The LG G5 is the Korean brand's new flagship smartphone. It marks the renewal of the LG range by offering an all-metal unibody design as well as a special novelty: it is the first modular smartphone, enough to set it apart from its competitors.
The announcement of the LG G5 at Mobile World Congress 2016 is one of the most impactful events of the show and for good reason: LG makes a huge bet by offering an extremely innovative vision of the smartphone,which could just as well make its success as lead to its loss.
- Related: Our hands-on of the LG G5 in video and images
The LG G5 is equipped with a Snapdragon 820
The first announcements regarding the LG G5 concern the presence of Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 820 processor. The previous year, LG had made the choice of safety by favoring the Snapdragon 808 for its G4, due to the overheating problems of the Snapdragon 810 but the next flagship of the Korean will not be able to ignore the Snapdragon 820.
A quad core processor that will not only offer more power, but also an improved energy efficiency of 30% thanks to its 14 nanometer engraving provided by Samsung. There will also be a Category 12/13 4G modem with 600 Mbps download speeds and 150 Mbps downloads. A chip made for the 2016 flagships.
Given the current market, it's not surprising that the Soc comes with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The basic version will include 32GB of storage, with a micro SD port that can hold up to 200GB of additional memory.
Initial comparative tests with the Galaxy S7 under Exynos 8890 processor shows us that the LG G5 takes down the Galaxy S7 of Samsung with a score of 133054 under Antutu.
A 5.3-inch screen in QHD definition
Just like the Samsung Galaxy S7, the LG G5 offers An Always On feature with its 5.3-inch IPS display that allows you to spend very little battery while staying on white text and a black screen.
Although the screen size differs from the LG G4, from 5.5 inches to 5.3, the quality increases and the LG G5 will feature an IPS Quantum Display slab supporting a QHD definition for a 554 dpi.
A dual photo sensor to better serve you
After proposing, two years in a row, 13-megapixel photo sensors and a 16-megapixel sensor, this year LG is raising the stakes on its G5 by offering not a simple but a dual camera sensor,configuration that is already found on various Android devices like the HTC One M8 or the M9, however, in the case of LG, things are a little different.
There is a main lens of 16 Megapixels, accompanied by a second with the definition of 8 MP that allows to make wide angle photos at 135 degrees. In addition, alongside this dual sensor, there is also a dual LED flash, a laser autofocus and an RGB sensor. In short, a photo part ultra worked and cut for 2016.
According to the first tests carried out by the foreign press, this camera is impressive. With its f/1.8 aperture, the 16-megapixel sensor delivers excellent quality day and night. For its part, the 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor has an aperture of f/2.4, so it will be limited at night, but by day, it is doing very well and its wide-angle photos are superb.
After excelling in mobile photo sensors in 2015, manufacturers seem determined to go even further in 2016 and that's all the better. It should be noted that the front-facing camera for selfies retains a definition of 8 Megapixels.
A unibody metal design
While last year, LG was one of the few to offer a high-end plastic, with a removable battery, the Korean has aligned itself well with its competitors, Samsung, HTC and Sony: the LG G5 sports an aluminum dress.
An inevitable turn since now even the mid-range are getting to the metal, the latest being the HTC One A9, not to mention the Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 that will soon be available in a new version. It should be noted, however, that despite a metallic and unibody design, LG does not fully align itself with the competition. You'll understand why in the next section devoted to the battery.
Its dimensions are 149.4 x 73.9 x 7.7 mm versus 148.9 x 76.1 x 6.3-9.8 mm for the G4. It is therefore both larger but also thinner. Note that its screen is also slightly rounded on the top, in order to offer a finer and neat design than previous models.
For the sake of aesthetics, and in order to make room for the dual dorsal sensor, the volume keys of the LG G5 have been re-displaced on the camera slices. However, there is still the clickable power button on the back of the device, which incorporates the fingerprint scanner.
In early April, the iFixit site dismantled the LG G5 to assess its design quality and repairability. While metal smartphones are usually not rated enough because they are more difficult to disassemble and harder to repair than others, this is absolutely not the case for the last Korean flagship that scored 8 out of 10. Its modular appearance and the fact that there is very little glue between the different elements makes it an excellent candidate for repair.
An SD slot and a USB Type C port
LG also retains the traditional SD slot. After making the mistake of removing them in 2013, he now seems to attach particular importance to these two characteristics and that's all the better for us. As you can see from our photo, this port is actually a double drawer containing both the nano SIM card and the micro SD, as it is now customary.
Unlike the LG G4, the LG G5 will have a USB C port in USB 3.0 standard allowing quick charging and advanced interaction with various accessories that we'll see below.
LG "Friends" to change phone usage
The introduction of a removable 2800 mAh battery will have allowed LG to create a whole new concept: the modular smartphone. In fact, LG's latest flagship can eclipse its battery to accommodate other accessories. The first of these is the LG Cam Plus, which is played in video here, and will add a 1200mAh battery to the phone as well as advanced camera control buttons.
The second one that was also presented at the MWC is a DAC designed by Bang olufsen that will improve the sound quality of the phone but also that of other connected terminals such as a tablet or PC. A new concept through which LG hopes to stand out from its competitors.
Eventually, all ideas are allowed for these add-ons, and all developers can create their own modules. But this requires acceptance and collaboration of LG.
Virtual reality galore
Always to stand out better, LG has planned a long list of accessories for its next flagship. Apart from the traditional Smart Cover, which is always formalized before the phone, there is also a spherical camera capable of filming and capturing 360-degree images, the LG 360 Cam. Images and videos that can then be viewed on the company's virtual reality headset, the LG 360 VR.
For its part, the LG 360 VR will offer glasses ready to display virtual reality that will be powered by the phone directly via a cable (hence the USB 3.0 port). Thus, the helmet is very light and is worn like glasses. A drone equipped with a camera and speakers, controllable by the smartphone will also be offered.
A new interface with or without an application drawer
With its G5, LG offers a new LG UX 5.0 interface. On the program, a new interface with some new but focused on a simplicity that unfortunately marks the end of the application drawer. For its part, Samsung also offers an option to disable it but at LG, it is simply absent.
Fortunately, in the face of discontent from many potential users, LG has gone back and re-entered the app drawer through the official LG Home 4.0 launcher, available for download on the LG SmartWorld platform.
LG G5 price and release date
The LG G5 has been on pre-order for €699 since April 1st with a release date scheduled between April 16 and 18. A higher price than for the previous two generations, however, for an additional 1 euro, the LG Cam Plus module that allows to add manual controls to the camera and the protective cover LG Quick Cover are offered, so the offer quickly becomes interesting.
- Check out our LG G5 test
However, we know the prices of the accessories of the LG G5, and in particular the LG Cam Plus which will cost 99.90 euros. The DAC accessory developed with Bang and Olufsen remains a mystery, although it is one of the most interesting accessories.