lg g5 screen replacement and lcd panel free sample

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Your LG G5 is broken or damaged and you are looking to get your G5 repaired? Compare now and find the best price for the required service for your LG G5 and go directly to the store.

Repairing your broken LG G5 is in most cases cheaper than buying a new smartphone. You can expect costs of about USD 50 for repair services of your mobile device. Replacing the display is normally a bit pricier than that. However, in almost all cases it is cheaper to get your LG G5 repaired than buying a new device.

At 50 percent speaker repair is the most frequently selected service for the LG G5. Second most frequently selected service is power button repair at 50 percent.

The following diagram (infographic) shows the distribution of the most common repairs / damages of the LG G5. The statistics are based on the repair requests (multiple requests possible).

Replacing or repairing the touchscreen of your LG G5 becomes necessary if the touch functionality doesn""t work properly anymore for example due to damaged display glass (cracked, scratched). Symptoms can be that the touchscreen doesn""t react to touch at all, only delayed or just when applying a lot of pressure. In most cases a damaged G5 touchscreen can not be repaired and needs to be replaced.

Diagnostics/assessment of the damages is recommend when your LG G5 stopped working (e.g. does not turn on anymore) and you are not able to determine the problem. Once a technician was able to analyze the issue and has estimated a price for the repair of your G5, you are able to decide what repairs will be performed.

If you have dropped your LG G5 into water, you should act fast. Consequences of a water damage don""t always appear right away. Immediately drying the device thoroughly, turning off the phone and if possible removing the battery can help increasing the chance of a successful repair. A professional assessment of possible damages of your G5 are recommended in any case. This way serious water damage can be avoided or affected parts replaced. A technician can perform diagnostics, find all affected parts and recommend fixes. Then you can decide for yourself what repairs are actually performed.

If your LG G5 does not charge properly anymore or you experience problems connecting to your PC or MAC a repair or replacement of the phone connector port could be necessary. Often it can also be a problem with the charger/charger cable or a broken USB cable. In any case a professional smartphone repair shop can help finding the problem and replace or repair the broken parts.

The battery of your LG G5 does not hold charge or doesn’t charge anymore at all? In this case you should consider getting the smartphone battery replaced.

If thespeaker of your LG G5 is too silent, you can hear cracks, the tone is cutting out or there is no sound at all, despite the correct settings, it is recommended to get a repair or replacement of your speaker or earpiece.

If your LG G5 won""t turn on or off anymore, it is often caused by a Hardware damage of your Power button (On/Off Switch). A broken Power button of a G5 is mostly fixed by replacing the element.

If the front or back camera of your LG G5 only takes blurry photos or the camera only shows a black screen, a camera repair is able to fix the problem.

Repair or replacement of the headphone jack of your LG G5 can be necessary, if your working earphones stopped playing sound on your smartphone or stopped providing the expected sound quality. The cause for damages of the headphone jack or commonly wear and tear, dirt or a dropped phone.

If you have dropped your phone, it can happen that the volume control of your G5 breaks or does not work properly anymore. In this case you can""t change the volume physically via the buttons. The only option left is to use the user interface and control the volume through the software. A repair or replacement of the volume control buttons of your LG G5 will fix the problem.

Unfortunately we are not offering a comparison of repair shops that would be able to fix this particular issue with your G5 at the moment. We are working hard to keep adding additional repair services to our comparison. You might still want to check in with our partners whether they offer the required repair for your LG G5.

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The LG G5 comes with a 5.3-inch 2560 x 1440 IPS LCD packing a pixel density of 554 PPI. In my ideal smartphone article earlier this year, I said that a 5.3-inch display provides the best mix of usability and display size. I absolutely stand by this assessment after using the LG G5: the screen is slightly easier to use than the larger display on the G4, and the device overall is very comfortable to hold.

Sharpness has never been an issue with LG"s 1440p LCDs, and now that this display is in its third iteration it keeps getting better. LG has managed to increase peak brightness up to a huge 860 nits, placing it above older 1080p and 720p displays that have typically had a brightness advantage. Combined with low glass reflectivity, the G5"s display is easy to view outdoors; far easier than competing devices I"ve used recently.

LG"s IPS panels have other benefits over lesser IPS displays, including fantastic viewing angles that rival AMOLED panels, and deep blacks that deliver a contrast ratio superior to any other LCD I"ve seen on a smartphone. Of course the contrast ratio still falls behind Samsung"s Galaxy smartphones with their AMOLEDs, but with the G5 you"re getting the best that LCDs have to offer with the advantage of superior brightness.

Where I wasn"t as impressed with the G5"s display is in color accuracy. The temperature of this display is tinted significantly to the blue end of the spectrum, giving the screen a cold appearance that can"t be adjusted through any built in utility. The 8800K color temperature does make whites "pop" in a way that a warmer display doesn"t, but it"s not accurate and has other effects on color reproduction.

Color saturation is good, exceeding the sRGB spectrum, although this does impact accuracy and gives most imagery a vibrant appearance that goes beyond what"s natural, particularly for red items. Some people will like this oversaturated appearance to the display that rivals Samsung"s smartphones, but it comes at the expense of color accuracy, which is poor across the board.

In some situations, I don"t have an issue with poor accuracy. On the Galaxy S7, for example, you can switch the phone into a "basic" sRGB mode if color accuracy is preferred or required. However, on the LG G5 there is no way to adjust the color profile of the display, so you"re stuck with the oversaturated image quality for better or worse.

One of the key features LG introduced with the G5 is an always-on display, again rivalling a similar feature in the Galaxy S7. While the version on the Galaxy S7 is a bit of a mess, the G5 variant includes proper notification support that significantly enhances the usefulness of the always-on screen. Sure, the display only shows notification icons rather than full notification snippets, but that"s a lot more useful than the Galaxy S7 only showing the time and date.

As this is an LCD, there is a greater concern about battery life drain from an always-on display considering the backlight needs to be powered consistently. In typical office lighting, the backlight was activated at around 1/30th of its typical maximum value, and in the dark the backlight drops to a near-zero level. Considering the screen is disabled completely when in your pocket (thanks to the proximity sensor), the typical power drain from the always-on display should be pretty low.

