Bang & Olufsen will also be releasing a 24-bit media player DAC to the G5 which will bring another headphone jack with more volume and higher grade audio support, ideal if you don’t want to buy a separate media player. We have our doubts about the sort of thing this will do to the G5’s battery, but will wait until we see it.
And that’s the extent of the removable “friends” the G5 will have, but not the limit, with a few other accessories being released made for the whole virtual reality movement about to set fire to the entertainment world.
One of these is a rolling ball you’ll be able to control, a bit like a drone but for your home, with the Rolling Bot patrolling the floor and sending back imagery so you can check up on the homestead.
Two other accessories from LG “friends” category include a small 360 degree camera and a small 360 degree virtual reality headset. We’ll admit that from our brief time with both the 360 Cam and the 360 VR headset, we like the camera more.
Granted, the gadget feels like it might be a rebadged version of Ricoh’s Theta camera, with two ultra-wide lenses on either side of the camera, a microSD card slot, Bluetooth for transmitting back to the phone, and a USB Type C charge port below.
The images captured here appear to just be 360 degree images, not video, but the camera is very easy to use, and works with other Android phones, tested with Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge, for instance.
The other gadget is a little different, with a VR headset made to compete with Samsung’s own Gear VR, but smaller and using different technology.
Instead of strapping the phone to a pair of goggles, these feature LCDs on the inside, one for each eye, and that allows the headset to be more compact. There’s also no battery inside, so to get power to the headset — and video and data, for that matter — the headset has to be plugged into the LG G5 using a wired USB Type C connection.
When paired, the screen on the LG G5 switches off and turned the touchscreen phone into a touchscreen mouse, allowing you to flick left and right and up and down and control what happens on-screen with the phone.
We like that, and it reminds us of what Epson is accomplishing in its Moverio augmented reality glasses, but the LG 360 VR headset requires individual ocular adjustments on a “per eye” basis, as well as really lacking an app ecosystem. Instead of just being another Google Cardboard, LG has had to make its own app listing with its own VR apps, and it just needs more. Or anything, because there’s not much there.
The headset itself feels like it could do with a lot of tweaks, too, because while we can get used to the headset, it lets light in, is harder than it should be to tweak the dioptre while worn, and has that annoying cable which would be better again if it were wireless.
Super compact, sure, but it keeps you tethered to the phone. It even has a few refresh and lag issues.
But the ideas are sound, and while the docking thing has been done with Apple for ages, you have to appreciate the temerity in LG’s plan with accessories that mount directly to your phone. We’ve seen attempts like it before, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s LG, provided it sticks with the design and makes the G6 compatible with G5 accessories, as well as releasing more “friends”.
If it strays from either of those paths — changed design making the G5 alone in accessory compatibility, or no other accessories are announced — it’ll be a hard one to sell to consumers, and even to reviewers.
Here’s hoping, LG. Here’s hoping.
Value
And that brings us to value, which is an interesting area because the LG G5 is not a cheap phone.
Before its announcement, we had heard that LG wouldn’t necessarily be focusing on the high-end, producing mid-to-high-end devices that could steal the competition right out from underneath, but that’s not what has happened.
Instead, we have a phone priced almost as high as any other major flagship, and offering relatively pricey accessories, at that.
By itself, the LG G5 is $1099.
Those “friends” we mentioned before don’t come with the handset at all, and if you want a camera grip from the Cam Plus, that’ll be $129. The Rolling Bot spy drone ball thing, that’s $399. B&O’s 24-bit media player addition is $229. And the VR stuff? The 360 camera is $399, and we don’t even know how much the headset will be.
Oh, and a battery is $69.95.
Seriously, you can kit the LG G5 and spend a good $2K, which is not cheap for a phone.
It would make it a rather flexible phone, sure, but still an expensive one, and we’re not quite sure it’s worth it, at least until LG says the next version will keep the design.
Conclusion
It’s hard to deny that LG’s G5 is one of the more interesting phones we’ve seen in a long time, but is it the best of 2016? That we’re not sure about.
There are certainly some interesting features here, and mixed with a whole heap of customisability, it’s easy to see the LG G5 isn’t another “me too” phone, because that’s easy to build these days.
But at $1099, it’s a hard recommendation.
Granted, the smartphone is designed to do so much these days, and LG’s G5 does as much as the next phone, but it also seems a tad pricey for a phone that doesn’t quite pull the same battery life as the other players.
You also have to hope LG keeps the accessory design around next year, or even introduces more accessories, because if it doesn’t, you may feel a little shortchanged, much like when Motorola had the Atrix and its laptop dock, and then never kept the design around leaving you with a one-hit-wonder.
And this makes us think a second generation of this design could get LG to nail it, because while it’s a solid idea, it’s one that feels like it also has first generation teething issues.
Next time, though, it could be an astounding success. We just hope LG doesn’t give up on the concept and there is a next time.
For now, though, it’s the ideal phone only if you love customisation and a replaceable battery. If you count yourself in that category, you know what to do.
