LG G5 – It’s Time to Play in April

LG wants you to PLAY MORE with the G5. The G5 is good, but is even better when it plays with it’s friends, CAM Plus, B&O Play, and the BB-8 look-alike Rolling Bot. It will launch in April at S$988, but not all accessories will be immediately available.

Singapore G5 Price and Friends

The LG G5 retails at S$988, and they will come in colors Titan, Pink, and Gold. The LG CAM Plus camera grip module retails at S$158 on its own, and the LG Hi-Fi Plus DAC module retails at S$298 independently. The smartphone and its two optional modules will start selling in April 2016. Respective Singtel, Starhub, M1 pricing for the LG G5 would be unveiled shortly, but for now, the launch promotion is that LG will be throwing in a complimentary battery and a battery charger (valued at $$168).

Pricing of the module seems expensive compared to USA, where the camera grip module was revealed to retail around US$69. the Cam Plus would have been more attractive had LG launch it at an under S$100 price point. Between 16 April to 31 May 2016, you can grab a Module Bundle (which includes the LG CAM Plus and LG Hi-Fi Plus modules) at a reduced price of S$274. They are quite drastically different accessories, and I am not too sure if the bundle makes sense. A audiophile may not likely give two hoots about camera controls and vice versa.

The LG Rolling Bot will roll into Singapore from June 2016 onwards. It would be priced at S$398 (introductory promotion) and will retail at a usual price of $498. There’s an onboard 8MP camera for you to see where it’s moving and comes with an inbuilt IR blaster to control your other home appliances. Not much other use for now but looks like a fun, albeit expensive toy. LG should just upgrade their home vacuum cleaner with a IR blaster and maybe a relative position localiser. That would be more practical :)

Specs

There’s not much to be said about specifications – packed with a 5.3 inch Quad HD display with Always-On feature, Snapdragon 820, 4GB RAM, 32GB internal with expandable memory card, dual rear camera with a standard 16 MP shooter paired with a 8 MP wide angled lens – it’s top notch except for … the battery. Coming in at only 2800 mAH, it falls a little short. While the removable battery and the extra battery would come in handy, it’s not exactly practical to carry an extra battery around. LG rightly pointed out that they are probably only the major manufacturer around that produces phones with a removable battery. It’s a good option to have, but begets the question of whether people actually really need it.

The phone itself is quite sleek – with the all metal finish. The top part of the screen is curved, which is more for aesthetic and looks quite nice, but might make it hard to find a tempered glass screen protector for the G5.

The dual rear camera is interesting, and LG has made it rather seamless for people to use. There’s a toggle to switch between the two lens, but the software is also smart enough to switch depending on the Zoom selected. However, there’s a momentary pause, which can be a little jarring for users who might wonder why the software feels jerky or unresponsive. Quality of both lens seems to be pretty good too, but would be interesting in a head to head comparison with the Samsung Galaxy S7, which is the current no 1 camera leader (or at least that’s what DxoMark claims).

The LG G5 also comes with aptX HD, which supports 24-bit sound over Bluetooth connection. It’s not something common that you would find in other phone models.