LG claims the feature uses between 0.3 and 0.8% battery per hour, which is a reasonable result considering I tested the Galaxy S7 Edge"s always on display to consume approximately 0.6% per hour. Whether LG"s testing is accurate remains to be seen.

Many Android phones are a bit more durable than iPhones, but that doesn"t mean they"re immune to damage. Phone screens are made of glass, after all, and glass breaks when you drop it.

So. You dropped your Android phone for the 60th time and you now have a beautiful spider web pattern blooming across your home screen. If you don"t have month-to-month phone insurance, here are your options for getting it fixed -- or dealing with it.

If your Android device is relatively new (read: still under manufacturer"s warranty), the first place you"ll want to go for your phone fix is the manufacturer. The price for a broken screen will vary depending on your device, but for a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge you"re probably looking at around $270 plus a day or two without your device. Going to the manufacturer is almost always going to be more expensive than a third-party repair shop, but your warranty will stay intact and your phone will be fully restored (possibly even replaced with a fully refurbished model) to its pre-broken-screen excellence (and waterproof phones, like the Galaxy S7 Edge

Samsung owners might want to consider purchasing Samsung Protection Plus -- it"s like Apple Care, but for your Galaxy phone. Samsung Protection Plus is an extended warranty available for all of Samsung"s high-end smartphones that covers everything from mechanical breakdowns to accidental damage (e.g., broken screens). It costs between $99 and $129 for two years of protection -- during those two years, you"ll get two accidental damage claims per year and you"ll pay a $79 deductible per incident. So one broken screen replacement on the Galaxy S7 Edge will cost you $208.

If you have a Google Pixel, Google has paired up with third-party repair chain uBreakiFixto offer walk-in screen repairs for the relatively affordable price of $129 for the PixelGoogle offers a Device Protection Plan for the Pixel and the Pixel XL. The Device Protection Plan costs $99 for two years" worth of coverage, and covers up to two incidents of accidental damage (but you"ll pay a deductible for each incident -- $79 for the Pixel and $99 for the Pixel XL). In other words, one broken Pixel screen will cost you $178, while one broken Pixel XL screen will cost you $198.

If you have an HTC 10HTC"s Uh Oh Protection plan. Uh Oh Protection will repair or replace your HTC 10 one time (within the first 12 months of ownership) if the screen breaks, or if there"s damage due to water/moisture, extreme thermal or environmental conditions, corrosion or oxidation. HTC will even send you a replacement device before you send in your damaged phone (within one business day), but you"ll have to agree to a $599 credit card hold until HTC receives your device.

If your Android device is older (out of warranty) or a less popular model, you"ll probably be able to save money by going to a third-party repair shop. I called a few local repair shops in the Los Angeles area and got quotes for between $100 and $250 for a Samsung Galaxy S5

There are a couple of benefits -- aside from price -- to using a third-party repair service. If you go to a local repair shop, they"ll be able to fix your phone quickly (some in less than an hour; one local LA shop even offered to come right to my apartment and fix it on the spot), which means you won"t be stuck without a phone. Most third-party repair shops also offer a warranty on the parts they replace, which means you can call them if your replacement screen stops working for any reason (aside from, you know, dropping it and breaking it again).

Some places will also offer a slightly lower price for repairing broken glass (as opposed to broken glass anda broken LCD) -- uBreakiFix, for example, charges $180 to repair the glass on an LG G5to repair the glass and the LCD on the same phone.

Using a third-party repair service to fix your device"s broken screen will almost certainly void your manufacturer"s warranty, so if your phone is new it"s best to first check out the manufacturer"s quote. Some new phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, are very difficult to repair, so you may find that the manufacturer has a better price than any reputable third-party service.

Assuming your device"s broken screen isn"t drastically interfering with your ability to use your phone, or making your fingers bleed, you may want to just ride out the cracks until you get a new phone (or until it does make your fingers bleed). To make your device last as long as possible, cracks and all, I suggest putting it in a sturdy, shockproof case, because any bumps or drops could cause more damage. If the cracks on the screen cross usable area, you may also want to look into a glass screen protector -- to protect your fingers from cuts and to protect your screen from more damage.

I just did a screen replacement following this guide. The #000 phillips fit a lot better than the #00, but otherwise this guide was great. It took about 15 minutes to do from start to finish and I"d say it was one of the more easy replacements I"ve had to do, since there were minimal components that had to be transferred over from the old to the new screen.

LG is facing a gigantic challenge in 2016. It’s launching directly against the Samsung Galaxy S7, a phone that improves on an already excellent platform to become an incredibly accomplished smartphone. To combat Samsung and the omnipresent iPhone, LG has decided to innovate and rethink how we use smartphones.

The G5 is really different. It’s a phone that has a bottom and battery that detach, allowing you to clip in new modules that give the G5 special abilities, like a better camera or higher-quality sound. It’s a small change, but damn exciting because of what it represents and what it could mean for the future.

For the G5 to be a success, people need to see the potential of the modules, but they also have to love the phone. Outshining Samsung and Apple is a gargantuan task, and LG’s out of left field. Does the G5 have what it takes to make people buy it and dive into the world of modular smartphones?

Editor’s Note: We tested a pre-production model for several days to see how the G5 performs alone, and with the CamPlus module attached.We will update this review when we receive final versions of the phone and modules.

LG will tell you the G5’s appeal lies inside the ‘magic slot,’ the unofficial name for the phone’s modular port. It’s located at the base of the device, and always houses the battery, which attaches to the module of your choice. On the phone’s right-hand side is a small, flush-mounted button that requires a firm press to activate. It pops the lower section of the phone out, disconnects the battery, and allows the entire module to be removed.

The battery unclips with a firm, sideways tug, and is reattached to the new module, which is slid back into the phone. It’s neat, well designed, and sensibly made. It doesn’t just unclip and let everything clatter to the floor either. You need to make the effort to pull the module free. You need a firm hand to remove the battery the mounting points, and replacing the module requires a solid final push to secure it back in place. None of these steps will be completed by accident, so the G5 won’t disassemble if you happen to look at it strangely.

