Android Gamer: LG G5 debuts with modular design, add-ons with physical camera controls and Hi-Fi audio

LG G5 day is here.

The LG G5 is now officially official, having just been announced at an event in Barcelona. Besides offering improved specs over the LG G4, the G5 boasts a few notable tweaks over its predecessor. The first is that LG has ditched the rear-mounted volume buttons found on the G4 and other phones, opting instead to place them on the G5’s side like many other phones. The G5 also boasts a full metal body, whereas the G4 offers swappable plastic and leather backs.

Perhaps the most notable feature of the G5 is its modular design. The bottom piece of the G5 actually pops off and lets you swap the device’s 2800mAh battery and add modules to enhance the G5’s feature set. LG has announced two modules that can be attach the G5’s bottom. There’s the LG Cam Plus, which gives you added grip and adds physical camera controls as well as an additional 1200mAh battery. LG also announced the Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play, a Hi-Fi digital audio chip that offers 32-bit 384KHz high-def audio. The Hi-Fi Plus can also be used with any other smartphone or PC.

Moving on to the rest of the G5, LG has equipped its new Android 6.0 flagship with two rear cameras. The first is a traditional 16-megapixel sensor, and the second is an 8-megapixel lens with a wide-angle 135-degree field of view. The G5 also includes camera-specific software features like Pop-out Picture, which will combine images taken with the two rear cameras, and Auto Shot, which will automatically snap a selfie when the camera senses a face in its view. Rounding out the G5’s camera features is an 8-megapixel front shooter.

Another notable feature of the G5 is its display. The 5.3-inch IPS Quantum display has a 2560×1440 resolution and an Always-On feature that’ll show you the time, date, and your notifications, even when the screen is in sleep mode. LG says that the feature won’t have a big impact on battery life because it only uses one-third of the screen. According to LG, the Always-On feature uses 0.8 percent battery life per hour.

The remainder of the LG G5’s spec list looks largely like one that you’d expect from an Android flagship in 2016. There’s an octa-core Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, NFC, USB Type-C, and Quick Charge 3.0, and LG is also throwing in 32GB of storage. If that’s not enough for you, you can use a microSD card to expand the G5’s storage by up to 2TB.

The LG G5 will be sold in Silver, Titan, Gold, and Pink color options. AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and US Cellular have all announced plans to carry the G5 in the US, but no real pricing or launch plans have been revealed, with Verizon only saying that the G5 will arrive in the spring.

Along with the G5, LG today showed off a few companion devices that they call the G5’s “friends.” These include:

LG 360 VR: Virtual reality goggles that can connect to the G5 and let you view content from the LG 360 Cam as well as Google Cardboard content.
LG 360 Cam: A camera with two 13-megapixel 200-degree wide-angle cameras, 1200mAh battery, and 4GB of storage that can be supplemented with a microSD card. You can capture 2K content and record 5.1 audio, then share it to Google Street View and YouTube360.
LG Rolling Bot: A rolling robot that includes an 8-megapixel camera for capturing photos and videos. You can live stream from the Rolling Bot to the G5 over Wi-Fi, letting you monitor your home while you’re away.
LG Tone Platinum: Bluetooth headphones that LG touts have earned Harman Kardon Platinum grade “for superior sound quality.”
H3 by B&O Play: High-end earphones that are compatible with the LG Hi-Fi Plus module as well as all other Android phones.
LG Smart Controller: Helps you to easily control “certain drones” using a joystick. You can also watch video from the drone using the G5’s display.

Sources: LG, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon