LG G5 vs LG G4: Hands On Comparison

One of the most anticipated events of the MWC 2016 in Barcelona took place when the South Korean tech giant LG launched their latest flagship, the LG G5, earlier today. From the very first moment LG unveiled this technological beast, the G5 managed to garner a fair amount of attention not only for its all-metal body look but also it is the first modular smartphone produced but this renowned tech conglomerate. Now the question is whether the company has succeeded to incorporate the desired changes which were lacking in their previous flagship G4 or is it just an incremental upgrade for the sake of launching a new phone at a global event?? Undoubtedly, G5 is definitely different from the G4 in terms of the build of the phone, but are the differences only skin deep or is there more under the hood of the G5 than just meets the eye? Check out our article on LG G5 vs G4 comparison:

LG G5 vs LG G4: Hardware and Design

The latest flagship from the house of LG, G5 is very much different from its predecessor G4 in terms of the design of the two phones. The most striking difference is, the G5 is a modular smartphone, a unique feature which the G4 cannot boasts of. So what does the modular smartphone mean? Well that means you can pull out the bottom section of the G5, more precisely the bezel below the screen come away from the handset, taking with it the lemon-colored battery inside and allows the user to insert a variety of optional “modules”, which company termed as the “Friends”; as well as various peripherals which don’t come pre installed with the phone. All the additional modules or accessories come in the same size and offer different features. The LG Hi-Fi Plus module by Bang & Olufsen comes with a DAC audio player where as the LG CAM Plus camera module features additional camera controls and extended battery to the handset. A button placed on the lower left edge of the handset unlocks the module mechanism.

If we are talking about the visual differences of LG G4 and G5, the two phone looks like poles apart, in fact the latter one looks like an all new handset rather than an upgrade. The LG G4 flaunts a curved look and comes in an all plastic build where as the G5’s all metal flat premium finish give the phone an iPhone 6S look. Although we have hoped for the round back side of the G5 to be more stylized and more polished .Also the slight “lip” surrounding the display of the previous flagship is gone and the little top-to-bottom curve of the screen which kept the G4 from making contact with a flat surface is gone too. These things in the G5 are replaced by a slight bend in along with the Corning Gorilla Glass 4 at the top of the display, which potentially makes the G5’s screen more vulnerable to scratches than its predecessor.

If we talk about the layout of both the phones, the LG G4 comes with a smarter layout than the latest flagship. G4 comes with a camera, flash and a trio of buttons, while the G5 flaunts slightly ugly-looking camera bulge which includes two cameras as well as the flash and the laser autofocus. Below the camera, there is another circular-shaped hump present in the G5, housing the power button which works as a fingerprint scanner too. Though there is no fingerprint scanner present in the G4 but one can argue that the G4 holds a pleasing layout round the back. Another unique feature of the G5 is like all the metal-bodied smartphones, this flagship does not come with any antenna slits kudos to a technology the company is calling “microdising”.

On the measurement aspect, the G5 which is 73.9mm wide is narrower than the 76.1mm G4. Also the G5 is a bit taller than the G4 too, G5 is 149.4mm in length where as G4 is 148.9mm. So thus, the G5 is more ergonomic in nature and is easier to grasp in one hand than the G4.

The newly launched flagship of LG, the G5 comes with a uniform 7.7mm thickness with no curved on the body, where as the G4’s thickness varies from 6.3mm to 9.3mm. The brand new LG G5 is slightly heavier than its predecessor too. The G4 weighs 155 gm where as the G5 is four grams heavier than the old model.

Though the metal bodied LG G5 does not feel as sturdy as the HTC devices, but it is a refreshing change for the smartphone lovers to have such a lightweight metal phone.

LG G5 vs LG G4: Display

LG has brought some changes in the LG G5’s display section too. The previous flagship, G4 sports a 5.5-inch display which has been cut down to 5.3-inch in the latest G5.

Both the phones feature the same QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440 though, but as the G5 is smaller in the screen size, it comes with a higher pixel density of 554ppi, against the 538ppi of the G4. That means, LG G5 should look sharper in pen and paper but in real the world scenario you will hardly spot any distinguish between these two phone’s displays.

Another notable feature this South Korean company incorporates in their latest flagship, the Always-On Display (AOD) technique. The company has isolated a certain section of the display to function as an Always-On Display (AOD) which ensures key information is shown on screen at all times. That means if you have to check the time, data or any new notifications; all you have to do is to take a glance at the screen of the handset.

