Overall, if you spend more money, you will get a better and more powerful phone, excellent camera quality, design and look.
Today we will review the new entrant in the list of flagship smartphones, LG G5 priced at Rs 52,990. This smartphone is claimed to have everything that a user expects from a flagship smartphone. There are many new features in the phone. LG G5 with a completely modular design has made a new beginning in the flagship category. Know why buy this flagship modular smartphone.
Look and Design
The LG G5 is made of a metal body with a separate frame and rear shell. However, we did not feel good when we held the phone in our hands for the first time. Holding the phone in hand, it felt more like a mid-range plastic phone than a flagship metal device. But later G5 proved to be a little better but this phone does not give the same feeling as we saw in many recently reviewed devices of the same price.
The metal shell is nicely curved at the edges but due to a distinct frame the phone doesn’t always feel good in the hand. Additionally, the G5 looks like a heavy phone despite it having a 5.3-inch screen. Apart from this, there is also a problem with the removable modular base which does not seem to fit perfectly and hence looks strange.
There is a dual camera setup on the rear, with laser autofocus window, flash and color sensor. The power button also works as a fingerprint sensor. The fingerprint sensor unlocks the phone very accurately and quickly. And unlike other devices, even if the phone is not activated, you can unlock the phone just by touching your fingers on the power button.
The front part of the phone occupies 70 percent of the screen. The glass on the front is quite good in our opinion. But it does not have any special function. Its most special feature is modular and removable at the bottom of the phone. When seen from the front its appearance looks very attractive. It looks like it is a removable unit and this reminds you that you are holding a phone with a better approach.
The hybrid-dual SIM slot is on the right side and the volume and module rock buttons are on the left. The 3.5 mm socket and infrared blaster are on the top. The standard module that comes with the phone is a simple phone base that is equipped with a USB Type-C port, microphone, and speaker. On removing the rear cover of the phone, the removable battery will be visible.
LG has announced two optional modules for the G5. The Rs 6,500 LG Cam Plus is a camera grip with separate shutter, camera on/off and video recording, dial buttons for zoom. It also has a 1200 mAh battery, taking the total battery capacity of the phone to 4000 mAh.
Hi-Fi Plus has been provided as another option. This is a DAC module made by Bang & Olufsen. Its device is claimed to improve the audio output coming from headphones or wired speakers. But, we didn’t get a chance to use either of these modules. During our review, we could only test the standard module and did not get the benefit of any additional features.
LG G5 has a 5.3 inch IPS LCD screen of 1440×2560 pixels with a density of 554 ppi. For this reason, the screen is quite sharp and one gets a pleasant feeling while taking pictures, playing videos or surfing. The colors on the screen appear quite vibrant and with detailing.
Specifications
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor is being provided in many devices these days. But after Xiaomi Mi 5 (Review), LG G5 is the second smartphone to come with this processor in India. These days, it is the flagship processor of Qualcomm and is also one of the most powerful processors available in the market today.
The LG G5 features 4GB RAM, 32GB inbuilt storage (expandable up to 200GB via microSD card support), Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, and 4G connectivity on both bands (TDD Band 40 and FDD Band 3). Support has been given. Along with this, USB 3.0 and 2800 mAh battery is provided with Type-C connector. Many sensors like compass, barometer and color spectrum sensor are also provided. Talking about audio, this device also has A2DP and ATEX HD support along with Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity.
Among the specifications, we found the weakest one to be 32 GB inbuilt storage. Nowadays most of the devices in this category are coming with 64 GB storage. Although the phone has microSD card support, it is a hybrid SIM support phone. This means that the user will have to choose between two SIMs or one SIM and a microSD card.
software
LG G5 runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 on top of which LG’s Optimus UI 5.0 is given. One is a single layered UI. Most Chinese smartphone companies provide similar UI in their devices. However, as per your convenience, you can switch to the traditional dual-layered user interface on the LG G5. The software is very well designed giving it a clean, clear look.
