LG G5 has completely changed compared to the G4 on the design, the accessory listing as well as the features.
Design
LG G5 is completely redesigned with metal and glass materials instead of plastic and leather as on the G4. The combo hard buttons have been changed, instead of the arrangement of hard keys including the power button and the volume located all on the back of LG G4, LG moves the volume rocker to the left hand side of the device, and the power button is integrated in the new fingerprint scanner on the back.
While G4 is available for mounting removable back sim, memory card, or replacing the battery, on the G5, LG uses unique module design, which allows users to remove the lower panel to insert sim, memory card and insert modules dedicated to photography and music.
LG G5 is not only of stronger and more modern design than the G4, but also easier to control with one hand.
Screen
Like G4, G5 is equipped with IPS Quantum Dot screen with QHD resolution. However, LG screen size is reduced by 0.2 inches to 5.3 inches. Screens on both models all shows detailed and sharpest images, but the G5’s screen comes with high color saturation and black wide viewing angle perfectly similar to the Amoled screen.
In addition, LG also has the “Always On Display” from V10 to G5 by adjusting the backlight of this model. That change allows time, date and notifications to be shown on screen all the time. Moreover, glass is designed to make the body seem seamless. Besides, the brightness of the new model is capable of 850 nits much higher than the 500 nits on G4, allowing easy use under strong light source.
User interface
LG G5 vs G4 are running Android 6.0.1 with latest customized interface of LG. G5 Home screen, on first glance, hasn’t got much differences with flat and square icons. However, LG has removed the button accessing to the application and brings out all to the main screen just like on iOS. LG also removes the “side by side” which allows to run multitasking 2 windows at the same time and only allows Q-Slide to run multitasking. Nevertheless, this change does not affect normal users. LG’s new interface is simpler and helps users to easily access the product as well.
Hardware
G5 is equipped with powerful hardware of the latest technology: 64-bit Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820 chipset, GPU Adreno 530, 4GB LPDDR4 RAM. With the new processor chipset, LG G5 can easily handle the virtual reality applications, LG itself has also launched virtual reality glasses connected to G5 via USB Type C.
Compared to G5, G4 is equipped with Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB LPDDR3 RAM; such configuration, definitely, has full capacity for the majority of user actions. However, Complex 3D applications may lead to low running.
Like G4, G5 also has an internal memory of 32GB and can be expanded by memory cards. But on G5, LG uses a UFS standard faster than eMMC 5.0 as on G4. Users can find significant differences in speed when loading apps or games from memory card on G5.
Camera
LG G5 is equipped with dual cameras. Unlike on HTC smartphones, the second camera is not used to create beautiful bokeh effects but to create super wide-angle shots. The front camera is designed with 8 megapixels.
Meanwhile on G4, there is only one 16-megapixel camera at the rear, with laser autofocus system and led flash. LG G4 can create beautiful and natural images. In addition, manual mode allows users to adjust the parameters. Besides, the device has the ability to take RAW photos. Its front camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels.
Both models are capable of shooting 4K videos and allow users to use manual mode when shooting.
LG G5 is not an upgrade of G4 but a completely new start of G Series. G5 has a completely different design compared to previous products. Among those new features, the module design is the most interesting. Although this interface has been made simpler and easier to use, the practice of removing multitasking mode in the user interface may be a minus.
LG has not yet announced the price of the product, if the price is more competitive, G5 will become a new flagship of LG.