Also, as the G5 comes with a LCD display, screen “burn in” is not a problem like with AMOLED phones. Moreover, the company also claimed the G5 will not suffer from any backlight “bleed”. The redesign of the LCD display, the changes LG made to incorporate the AOD feature, has also come with a better power consumption than the AMOLED display, at just 0.8% per hour. According to the company claims the average consumption from the Always-On display is around to 5-10% per day. The users can also disable the Always-On display in the Battery Saver app or in the Display section of the settings if they feel it isn’t worth having the feature enabled.

In terms of brightness, on paper the LG G5 almost doubles the G4’s maximum brightness of 455 nits, pumping out 900 nits at max brightness, although in real world they looked very similar.

LG G5 vs LG G4: Processor and Storage

LG has upgraded the processor of the LG G5 and includes the latest quad-core Snapdragon 820 SoC with two high-performance cores clocked at 2.15 GHz and two low-power cores clocked at 1.59 GHz. The processor is coupled with a 4GB RAM and a 32 GB internal storage capacity with further expendable capacity up to 2 TB microSD with Adreno 530 GPU.

For your information, the LG G4 opts for the hexa-core Snapdragon 808 rather than the problematic Snapdragon 810 which was suffering from the heating issues and came with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB and 64 GB models.

LG G5 vs LG G4: OS and Interface

Both the LG G5 and G4 use Google Android as their OS and it is not surprising at all that as a latest flagship the G5 uses the newer version of the OS, Android 6.0 Marshmallow than its predecessor.

While the G4 runs by the Android 5.1 Lollipop and the company is rolling out the Marshmallow to the device, but the Android 6.0 Marshmallow comes preinstalled with the G5 and you’re likely to get a better experience on the newer device.

Another notable difference in terms of OS is there is no app drawer in the G5 and according to the sources Google will also opt out the app drawer in the upcoming Android N, which makes the G5 more compatible with the future updates.

LG G5 vs LG G4: Camera

On the camera aspect, LG G4 sports a strong camera line up with a 16MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, laser autofocus, optical image stabilization and an 8MP front shooter. The brand new G5 also comes with the same camera features, but the things do not end there.

The G5 also flaunts a second wide angle 135-degree lens clocked at 8MP at the back. This wide angle second snapper makes it easier to capture landscapes, skyscrapers and large groups. Apart from the optical image stabilization, the G5 camera also includes the Phase Detection Auto-Focus (PDAF) technology too. This latest flagship uses the same camera software of its predecessor but stitches together images from the dual lenses, and allows to take shots anywhere in the 75-135 degree range. The low-light performance is better in the G5 and the HDR performance is also impressive.

LG G5 vs LG G4: Battery

Following the recent flagship trends, the company decreases the battery capacity of their new flagship G5, from 3000 mAh to 2800 mAh. But as the G5 comes with more efficient processor and a smaller screen size than the G4, this should not be an earth-shattering issue. Also the G5 features the USB Type-C and supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 standard, which can charge to 80% capacity in just 30-35 minutes, but the G5 does not include the wireless charging capabilities of the G4. However, both G5’s and G4’s battery are removable which is a rare occurrence in today’s smartphone world.

LG G5 vs LG G4: The Apps

As we said above, there is no app drawer present in the latest G5. Apart from that, this recently launched flagship gets a massive visual overhaul, introducing a black text on white ground theme with mint green toggles and accents, which can be replaced up with downloadable themes. The company has also reduced the amount of pre-installed apps, maybe to make the home screens not look too crowded and the app icons have been given a new shape; rounded squares. Familiar LG software features, like Q-Slide apps and Dual-Window, which were present in the G4, are missing in the G5. But the QuickMemo+ remains intact. But the most notable of the new apps which has been incorporated in the latest LG G5 is the LG Friends Manager, the hub app that inter-twins all the new LG G5 modules and peripherals with their respective apps.

Check Also : LG G5 VS Galaxy S7

Wrap Up

It is quite natural that being the latest flagship of the company the LG G5 will eclipse the LG G4 in almost every aspect. But as we said earlier, the company did not upgrade the phone just for the sake of upgrading. The South Korean company emphasizes on the premium look of this latest flagship as well as made it a technological wonder device in terms of the specifications. By introducing the modular design, the Always-On Display and the dual rear camera, maybe LG has ignited a renaissance in the world of the smartphones. Is this a start of a new era? Only time will answer that, but meanwhile stick to our website for more technological news, MWC 2016 news and other updates.