MWC 2016: LG announces modular G5 smartphone with slide-out battery

Samsung was also the first at the Mobile World Congress to hand out thousands of its VR devices to audiences, not being hesitant to boast of their achievements. LG has preloaded a handful of demos into the G5 (one of them containing an ostrich standing next to a Santa Claus figure in the middle of a crowded café), and the 360 VR is also compatible with YouTube 360 and every other Google Cardboard compatible app. Under the hood, the device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Processor, 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, and a 2,800mAh removable battery, all running Android 6.0. It also has a headphone jack for outputting audio to your headphones, though you can also use a Bluetooth pair connected to your phone.

A second module is called LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O PLAY, and it promises to delivery high-fidelity audio playback. Firstly it expands the battery to 4000mAh for all-day shooting, but it also adds buttons and a better grip, for a more natural camera experience. This digital audio converter (DAC) can be plugged into the G5 to add high-quality video.

The company hasn’t confirmed the exact launch date for the new handset, but has said that it will be appearing in retail in “key markets” in early-April.

For 2016, LG has produced its most premium smartphone yet.

LG G5 specifications and features: It sports a 5.3-inch QHD display (2560x1440pixels) with a pixel density of 554ppi. LG claims the feature won’t have a significant impact on battery life, as it only illuminates the pixels it needs to show the notifications.

It’s a IPS LCD panel, which LG says is important for the Always-on feature that the G5 offers. We surely appreciate phones with improved cameras too. One exception is the dual camera on the back, which lets you take wide-angle, 135-degree shots – pretty nifty when space is constrained.

Today at the LG G5 event at World Mobile Congress, LG revealed its latest flagship and all the goodies that come with it. The metal and glass clad uni-body sports an unusual feature – a modular bottom tray that allows extensions and additional components to be used with the phone.

LG is also making a 360-degree camera and a spherical robot camera that resembles the BB-8 droid in the new “Star Wars” movie. Four colours – silver, gold, pink and “titan” – are slated for worldwide release. “I think once customers spend a little time with the LG G5, their answer will be a resounding yes”. The volume controls move to the side, leaving a power button with embedded fingerprint scanner on the back. The good news for fans of removable batteries is that LG has managed to keep the user-swappable battery feature that it’s touted in past flagships as well as the microSD slot.

Another advanced display feature in the LG G5 is Daylight Mode, which gives the G5 exceptional outdoor visibility beyond that of current auto brightness technology. They look like they add nice functionality, but will consumers be compelled to spend extra cash on them and then like them enough to swap them. Even so, the modular design offers a potentially endless array of unusual add-ons that will be built internally at LG and by third-party developers who are being encouraged to use LG’s module software.