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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  • M
  • Mooza
  • RNK
  • 26 Mar 2016

I can't wait to get this thing. I will user the camera module when travelling and the DAC fairly regularly (need to see how it affects battery life). I'm sure a third party vendor will make a battery with a bit more juice. For me, the replaceable battery, IR, FM Radio, USB Type C and the awesome camera trumps the S7.

    • D
    • AnonD-111717
    • 61v
    • 26 Mar 2016

    LG G5's Always On Display blows S7/Edge's Always On Display out of the water.
    really surprised, only down by 10 hour, for sure Samsung's is not 1%/hour, the difference is too big.
    and it's still a pre-production unit!

      60 hours indurance rating by Gsmarena which means this phone will not lasts long for more than 12 on a heavy usage...

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • XjZ
        • 26 Mar 2016

        AnonD-425519, 26 Mar 2016After owning the G4 I won't be buying the G5. Has various b... moreG2 is good!

          • D
          • AnonD-425519
          • 4B6
          • 26 Mar 2016

          After owning the G4 I won't be buying the G5. Has various bugs and the quality of the hardware isn't as good as Samsung's and HTC's (it's not about the metal).
          Seriously, all these phones this past year have terrible post processing. The sensors are of good quality yet companies don't know how to post process. They just over sharpen and add as much noise reduction as possible. Look at the grass rofl (s7, G5, etc.). Now look at the grass shots with the top of the line Lumia/Nokia phones, very realistic.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • 0Tv
            • 26 Mar 2016

            AnonD-379427, 26 Mar 2016This is really crap. All gimmicks and not functional. ... moreActually you speak for yourself. Less and less people do that nowadays, the reason(ing) is simple, new generation hardly offers new things unless you're gaming. Cameras are moving with the pace of the snail, SoCs are fast enough and are rarely stressed by anything over Cortex A53, screens have maxed (any more resolution and you don't see a difference).

            At this point people should buy and not the latest and greatest, because as it turns out the "latest and greatest" is 5% better than last year's. And value they add through this modular concept.

            The phone and its software are ugly so I'll stay away. But that's how future phones should be. Mimicking PCs (everything can run on them, you can uprade them), not like Samsung and Apple who are relics from 00s.

            Phones are our personal computer and we ought to hold on to them for as long... The modular idea is brilliant. I hope they'd refine it next generation and hopefully make the phone look less ugly and trite (as this review puts it). They may have an extra customer if they do that (never bought LG in the past).

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • nGT
              • 26 Mar 2016

              Anonymous, 26 Mar 2016Don't forget that Always On display on an AMOLED screen is ... moreThere's no burn in if what is displayed moves around frequently

                So the battery life is even worse that the G4... It could've been great if they release a big battery module with capacitive buttons to compensate for the smaller screen.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • pqp
                  • 26 Mar 2016

                  It's not a complete review. Where are the night camera photos? Where is the low-light camera review? Is there a manual video mode, like in LG V10?

                  It's a shame that LG removed the Dual Window feature.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • pqp
                    • 26 Mar 2016

                    AnonD-504401, 26 Mar 2016I'm pleased overall, II'll be coming from a Nexus 5X which ... moreDon't forget that Always On display on an AMOLED screen is much worse, because it will burn in. All AMOLED screens suffer from burn-in issues. It is the nature of the technology.
                    And AMOLED is not much more efficient. For example it uses more power than LCD when showing white color.

                      • D
                      • AnonD-515550
                      • f{9
                      • 26 Mar 2016

                      The physical design reeks of a cheap, ugly phone. The UI, especially the notification panel, looks horrendous, and reminds me of phones from 1990s. Eww! Battery life is pretty meh, too. The only good thing about this phone seems to be the camera.

                      I don't have any love for Samsung, but Galaxy S7 Edge absolutely trumps this mediocre junk in every possible way.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • PTG
                        • 26 Mar 2016

                        AnonD-379427, 26 Mar 2016This is really crap. All gimmicks and not functional. ... moreBetter than ip6s+ and s7 and maybe ip7

                          • D
                          • AnonD-379427
                          • wfL
                          • 26 Mar 2016

                          This is really crap.

                          All gimmicks and not functional.

                          Everyone changes their phones yearly or once every 2 years.

                          And by then, we can get not only upgraded components, but a new design as well.

                          Who cares about the G5 modulars when we just get a new phones so often?

                          With the high price of the phone and accessories,rich people don't even bother to keep a phone longer than 2 years. If someone were to look to keep a phone for longer than that, they don't even have to capability to buy the G5 which is so expensive.

                          What a fail LG.

                            • D
                            • AnonD-472910
                            • kaK
                            • 26 Mar 2016

                            this just shows that people dont know what they are talking about, they said always on display can only work on amoled because lcd is bad at blacks yadda yadda, any screen can out do another its just the quality that matters.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • 7th
                              • 26 Mar 2016

                              This review had made me move on from lg G5.
                              Awaiting HTC m10.

                                • o
                                • odnanref
                                • PwY
                                • 26 Mar 2016

                                thx for review...

                                i hope that "50-60 hours"..increase...

                                  • D
                                  • Dr._Dailen_Quaice
                                  • xG9
                                  • 26 Mar 2016

                                  Aren't phones supposed to get better with each successive generation? This phone somehow has a worse battery life than the G3, and they are still using a power hungry LCD screen. I keep waiting for LG to make something as awesome as the G2 again, but I don't think it's going to happen.

                                    • d
                                    • dasman
                                    • Yc3
                                    • 26 Mar 2016

                                    AnonD-504401, 26 Mar 2016Also this thing OBLITERATES the LG G4 in benchmarks, holy m... moreWhat type of display does it use? IPS LCD?

                                      • N
                                      • Nima
                                      • au4
                                      • 26 Mar 2016

                                      Wow!!!it's interesting!!battery life is better than G4!!pay attention my friends!g5 decrease its battery but it is better than g4 or v10.and impressive always on!very good.it is even better than s7 with super amoled,bigger battery and smaller screen!!

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-504401
                                        • s7v
                                        • 26 Mar 2016

                                        Also this thing OBLITERATES the LG G4 in benchmarks, holy moly, the largest generation performance jump ever?