LG G5 vs LG G4 quick look
LG officially unveiled its 2016 flagship, the
LG G5, at MWC 2016 earlier today, introducing a radical departure in design
when compared to earlier members of the G series. There’s no denying that the
all-metal modular design is strikingly different than its predecessor the LG
G4, but are the differences only skin deep or is there more beneath the surface
of the G5 than meets the eye? Find out in our quick look LG G5 vs LG G4
comparison.
The LG G5 is the first all-metal G series
device from LG. As such, it does not have a removable back cover, like the G4
and G3 before it, but it does retain a microSD card slot and removable battery.
The familiar rear-key button setup is also gone, with a volume rocker now
located on the left hand side of the phone and the power button integrated in
the new finger scanner on the back, which is now flat compared to the G4’s
curved rear.
Despite its more “premium” build material,
the LG G5 is arguably not as “premium looking” as the G4, seeming to prioritize
function over form instead. The all-metal build doesn’t add much to the weight
of the G5 though, coming in at just four grams heavier than the G4. This
lightness, combined with the feel of the metal finish, doesn’t make the G5 feel
all that sturdy, like an HTC device, but it is a refreshing change to have such
a lightweight metal phone.
As rumored, the LG G5 features a unique new
modular design whereby the bottom section of the phone slides out to allow a
variety of optional “modules” to be inserted, what LG has dubbed “Friends”,
along with various peripherals that don’t slot in. A button on the lower left
edge of the G5 unlocks the module mechanism and it can then be pulled out of
the phone, with the battery attached.
Each LG G5 module incorporates this bottom
section of the device whether the module is the same size, like the LG Hi-Fi
Plus DAC by Bang & Olufsen, or larger and bulkier like the LG CAM Plus
which adds additional camera controls and and extended battery to the G5. For
more details on the LG G5 modules, check the link. The visual differences
between the G4 and G5 are too extensive to list here, with basically no
similarities between the two. Some changes seem curiously for the worse,
however.
For example, the slight “lip” surrounding the
display on the G4 is gone and the slight top-to-bottom curve of the screen
(that kept it from making contact with a flat surface if faced screen down) is
gone, replaced by a slight bend in the Gorilla Glass 4 at the top of the
display, which potentially exposes the G5’s screen to more scratches than its
predecessor.
The LG G5 display is slightly smaller than
the G4, at 5.3 inches compared to 5.5. It’s still a QHD LCD, but it has been
completely redesigned to allow LG to isolate a certain section of the display
to function as an Always-On Display (AOD). The AOD permanently places time,
date and notification information on-screen, and like the LG V10, there’s also
the option for a custom signature. LG claims the G5 does not suffer from any
backlight “bleed” although we could see some evidence of it from the top edge
of the screen, but because the G5 has an LCD display, screen “burn in” is not a
concern like with AMOLED.
The redesign of the LCD has also allowed LG
to equip the Always-On display with power consumption comparable to AMOLED
(which only illuminates individual pixels), at just 0.8% per hour. LG’s Dr. Ram
Chan Woo tells us that in his experience, the average consumption from the
Always-On display is around to 5-10% per day, but we’re yet to confirm this
figure for ourselves. You can also disable the Always-On display in the Battery
Saver app or in the Display section of the settings if you feel the hit to the
battery isn’t worth having the feature enabled.
Covering the proximity sensor will shut the
screen off entirely, saving power when the phone is in your pocket, and nudging
it will make the Always-On display slightly brighter. Speaking of brightness,
on paper the LG G5 almost doubles the G4’s maximum brightness of 455 nits,
pumping out 900 nits at max brightness, although in our experience they looked
very similar. The LG G5 had more stable viewing angles than the G4 though. In
terms of pixel density, the G5 crams 554 pixels per inch (ppi) into its
slightly smaller display compared to the G4’s 534 ppi.
The LG G5 specs naturally take things to the
next level, including the quad-core Snapdragon 820 SoC with two
high-performance cores clocked at 2.15 GHz and two low-power cores clocked at
1.59 GHz. The G5 has 4 GB of RAM and a 32 GB ROM with microSD expansion up to 2
TB (good luck finding a memory card with that capacity for a while) with Adreno
530 GPU.
According to Qualcomm’s marketing, the
Snapdragon 820 provides 40% faster graphics and is 40% more power efficient
than the 810, but we’ll have to bring you more details on comparative
performance once we get final hardware and software. As you may recall, the LG
G4 wisely took the safer option of the hexa-core Snapdragon 808 rather than the
problematic Snapdragon 810 and came with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB and 64 GB
models.