The G5 has a handy screen called Smart Bulletin that can be activated in the Settings app. With this, users can access calendar, health tracker, quick remote app and other apps directly from the home screen. Apart from this, to use this feature you can download other additional features.
By going to the Settings app, you can control many things, including SIM handling, Android soft key layout, and quick launch gestures for the camera. The quick settings menu can also be customized.
LG has provided an always-on display in the G5, which keeps the screen active even when the phone is in standby mode. Many LG apps come pre-installed on the phone, which include apps like Back Up, Friends Manager, Health, Quick Remote and Smart World. The LG G5 also comes pre-loaded with Evernote, which cannot be uninstalled.
camera
Talking about the camera of LG G5, it has a dual rear camera setup on the rear. The phone has a 16 megapixel main and 8 megapixel support sensor. Along with this, the phone has an 8 megapixel front camera. The rear camera can shoot video up to 2160 pixels at 30 frames per second, while the front camera can record video at up to 10080 pixels at 30 frames per second. The rear camera has a slow motion mode which records at 60 frames per second at full-HD resolution. Apart from this, optical image stabilization, laser autofocus and color spectrum sensor are also present.
The camera software is well designed and the layout is quite convenient. The layout has all the required buttons. Recording video is a one-step process using the separate L buttons on the camera’s viewfinder screen. Apart from this, there is also a button to quickly exit the app. Apart from this, there is also a standard toggle for flash, camera switching and shooting mode. Resolution, HDR settings, self-timer and other things can be controlled from the Detail Settings menu. Along with this, there is a special toggle through which one can quickly switch between normal and wide angle lens.
Focusing is effortless with the camera, whether you’re using autofocus or manually selecting the focal area. And with the help of laser system good close shots can be taken. Photos taken indoors look amazing. But that doesn’t mean the G5 can’t take good photos in natural light. The shots taken with the phone are detailed and clear with focus.
Photos taken in low light also look good, especially when it comes to color and detailing. Taking wide angle shots is a lot of fun, especially when you are taking natural landscape photos. Most of the photos taken with the G5 are good. The front camera is also fine and it produces great selfies.
Optical image stabilization comes in handy when you’re shooting video on the go or in a vehicle. It is good to have 4K video option in the phone but due to the large file size, very few will be able to use it. The video looks great even on full-HD.
performance
The LG G5 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. This is one of the most powerful processors currently available in the market. With 4 GB RAM, LG G5 is one of the best performing smartphones. From booting to opening apps, running games and heavy apps, even opening multiple tabs in the web browser, the phone does a great job. Multitasking is also better and you can work in multiple apps at once without any hassle.
LG G5 scored very good figures in benchmarking tests. If you want to buy a powerful smartphone, then G5 is one of the most powerful smartphones available in the market.
The phone gets a little hot while playing games or during heavy use but remains comfortable to use. In our video loop test, the battery lasted 13 hours 6 minutes. The phone easily lasts the whole day with normal use. This phone, which comes with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 technology, also gets charged quickly.
Network connectivity is also good and works well not only on 4G networks but also on weak Wi-Fi signals. Single speaker provides good sound quality but sound quality is better from headphones.
our decision
LG’s G series smart phones are either always a hit or not at all. Last year, the G4 smartphone disappointed in many features, especially in terms of battery life and software. Apart from this, laser autofocus was also not as per our expectations. All those problems have been solved in the LG G5. But apart from all this, now it seems that there is finally a smartphone in the market to challenge Samsung’s dominance.
The most attractive feature of LG G5 is that it allows you to add additional features and functions to the phone. Currently only the Cam Plus module is available but we hope that LG will make other modules available in the future. Good software, strong battery life, great performance, and great cameras make this phone a true flagship smartphone.
However, the build quality of the phone could have been better. Although LG has given a completely metal body in this phone, it does not feel like many other flagship smartphones. The alignment between the G5’s body and modules makes the phone’s design feel a bit awkward. Leaving this aside, apart from the high price, there is hardly any other drawback in LG G5. We would recommend the LG G5 to any user looking to buy a premium flagship Android smartphone.
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