Kicking off the barrage of announcements at the Mobile World Congress in 2016, LG today unveiled its latest and greatest flagship for 2016: the LG G5. The handset has been given a top to bottom refresh and LG has finally thrown the plastic in favor of a unibody aluminium design on its latest handset.
The G5 features a metal unibody construction which when combined with its new design language makes it look very unlike an LG phone. The handset does not come with volume buttons placed at the rear, which were a signature of LG phones since the last three years. Instead, the volume buttons have once again been placed at the right edge of the handset, with the power-cum-fingerprint scanner only being located at the rear.
The front of the G5 houses a 5.3-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum display that also comes with an ‘Always-on’ feature. Just like it was first seen on the LG V10, a small part of the primary display on the G5 can be set to remain in an always-on state to display time and date. To reduce impact on battery life, LG redesigned the display driver IC memory and power management function, which ensures that the Always-On display only takes around “0.8 percent of the battery’s full capacity per hour to operate.”
“The new LG G5 will encourage owners to rediscover the true joy of a mobile life,” said Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “The G5 and LG Friends are the result of many experts inside LG asking themselves if it was still possible to be innovative and unique in the smartphone space. I think once customers spend a little time with the LG G5, their answer will be a resounding yes.”
Under the hood, the LG G5 packs in a lot of gadgetry. This includes Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 820 chipset, an Adreno 530 GPU, 4GB RAM, 32GB storage and a microSD card slot. What sets the G5 apart though, is its camera setup at the rear and its ‘Modular Type’ design. The design also allows the handset to come with a 2800mAh battery, which despite the unibody metal design is removable.
The rear of the G5 features not one, but two camera sensors. The primary shooter has a 16MP resolution with an f/1.8 aperture, while the secondary shooter has an 8MP resolution with a wide-angle 135 degree lens. This allows one to select between a standard shot and a wide-angle shot that lets you fit more content in the frame. Some software features that LG has included to take advantage of the dual-camera setup at the rear include Pop-out picture, Film Effect, Auto Shot and more. Just like previous LG devices, the G5 also features a LaserAF sensor for quick auto focus times, though it lacks the Color IR spectrum sensor that was first introduced on the G4. The front of the handset also features an 8MP selfie shooter.
The ‘Modular Type’ design for the G5 allows the handset’s functionality to be extended further. Some modules that LG is launching alongside the G5 include Cam Plus, a camera module that provides physical buttons for power, shutter, record, zoom and even adds an additional 1200mAh battery capacity to improve battery life; Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play which is an DAC audio player developed in collaboration with B&O Play; and more.
Other features of the LG G5 include a USB Type-C port, GPS, Dolby Digital Plus, Low Power Location Estimation, and aptX HD codec support. Out of the box, the G5 will be running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with LG’s latest UX on top of it. LG will be offering the G5 in Silver, Titan, Gold and Pink colors.
LG also unveiled a wide range of companion devices for the G5 and its future devices, called LG Friends. This includes the LG 360 VR – a VR headset; 360 Cam that makes it possible to click 360-degree photos on the G5, LG Rolling bot, LG Smart Controller and more.
