When LG G5 was released, everyone was surprised at the much-changed design of the phone when compared to its predecessor, the LG G4.
For starters, it was the first LG flagship to come in with an all-metal design. In addition, the phone is the first to feature a modular design where there is a removable bottom that opens up a wide range of functionality for the G5. All these differences have come in just one year, but are they worthy of an upgrade from last year’s G4? Well, here is a closer look at the LG G5 vs. LG G4.
Design and display
The LG G5 came in with lots of design changes for the company’s flagship lineup. The full metal design gives it an even better premium feel and it also comes with a removable bottom that allows users to add several modules to the phone. This has never happened before, however, the fact that the this bottom still results in a removable battery means that the G5 still retains some capabilities from the LG G4. Speaking of the LG G4, this device looks a lot different from this year’s flagship.
The phone is made of plastic and there are variants with a leather back. You will notice that the G4 has a curved display and body in general, unlike the G5, something that makes handling of this 2015 flagship easier despite its huge size. Another change in design is the location of the volume buttons. Both power and volume buttons are located on the back, unlike the G5 which has moved the volume rockers to the side.
The LG G5 is easier to handle using one hand than the G4 thanks to the former’s smaller footprint. In fact, the G4 has a screen size of 5.5 inches while the G5 has 5.3 inches. Both panels use IPS LCD technology and are also equipped with QHD resolution. If anything, there no change of quality between these two, but the LG G5 is a little sharper due to its higher pixel density. Furthermore, it adds the Always On display feature, something that is not found on the older LG G4.
Hardware and performance
In addition to the changes that LG made with respect to the G5’s design, there are even more changes under the hood. The phone comes with a Snapdragon 820 Soc clocked at a speed of 2.15GHz and has a RAM of 4GB. These are the latest hardware specs for any smartphone flagship, hence the phone is very fast and extremely responsive. As for the LG G4, you still get flagship specs, but they are now a year old.
The phone comes with a Snapdragon 808 SoC clocked at a speed of 1.82GHz and is backed by a RAM of 3GB. There is no doubt that these are still decent offerings, however, the fact remains that they are a year old and thus less powerful than the current gen LG G5.
Both versions offer 32GB of onboard storage, which can also be expanded on either device with a microSD card of up to 200GB. There is no fingerprint sensor on both phones, but still, the one introduced on the G5 is faster and more accurate than a host of devices in the current market. Furthermore, the new phone dumps the microUSB connector in favor of a USB Type-C connector. This connector is believed to offer faster data transfers as well as quicker battery charging.
Speaking of battery charging, the LG G5 has a slightly smaller removable battery of 2800mAh when compared to the removable unit of 3000mAh used on the LG G4. However, there really isn’t much of a change as far as battery life is concerned.
Camera and software
Both flagships use 16MP sensors on the rear and 8MP selfie cameras. However, the newer LG G5 gets an upper hand with additional 8MP camera on the rear. This lens takes care of wide-angle views, thus adding more detail to photos captured on the G5 as compared to those captured using the G4.
As for the camera software, the G5 adds some nifty features that aren’t available on the G4, for instance, Multiview mode, Snap mode and so on. The rest of the camera app remains unchanged for the larger part.
Both phones also run on the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow, although the LG G4 can only be upgraded via an OTA update. You will also find the company’s UI running on top of the two phones, but the LG G5 has a newer version than its predecessor.
So, there you have it – a year’s difference. The question is that will it persuade you to make the jump from LG G4 to LG G5?
Both have fingerprint scanners?