My Galaxy Phone

The LG G5 is a breath of fresh air in a world of me-too smartphones. Where every other manufacturer seems content to up the pixel count, push the processor speeds and tiptoe forwards with incremental improvements, LG has done something genuinely different. It has reinvented its flagship phone with a modular design that allows it to be upgraded and tweaked with camera add-ons, high-end DACs, and replaceable batteries.

That’s a major deal. Where most other manufacturers seem keen to follow the Apple model of sealing everything inside - even some budget phone manufacturers do it - LG has recognised that its customers are after something different. Instead of attempting to milk its fans for every last penny, LG is giving them what they want.

And the clever thing about the G5 is that LG hasn’t had to revert to a shonky plastic back to do it. Instead, the LG G5 has an attractive anodised aluminium unibody (it isn’t plastic, despite what some early stories would have you believe). This is smoothly contoured and unblemished by dust-gathering grooves or nail catches. It’s elegant and unfussy and perhaps just a tiny bit reminiscent of the Nexus 6P.

I’m not a big fan of the bulging camera housing; it spoils the overall look, but otherwise the G5 a decent design, and practical, too. A subtle ridge around the edge at the rear helps you grip the phone, and the top portion of the glass front curves gently backwards. Best of all, the matte finish on the phone’s chassis doesn’t pick up fingerprints anywhere near as readily as the glass-backed Galaxy S7 does.

I also like the position of the fingerprint reader in the centre at the rear, which doubles as the phone's power button, and also that LG has finally seen fit to reposition the volume buttons. After a few years of rear-mounted volume keys, 2016 sees them return to their rightful place on the edges of the phone. This is most definitely a good thing.

The fact that it’s all wrapped up in a light (159g), slim (7.7mm) package certainly helps, and the mid-sized 5.3in display allows the LG G5 to strike the ideal balance between big-screen readability and easy pocketability.

LG G5 review: A phone you can expand

The only external sign of the LG G5’s modular approach is the pin-line seam that runs across the back of the phone at the bottom edge, and a small button on the left. Push this in and the LG G5’s expansion module disengages, allowing it to be withdrawn, complete with removable battery, from the end of the phone’s chassis.

Plugging in a new module in is a little more complicated. To connect the camera or music modules to the phone (see below for more details) or any of the other units for that matter, you first have to snap apart the battery and the bottom cap, attach the new module to the bottom end of the battery and slide the whole lot back into the phone. To replace the battery, remove the cap, attach it to the new power pack and slot back in.

It’s a deceptively simple idea, yet I’d like it to be slicker. Currently, it smacks very much of an engineering team fumbling its way into things rather than a confident step forward, but that’s what it takes to get a well-designed, solid-feeling phone that’s a little different, then I’m willing to accept that. And, don’t forget, you can also add extra storage via the microSD slot.

The only other thing to note is that, although the G5 is ultra-flexible, there’s no water- or dust-proofing and no dual-SIM capability. You can’t have everything, I suppose, although I can see the latter being added via an extra module at some point in the future - if the concept is a success.

Disappointingly, only two expansion modules will be available at launch. The first is a camera extension: the CAM Plus. This adds a comfortable grip and DSLR-style controls to the phone, with physical buttons for power, shutter, zoom and movie recording. It also adds an extra 1,200mAh battery, allowing you to shoot and record for longer.

The other module is audio-focused – the B&O Play. This expansion module, developed in collaboration with high-end audio specialists Bang & Olufsen, delivers high-resolution audio playback and can be used with the phone, or even as a standalone DAC attached to your hi-fi or PC.

That’s it for now, though, and it’s a fairly slim selection. All of which begs the question: will anyone actually go out and buy any of these modules? I suspect not, and unless LG continues to back the system for subsequent models, it’s an idea that’s likely to quietly fall by the wayside - quirky, intriguing and interesting, yes, but pointless in the long run.