LG goes modular with the G5

LG kicked off the 2016 Mobile World Congress today, by unveiling their new flagship. Introducing the LG G5 and it might just be one of the coolest and most unique Android smartphones out there. For starters, it has a modular design, yes I did say modular and it has a design similar to that of the Nexus 5X. All-in-all, on paper the LG G5, looks like an incredible device.

The G5 pushes innovation and moves away from the previous G4. For starters, LG has finally gone with an all metal design, gone are the days of plastic phone builds. With this design, they have done something pretty remarkable, no longer will you find plastic lines on the back of smartphones. It is an all metal aluminum body that has the antennas embedded, giving the device a very clean build. Even better, it is modular and has a slide-out battery, which lets you pop in several modules that bring new features to the device. By having a swappable battery, in a new modular unit, you will easily be able to switch out the batteries. Notably, LG has included a finger print sensor on the back, along with the power button, but the volume buttons are now on the left hand side of the device.

Along with being able to use the modular design to swap out batteries, LG also has the Cam Plus and Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play modules. The Cam Plus well you get a more comfortable grip on the phone when taking photos, it brings you physical power, shutter, record, and zoom buttons. Plus an LED indicator is on-board to help you get the perfect shot. It pairs with the camera application on the G5, and will give you manual controls over the optics. It will also bring an extra 1,200mAh battery to let you shoot longer. LG other’s module is the Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play which allows you to have a Hi-Fi audio player and to get 32-bit quality out of the G5.

LG has chosen a 5.3-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum display for the G5 and it is an Always-on screen. This replaces and builds-on the dual display setup that the LG V10 had. With the Always-on feature you will be able to see the time, calendar, and notifications all without turning the phone on. LG has tested this new feature to make sure it won’t negatively impact your battery life as well, it requires only 0.8% of the battery’s capacity per hour to run. For great views even when in direct sunlight, LG has made Daylight Mode, this will automatically increase or decrease the brightness as needed.

Powering the G5 is a Snapdragon 820 processor with 64-bit performance, an Adreno 530 chip for graphics, a low-power Qualcomm Hexagon DSP, and a Qualcomm spectra 14-bit dual image processor. All of this processing power is paired with 4GB of RAM, along with Android 6.1 Marshmallow with a LG user interface a top. The most notably change with the software experience, would be that LG has chosen to get rid of the application drawer, it will be interesting to see how this affects the user experience. For storage the LG G5, will have 32GB of internal storage, along with a micro SD card slot so you can expand.

In terms of optics, you will find both a 16 megapixel and an 8 megapixel dual camera setup on the back of the device. One of these lenses features a 78-degree and the other has a 135-degree view, which is the largest of any smartphone. In fact the larger of the two is largely then the human eye’s field of view. On the front of the device you will find a 8 megapixel lens. LG has also revamped the camera application, which should make it more useful.

In terms of battery life, you should be able to get through the day thanks to a 2,800mAh battery. In terms of connectivity you will get LTE, 3G, 2G, WiFi 802.11a/b/gn/ac, a USB Type-C port, NFC, and Bluetooth 4.2. The G5 will come in your choice of Silver, Titan, Gold, or Pink.

LG has not given an exact launch date for the G5 as of yet, but it should be coming soon, most likely in March of 2016. In the United States, the LG G5 will come to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

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