First impressions of LG’s new G5 smartphone - innovative, if a bit pricey

Korean mobile phone manufacturer LG likes to surprise, often with playful and unconventional handset designs that target the younger segment of the market - phones like the LG Aka, which features a pair of blinking eyes when in standby mode.

Its latest G5 model, announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, is another pleasant surprise: it comes with different modules that can turn the phone into either a point-and-shoot camera or a mini hi-fi system. The company should be congratulated for thinking out of the box, especially at a time when most smartphones look and function the same way.

So, how do these modules work? I’m given the “CAM Plus” to test. It took me a while to figure out what goes where. Basically the bottom of the phone can be pulled out, and with it the 2,800mAh battery. You then yank the battery (don’t be afraid to use force) out of the phone’s bottom cap before inserting that into the camera module. Then push the module (plus battery) into the phone.

The G5 comes with a 16-megapixel camera that takes clear, sharp images with warm colours. It features an impressive 135-degree wide-angle mode as well as the now standard slow-mo, time-lapse and quick snap settings.

The other module, “Hi-Fi Plus”, which we didn’t get to test, features an audio player jointly developed with B&O.

The G5’s screen (149.4mm x 73.9mm) is clear and it now has an always-on display that shows basic information such as time and different notifications without using up too much power. The phone runs on a Snapdragon 820 processor and supports microSD up to 2TB. It comes in four colours: silver, titan (black), gold and pink.