LG G5
STREET PRICE$ 681.00
PROS
Speedy processor. Wide-angle camera mode and manual controls. Removable battery. Unique accessories.CONS
Heavy software customization with some key Android features disabled.BOTTOM LINE
The LG G5 is a powerful smartphone with a semi-modular build, making it a unique alternative to more typical flagship handsets. But heavy software changes won't please Android purists.
Nowadays, when you hear that a new flagship Android phone is launching, it's easy to run down a checklist of what to expect. Take the LG G5 for instance. Qualcomm's latest processor? Check. Lots of RAM? Check. Premium metal body? Check. Fingerprint scanner? Check. Yawn. But LG manages to avoid tedium by giving the G5 a semi-modular build that lets you slide the bottom out to replace the battery and add some nifty accessories.
It's new, it's different, and it makes the G5 more unique than your typical flagship. That said, the overall experience doesn't quite manage to meet the standards set by other flagships. The golden G5 has a metal unibody build. It measures 5.88-by-2.91-by-0.30 inches (HWD) and weighs 159-gms, making it a bit taller and heavier than other flagships on the market. However, it is still easy to use one-handed.
The left side of the phone has a clicky volume rocker, which is a big change from the rear volume controls on the LG G4 and the LG V10. I found that it makes using the G5 somewhat awkward because the combination power button/fingerprint scanner is still on the back. When using the phone with your right hand, it seems more natural to have the volume buttons in reach of your index finger, near the power button, rather than your middle finger, where they are actually located. But you get used to it.
There's a USB-C port on the bottom of the phone, along with a microphone and a reasonably good speaker. The right side is home to a SIM and microSD card slot, which worked well with a 128GB SanDisk card. Up top you'll find a 3.5mm audio jack, another microphone, and an IR Blaster that lets you control your TV using the phone.
Speaking of features, the bottom of the phone is where all the magic happens. There's a button on the bottom left that you have to press to slide out the removable battery. It takes a reasonable amount of force, so you don't have to worry about it falling out unexpectedly. The bright yellow battery has plastic locking clips that secure it to the metal bottom; you need to pry it all the way out to swap the battery.
There's also a USB-C interface allowing you to add accessories (which LG calls Friends) like the Cam Plus camera grip and a 32-bit DAC (digital-to-analog converter). These are not included with the G5, as these are addtional accessories to spice up your G5 with.
Also on the back is a unique dual-camera setup. You'll find the main sensor on the left and a wide-angle sensor on the right, with an LED flash in the middle. Both the camera sensor and power button protrude a bit.
The G5 has a 5.3-inch, 2,560-by-1,440-pixel IPS LCD, the same resolution you'll find on other high-end phones. Games and video look great, with good colour reproduction and clear viewing angles. The G5's panel is also perfectly visible outdoors.
You can't talk about the G5's display without mentioning the fact that part of it is always on. LG has experimented with an always-on screen before; the V10 notably had a secondary display that provided time, date, and notifications. Unfortunately, the G5's always-on feature suffers from the same problem we noted with the V10. It's just too dim to be useful. There's no way to adjust brightness, and you have to pick up the phone and look directly at the screen to make anything out, which largely defeats the purpose of the feature.
The G5 is an LTE smartphone and it should support most carriers in the region. Network performance was quite good, and so was the reception and call quality. Earpiece volume is loud and free from distortion. Transmissions are clear, with noise cancellation removing the majority of background interference. The phone supports dual-band Wi-Fi, comes with Bluetooth 4.2 and NFC.
In terms of hardware, the G5 is rocking a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 2.15GHz with 4GB of RAM, which makes for blazing fast performance. The G5 benchmarks strongly, scoring 98,876 on AnTuTu, which tests overall system performance. Single-core and multi-core performance on Geekbench is equally strong at 2,114/4,879.
It's unlikely that most users will ever experience any performance issues on the G5. In GFXBench, the G5 manages 20 frames per second (fps) in the Manhattan on-screen test and 31fps in the T-Rex on-screen test. That said, today's graphically intense games like Asphalt 8, GTA San Andreas, and Injustice are buttery smooth.
Battery life on the G5 is solid - we clocked almost a day's worth of battery life, before it needed a recharging. The G5's battery is removable, so you can always buy a spare. And the phone supports Quick Charge 3.0, which allows it to reach an 83% charge in half an hour using the included AC adapter.
The G5 provides strong camera performance with both its 16-megapixel main sensor and 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor. Outdoors, the primary sensor is able to capture photos with sharp detail and accurate colours, which is relatively easy to do thanks to laser autofocus and optical image stabilization. The camera is also capable of recording at 4K, 1080p, and 720p video at 30fps.
Wide-angle shots are fun and unique. You capture a lot more of your surroundings than you can in standard shots, though images have somewhat of a fisheye effect. You also get a good set of manual controls that let you change white balance, shutter speed, ISO, and shoot in RAW.
The 8-megapixel selfie camera is good, taking clear, well-detailed shots. There's a slider that lets you increase or decrease background brightness, so photos look less washed out than usual.
The G5 comes with a heavily skinned version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. In addition to its own icons and a modified settings menu, LG has gone a step further and removed the app drawer, so all your apps are spread across the home screens. You can go into the settings menu and hide the apps you don't want to see, but that's just adding an extra, unnecessary step to getting rid of screen clutter.
LG has also added a number of new software features. The first one you'll notice is Smart Bulletin, a feed that comes up when you swipe left from the main screen. It integrates LG's apps such as Health, Calendar, Music, Smart Settings, and Quick Remote, giving you information about each. If you don't use LG Health you can't replace it with an app of your choice, but you can turn it off individually or disable Smart Bulletin entirely.
There's also a Battery Saver mode that kicks in when the battery drains to 15%, turning off connectivity and restricting background apps. Finally, Smart Cleaning lets you free up space by cleaning temporary files and the Download folder.
LG G5 offers you 32GB of storage, which can be expanded further using the microSD card slot. However, adoptable storage is disabled, which means that you cannot move apps to the SD card. So, the microSD card is only good for storing photos, videos, and music.
The LG G5 is a compelling flagship to consider, boasting powerful hardware, a semi-modular build, a wide-angle lens, and unique accessories. If you want something new and different, the G5 is a breath of fresh air.
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