Maybe LG will keep experimenting with new platforms and designs – its competitors have certainly done so over the past year. A dedicated headphone jack ensures you’re getting the best sound, rather than routing the audio back through the phone to the G5’s standard 3.5mm port. Instead, it’s incorporated into the main display, and it will show you everything from notifications, the date, time and weather when the screen is turned off.
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But the G5 doesn’t come alone, as LG announced a few “Friends” that will come along with its flagship smartphone. Something that’s easily achievable with the LG G5. Last year’s G4 was a bit of a slouch compared to the S6 and HTC One M9, as its hexa-core Snapdragon 808 chip just couldn’t compete with the Snapdragon 810 or Samsung’s own Exynos 7420. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and 4 GB of RAM.
4GB of internal memory would be limiting, to say the least, but sensibly LG has included a microSD card slot. The add-on device has a two-stage shutter button (press halfway to focus then fully to take a photo), plus a separate button for recording video and a rotating dial to zoom in and out.
Finally, the LG 360 cam is a tiny 360-degree camera that grabs both photos and videos. Even better, you can upload your footage to Google StreetView, which will be stored at its original resolution absolutely free. It’ll also work with any Google Cardboard-certified content, meaning by the time this hits shelves there should be plenty more VR content for you to lose yourself in. One of these is a bloody VR headset!
LG says that the 360 VR’s screen has a PPI (pixels per inch) count of 639 and simulates the experience of viewing a 130-inch TV from two metres away. However, I’m not quite convinced it’s going to make anyone whip them out on the train, and having tried them out for myself, I was surprised just how blurry and soft the 360 degree footage was.
At a time when many other smartphone makers are releasing devices with non-removable batteries and no support for removable storage, LG is playing up the modular features of its new LG G5 smartphone, which lets you slide out the battery and slide in a replacement… or add other accessories to the phone.
While the idea of creating an ecosystem of hardware accessories is ambitious, it’s unclear how many of these attachments will actually emerge.
The Rolling Bot can be controlled remotely over a Wi-Fi network, and the firm said it could be used as a home security product. Owners can also attach a separate, 360-degree, twin-lens digital camera the LG 360 CAM, one of a range of companion accessories, known as LG Friends, that can be connected via the battery slot. They can all be set up in “three simple taps”, according to LG, and it’s hoping that none of them will be too complicated to use.
As the global smartphone market slows down, LG is looking towards new areas for growth, much like many of its competitors. This was something which the company also tried with the LG G4, and today’s launch definitely sees things taken to another level. LG G5 has been released at the ongoing event MWC 2016 in Barcelona.
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The G5 will be available in four colours – Silver, Pink, Gold and Titan (a dark gray or charcoal colour) though Australian ranging is now unclear. LG had a good number of devices on hand to make sure that everyone could have a go, though space was tight.