However, it all feels very alien. We’re used to treating our phones like delicate little flowers, and the G5 needs some rough treatment to swap the modules. The first few times you do it, you’re going to wonder if it’s about to break. Will it? No, certainly not if you follow the instructions. Unless you drop the phone, you’ll be fine.

The first time we swapped modules, we were so afraid we would break the phone, that we asked another colleague, who’d had practice to do it. It took a couple rounds of swapping modules to get comfortable with the harsh tugging and pulling, and even then, it felt decidedly wrong. We can’t really imagine your average Joe swapping modules, but tech geeks will love it.

The LG G4 and the LG V10 are two of the very best camera phones ever made, and LG hasn’t sacrificed any of that photographic prowess on the G5. The G5’s camera is absolutely fantastic, and we can’t stop taking pictures with it. The sensor is almost identical to the V10, with 16-megapixels and an f/1.8 aperture, plus laser autofocus and optical image stabilization. It also copies the V10’s dual-lens selfie cam trick, but here, the two sensors are on the back.

The first camera provides a regular view of the world, while the second gives an expanded 135-degree wide-angle view, providing ample opportunity for creativity. They’re used independently of each other, unless you activate a special pop-out mode, where the two viewpoints are meshed together to create weird hybrids. It’s a feature that won’t be used that often, but can produce fun collages, if you’re patient.

Using the wide-angle lens is addictive. It changes the camera view completely, and changes the way you think about framing, composition, and focal points. Get it right, and the results looks superb, especially when taking pictures of vistas and wide-open spaces. There is a slight fish-eye effect to the G5’s wide-angle pictures, but again, provided you put some thought into the final image, it’s not distracting.

LG has included its incredibly easy-to-use manual mode for the G5, where ISO, shutter speed, focus, and white balance can be adjusted. It’s the most user-friendly manual mode we’ve used, and it never feels like you’re going to make a terrible mess of things when fiddling around with the settings. You’ll find yourself using it to tweak pictures rather than setting it to auto, due to its simplicity.

Low light performance is superb. Even using auto mode, it slowed the shutter speed down to a point where a tripod was needed to steady the shot and eliminate blur. Switching to manual mode compensated for the circumstances, but the picture wasn’t as good as it could have been. The software wasn’t final on the G5 we used, so we’ll update this review when we’ve used the complete version.

Zooming in on subjects is handled differently on the G5, utilizing both lenses for a fluid, more detail orientated digital zoom feature. It’s still no match for an optical zoom, and although it has a greater range than other digital zooms, the results are hardly worth the effort.

The 8-megapixel selfie camera also has a wider angle than other phones, such as the iPhone 6S Plus, and comes with an effective beauty mode for smoothing out skin tones. There’s also a fun multi-angle mode where the three lenses take a picture, which is then shown in a three-panel collage — great for showing a reaction selfie without spoiling the actual picture.

The G5’s camera is a complete pleasure to use; it’s a huge selling point for the phone. It’s fun and easy to learn, and because the results are usually beautiful, you’ll want to use it more often. The wide-angle lens differentiates the phone from the competition — and is an improvement over the G4 and V10 — even if the overall picture quality and general usage is essentially the same. It’d be harsh to say it’s not a worthy upgrade from either of those two phones, given the G5’s other features.

Given how well the G5’s camera performs, you’d almost wonder why you even need the CamPlus module. However, after using an early version of the CamPlus, we can honestly say that it enhances the G5’s camera, creating even more high-quality images. The main area in which the CamPlus shines is with its zoom feature.

The module isn’t very big, even though it holds an extra battery pack to keep your phone charged while you’re off being a shutterbug. There’s a dedicated photo button, a button for recording video, and a zoom wheel. When we zoomed in on a street sign from a full, long block away in NYC with the CamPlus, we could easily read the tiny street number on the sign and other details that were impossible to see with the human eye. We did the same thing with the standard zoom on the Galaxy S7 Edge and iPhone 6S Plus, and the results with both phones were more grainy and the street sign’s letters were almost indistinguishable.

The CamPlus module sees things that other smartphone cameras can’t, and it’s truly impressive. If you took the G5 and the CamPlus on vacation, you wouldn’t need to pack any other camera to take great photos. The addition of the camera button and zoom wheel will also be useful when you’re taking pictures with gloves on in the winter. It eliminates the need to touch your phone’s screen to get the best picture possible, which makes your G5 feel more like a real camera.

We felt some occasional software hiccups when the zoom wheel just wouldn’t work, or the camera had a hard time focusing, but LG reminded us that it’s an early prototype of the CamPlus and that refinements will be made before launch.

The CamPlus’ $70 price tag may give you pause, but if you like to take photos and find yourself wishing for a better zoom on your phone, the CamPlus is for you. We do hope, however, that carriers and LG will offer deals on these modules to make them more accessible to the average user. We’ve yet to try the high-res audio module or the battery back module, but we’ll update as soon as we get them in.

Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow is under more of a disguise on the G5 than previous LG smartphones, primarily because of the controversial decision to get rid of the app tray. It’ll split opinion, mainly among Android enthusiasts who have been with the OS from the start. Its similarity to Apple’s iOS will also annoy some, but the real question is, did we miss the app drawer? Not really, no. Actually, not at all.

All your apps are still there, but instead of tapping another button to find them, they’re spread across multiple home screens. Yes, I missed relegating only the most often used apps to the app drawer to place more emphasis on the wallpaper, but with careful sorting folders, it’s still possible to individualize the G5.

LG’s list of pre-installed apps isn’t that long, and includes the usual apps for email, contacts, and the weather, plus tools like a voice recorder, calculator, task manager, and handily, an FM radio. A selection of battery, storage, and memory saver tools are also onboard. None can be uninstalled. There’s also the LG Friends app, which helps you connect the modules properly. That process is remarkably easy: Once the module is in, the phone detects it, and you tap on its name to connect in the app. Done!

