LG has always played the same game as everyone else. Come out with a phone that’s got a few extra features—maybe a sharper camera, nicer design, or something similar—but it has more or less been the same stuff other manufacturers put out. This has changed dramatically with the introduction of their latest flagship device, the LG G5. This phone goes where no other current smartphone has: modularity. Does it have the legs to stand on its own merits, or is it a gimmick that will fall by the wayside before long? Let’s find out.
Design: 3.5/5
The LG G5 isn’t a bad-looking phone by any stretch, though coming off the heels of the absolutely gorgeous LG G4, it’s a little on the plain side. The G5 gives up the straight lines and corners we saw in the previous LG flagship, for a more curvy design reminiscent of their earlier flagships. It is a pleasant combination of metal and glass, and the curvy, rounded-off sides make it feel great in the hand.
The bezels around the display are still very wonderfully thin, as we have come to expect from the brand, though we do wish they made the design just a little more exciting.
The G5 keeps the power button on the rear, and adds to it a fingerprint scanner that identifies the user and unlocks the phone with the same press. Apart from this, you have the usual 3.5 mm headphone jack, volume rockers where your right thumb would fall, and an extra button near the bottom of the phone so you can insert modular accessories into the device.
Hardware: 4/5
Modularity aside, one of the more interesting features of the G5 are the cameras located on the back of the device. The main camera is a 16 MP snapper that captures 78-degree photos, and the second is an 8 MP wide-angle lens to catch more of what’s going on. It has a Snapdragon 820 under the hood that’s roughly at par with anything the competition has today. It pairs this with a large 4 GB of RAM, and an Adreno 530 GPU for smooth, slick mobile gaming. Storage is at 32 GB, with a dedicated slot for up to 256 GB of additional flash storage.
The screen is 5.3 inches on the diagonal, and has a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels, for a pixel density of 554 ppi. It’s protected by sturdy Corning Gorilla Glass 4, and gives great images.
The battery on the G5 is a reasonably sized 2800mAh deal, though it does get bonus points for being user-replaceable—a rarity in today’s smartphone market.
User Experience: 4/5
I have been a fan of LG’s G series of phones for a while now, and have owned a few to prove it. Once the G5 was announced, I was, along with a lot of the tech world, interested to see the execution of a modular flagship phone. People tend to get caught up in this, and forget the fact that this is really quite a capable phone aside.
Having some of the latest hardware available makes it quick and responsive, even with the multitude of tasks I tend to run at once. The fingerprint sensor unlocks and wakes the phone fast, about at the same time it takes any other top-tier device now (we tested a few), so you’re probably not going to notice any delay. As for the interface, LG has thankfully kept it reasonably close to stock Android Marshmallow, though they haven’t exactly let up on the LG-centric bloatware installed.
Camera performance is quite solid. I made the mistake of using solely the 8MP wide-angle lens at first, which left me a little perplexed as to the photo quality. It was a little grainy and mottled, though still acceptable. Once I realized my mistake and started using the 13MP camera instead, it was worlds better. The image is sharp, and clear, with deeply saturated, reasonably lifelike colors. I used to use my G3 for beauty shots that would see print in the pages of Gadgets, and I’m sure this phone would be able to handle the same, with no problem. It launches fast, and unless you’re trying to catch cheetahs driving by in F1 cars, you’re likely going to make the shot.
Battery life is one of the weaker points of the G5. Whether it’s the screen, processor, or something else that causes it, I found that I absolutely had to plug in mid-day if I wanted to have enough juice to get me home. On the plus side, the battery is removable, so carrying around a charged spare isn’t out of the question, so it’s no problem to swap it out.
This brings us to the main draw of the G5: modularity. The battery and chin come off the body of the phone via a recessed button on the bottom left side of the phone. It’s purposely hard to press, so to get the bottom and battery removed requires some effort and long-ish fingernails. A side-effect of this is that the chin of the device isn’t perfectly flush with the side. You do feel it a bit while holding the phone, and while it’s not uncomfortable, it’s certainly something you will feel. Swapping hardware will also cause your G5 to power off, so if you intend to switch to the camera lower, you’re going to have to do so beforehand, leaving some time for the phone to boot up.
Value: 3.5/5
The promise of modularity is incredibly tempting, as is the ability to swap out batteries, particularly in the long run. Until such time as we see more modular add-ons appear, its impact will be blunted a bit, but even without them, it’s a very solid device on its own.
What’s Hot:
- Innovative modular design
- Great hardware
- Great camera
What’s Not:
- Not enough modular add-ons available at the moment
Bottomline:
It might not be the modular dream you’ve been waiting for yet, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Specifications:
- Dimensions: 149.4 x 73.9 x 7.7 mm (5.88 x 2.91 x 0.30 in)
- Weight: 159 g (5.61 oz)
- Display: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
- Size: 5.3 inches
- Resolution: 1440 x 2560 pixels, 554 ppi
- OS: Android OS, v6.0.1 (Marshmallow)
- Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820
- CPU: Dual-core 2.15 GHz Kryo & dual-core 1.6 GHz Kryo, 4 GB RAM
- GPU: Adreno 530
- Storage: Removable up to 256 GB, 32GB internal
- Rear Camera: 16 MP (f/1.8) + 8 MP (f/2.4), laser autofocus, OIS (3-axis), LED flash, check quality
- Video: 2160p @ 30fps, 1080p @ 30fps, HDR, stereo sound rec.
- Front Camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, 1080p @ 30fps
- WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot
- Bluetooth: v4.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD
- Battery: Removable Li-Ion 2800 mAh battery
Also published in GADGETS MAGAZINE July 2016 Issue.
Words by Ren Alcantara