It was less than three years ago that LG launched G2 in India in a grand event celebrated At Kingdom of Dreams, Gurugram. With an innovative Rear Key design, LG G2 was a step ahead of other usual smartphones that have control keys on the sides. It did not take long for some other brands to follow and adopt the rear key design in their smartphones.
On 1 st June, 2016, LG celebrated yet another flagship smartphone at the Kingdom of Dreams. The phone launched now is LG G5. And G5 too brings forward another innovation by being a Modular smartphone. However, G5 hasn't come alone. Along with G5, LG has also launched in India some of LG Friends. These are devices that can be used with or controlled by LG G5. These include LG CAM Plus, LG 360 CAM and LG 360 VR.
Let's see what the highlights of LG G5 are:
G5 is a modular phone and that is its biggest highlight. It has a slim metal aluminum unibody design. Despite having a unibody design, it has a removable battery. That's thanks to its Modular design. There is a cradle at its bottom that can slide out. This cradle holds phone's battery. When you pull the cradle out, the battery too slides out. G5's companion device LG CAM Plus also gets attached to this cradle. To use the LG CAM Plus, all one needs to do is pull the cradle out and attach it, then re-insert the cradle into the phone. The CAM Plus protrudes a little from the back of the smartphone and gives it more camera-like feel. Also, as the battery can be easily pulled out of the smartphone, it is easy to use a backup battery in case the battery in the phone gets discharged fully.
Processor & Memory:LG G5 has 4GB RAM and 32GB ROM that is expandable up to 2TB using microSD card. G5 has Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 820 Processor with 64-bit performance, Adreno 530 graphics, Qualcomm® HexagonTM DSP and Qualcomm Spectra™ 14-bit dual image signal processors (ISPs) which helps in getting high resolution DSLR-quality photos. LG G5 also has X12 LTE modem.
LG G5 has 5.3-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum display with 3D Arc Glass. This adds a slight curve to the display giving it a more ergonomic design that brings the mouthpiece closer to the mouth and makes using the smartphone more comfortable.
The display has an Always-On feature that keeps the selected information displayed on the black screen when the phone is sleeping. This feature was first introduced as the Second Screen on LG V10. Now, LG G5 has it on the main display. Of course, G5 isn't the only phone now to have this feature. Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have it too. And I'm quite sure other brands are going to adopt it soon as well. Anyway, as per LG, this Always-On feature is not a drain on the phone's battery as it consumes very little battery. The display driver IC memory and power management function of G5 allows the display's backlight to only illuminate one small part of the overall display. This helps in limiting the power consumed by the Always-On feature to only 0.8 percent of the battery's full capacity per hour.
Users can select the information to be displayed on the black screen. The options include Time and Signature. I did not notice any option to display weather or calendar events. The advantage of the Always-On feature is that it helps the user to check the time without having to unlock the phone. This is convenient and would also save battery as unlocking the phone again and again just to check time wastes battery.
Another feature of the LG G5's display is the Daylight Mode. This mode gives even better outdoor visibility to the screen than the usual auto brightness technology. It can increase the brightness of the display up to 850 nits.
The front camera of LG G5 is 8MP. The smartphone has two cameras in the rear. These are Standard 16MP (with 78-degree lens) and Wide 8MP cameras (with 135-degree wide angle lens) in the rear. One of the highlights of the LG G5's camera is that it allows users to shift easily from standard to wide angle, thanks to the 135-degree wide angle lens of the 8MP rear camera. This lens offers approximately 1.7 times wider viewing angle than most other smartphone cameras and 15 degrees wider viewing angle than the human eye's field of view. This helps the phone capture bigger area in a shot, like more of the landscape, more people in a group etc.
The photo effects of the LG G5 include Pop-out Picture (takes the picture using both rear camera and combines them to get a picture-in-a-frame effect)., Film Effect and Auto Shot.
Audio:For better audio experience, G5 is equipped with aptX™ HD: 24-bit Hi-Fi Wireless Audio which is an enhanced codec that is capable of supporting 24-bit sound over Bluetooth. When listened through the LG TONE Platinum earphones, it is capable of delivering Hi-Fi audio experience.
Battery:G5 has 2,800mAh (removable) battery with Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 3.0 technology for fast charging. It also has Low Power Location Estimation technology which enhances the battery efficiency by upto 41.9%.
As mentioned earlier, G5 has a metal aluminum unibody design with a detachable cradle. A touch of colour is added to the metal body through an advanced microdizing process. G5 also has Shiny Cut edge that adds to the style of the phone and makes it more comfortable to grip. Another design feature is that the antenna has been integrated into the smartphone's body in a way that is invisible and does not spoil the look of the smartphone's metal unibody. G5 has a finger print sensor that is located at the rear under the camera. G5 is available in Silver, Titan, Gold and Pink colour options.
Companion Devices:LG G5 has been launched with several companion devices. These devices called LG Friends include LG CAM Plus which turns G5 into a digital camera with physical controls. Another of the LG Friends is LG 360 CAM. It has two 13MP 200-degree wide angle cameras, 1,200mAh battery and 4GB internal memory (expandable). It helps the users to create 360 degree content with 2K video and 5.1 surround channel recording using its three microphones. The content created using LG 360 CAM can be directly uploaded to Google Street View and YouTube and viewed on LG 360 VR. 360 VR is another companion device of LG G5. This foldable Virtual Reality goggle weighs only 118G and has a resolution of 639ppi.
All these LG Friends can be managed by the LG Friends Manager app that comes pre-installed on G5. The app auto-detects if any LG Friend is near and connects quickly.
These days, there are many brands that are bringing out smartphones with excellent specifications at very affordable prices. At such a time, LG G5 is priced at Rs. 52,990/- in India. That sounds rather expensive considering the price war that's going on in Indian mobile market these days. However, one must remember that while smaller brands are disrupting the market with their price war, it is mostly the big brands like LG that drive the innovation forward. The 'new features' of cheaper smartphones are mostly added by way of third-party apps. But the new features of premium devices like LG G5 are driven by technological research and innovation. However, innovation does not come cheap. LG G5 has many useful and innovative features. But it is not for every pocket. And if you want to use its full functionality through LG Friends, that means shelling out more money. While LG G5 is an awesome and innovative smartphone with excellent capabilities, its price may prove to be its greatest drawback.
Key Specifications of LG G5:- Chipset: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 820 Processor
- Display: 5.3-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum Display (2560 x 1440 / 554ppi)
- Memory: 4GB LPDDR4 RAM / 32GB UFS ROM / microSD (up to 2TB)
- Camera: Rear: Standard 16MP, Wide 8MP / Front: 8MP
- Battery: 2,800mAh (removable)
- OS: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
- Size: 149.4 x 73.9 x 7.7mm
- Weight: 159g
- Network: LTE / 3G / 2G
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / USB Type-C) / NFC / Bluetooth 4.2
- Colors: Silver / Titan / Gold / Pink
