LG calls up smart battle to Samsung with ‘ecosystem’
LG has announced a new premium smartphone that’s more an entire ecosystem of IT devices.
LG has announced a new premium smartphone that’s more an entire ecosystem of tech devices.
LG and its fellow Korean rival Samsung have used the day before a global telco trade show in Barcelona to announce two of the most import Android smartphones for 2016.
The new LG G5 comes with a range of new connected devices called “LG Friends” comprising what LG calls its “playground” of devices. Many of these devices attach to the phone through a thin rectangular battery slot at the bottom, in what LG brands a modular phone.
One is a camera module called LG Cam Plus that offers DSLR-like functionality. There’s physical buttons for power, shutter, record, zoom, and LED display. When attached to the LG G5, it provides an additional battery capacity of 4,000mAh, allowing longer shooting times.
There’s LG 360 Cam, a 360-degree camera comprising two 13 megapixel wide angle cameras that shoots 2K video and 360 degree stills. Users can edit content on their G5 phone. A partnership announced with Google lets users upload content to Google Street View which, if accepted, will be stored in its original resolution free-of-charge.
LG also produced a virtual reality viewer weighing 118 grams that it says is a third the weight of rival devices but with 20 per cent better resolution.
LG in association with drone maker Parrot showcased a compact “smart controller” for controlling drones and other third-party devices with space for the LG phone display at the top.
Two headsets were announced at the launch. One was the Tone Platinum, a bluetooth headset equipped with the aptX HD codec, for listening to 24-bit sound. The other was the H3 by Bang & Olufsen that delivers 32-bit sound.
There’s an 8 megapixel rolling ball camera called Rolling Bot that can be adapted for home security, as a pet-care companion, and as a remote controller for home appliances.
LG has revamped the G5 design, replacing last year’s unusual leather styling with a modern, all metallic build. There are two camera lenses on the back: a standard 78 degree one and a 135 degree wide angle lens designed to cram more into a single shot, and to offer new picture effects.
The G5 has a moderately sized 5.3-inch high 2K display, with a high resolution of 554 pixels per inch. There’s an “always-on” section of the screen. It displays information such as date, time and battery status. At its media event at Barcelona, LG said the always-on section comprised one third of the display but would consume just 0.8 per cent of the battery per hour.
LG says the G5 has double the processing power of the G4, 40 per cent faster graphics, and the power to capture and playback 4K video. It supports faster charging of up to 4 times the speed of standard charging, says LG.
The phone also features a USB Type-C connector and an IR blaster. LG has retained having a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone — it doubles as the power button. But the volume rocker control has moved from the back to the side of the phone.
LG has put itself in a competitive position agains Samsung by having both a removable battery and retaining a slot for a microSD card. LG says the slot can extend storage by up to 2 terabytes, when SDXC memory cards of that capacity are developed in future.
The phone comes in four colours: silver, titan, gold and pink.
Key Specifications — LG G5
China phone makers are expected to make their mark at this year’s congress with richly featured smartphones that cost hundreds of dollars less than similarly-specced US, Japan and Korean-built rivals. They include Huawei, Xiaomi and Alcatel — owned by TLC.
Yesterday Alcatel announced two smartphones. One is Idol 4, which it plans to sell in Australia for about $400 in the second half of the year.
It has an 8-core processor, full high definition display, 13 megapixel camera, dual tone flash, fast charging and a 2610 milliampere. It also released Idol4S, a slightly bigger phone with a larger 5.5-inch 2K display.
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