The G5 is a fireball with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM onboard, and we’re pleased to say it isn’t literally too hot to handle. Qualcomm’s new chip has banished the overheating woes that plagued the Snapdragon 810, and while the G5 gets warm to the touch when put under pressure, it’s never hot. Because the software on our review device isn’t final, we’ll hold off benchmarks for now, but playing Danmaku Unlimited in HD, on the insanely busy difficult mode didn’t result in any slowdown.

If the G5’s processor makes it an absolute beast, what about the battery? We’ll start with the positives. It’s completely replaceable, so if you carry a spare, it takes seconds to swap it out for a freshly charged one. Try that in any other major flagship phone in 2016. In fact, try it in any metal phone at all. It can’t be done, and it’s only possible on the G5 because of LG’s radical modular design.

Recharging will have to happen every other day, and potentially part way through it. If you hit the GPS for about two hours, take some photos, and generally use the phone for email, messages, and apps; the battery will give up at the end of the day. It’s not incredibly long lasting, but it’s not really that different from the Galaxy S7 or iPhone 6S Plus in that regard. At least with the G5, if you’ve got that second battery, it’s not the disaster the situation it may have been on another phone.

It also has QuickCharge 3.0, which is a step ahead of the Galaxy S7’s QuickCharge 2.0 standard. It juiced up quickly when we needed it to regain power fast. The absence of wireless charging will no doubt disappoint some of you, but that’s one of the things about metal – It doesn’t let signals penetrate so well.

Finally, we come to the G5’s understated design. It can’t stand up to the beauty of the iPhone or Galaxy S7 Edge. At first glance it looks boring, but it isn’t ugly. In time, we began to like its subtle design details.

There are curves in unexpected places — the top of the screen slopes back towards the chassis, for example — and there are no nasty sharp edges to make it awkward to hold. The metal is smooth and seamless. It doesn’t have any unsightly antenna bands, either, which is a true feat of engineering that not even Apple has accomplished.

If anything, the G5 is too understated, and doesn’t make much of an early impression. Live with it for a while, and you’ll be thankful for its well thought out design and shape.

LG should also be congratulated for making the modular system almost invisible on the G5. When you first look at the phone, you would never know the base slides out. There are no over-sized buttons, no silly arrows painted on the body, and no ugly breaks in the chassis. It’s all handled with maturity and style.

Although it’s not much smaller than the LG G4, the G5’s sleek shape makes it very compact. It’s barely bigger than the Galaxy S7 and weighs 159 grams. The display is 5.3 inches diagonal, smaller than the G4 and slightly bigger than the Galaxy S7, but it has the same 2,560 x 1,440 pixel resolution seen on LG’s top phones over the last few years. It performed without fault, as did the fingerprint sensor on the rear, although we really missed having the volume controls on the back of the G5. They’ve been moved to the side of the phone.

LG usually updates its phones at least once, but its record isn’t much better than that of Samsung or any other Android phone maker. It’s a shame, and we’d like to see phone makers take more initiative in getting Android updates out to users sooner. Because Android phones don’t get regular updates, they are vulnerable to hacking attacks, viruses, and generally less secure than the iPhone. And they don’t often get new software features. LG, and others, should work harder to fix this epic problem.

It’s unknown how durable the modules will prove, or if swapping them over and over again will cause and problems. That’s something that will be determined over time. The G5 isn’t water resistant, either, which is one mark against it in the durability column when compared to the Galaxy S7. However, when it comes to drops and falls, metal trumps glass every time, so the G5 will likely win the drop tests.

The amount of work, thought, effort, and commitment that has gone into creating the G5 is astonishing. While other brands are accused of coasting along with endless rehashes of previously successful handsets, LG has come out with something that drives the smartphone game full speed ahead. It’s brave, exciting, and full of glorious potential.

However, at the moment, the potential of the modular phone isn’t fully realized. Without a packed playground full of modular pals to play with, the G5’s magic slot is a bit lonely. The only two modules that are out so far – the CamPlus and the high-res audio one — aren’t hugely exciting, and only photography nuts and high-res audio fans will take the plunge and buy one at a $70 price.

So, should you buy the G5 as it stands right now? We think so. It is undoubtedly one of the finest flagship phones of 2016 to date, and you won’t be disappointed by it whether you buy into the modules or not. But if you’re deciding between G5 and Galaxy S7 Edge, right now, we’d opt for the Edge, especially because it supports the best smartphone accessory available to buy today — the Gear VR headset.

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The G5 is a step in a new direction for LG and brings a brand new design, dual cameras, and modular capabilities while still staying true to what an LG phone should be. With the new modular concept, it’s not just about what the G5 can do now but rather, what it’s capable of doing in the future, and that alone makes the LG G5 one very compelling smartphone.

After a few years of tweaking and perfecting its G-series design language, LG has torn up the rule book and breathed new life into the line with the LG G5. Dropping a plastic build for a metal frame and introducing a new modular concept, the LG G5 certainly has the potential to shake up the mobile market, but does it succeed?

Unlike Korean rival Samsung who dropped microSD card expansion and a removable battery when it made the switch to metal and glass last year – although the former did return in this year’s Galaxy S7 family – LG has stuck to its guns and, through a unique design, kept the removable battery and expansion while making the switch to a more premium build.

Are modules the way forward for the smartphone industry; will LG’s big gamble on being unique pay off; and can the LG G5 pose a real threat to Samsung’s excellent Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones? This is what we aim to find out – and more – in this full review of the LG G5.

As introduced earlier this year, this review follows our new dual review format with two different members of Android Authority reviewing the LG G5 to provide the most comprehensive review possible. While I have put together the in-depth written review you’ll find below, the video embedded above was put together by Lanh Nguyen. Through the course of meetings to discuss our findings, together they combine to provide the most comprehensive review of the LG G5 experience from two different perspectives.

The LG G5 is the successor to last year’s G4 but as Lanh says, “it’s really nothing like it. For the most part, it’s an entirely different phone, and a lot of that has to do with the design.”