Like many other recent flagships, the G5
shrinks the battery capacity from 3,000 mAh to 2,800 mAh, but the more
efficient processor should make up for the slightly smaller capacity. The G5
makes the switch to USB Type-C and supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0
standard, which can charge to 80% capacity in just 30-35 mins, but the G5’s
metal housing denies it the wireless charging capabilities of the G4.
The LG G5 camera is where things get even
more complicated. The LG G4 has a 16 MP camera with f/1.8 aperture, optical
image stabilization and laser auto-focus. The LG G5 camera features a twin lens
array like the LG V10 front-facing camera, but brings the concept to prime
time. On the back of the G5 you’ll find two lenses, a primary 16 MP lens that
shoots at a standard 75 degree angle and an additional 135-degree wide-angle 8
MP lens.
The G5 camera also includes optical image
stabilization but switches to Phase Detection Auto-Focus (PDAF). It doesn’t
have manual video like the V10 but otherwise the camera setup is similar, just
on the back and at larger resolutions. The G5 essentially has the same camera
software as the G4 but stitches together images from the dual lenses, although
it can take shots anywhere in the 75-135 degree range, changing the resolution
due to cropping.
Post-processing is still there and LG just
needs to let it go. The wide-angle adds a slight fisheye look to wide angle
shots, producing photos that slightly resemble GoPro stills. Low light
performance could be a little better on the G5, but it still seems marginally
better than the G4 although it’s a little early to say for sure. HDR
performance is quite good on the G5, bumping up shadows and lowering highlights
just enough. The main difference of course is in terms of functionality rather
than a massive leap in quality.
The LG G5 software is dramatically different
to that found on the LG G4, despite both running Android Marshmallow. Due to
the significance of the changes in the G5’s software, it may not completely
filter down to the G4 even in a future update. This is because the LG G5’s
interface does away with the familiar Android app drawer, something that seems
to add credence to our exclusive report that Google is planning to remove the
app drawer in Android N.
Besides the absence of an app drawer, the G5
gets a massive visual overhaul, introducing a black text on white ground theme
with mint green toggles and accents, but this can be switched up with
downloadable themes. The notifications shade resembles the new TouchWiz and the
settings menu is tabbed but can easily be switched to a single list view.
LG has reduced the amount of pre-installed
apps, perhaps to make the home screens not look too crowded straight out of the
box, and app icons have been given the squircular treatment, leaning more
towards rounded squares. Familiar LG software features like Q-Slide apps and
Dual-Window are missing but QuickMemo+ remains.
The most significant of the new apps is the LG Friends Manager, the hub
app that connects all the new LG G5 modules and peripherals with their
respective apps.
LG argues that the removal of the app drawer
is aimed at “eliminating the confusion caused by uninstall and remove action
that exists in the dual structure by providing only one layer.” Believe this if
you like, but LG says it has done extensive market research in Asia, Europe and
North America, but that the decision was ultimately based on North American
preferences rather than Asian, although those U.S. preferences may well be
Google’s.
The revised G5 interface is refreshing, but
far from Material Design. It will surely please some critics of the G4
interface but, as with all changes, it won’t please everyone. Theming will
soothe some teething pains, but for the bigger hurts – mostly caused by the
lack of an app drawer – you’ll only be able to treat them with an alternate
launcher. LG has told us that making the app drawer an option is not going to
happen either.
As you can surely see by now, the LG G5 and
LG G4 are more different than they are alike, so much so that it almost feels a
little disingenuous to call the G5 the G4’s successor. I even asked Dr. Woo why
the G5 wasn’t rebranded as a new line and was told that modules have been part
of the G series discussion for two or three years, so pretending the G5 wasn’t
a G series device, despite all its changes, would itself be nothing more than
deceptive marketing.
The LG G5 isn’t just a standard annual
upgrade over last year’s model, it’s a complete revision not only of the G
series itself but also of how we think and use a smartphone. Modules are a
risky but exciting prospect and won’t appeal to everyone, but assuming the LG
G5 price isn’t spiked by an optional feature that few G5 users will probably
even make use of, the G5 certainly seems to deliver on the promises LG makes
for it, at least in the short time we’ve spent with it.
Whether the overall styling, button
placement, metal build and general feel of the device is an improvement or a
step backwards is a matter of personal taste. The specs increase is pretty
significant and the new camera setup is compelling even it it might take some
getting used to. LG desperately needed a UI overhaul but it’s hard to say if
this is the one we wanted. The G5 has plenty of quirky newness about it, from
the dual cameras to Always-On display and modular design, but for some it will
undoubtedly be seen less as the start of a new frontier and more as the end of
an era.