LG took off the wraps of the G5 at the 2016 Mobile World Congress, and it's the smartphone maker's shot at bringing a modular flagship to the table.
With the handset's circle of Friends in tow, it's definitely one step above the other "reclusive" contenders in the heated market. Naturally, it's loaded with better components than the LG G4, but is it worth it for owners of the older sibling to trade up to the younger and more powerful G5?
Hardware Specifications
To start things off, the LG G4 has a 5.5-inch IPS display with a 1,440 x 2,560 resolution, resulting in 538 ppi. It's topped off with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. On the other hand, the G5 sports a slightly smaller IPS screen at 5.3 inches with the same resolution, clocking in at 554 ppi. It's protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 4, providing it with the sturdier face between the two, but the display itself didn't exactly get beefed up.
The G5 has Qualcomm's latest processor, the Snapdragon 820, along with 4 GB of RAM. Needless to say, it's a lot better than the Snapdragon 808 and 3 GB of RAM that's under the G4's hood.
Storage remains pretty much the same, but the G5 supports up to 200 GB of additional space via a microSD card as opposed to the 128 GB that the G4 can handle.
Out of the box, the G5 runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with an LG Optimus UX 5.0 user interface. It's also worth noting that this Android version has started to roll out to the G4, updating the smartphone's Android 5.1 Lollipop.
Going over the cameras, the two are fitted with the same 16-megapixel f/1.8 rear-facing snapper with OIS, LED flash and laser autofocus and an 8-megapixel f/2.0 front shooter. However, that's not everything the G5 has in store. It's also equipped with a wide 8-megapixel f/2.4 sensor along with the rear camera, delivering a dual-camera setup.
Design-wise, the G5 is easily distinguishable from the G4 unlike other smartphone flagships. The most notable difference is the corners, where the former has rounded ones and the latter squared ones. It will be available in Gold, Pink, Silver and Titan, a sort of light-gray color.
The G4 doesn't lose on all fronts, though, as it packs a larger 3,000 mAh battery than the 2,800 mAh battery of the G5. The reason for this is likely to make enough room for features in a marginally smaller package.
Features
Regarding features, here's where the battle goes one-sided. The LG G5 has an always-on display, and according to the company, it consumes only 0.8 percent of battery life per hour.
It also has a fingerprint scanner positioned below the power and screen lock button, which is something that the G4 was expected to come with but sadly did not.
Of course, what makes the G5 have the advantage is the aforementioned Friends or, in layman's terms, accessories.
First in the lineup is the LG CAM Plus, a camera module that provides a dedicated shutter button, a video button and a zoom dial. In other words, the LG G5 can be more or less handled like a traditional camera. More than that, it amps up the battery to 4,000 mAh so that the smartphone can last through a whole day of snapping photos.
Next is the LG Hi-Fi Plus, an amplifier module that serves as a portable Hi-Fi DAC audio player made in collaboration with Bang & Olufsen. It provides another headphone socket and dishes out 32-bit DAC, a couple of notches up compared to the built-in 24-bit DAC of the G5.
These Friends are attached to the phone by pulling out the sliding battery from the bottom of the G5 and replacing the default bottom portion of the smartphone.
Bottom Line
To answer the question of whether it's time for an upgrade or not, the short answer is yes. The LG G5 simply has so much to offer to the user, particularly the slew of features and accessories.
However, to put it differently, when it launches isn't exactly the right time to get hold of it. As LG's release history dictates, it'll probably hit the shelves sometime in April just like the G4 last year, and on that note, it could also get the same price drop to undercut the Samsung Galaxy S7 this time around.
LG has yet to announce the pricing details of the G5.