The differences between the LG G5 and the LG G4 are quite stark, with LG’s latest flagship bringing an aluminium build, but as we’ve heard recently, it’s not metal as you quite know it. Let’s clear up on thing first; the LG G5 is definitely made of metal, but it’s undergone a secret treatment process which essentially puts a layer of primer and paint on top of the body, similar to how a car gets painted. As a result, you aren’t directly touching metal, but it’s definitely a metal phone.

With most metal phones, they can feel quite cold in the morning or warm under heavy usage, but for the most part, the LG G5 is a constant temperature. LG’s approach to metal was certainly done with the best intentions in mind but as a result of the primer-paint approach, the handset doesn’t feel as premium or as solid as a metal phone traditionally does. I’d have to agree with Lanh, when he says that:

Materials aside, the rest of of the G5 is built well and the reduction in screen size over last year’s LG G4 means it’s more ergonomically friendly and comfortable to hold in the hand. I personally think the 5.3-inch form factor is perfect for a smartphone and LG may have uncovered the perfect size. At 159 grams, the LG G5 also has considerable weight to it, but given the lack of premium feel to the body, the hefty weight actually improves the in-hand experience and makes the smartphone feel more solid.

If you’ve used an LG G-series smartphone before, the button layout on the LG G5 will take some getting used to; since the G2, LG’s flagships have had the volume and power keys on the rear, but with the G5, the volume buttons have now switched to the left of the handset. If you’re someone who holds a phone in their right hand, the position of the volume keys on the left is quite uncomfortable, and, as they’re almost flush with the edge of the phone, they are difficult to locate at the best of times.

The rear still sports a power button – with embedded fingerprint sensor – and the power button itself is a disappointment, as it feels uneven and doesn’t offer reassuring feedback when pressed. Having used the power key with fingerprint sensor on the back of the LG V10, the less-than-premium power key on the G5 is definitely a let down.

On the bottom, LG has made the switch to the newer USB Type-C standard, which is widely becoming the norm for flagship devices this year. Alongside this is the microphone and single bottom-firing speaker, and the latter is surprisingly impressive for a single mono speaker. Lanh sums it up best when he says it is one of the better single speakers he’s heard on a smartphone in a long while.

Overall, the LG G5 definitely isn’t going to win any awards for the way it looks but this smartphone is more about substance over style. LG has managed to combine microSD card expansion and a removable battery while keeping a metal unibody, and the presence of a recessed button to remove the bottom chin allows you to swap and remove batteries with ease. The bottom chin is also one of the most compelling reasons to buy the LG G5, as it makes the G5 the first modular smartphone to hit the market, and this is what makes the phone’s experience so compelling.

Alongside the G5, LG is announcing new “Friends” that work with the smartphone; while some of these actually connect to the device, others don’t and this is why LG kept to the Friends name (instead of calling them modules).

LG has developed a few friends for its new flagship, but is also opening the concept and allowing third parties to get creative with module designs. Of the modules that actually connect to the smartphone, there’s only two available and these are the LG Cam Plus and the LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play.

The LG Cam Plus is the company’s camera grip, which provides welcome physical controls for launching the camera, taking a photo, video, zooming in and out of an image and recording video. The Cam Plus also packs an additional 1,200mAh battery, which can keep your phone topped up – when the phone is not being used that is – and the only real downside is the bulk it adds to the G5, which makes it uncomfortable to use as an actual phone.

Personally, I also think it’s very counter-intuitive that LG created a separate switch to launch the camera, rather than allow you to launch the camera by pressing the shutter button, but this is just a personal gripe with the design. For most people, once you realise the switch allows you to quickly launch the camera, you’ll find this is what you instinctively reach for when you pull the G5 and Cam Plus out of your pocket.

The LG Hi-Fi Plus is an entirely different type of module as it appeals very much to audiophiles and music lovers. Developed in partnership with Bang & Olufsen, the Hi-Fi Plus is a 32-bit DAC and headphone amp, which features an ES9028C2M + Sabre9602 chipset for supporting music up to 384KHz. The DAC features its own headphone jack (in addition to the regular one at the top of the phone), its own speaker and the USB Type-C charging port and can also be used as a standalone DAC when not being used with the G5. The 24-bit audio experience on the LG G5 is already quite impressive, and the Hi-Fi Plus serves to improve this further, offering additional space, clarity and detail to the sound.

Before you get too excited about the Hi-Fi DAC though, it’s not going to work with G5 smartphones sold in Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico or the USA; LG declined to comment on why it won’t work with these devices (and why listings were pulled in the US), but it’s worth keeping this in mind if you planned to buy the G5 in one of these markets and wanted to buy the Hi-Fi Plus.

LG’s other friends for the G5 include a tethered Virtual Reality headset – which is lightweight and comfortable as it connects to your smartphone using the USB Type-C port – and the Cam 360. LG’s first foray into 360° cameras has delivered a stylish friend with two 180° cameras capable of capturing 16MP 360° photos or 360° video in Quad HD (2K) resolution.

Overall, the concept of a modular smartphone certainly isn’t new – Project Ara anyone? – but LG has made considerable attempts to develop modules that are genuinely useful to customers. The availability may be scarce but with third parties also able to develop friends for LG’s new smartphone, it won’t be long before the available range is considerably larger.

As mentioned above, LG has made the G5’s display smaller than previous years, but kept the same QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution as the G4. As a result, the display offers a slightly sharper experience (no doubt thanks to the increase in pixel density from the smaller display). Overall, the display is typical of that found on LG’s devices and, despite the smaller size, it’s more than large enough to offer an enjoyable experience when watching movies or playing games.

2016 seems to be a race for OEMs to create Always On displays and LG is no different, evolving the second screen concept from the V10 into a more mainstream always on screen on the G5. As seems to be the way with most smartphones, the always on display isn’t necessarily the most useful as it can show you the clock, incoming notifications (albeit quite badly), a signature or a random message.

