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The LG G5’s official unveiling was exciting. It’s a great phone that’s worthy of challenging any smartphone on the market for flagship king right now, but is it worth upgrading or getting some of LG’s older devices (which are sure to be on discount soon)?
Up against its direct predecessor — the LG G4 (review is right here) — it really shines. The upgrade to metal will make it the most premium feeling smartphone from the company yet (though there’s honestly a bit more to be desired in the looks department).
Aesthetics aside, there are enough functional differences here to make it a must-have up against both the LG V10 and the LG G4. It gains a fingerprint scanner, for one (The LG V10 has one, but the LG G4 doesn’t), and that’s a huge deal with Android 6.0 including official support for the thing. It’ll mean a great deal for Android Pay users, and it’ll also be nice to have for the many apps beginning to implement fingerprint support.
Dual rear cameras (one for wide-angle shots) makes for nice flexibility in the photos department. The quality on the LG G4 and LG V10 cameras are still nice, but it’s always a plus to have more options. The dual rear cameras don’t really do anything crazy — you switch between them depending on the type of photo composition you need — but it’s great nonetheless.
The always-on display is another differentiating factor. Sure, the LG G5 doesn’t have a secondary display ala the LG V10 (check out our review), but its new always-on functionality should give it enough utility to make up for that.
Oh, and then there’s the Magic Slot that can let you extend battery life, add a camera grip and get hi-fidelity audio. The V10 and G4 sure can’t come close to that level of ingenuity.
Beyond that, the internals alone are also enough of an upgrade to make it a worthwhile purchase. A Snapdragon 820 coupled with 4GB of RAM is sure to be a hard combination for anyone to beat in 2016. Take a look at the full specs in the comparison chart above and decide for yourself whether the LG G5 is worth upgrading to.
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