LG G5 review: Evening the odds

22 March, 2016
Someone at LG must have thought: “Leather is so last-year, let’s do something nobody has done – or long quit trying.” And here we have the LG G5. It has the looks of a brand new flagship, the heart of a dragon and an adventurous dual camera setup suited for every occasion. But there’s more than meets the eye, the Magic Slot. The LG G5 is a modular smartphone, which lets you plug a handful of external add-ons: a semi-pro camera grip with shutter buttons and a bigger battery, or an external sound amplifier by B&O.

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  • AnonD-519071
  • 3C1
  • 26 Mar 2016

Anonymous, 26 Mar 2016The only advantages of Galaxy S7 are - heat pipe cooling... morewhats the point of manual recording. just record like anyone else does ? Dual window option- for what. one window is small enough and ez to scroll. comments no one needs.
The battery slot is a saver ! now if there was micro hdmi to get to a tv. it would be perfect.
no one has wireless HMDI yet for streaming.

    Nice zooming from wide angle to standard, from default wide angle it looks sort of like optic zoom... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFD8qkzpJCs

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • d@7
      • 26 Mar 2016

      Shame for LG's design team this time. In a dull and ugly (for 2016) case of ~ S7 edge's dimentions LG put smaller screen and much smaller batery.

      And despite of this (which equals poor batery life) G5 is stil HEAVIER then the S7 Edge!

      Even LG G5 camera is somehow dissapointg - it's essentially the same camera previously used in G4. With is in terms of quality and inovations comparable to S6's one, but can't match the new S7/S7 edge sensor.

      All in all even compared to the LG's own G4, the new G5 only advantage is SD820, camera is the same, batery is smaller and the design is worse. Imho quite poor for a new flagship.

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        • Anonymous
        • pqp
        • 26 Mar 2016

        Anonymous, 26 Mar 2016You can prefer what you like and both are great phones. B... moreYou can believe what you want. I was talking about the objective facts. Overall, LG G5 is better. For details, read my comment.

          I don't need any star performance as long as it is 4k capable. Of course 820 is best, but for stamina is best exynos(shame its from LG's rival). With LG giving such battery performance I wish I could buy G5 with S652. Its worth to have such cameras, B&O DAC, mainly for less price than samsung/apple.

            • M
            • Minori
            • Kih
            • 26 Mar 2016

            AnonD-234961, 26 Mar 2016I now have an S7 Edge, after previously having an LG G2, wh... moreBrofist. Same opinion. G2 has the best clean look compared to the rest of G family. They should just improve the design around G2 like adding metal frame, add a fingerprint scanner, and upgrade the internals with current tech. That would be much better than these ugly phone.

            Take a look at Apple, they did exactly what we said here.

            LG is trying too hard. They need a little rest.

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              • AnonD-292864
              • 0IW
              • 26 Mar 2016

              AnonD-455364, 26 Mar 2016DESIGN - every person has own mind, for me G5 > S7 but G... moreI don't like Apple products and i don't have Galaxy S7. DxOMark rated Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge cameras as the best mobile cameras and DisplayMate says Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge has the best smartphone displays. Finally, Touchwiz does not have any problems since Kitkat.

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                • Anonymous
                • krW
                • 26 Mar 2016

                Anonymous, 26 Mar 2016The only advantages of Galaxy S7 are - heat pipe cooling... moreYou can prefer what you like and both are great phones.
                But objectively the S7 has display more than anything over all phones.
                It has the exynos advantage, heat pipes, gaming mode, software in features and security plus customizing, majority of camera advantages, music, battery life, and so forth.

                Those are the objective facts

                  • V
                  • Vasi
                  • 7tQ
                  • 26 Mar 2016

                  AnonD-505364, 26 Mar 2016And 12 hours of heavy usage is not ok? I think he meant 12 hours unplugged. There's no way G5 will make it throughout the day on heavy usage. Max SoT will be 3.5hrs

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                    • Anonymous
                    • 7tQ
                    • 26 Mar 2016

                    Anonymous, 26 Mar 2016The only advantages of Galaxy S7 are - heat pipe cooling... moreI agree with Lg v10 argument

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                      • Vasi
                      • 7tQ
                      • 26 Mar 2016

                      ThanosB75, 26 Mar 2016In order not to forget the REAL Truth about LG G5!!! LG G... moreDid LG pay you say that. Look I dislike samsung and will never buy one but lg g5 is a big let down. No one will spend so much money for the phone and modules and without the modules it is just an ugly metal G4 with some upgraded specs. Hoping HTC 10 won't disappoint too.

