LG G5 Review

Design

LG has moved away from the G4’s controversial textured back covers and leather design variants, and used an all new metal and glass design, without an antenna slit, in it’s latest flagship device, the LG G5. More interestingly, the new iconic design is partnered with a changeable module with a slide-out battery. Featuring a 5.3″ Quad HD LCD Screen, this is not only LG’s first metal flagship smartphone, but also it’s smallest for quite some time, however the display is crisp, bright and colourful. The display is ‘always-on’ with the time, date and notification icons visible even when you’re phone is asleep or off. The G5 also features a fingerprint scanner where the rear button control was previously, allowing for more secure unlocking. The LG G5 is available in gold, silver and titan.

Modules

The new ‘module’ feature allows you to replace the slide-out battery with a module of your choice, at present this includes the LG Cam Plus Camera controls/battery module, the LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O play, for a Hi-Fi DAC and amp for 32-bit high-res playback, and the LG 360 VR, a virtual reality headset. Allowing you to improve your LG G5, at an extra cost of course. To remove the bottom, you simply press a button on the side and the bottom unhooks and slides out revealing the battery and a modular slot for adding what LG is calling “Friends”.

LG Cam Plus Camera

The £69 LG Cam Plus slots in the bottom with a camera shutter button, a video button and a jog wheel lining the stop of an added camera grip that also contains an extended 1,200mAh battery.

LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play

The £150 Hi-Fi Plus, which is a 32-bit digital to analogue converter (DAC) and headphone amp that is meant to improve the sound quality of the music you’re listening to on the phone. It can also be used as a standalone DAC with a computer or other device.

LG 360 VR

The £200 LG 360 VR plugs into the USB Type-C port on the bottom of the G5 and allows you to enjoy 360 contents and 3D games, thriller seeker videos, sports events and concerts.

Further features

Similarly to the Huawei P9, the LG G5 features two cameras on the back, but rather than one being colour and one monochrome, LG has fitted one regular 16-megapixel camera and one 8-megapixel wide-angle camera. The regular camera holds a similar quality to most of the best cameras on the market and offers stunning imagery, while the 2nd camera allows you to take smartphone photography to a whole new level. With the wide-angle camera you can capture far more in one scene and enjoy a little fish-eye effect at the sides. You can also use the G5’s magnifying zoom in and out feature, and zoom out ultra wide (0.5X) for the first time ever on a smartphone.

Specs

The LG G5 offers powerful performance with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, and also features the latest version of Android – 6.0 Marshmallow. You can find out more about the new features in Android 6.0 Marshmallow here. Further specs include 4GB of RAM and 32GB of Storage and a 2,800mAh removable battery.

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