LG’s decision to go with LCD technology over AMOLED does affect the always on display as it’s quite dim and completely illegible in bright sunlight. No doubt, LG has had to tone down the brightness in order to help conserve battery life, but it does mean the Always On display is less useful than it could have been, had LG opted for a different display technology.

Overall, the G5’s display is certainly impressive and offers great color reproduction and vibrant colors, that aren’t oversaturated. Yes, it’s not an AMOLED display so colors don’t pop quite as much as they do on other devices but overall, it’s difficult to fault what is, otherwise, a more than capable smartphone screen.

As LG’s first flagship of the year, it’s safe to expect the latest and greatest specs and LG certainly hasn’t disappointed in this department. Inside the G5, it’s got the Snapdragon 820, Adreno 530 GPU and 4GB RAM, which combine to offer a really snappy experience, with no visible signs of lag anywhere in the UX.

From buttery smooth animations, to rapid multitasking and gaming like a pro, the G5 is definitely more than capable at handling whatever you throw at it. Aside from occasionally getting slightly warm (which is not a criticism), the G5 proves to be a very capable contender and offers an experience that rivals the best on the market. In fact, both Lanh and I agree that it’s probably one of the smoothest smartphones that LG has ever put out.

Of course, the in-hand experience is only one part of it, so how does the G5’s SoC setup stack up to other devices, in particular this year’s flagship Galaxy S7 family? Let’s take a look:

Starting with GeekBench 3, the LG G5 scores a very respectable single core score of 2252 and a multi core score of 5215. How does this fare to the competition? Well, this is slightly lower than both the Snapdragon powered version of the Galaxy S7 Edge, which achieved scores of 2318 and 5452, and the Exynos powered Galaxy S7 Edge, which achieved scores of 2107 and 6397.

Moving onto another CPU test and this time, AnTuTu reveals some quite interesting results, with the G5 ranking higher than the Galaxy S7 Edge which achieved a maximum score of 127938 in our testing. Despite only being a quad-core unit (comprised of two dual core processors), the Snapdragon 820 is proving to be one of the most capable chipsets on the market.

Our final benchmark took us to 3DMark to run the SlingShot test on the Adreno 530 GPU inside the LG G5. In this test, the G5 achieves a score of 2447, which is slightly lower than the 2528 score achieved by the Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S7, but miles ahead of almost every smartphone currently on the market.

The fingerprint sensor is embedded within the rear power button and while the button doesn’t feel as premium as on past LG devices, the fingerprint sensor is one of the best on a smartphone. Inspired by the Nexus 5X, it requires 5 to 6 taps to set up and unlike other smartphones, you don’t actually have to press the power button in order for it to read your fingerprint. Just tapping your finger on the sensor is enough to unlock and it does so, quickly and accurately. On a couple of occasions, I’ve had an error saying fingerprints can’t be used (and to use my alternate security method), but this seems to be a local issue as Lanh (and several others) haven’t experienced this.

Under the hood, the G5 comes equipped with 32GB internal storage, which can be expanded further by up to 200GB using a microSD card. LG definitely deserves credit for sticking to its guns about both microSD card expansion and a removable battery, and for LG loyalists who need expansion, the G5 definitely doesn’t disappoint.

Connectivity-wise, the G5 also doesn’t disappoint as it comes equipped with a selection of LTE bands (which depend on the model you buy) that can support Cat 9 speeds (450Mbps download, 50Mbps upload), Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, an infrared port and a selection of sensors to measure and track almost anything. The use of USB Type-C can be a pain if you already have a collection of microUSB accessories but, with the industry moving towards this next-generation standard, it’s nice to see that LG has managed to future proof its latest handset.

It’s likely that some people may have been concerned with the G5’s single bottom firing speaker but we can safely say that there’s nothing to worry about. While it doesn’t offer the quality of dual stereo front facing speakers, the speaker is mighty impressive for a single firing speaker.

Overall, buying a flagship smartphone usually means you get flagship specs with it and the G5 doesn’t disappoint in the performance & hardware stakes. Combining the very latest internals with an optimised software experience has allowed LG to deliver one of the smoothest smartphone experiences it has ever offered on a mobile device.

Of course, battery life is where many smartphones can stumble, but how does the removable battery inside the LG G5 stack up to the ever increasing demands of smartphone users?

While most flagships seem to sport 3000mAh batteries or larger, the cell inside the G5 is a smaller-yet-equally-capable 2800mAh battery. For the most part, the LG G5 is capable of getting you through a whole day’s usage, although actual screen on time seems to range between 3 and 4 hours. By way of comparison, the 3000mAh unit inside the Galaxy S7 lasts an hour or so longer off a single charge but the G5 does have one standout feature that sets it apart from the competition.

Accessed via a recessed button that unclips the bottom chin, the removable battery is a particularly good feature to have on a modern flagship. In a market where companies are moving away from removable batteries, LG has shown it is possible to switch to a metal unibody and still allow users to remove and swap the battery. After all, the beauty of mobile phones is the ability to be free from a tethered cable, and if you have to keep charging your phone, is it truly mobile?

LG hasn’t revealed when official spare/replacement batteries will be available so if you find yourself running out of juice, you’ll be happy to know that Quick Charge 3.0 is also present on the G5. The G5 charges to full in 1 hour and 19 minutes and you can charge to 50 percent in just 27 minutes.

Overall the LG G5 battery life is certainly more than satisfactory for a flagship, but it does fall slightly behind other flagships, including both of LG’s flagships of last year. That being said, the ability to swap your battery out and go from empty to full in a heartbeat is the key feature that sets the G5 apart from the competition. As quick as quick charging can be, nothing quite beats being able to swap your battery out and go to full in under a minute.

Traditionally, LG has offered a single camera array in its flagship devices, but last year’s LG V10 saw the company release a smartphone with two cameras on the front. Fast forward six months and the dual cameras have stuck around, although this time they’re on the back. The main, larger lens on the right is the 16MP sensor, which comes equipped with OIS and f/1.8 aperture which is likely to be used for most of your shots. The secondary, smaller lens on the left is an 8MP sensor with f/2.4 aperture and wide-angle 135° field of view.

