LG launches world's first modular smartphone G5

PanARMENIAN.Net - During its Play Begins event at Mobile World Congress 2016 Sunday, February 22, LG unveiled the LG G5, VentureBeat reports.

The G5 represents a massive shift in strategy for LG’s flagship smartphone. After the G2’s success, the South Korean company merely iterated with the G3 and the G4. The G5, meanwhile, is the successor to the G4 in name only.

Not only does the G5 finally switch to a metal body, but LG has chosen to go with a modular design, which it says allows you to transform your G5 into a “digital camera, hi-fi player, and more.” The phone features an expansion slot you can use to swap in batteries and other modules.

LG revealed only two such modules:

CAM Plus: This camera can be attached through the battery slot to “deliver a comfortable grip and convenient control of a DSLR.” The LG CAM Plus offers auto focus, exposure lock, and provides physical buttons for power, shutter, record, and zoom. It also gives the G5 additional battery capacity of 1,200mAh.

Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play: This portable Hi-Fi audio player developed in collaboration with B&O Play supports 32-bit, 384KHz high-definition audio playback. It can be used as a module with the LG G5 or even as a separate Hi-Fi digital audio chip (DAC) that connects to any smartphone or PC.

The LG G5 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD), a removable 2,800 mAh battery, and Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It has a 5.3-inch, 2560 x 1440 resolution (QHD) display at 554ppi.

Furthermore, the G5 has an always-on display so you can check the time, battery status, and your notifications without waking the phone. LG says the display’s backlight only illuminates one small part of the overall display, which translates into the always-on section draining only 0.8 percent of the phone’s battery every hour.