruse. The 835 might not offer tremendous gains over the 821, but not having the latest chip is going to make the G6 seem outdated far sooner than it should.

And the battery is going to turn off a section of its enthusiast buyers as well. Not its capacity—at 3,200mAh, it should be plenty big to get through the majority of most days—but its inability to be swapped out. Even before it entered the modular game, was the one of the last holdouts with a removable battery, that fact alone likely attracted at least some buyers. Neither of these things are deal-breakers for the average buyer, but Android die-hards care about minutiae, they aren’t likely to drop $600 or $700 for last year’s chip an enclosed battery.

Angling for an advantage

One of the best selling points of any phone is the camera, the G6 looks to have a fantastic one. Coupled with the unique proportions of the display a user-friendly app that strikes a perfect balance between professional consumer features, the G6 should be more than capable of capturing stunning shots.

But even with a dual camera system, it’s missing a key feature. Once again, has chosen usefulness over coolness here, its 13Mshooters are able to take wide-angle shots with a 125-degree field of view. It’s a neat feature for sure will result in excellent lscape shots, but most other dual camera phones are used to mimic bokeh effects for portraits, a feature that’s quickly becoming de rigueur for smartphones.

It’s the kind of thing people show off to their friends, it’s strange that wouldn’t include it. The ability to take wide-angle photos is certainly useful, but much like the screen, it doesn’t seem like reason enough for people to rush to buy a G6.

And that’s kind of the story with the G6. needed to hit a home run, but instead it made solid contact, getting the essential things right. There’s nothing gimmicky about it, which, after last year’s modular misstep, is probably a good thing, but there’s also nothing particularly compelling.

And with the Galaxy S8 looming around the corner, nailing the basics might not be enough.