The LG G5 has an illustrious past. It's predecessors have been some of my favourite phones of the past few years – in fact the G3 won Phone of the Year at our 2014 awards and the G4 was a narrowly-beaten finalist. LG knows how to make a decent handset.
The plaudits are deserved. These phones manage to combine cutting-edge specs and loads of features at an attractive price, for a high-end smartphone that is.
LG's phones have improved year on year, but none has delivered major shocks – until now, that is. The LG G5 is a complete reinvention and is one of the most innovative phones I’ve ever seen.
5 things you need to know about the LG G5
1) The LG G5 has a modular design
Not only does the LG G5 have a removable battery and microSD card tray in a metal body, it can also change shape.
So far LG has announced two attachable modules – the LG Cam Plus and the LG Hi-Fi Plus. Both slot into the bottom of the LG G5 to provide additional functionality.
2) The LG G5 comes with three cameras
We're used to seeing a front-facing camera and rear camera on smartphones, but the LG G5 goes one better and adds a third camera on the back.
Instead of just upping the megapixel count and low-light performance, this third camera offers a wide-angle, 135-degree lens. That’s a smartphone first, and it lets you get a whole lot more in frame.
3) The LG G5 uses USB Type-C for charging
USB-C hasn’t taken the high-end phone market by storm yet, but LG is betting on it for the LG G5.
It’s v3.0 too, which means the LG G5 supports fast-charging and quick data transfer, unlike the OnePlus 2, which has only USB-C v2.0. On the flip-side, there's no wireless-charging support.
4) The LG G5 is very powerful
The LG G5 is the first phone from a major manufacturer packing the blistering-quick Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. That should make it one of the fastest around, especially since it’s backed up with a hefty 4GB of RAM.
A few hours later the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge were announced with very similar specs, although only the US will be getting the Snapdragon 820, the rest of the world will have Samsung's own Exynos processors.
5) The LG G5 has “Friends” with benefits
Aside from the new modules LG has announced three “friends” for the LG G5.
The first is a VR headset called 360 VR, then there’s a 360 camera called the 360 Cam, and the third is a sweet little BB-8-alike robot called the Rolling Bot. These seamlessly connect to the LG G5 via the LG Friends Manager app.
