What are the Pros and Cons of the LG G5 Phone?

Last Updated on August 19, 2022 by Filip Poutintsev

Released in April 2016, this LG cell phone was designed with advanced and capable features, but LG has since discontinued the phone.

Before you buy a phone that is six years old, read our Pros and Cons list.

Technical Specifications

We’ve compared the LG G5’s specifications to the iPhone 12 Pro. The iPhone 12 is the most popular phone in recent years and will accurately show the competitive features of the LG G5.

The LG G5 keeps pace with newer phones in many areas, with a few dated drawbacks.

The LG G5 is competitive in it’s

• Screen display and screen resolution. It has 1440 x 2560 pixels, 554 PPI, while the screen on an iPhone 12 only has 1170 x 2532 pixels, 460 PPI. The LG G5 delivers a higher resolution and image than the iPhone in every pixel.
• Memory and processing, with 4GB RAM / 32GB eMMC ROM as well as a micro SD slot with storage options up to 2TB – the iPhone 12 can have 6GB RAM, but it can only store 512GB of information on the phone without any additional micro SD space.
• Sensors’ features – the G5 has a fingerprint (rear-mounted) that unlocks the phone and other advanced sensors. The iPhone 12 does not have a fingerprint sensor, but it has an advanced Face ID. The jump from fingerprint to Face recognition is only a marker of the time the G5 was designed.

The area where the LG V10 cannot compete against newer phones is its

• CPU
• Outdated OS/Operating System
• Back-facing camera – while it takes high-quality images, it can’t compete with newer cameras and their image optimization technology.

Some specifications of the LG are better than the iPhone and vis versa.

But the fact that it’s possible to compare a phone released in 2016 with an iPhone that was only released four years afterward is fantastic and noteworthy.

Pros and cons of the LG G5

Pros

• High quality and HD screen display
• Wide-angle camera with Manual Mode features
• Sturdy metal body and Removable battery

Cons

• Fingerprint sensor issues
• Poor Battery life
• Some popular Android features were disabled on the LG G5.

Pros of LG G5

Despite the LG G5 being released (so long ago in tech-time) in 2016, some features of the phone remain reliable and admirable.

The HD screen resolution and capable design of the phone are among the standout features of the G5.

In relation to more recent phones (e.g., iPhone 12), the G5 has basic and outdated features, but that is just a marker of the time frame. LG delivered a sturdy, capable, and high-quality phone with recently made obsolete features.

HD Screen Display and Resolution

The G5 has an impressive resolution even by today’s standards. It has 1440 x 2560 pixels and 554 PPI, which means all games, news articles, and social media pages are displayed in clear and crisp detail.

Reviewers have complained about the screens’ low light display, but this may be connected to the G5’s poor battery performance rather than the screen. The phone may not have enough power to brighten the screen, but LG designed a screen with a High (enough) Definition to balance this complaint.

The LG G5 screen display is by far one of the phone’s outstanding features.

Wide Angle Camera and Manual Mode

In 2022 a 16MP rear camera is nothing to boast about, but the G5 was made with an advanced camera in 2015.

The rear camera is capable of capturing wide-angle photographs in high quality with a 26mm lens. Moreover, the G5 can record videos in 4K with 30 frames per second or 1080p with 60 frames per second.

To explain, this camera is able to take high-quality images of real estate shots, tourist locations, and landscapes (where a wide camera is needed). The G5 is also able to record videos in relatively high-quality video, fit for YouTube, TikTok, and other popular video platforms.

The G5 also has several manual mode settings features which allow users to optimize their images and videos while shooting personally. Users can adjust exposure, depth of field, and more with the G5 manual mode enabled.

Sturdy Phone Body and Removable Battery

The LG G5 is one of the last modular phones LG released. Meaning, that this phone had adaptable hardware that enabled users to optimize the phone to their own specific needs.

Adaptable hardware for the G5 includes its removable battery – users could add on a chunkier and more high-powered battery if they wished. LG also has a range of phone accessories known as ‘Friends.’ These could be connected to the G5 via Bluetooth or USB. The best of the ‘Friends’ accessories would be LG’s VR headset.

If you’re thinking, “This sounds amazing! Why doesn’t Samsung or Apple have similar modular phones??” The simple answer is it’s not very popular and too expensive to manufacture. In order for LG to have better and higher quality adaptations (like a battery, phone screen, etc.), it has to produce a line of these separate parts. Not many phone users think to buy separate and higher quality parts for a phone when they’ve just bought an expensive device marketed as “all they’ll ever want.”

Therefore, the modular phone design is flawed because there’s not much of a market for it. As we’ll learn soon, the basic G5 removable battery has performance issues that are only explained by LG’s need for users to purchase separate modular add-ons.

Other LG Phones:

• Advantages & disadvantages of the LG G4
• Advantages & disadvantages of the LG G3
• Advantages & disadvantages of the LG V10
• Advantages & disadvantages of the LG V20

Cons of the LG G5

Fingerprint Sensor Issues

The G5 has a rear fingerprint sensor that unlocks the device. Back in 2016, this feature was relatively new and exciting for phone users. In 2022 however, Face ID and newer fingerprint technology have rendered this initial feature obsolete.

The G5’s fingerprint sensor was often reported as unresponsive and less sensitive than needed. Today, issues like this have no excuse because the technology has been around long enough to be corrected and optimized. Therefore the G5’s Fingerprint sensor becomes more liability than an asset to the phone’s performance.

Poor Battery Life

The G5 was designed to be a modular and adaptable phone to its user. You were allowed to decide what needs the phone could satisfy – great battery, camera add-ons, VR accessories, etc., were things the user could buy to enhance their experience.

But the standard 2800 mAh battery with each G5 was quick to run out of charge and didn’t have enough power to brighten the screen display. This is unacceptable by today’s standards, but back in 2016, users would make do with power banks or buy the recommended modular upgrades.

Disabled Android Features

The benefit of buying a phone from a less popular brand like LG is that it has all the adaptable and customizable Android software that some users crave. The feature the G5 disabled was the ‘Apps Drawer’, which is the section that houses all installed apps. The app drawer is not the home page but a different section on the phone that allows for easy access to all apps on the phone.

It’s a small issue, true, but many users enjoy the ease of access and control the Drawer provides, especially when you’re the type of person to download many apps and need to locate them but don’t want them all on your Home Screen.

Conclusion

The LG G5 was designed a long time ago, and much of its design has been improved since LG released it. This phone is not competitive in 2022 when so many other more recent phones outmatch its features.