After announcing that they are cuddling up to Bang + Olufsen for their new G5 sound system LG has finally taken the wraps off their new G5 smartphone overnight at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona.
Not a top selling Android smartphone in Australia the new LG G5 continues LG’s trend of delivering a feature packed device with the G5 heralding a massive shift in strategy for LG who are desperate to grow share in Australia.
With the new G5 LG has finally switched to a metal body and a modular design, which it says allows you to transform your G5 into a “digital camera, hi-fi player, and you can also swap the batteries.
The LG G5 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD), a removable 2,800 mAh battery, and Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It has a 5.3-inch, 2560 x 1440 resolution (QHD) display at 554ppi.
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Furthermore, the G5 has an always-on display so you can check the time, battery status, and your notifications without waking the phone, the is the same feature found in the new Samsung Galaxy S7.
LG says the display’s backlight only illuminates one small part of the overall display, which translates into the always-on section draining only 0.8 percent of the phone’s battery every hour, Samsung claims their Galaxy S7 sucks up 1%.
A new camera can be attached through the battery slot to “deliver a comfortable grip and convenient control of a DSLR.” The LG CAM Plus offers auto focus, exposure lock, and provides physical buttons for power, shutter, record, and zoom. It also gives the G5 additional battery capacity of 1,200mAh.
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As we previously mentioned the sound system developed in collaboration with B&O Play at the expense of their own LG Music Flow system supports 32-bit, 384KHz high-definition audio playback. It can be used as a module with the LG G5 or even as a separate Hi-Fi digital audio chip (DAC) that connects to any smartphone or PC.
The LG G5 has two rear cameras: one 16MP standard 78-degree lens and an 8MP, 135-degree wide angle lens (which LG proudly claims are “the widest available in any smartphone”). LG expects the wide angle lens to help capture landscape, tall buildings, and larger groups. The front camera is 8MP.
Other specifications include a USB Type-C 2.0 port that is USB 3.0 compatible, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, and Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac. The phone weighs 159g and measures 149.4 mm in height, 73.9 mm in width, and ranges between 7.7 and 8.6 mm in depth. It will be available in four colours: Silver, Titan, Gold, and Pink.
A 360 CAM Connects to the LG G5 for shooting 360-degree content.
It features two 13MP wide angle cameras, built-in 1,200mAh battery, 4GB of internal memory, a manual mode, 2K video, and 5.1 surround channel recording via three microphones. Images taken with the 360 CAM can be uploaded to Google Maps Street View and YouTube.
There is also a 360 virtual reality headset that can be connected exclusively to the G5.
The foldable goggles are meant for watching VR content on the go, and LG claims the accessory is “one-third as heavy as competing smartphone VR goggles.” Presumably, Google Cardboard is excluded from this claim, though the 360 VR is compatible with Cardboard content and 360-degree images and videos captured with the LG 360 CAM.
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Pricing for the LG G5 and its accessories was not revealed, nor was an exact release date. We do know, however, that the company is currently aiming for an early April launch which if past launches are anything to go by Australia will see it in September.
