The LG G5 is here.

[Nineshadow]

The LG G5 is here , and I think I can safely say that more than anything it wants to be different. It wants to reinvent the Android flagship. But anyway , let's see what is new in LG's latest smarphone.

Design and build quality

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The LG G5 features an aluminum unibody, with a side-mounted volume rocker, and a power button built into the fingerprint sensor on the back. LG said goodbye to its trademark rear-mounted volume rocker, probably to avoid making the design of the back too busy. The edges of the G5 are rounded, which goes nicely with the subtle curvature of the bottom cap and of the top of the screen. LG calls this design 3D Arc.

Oh , what a difference. LG has really changed their design language. No more plastic , instead, there's an aluminum unibody. It looks a lot like the Nexus 6P honestly, and I think that's okay. A lot of people loved the Nexus 6P. Anyway, I welcome the design change. I think it looks pretty slick. It doesn't look the same as older LG flagships but I can still feel something similar in the LG G5. It's not the most beautiful phone out there , but it looks good.

Modules

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Now for the unique feature of the LG G5: the bottom cap can be removed, allowing access to a replaceable battery – a rarity in 2016! – and making it possible to add various modules, like a camera grip or a hi-fi audio module. If you think the removable battery is impressive, you’ll love the other functionality made possible by the G5’s removable bottom. As rumored, you can replace the bottom cap with various accessories, created by LG or by third party companies.

We were shown a camera grip attachment called LG Cam Plus, that offers an extra 1200 mAh of power and manual controls for the shutter and zooming function. The grip virtually eliminates the danger of dropping the slippery G5, while improving one hand use for mobile shutterbugs, with the added benefit of bringing the G5’s battery life up to 4,000 mAh.The other module we were shown is a dedicated audio module from Bang & Olufsen, called LG Hi-Fi Plus, that’s geared towards audiophiles. The module includes a 32-bit DAC and a dedicated 3.5 mm headphones port.

The unique feature of the LG G5. Honestly , I don't know what to say about it. They managed to make an unibody aluminum phone with a removable battery. That's pretty great. But this new mechanism they have...I just don't find it too useful. So far the modules are not too many and they are not that useful. Still , kudos to LG for not forgetting about the replaceable battery.

Display

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LG opted to downsize the G5’s display to 5.3 inches, down from 5.5 inches on the LG G4. That’s an interesting choice in this day and age, but at least the screen is excellent. The display is a Quad HD IPS LCD, and it’s nice and bright, with pleasant colors and good viewing angles. The G5 features an Always-On mode that shows the clock and notifications at all times. But wait, doesn’t that kill the battery? Not according to the LG folks, who claim that Always-On Display (AOD) typically eats up just 5 percent of the battery per day. The per hour figure is 0.8%, but the display shuts down when the phone is in a pocket or face down on a desk. Plus, you save a lot of power when you don’t power up the phone every 10 minutes to check for notifications – LG estimates that people do that 150 times per day.

The only thing interesting here is the Always-On mode. LG seems to think we need always-on displays on our phones but I don't exactly think so. It's ok , just , again , not extremely useful. Also , I was surprised to see the screen size go from 5.5" to 5.3".

Hardware and battery

The LG G5 comes with a Snapdragon 820 and an Adreno 530 , paired with 4GB of RAM. Just what we expect from an Android flagship in 2016. The battery is slightly smaller , at 2800mAh. Also , it supports Quick Charge 3.0 , but no wireless charging.

Camera

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LG has used an interesting dual setup on the G5, featuring one normal-angle 16MP camera and one wide-angle 8MP camera.

Depending on the scene, the phone stitches the inputs from the two cameras into one image. You can switch between the wide-angle (135 degrees) camera and the regular one manually from the camera app, and the instant transition is pretty impressive.

I expect the camera performance on the LG G5 to be great. I'm not sure why they went with a second wide-angle camera though.

Software and UI

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LG has followed the example of its hometown rival Samsung and drastically toned down the user interface of the G5. The bad news is a quintessential part of the Android experience has gone by the wayside as well: yes, the G5 does not feature an app drawer. The UI of the G5 is a clear, and welcome, improvement over the G4. LG actually gave up on a lot of its software features as well. For instance, you can no longer launch two apps on the screen at the same time with Dual Window. Q Slide apps are also gone. The de-bloating of LG’s software is visible in the homescreen, which is positively airy. Just a few LG apps were present on the devices we’ve played with, though the units that ship commercially may differ.

I was expecting LG to change their UI , but I was not expecting them to ditch the app drawer altogether. I think it's because they have a good relationship with Google and it seems that no app drawer is what Google's aiming for.

 TL;DR

The leaks were pretty accurate. The LG G5 comes with a unique modular mechanism to swap out batteries or to install these so-called "friend modules". There aren't too many of these modules so far , and they aren't particularly useful. Another big change is the switch to an alluminum unibody design. The screen size shrunk to 5.3" , and the display is just what we expected from LG : a 2560x1440 IPS display. What's new about it is that it has an always-on mode. The hardware specs are just what you'd expect , Snapdragon 820 and all of the other stuff. The new battery is slightly smaller though , at 2800 mAh. As far as the camera goes , they went for a dual-camera approach. The main one is 16MP , and the other is 8MP , but wide angle. Depending on the scene, the phone stitches the inputs from the two cameras into one image. LG's UI took a "debloating" process this year , and they managed to do it for the most part. However, the most interesting thing is that it doesn't have an app drawer.

 

 

Quotes and images from AndroidAuthority.

