The LG G5 is the South Korean company at once conforming to industry conventions while continuing its out-the-box approach. It's got a metal unibody, just like every smartphone out there. And after pioneering the back buttons movement, LG moved the volume buttons back to the phone's side, just like every other phone. But then the LG G5 features a unique modular design that lets users pull out the phone's bottom to not only swap batteries, but plug in a bunch of other accessories as well.
But before we get to that, let's check the numbers. The LG G5 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow and is powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor, with 4GB of ram and 32GB of internal storage (expandable via SD card). These stats were all predicted long ago, but what's surprising is the phone is downgrading in both screen and battery size. Instead of the 5.5inch quad HD screen that was on the G3 and the G4, the G5's screen is only 5.3 inches. Meanwhile, the battery has dropped to 2,800mAh, compared to the 3,000mAH that had been on the G3 and G4.
Going smaller on screen and battery just about goes against the trajectory of smartphone releases in recent years, but the smaller screen makes sense from a marketing standpoint, since LG's other flagship phone, the V10, has a 5.7 inch display with an additional second screen, making the G5 a bit smaller helps differentiate the two lines. On the battery front, LG is surely confident that the combination of Android Marshmallow's battery-friendly features and updated hardware will negate the difference in battery size.
With a smaller screen and slimmer bezels, the G5 measures at 149.4mm in height, 73.9mm wide, a tad thinner than the G4 and much smaller (everywhere) compared to the V10, which should be welcomed by those who find the phablet phenomenon as of late a bit of an ergonomic nightmare.
Other things that had been leaked already were spot on: the G5 has a dual-camera setup in the back -- a standard "normal" camera and a wider 135-degree lens for wide landscape shots. The phone has an always on display that is on the main screen (unlike the V10, whose always on display is on its secondary screen). LG is claiming that the always on display drains less than 1 percent of the phone's battery per hour.
All that is nice and all, but nothing you wouldn't find on most other phones today. What's setting the G5 apart is its removable bottom and all the accessories (some plug straight into the phone, some don't) that come with it. This is LG's big gamble in making its device stand out from the pack. Images of the removable battery has already leaked in recent days, but LG has so much more to offer. The most exciting is perhaps the 360
LG's new 360 CAM and 360 VR can image your entire world in 360 degrees https://t.co/7JU07hIMDl pic.twitter.com/PO8XHVICsH
— Android Central (@androidcentral) February 21, 2016
And then there's the drone. The "Rolling Bot" is a ball-shaped robot that has a camera built-in. LG says this isn't just a toy, but a security device for the home or a pet-watcher when you're away from home.
There are more accessories, which LG has dubbed "LG Friends". One that could prove popular is the "Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play", essentially a high-fidelity portable speaker developed in partnership with the Danish audio equipment manufacturer. The amp can blast 32-bit, 384 KHz hi-def audio playback.
While these sound very cool -- and again, you have to respect LG for trying something different -- one must wonder if the casual smartphone consumer would really care for these snap-on accessories, which some have already dismissed as gimmicks. Like I wrote about before, LG really needs the G5 to be a hit after the relative failure of the G4. With Samsung's Galaxy S7 bringing back expendable storage and iPhone 7 coming later this year, this is the smartphone arms race at its craziest yet.
