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The decision on which Android smartphone you should be buying has been made a little more complicated by Mobile World Congress (MWC), and we don’t just mean which of the new Samsungs to get.
With its new G5, LG has taken most of us by surprise by going down the modular route – providing users with the option of adding a speaker (made by Bang & Olufsen no less) or a remote to turn the phone into a digital camera. The battery is also removable, so users could swap out a dead one for a fully charged one at a time of need.
These are head-turning, if not revolutionary ideas, seeing as Google has toyed with modular phones but been unable to get it off the ground. But here the G5 is in the flesh at MWC, so is it worth some hype?
As a piece of evolution compared to the previous generation G4, the G5 is a big step forward. Gone are the strange and somewhat gimmicky ceramic or leather back covers that, despite being okay in the hand, were not easy on the eye.
The all-metal body here is sleek, the bezels curving nicely into the rear of the phone. It feels premium, but is surprisingly and refreshingly light in weight. It’s only 159g. On first impression then the G5 ticks several of the key boxes.
There are a range of colours too including pink, silver and gold that all look stylish, and the ‘always on’ screen is very on-trend too.
Much like Samsung, LG has also made a real effort to improve its camera this year. Where it has focussed is the scale of images – introducing a wide-angle lens alongside the standard one on the rear of the phone gives users an option when it comes to photos.
The wide-angle lens is impressive too, and the contrast was stark when placed next to an iPhone- showing just how much the G5 could now get in the shot.
Then there is the modular aspect. It works fairly simply – the bottom panel of the G5, below the screen and where the LG logo sits, can be released and detached from the phone via a discreet button on the side of the device. When you remove it, the phone’s 2,800mAh battery comes with it.
From here the battery can be removed and replaced by another, or you can add one of the other modules, or LG Friends as the technology giant is calling them.
The first of which is LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play. This audio player extension adds a second headphone jack to the device, so two of you can listen at once. But crucially, that additional jack can supply high resolution audio playback, upscaling your music to that level in the process.
The second is LG Cam Plus, a remote that essentially turns your device into a digital camera, adding a physical shutter button so it sits like a camera in your hand. This accessory also adds an extra 1,200mAh battery capacity to the G5.
The first drawback is that neither of these main accessories match the G5 in any colour, so your phone will most definitely look modular as you use it.
The other issue lies in the unproven popularity of modular devices. Here, the G5 stands out from other smartphones, but in the wild the question remains as to whether the user would still want to be able to remove their batteries, or swap out for a camera extension. Google’s take on this never got going, and perhaps that was for a reason.
Where LG has also been wildly interesting this MWC is some of the other companion devices to go with the G5.
The first of which is a fully-fledged robot – the Rolling Bot – designed to be part home security device, part pet-sitter. The Rolling Bot can be controlled remotely via smartphone and used to scan your house, while there’s a laser light built in too for pets to chase, as well as a microphone so you can talk to them.
LG has also joined the virtual reality party, introducing 360 VR, its own headset which plugs exclusively into the G5 and uses a single screen for each eye to simulate a 130-inch screen being viewed from two metres away. The image sharpness is impressive, as is the ability to fold up 360 VR and carry it around with it, bringing a new level of mobility to the currently fairly tethered market.