                        • V
                        • Vasi
                        • 7tQ
                        • 26 Mar 2016

                        Lg keeps on disappointing users with the battery life. All the lg flagship devices had below average battery life since G2. I would be happy with one long lasting battery rather than 2 removable batteries.

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                          • Anonymous
                          • pqp
                          • 26 Mar 2016

                          The only advantages of Galaxy S7 are

                          - heat pipe cooling:
                          it allows the CPU/GPU to give constant performance, less prone to throttling
                          - gaming features:
                          you can reduce the resolution and framerate for power saving purpose and to improve the gaming performance

                          Those 2 features are what I miss from LG G5 that S7 has.

                          The advantages of G5:
                          - removable battery
                          - FM Radio
                          - IPS display instead of AMOLED
                          - infrared port

                          So LG G5 is better overall than S7, but G5 is not impressing at all. It's only advantage compared to LG V10 is the Snapdragon 820 SoC. If V10 had S820, it would be the best phone. Because LG G5 lacs 2 features that LG V10 has:

                          - manual mode for video recording
                          - dual window option

                          Moreover, we have to admit that the "magic slot" isn't that good.

                          The "magic slot" of LG G5 is gimmick, pointless and useless. Why? Because most flagship phones aready have a magic slot. It's called: microUSB port with USB OTG support.

                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mHH3gPIaeQ
                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZwPgyiEb84

                          Also you can watch TV without internet connection by using DVB-T TV tuner.

                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yWTYxm-RDA

                          This is what I call a real magic slot.

                            • D
                            • AnonD-505364
                            • H5{
                            • 26 Mar 2016

                            Sushant Sic, 26 Mar 201660 hours indurance rating by Gsmarena which means this phon... moreAnd 12 hours of heavy usage is not ok?

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                              • Anonymous
                              • ty@
                              • 26 Mar 2016

                              Anonymous, 26 Mar 2016gsmarena poll s7 beat g5 a better phone don't mean it will be popular ...

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                                • AnonD-190634
                                • JE7
                                • 26 Mar 2016

                                for god's sake am I the only one who's tired of region specific phones?

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                                  • AnonD-321175
                                  • mvI
                                  • 26 Mar 2016

                                  Horrible battery life and screen brightness. Beside fast processor it's a middle range phone with very high price.

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                                    • AnonD-234961
                                    • ndn
                                    • 26 Mar 2016

                                    I now have an S7 Edge, after previously having an LG G2, which was probably the best phone that I ever had, I like it so much that I don't even want to sell it even if I don't use it anymore.

                                    Since the LG G2 (which I owned and really liked), each LG flagship was worse than the one before it. This is unbelievable. In 2016, they come up with 2800mAh battery, huge bezels and a size that is as large as the 5.5" G3 and G4, while having a smaller screen (and a really ugly design) ?

                                    Too bad about their always-on display, they seem to have put a lot of effort into it, it is way better and more efficient than Samsung's, but I really can't spend the money on a phone with 2800 mAh/60h battery life.

                                    Sorry LG, but you lost me as a customer. And if some LG manager reads this, here is how to build the true G2 successor:

                                    - Focus on thin bezels, aim for a screen-to-body ratio of at least 76%
                                    - Focus on large battery, at least 3500 mAh
                                    - Use a screen no larger than 5.2"
                                    - Build a thicker phone with a larger battery rather than a slimmer phone with ugly humps and bumps, like the G5.

                                    That's it !

                                      AnonD-77443, 26 Mar 2016Whhhaaaatttt.... An LG with poor battery life....??? It ... moreYeah, I'm dissapointed too. Likely it's because it's not AMOLED screen.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • t7X
                                        • 26 Mar 2016

                                        ThanosB75, 26 Mar 2016In order not to forget the REAL Truth about LG G5!!! LG G... moregsmarena poll s7 beat g5