Both Lanh and I agree that the wide angle camera is the best thing on the LG G5 as it is capable of capturing excellent wide photos and it’s immediately obvious just how much of a difference there is between the two lenses. Both of us also agree that it’s the mode you’ll choose to you use more often than not as, even though the resolution is lower than the main lens, the pictures definitely tell a much larger story.

The camera UI hasn’t changed much from the G4 or the V10, save for the addition of two icons at the top of the interface, which allow you to switch between the two lenses. Alternatively, as you zoom in and out of a scene, the G5 will automatically switch between the lenses and reflect which lens is being used in the viewfinder.

Like past devices, the G5 comes with a range of preset modes to use when capturing a scene, and for the budding photographer, there’s an entire set of DSLR-like controls over settings such as white balance, ISO, and shutter speed. As the saying goes, if it isn’t broken, why fix it and LG was right to stick with its already-impressive camera app instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.

Picture-wise, the G5 delivers sharp images with excellent amounts of detail and, like past devices, the camera is definitely one of the best in the business. The color reproduction is pleasing to the eye and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of oversharpening. The camera does have a tendency to crush shadows in a lot of daytime shots, but using HDR mode quickly resolves this, and, thanks to the color spectrum sensor, you end up with very natural photos.

The G5 is also capable of really good bokeh in photos thanks to the f/1.8 aperture, which allows you to capture images at a shallow depth of field. As a result, you can take some fantastic macro and close up shots with the main lens. The secondary lens has a much larger f/2.4 aperture so you won’t be able to take quite as shallow images.

Low light performance is on par with most smartphones but it isn’t the best on the market. The G5 has a tendency to overexpose the highlights and there’s a noticeable amount of noise reduction, especially in shots captured at night. The G5 comes equipped with laser autofocus but this doesn’t really show in lowlight, where the camera can take longer than you’d expect to focus on a particular subject.

Up front, the G5 has a single 8MP selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture, which is capable of capturing pretty good selfie images in day or night. It’s not the best selfie camera on the market, but is more than capable of capturing those moments. The G5 also comes with a range of shooting modes, including multi-view, panorama, slo-mo and time-lapse.

All things considered, the camera on the LG G5 is more than adequate and at least on par with most current flagships. The experience is typical of LG devices of the past, and considering these were some of the best cameras of their time, we’re happy that LG stuck to its tried-and-tested setup.

Now to what is arguably the most contentious part of the G5 experience: the software, and specifically, LG’s new User Experience. Running atop Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, the new interface brings a heavily refined user experience, but lacks an app drawer. The new UX is radically different to past LG devices, but this is for the better, as the G5 sports what is probably the cleanest and least intrusive LG UI ever made.

Previous LG flagships had come with a lot of additional apps and features that proved to hinder the overall performance and detract from an otherwise-great experience. This year, LG has adopted the mantra that less is more and to great effect, with a decluttered and bloat-free experience delivering silky smooth transitions and excellent performance.

The entire interface appears to be well thought out and little tweaks like the white and light green colored accents in the notification shade and settings menu are nice little touches. By default, LG has kept the settings menu in 4 panels, but they have now included an option to revert back to a more traditional list view like stock Android. Like previous devices, LG has also made it really easy to customise the on screen navigation keys, as well as choose in which apps the on-screen keys are automatically hidden.

Many of LG’s features like the Smart Bulletin and Qslide apps are still present on the phone but they’re not quite as in-your-face as before, with things like Smart Bulletin turned off by default and tucked away inside the settings menu. LG has removed the dual window option from the G5, which is somewhat disappointing, but as Lanh attested to in the video, this is possibly because Android N will gain the feature natively and hence it will come to the G5 at a later date.

The biggest change to the software experience however, is the app drawer, or the lack of it should we say. LG has removed the app drawer in its latest launcher and as a result, it feels a lot more like iOS than Android. LG isn’t the first to go down the route of removing the app drawer, but if you’ve never used an Android phone without an app drawer, you will find the experience quite jarring at first.

LG has made its Home 4.0 launcher available as a download in their SmartWorld application, and this brings back the app drawer (alongside LG’s homescreen management of old). I personally found the G5 experience to be excruciating without the app drawer, but installing Home 4.0 (or an alternative launcher of your choosing) definitely fixes this problem. Personally, I find the Home 4.0 launcher quite pleasant to use, but also recommend Nova launcher for power users.

Overall, the LG G5 definitely brings with it a vast amount of changes to the software experience, and – lack of app drawer aside – the changes deliver the best LG software experience ever released on a smartphone. Given that LG’s interface was often the root cause of many performance-related issues on past LG smartphones, it’s nice to see that LG has delivered a truly flagship user experience.

The LG G5 is set to cost $700 off contract in the USA, which is pretty typical for a flagship smartphone and the G5 is definitely on par with other flagships in the same price bracket. The G5 is a step in a completely new direction for LG and offers a brand new design, impressive dual camera array and premium software experience. At the same time, LG hasn’t quite perfected its design but for a first-generation product, the G5 has us extremely excited about what’s to come.

The modular capabilities make the G5 one of the most unique smartphones on the market, and while other manufacturers are focusing on making a good smartphone, LG has shown it isn’t afraid to dare to be different. As a result, the Korean OEM has a smartphone that truly stands out in an otherwise-homogenous market and this can only be a good thing for LG and for consumers.

With the new modular concept, it’s not just about what the G5 can do now but rather, what it’s capable of doing in the future, and that alone makes the LG G5 one very compelling smartphone.

Despite switching to an entirely new design and working with new materials, LG still stuck to its guns and delivered a metal unibody, complete with microSD card expansion and a removable battery. In doing so, the company has shown that it values the core features that its users love and will continue to offer them. There’s no denying that the overall experience isn’t quite as refined as a second-generation product like the Galaxy S7, but what is really intriguing about the LG G5 is that it will continue to evolve as a smartphone experience. With the new modular concept, it’s not just about what the G5 can do now but rather, what it’s capable of doing in the future, and that alone makes the LG G5 one very compelling smartphone.