 

 

[VerticalDiscussions]

This phone, is friggin fabulastic! But, its not OLED class display :(, which is disapointing, for me at least, since LG makes the best OLED displays in the world. That hifi system and earphones tough, sound super promising! And it has removable battery! Just saw how to remove the bottom, you hold the power button and then apply a bit of force. Ok, thats relieving :p. 

[Deli]

Good to see LG put some new ideas on the table.

[FloRolf]

HOLY SHIT SNACKS. That's super ugly. And yesterday i was thinkin about selling my G4 for the G5 but nooooope.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

Nice ... but ... no front-facing speakers?  I'm not gonna do that stupid "using your hand to direct the sound" thing.  Better luck next time, LG.

[ZetZet]

Yeah, RIP LG. That's the wrong way to go buddy. 

 

Modular with TINY battery and UGLY as fuck.

[Sauron]

24 minutes ago, VerticalDiscussions said:

This phone, is friggin fabulastic! But, its not OLED class display :(, which is disapointing, for me at least, since LG makes the best OLED displays in the world. That hifi system and earphones tough, sound super promising! And it has removable battery! Just saw how to remove the bottom, you hold the power button and then apply a bit of force. Ok, thats relieving :p. 

I wonder what they were thinking, at which point in designing did someone say "you know what, we have the best screen manufacturing you can get, we can get relatively low prices on the panels, but we will slap on an ips screen to our flagship, ultra expensive phone".

[TheWutofWat]

It looks OK the front side but not the back side  also I am a LG user "G3" and I am happy with it, but why do you have to remove the app drawer, it is good not like iPhone, crap as hell.

I would suggest to LG to add the app drawer as an optional, like you can download it from the "LG's Download Center", which would be much better for people who like app drawers like me  

[Trixanity]

Some nice ideas. The design isn't bad IMO but nothing spectacular. The battery should be bigger. My G2 has a bigger battery and is smaller. 

The magic slot is a cool feature but I think it'll end up being extremely gimmicky but perhaps I'm wrong. The camera stuff I'm not particularly excited about. I think they could have differentiated in other ways than doing the dual camera thing. I can't see myself using it. If I'm taking pictures, I'd likely just want the best possible picture that can be taken automatically. If I have to switch camera and try again, it kinda loses any appeal.

 

I'm disappointed they didn't transition to OLED. It would seem they're not comfortable with pushing it for their phones. Maybe they have burn-in issues with certain UI elements such as status bar and navigation bar? Otherwise the only explanation I can imagine is the LCD displays just being overall superior in everything but black levels.

[Starelementpoke]

I like it.

[GoodBytes]

I find the phone ugly, and I don't see why the battery has to come out, turning off the phone while you change accessories. The "Always on display", is nothing new. Lumia phones did this for ages. Microsoft calls it Glance screen. Shows you time and notification.

 

I honestly don't see why these accessories don't simply use the USB type C connector.

[Gibs960]

Honestly, I'm disappointed about the buttons not being on the back, that was one thing that really stood out and it's incredibly functional. Seems a weird design choice to me.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

I like it. 

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, Pohernori said:

I like it. 

I said that.

 

30 minutes ago, Starelementpoke said:

I like it.

 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

I said that.

 

 

 

I like you.

 

 

 

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, Pohernori said:

 

I like you.

 

 

 

I like me too.

[Doobeedoo]

That camera which is not flat with phone would annoy me,

[zacRupnow]

LG is doing some great stuff with the design, but they are really stupid if they think third parties are going to make any modules, why do you think Google keeps delaying the release of Ara.

 

 

[patrick3027]

1 hour ago, FloRolf said:

HOLY SHIT SNACKS. That's super ugly. And yesterday i was thinkin about selling my G4 for the G5 but nooooope.

Put a case on it? The front looks great.

[Vercii]

Oh my goodness this looks beautiful. 

[Nineshadow]

1 hour ago, ZetZet said:

Yeah, RIP LG. That's the wrong way to go buddy. 

 

Modular with TINY battery and UGLY as fuck.

The battery is not tiny. It' just 200mAh smaller. Not that big of a difference compared to the older 3000 mAh.

 

Also , I think the phone looks great. From the front especially. The back looks a lot like the Nexus 6P.

[Octagoncow]

I wish it had buttons on the back (I love that about my G4). But, I'm super happy that they managed to keep a removable battery. That was the biggest reason that I got a G4. Hopefully they keep that feature the next time I need a new phone.

[Nineshadow]

Just now, Octagoncow said:

I wish it had buttons on the back (I love that bout my G4). But, I'm super happy that they managed to keep a removable battery. That was the biggest reason that I got a G4. Hopefully they keep that feature the next time I need a new phone.

They do have buttons on the back. Actually , no , they have a button on the back. With a fingerprint sensor this time around!

 

Eh , I think it's OK. I wish it had all the buttons on the back as well , but now that I think about it, I reckon the back would have looked pretty ugly. Or at least over encumbered.

[Octagoncow]

1 minute ago, Nineshadow said:

They do have buttons on the back. Actually , no , they have a button on the back. With a fingerprint sensor this time around!

 

Eh , I think it's OK. I wish it had all the buttons on the back as well , but now that I think about it, I reckon the back would have looked pretty ugly. Or at least over encumbered.

The LG V10 had the power button and finger print sensor as one button and didn't look too bad. It was definitely larger than on the G4, but didn't look too bad. I wonder if people found that to be uncomfortable though; I've never used a V10.

[Nineshadow]

Just now, Octagoncow said:

The LG V10 had the power button and finger print sensor as one button and didn't look too bad. It was definitely larger than on the G4, but didn't look too bad. I wonder if people found that to be uncomfortable though; I've never used a V10.

I meant on the new design of the LG G5. The LG V10 was fine.