What do you think of the LG G5 and are you planning to buy one? Is modular the way forward and has LG stolen a march on its key rivals by adopting a modular concept ahead of everyone else? Let us know your views in the comments below guys!

If there’s one company you can count on to shake things up with something different for each year’s flagship then it’s probably LG. They like taking risks – and that’s fine – but after evaluating the latest, the G5, it does seem as if they went a bit too far this time. Unpleasant edges, a wacky replaceable bottom concept, a dual camera that doesn’t really add much. Read on for the details in our LG G5 review, but it just doesn’t feel like a top-end flagship. And that’s a crying shame, given the absolute top end specifications and ambitions.

The problem is that the LG G5, full of new ideas, is on the market at the exact same time as the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and HTC 10. You see, the latter two are like jewels in the hand – you can fondle them, enjoy the premium metals and glass, the smooth edges, the chamfers. True, you’re probably going to put both in a case while out and about, but you know – and can appreciate – why you just spent over £500 on each – they’re prime slices of extreme high tech.

In fact, so is the G5 – in terms of raw technology, but it’s not packaged anywhere near as well, or as cohesively. Pick the G5 up and it’s solid enough – yet doesn’t feel like metal. This is because it’s a strong metal unibody for the most part, but covered in plastic – presumably for durability reasons, maybe to hide the external antennae, who knows? The finish doesn’t show fingerprints, which is good, but it’s vulnerable to scratches and might age in a rather ugly fashion.

But the plastic coating isn’t my concern here. The biggest problem by far is the fit and finish down at the bottom. The whole end section comes off, as you probably gathered by now, pulling the main battery with it and giving a chance to replace this when it gets worn out – or, on the fly, when empty and you have a charged spare standing by. The bottom is detached by pressing this annoyingly almost-flush button and then gripping and pulling hard from the opposite corner.

Which is all fine, there are two ‘Friends’ available, alternative bottom sections, one with extra bulk to act as a camera grip, with a proper shutter button and zoom control, plus an extra top-up battery (see photo below, under ‘Imaging’); and one with a larger speaker, high end DAC and second 3.5mm headphone socket, for music fiends. Neither of these were available to me for a full review, but equally, neither are exactly essential – the camera add-on is just ergonomics and doesn’t affect photographic results at all, and the music add-on is rendered extremely niche because audio from the standard G5 headphone jack on the top is already excellent.

Inside the shell of the G5, note the cross-section of the sturdy metal build, plus the connector on the right – this is for signals to the loudspeaker and USB port…

However, having an end section that pulls off and then clips on again is something that you could probably make work on a budget handset, but it falls down horribly here. As I gently move my thumb down the left front of the G5, there’s a truly horribly sharp point at the top left of the clip on section – this sits proud of the phone’s Gorilla Glass 4 screen and annoys me every single time I pick the phone up.It was suggested to me that this was just a defective sample, so I got another LG G5 in from another supplier. And the exact same sharp, annoying corner. Doh!

Then, around the back, there’s a step up of at least half a millimetre when moving one’s finger or thumb from end section to main body. Now add in that the eject button itself is quite sharp and not flush, add in that, when held up to the light, you can see small gaps either side of the end section, and you’ll rightly get the idea that LG’s risk in going with the modular ‘replaceable bottom’ idea isn’t going to sit well with expectations for a smartphone that you’ve just paid £500 for. (Again, I compared my second G5 – and also saw gaps. In fact, the gaps were there out of the box, before I’d even detached the bottom section!)

Rubbing salt into this wound is that LG has chosen to go, all round, with a stepped design – the back curves gently into some bare metal foundation and then there’s a jarring step across to the smooth painted outer rim of the phone. When picking up almost any other top flight smartphone in 2016 (from iPhone to HTC to Huawei designs) and then subsequently picking up the LG G5, there’s a feeling that you’re holding a prototype, something – quite literally – with ‘rough edges’.

It’s ‘clicky’ too – the power button on the back (which doubles – very well – as a fingerprint sensor) moves with the feel and sound of something right at the bottom end of the market – there’s no dampening of the click, no attempt to make you feel like you’re powering on – or off – an expensive piece of high-tech.

And all of this just isn’t good enough at this end of the market. Even £100 phones like the Lumia 650, the Moto G (and many others) are built well and designed to be a delight in the hand. This…. isn’t.

But can the technical capabilities of the LG G5 make you forget about any cosmetic concerns? Well, maybe – the G5 is certainly highly specified. Powered by a Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB RAM (just as on the HTC 10 last week), the G5 is certainly speedy and at no point did I notice any lag or slowdown.

Battery life was exemplary too, with the 2800mAh cell giving at least a day of heavy use – plus there’s that facility to power down and put in a new, charged cell if you need to. Or plug in a Quick Charge 3.0-compatible charger for the same super-speedy top-ups (60% in half an hour) that we saw on the HTC 10. The eagle eyed will have spotted that the charging and data port is USB Type C and also part of that removable bottom section. One of the reasons why any Friend modules will be relatively expensive, since they have to include these original components – or better – by necessity.

There’s plenty of storage too, with 32GB integrated (though of which only 20MB or so is available out of the box) and with a microSD tray in the right hand side pop-out caddy. Wi-fi goes up to ‘ac’, of course, plus there’s Bluetooth 4.2 – the LG G5 is right up to date in all the essentials.

The 5.3” IPS QHD display’s terrific, as you’d expect, albeit slightly smaller than the G4’s (5.5″) oddly. QHD resolution, i.e. 1440p, still seems over the top for an LCD panel at this size, but really high resolution content (e.g. 4K media from YouTube) is incredibly crisp and this seems to be the 2016 standard, so why not?

Playback of media is helped by the really rather good mono speaker, it’s right up with the best and, other than there wasn’t a stereo arrangement, Marshall London-style, I had no complaints in this department. It’s absolutely fine for podcasts, sat-nav and speaker-phone calls.

Aside from the end section and Friends, the G5’s biggest marketi