EY FEATURES
- 5.3-inch IPS QHD screen
- Snapdragon 820 processor & 4GB RAM
- 32GB onboard storage and microSD slot
- 2,800mAh battery
- USB Type-C v3.0 port
- Fingerprint sensor
- 16-megapixel rear camera & 8-megapixel front camera
- Additional 8-megapixel wide-angle rear camera
- LG UX 5.0 on Android Marshmallow
- Manufacturer: LG
- Review Price: £529.00
5.3-inch, IPS LCD, quad-HD display with always-on mode
LG’s past few flagship devices have benefited from impressive displays.
While they can't be described as perfect, they’ve always adopted new tech and utilised it well. LG was one of the first manufacturers to really bring quad-HD, 2,560 x 1,440 panels to the mainstream, for example, and since the G3 it has gone from strength to strength.
I’m happy to say that the display on the LG G5 is the best yet – even though on the surface it appears that not a whole lot has changed.
LG hasn't made the switch to a 4K display; it remains quad-HD. Although in my opinion this isn't a bad thing – quad-HD is the highest resolution a phone needs to be unless it will be used for VR. The display on the G5 remains a IPS LCD panel too, rather than the AMOLED panels favoured by Samsung and Google.
The biggest change here is that the screen is actually marginally smaller than before – 5.3-inches as opposed to 5.5-inches. But the number of pixels remain the same; they're simply crammed into a smaller surface area.
The display is ridiculously sharp, far more true-to-life and softer than the Galaxy S7 display. This isn't necessarily a positive, though – it’s all down to personal taste, with some preferring accurate colours over vibrancy. Viewing angles are on point.
LG has also improved the brightness of the screen, not that the G4 suffered much in this area. At its highest, it's at 900 nits, but there will be few instances in which it will need to be set so high. Around 50% is right, or you can opt for auto-brightness.
I'm not a fan of auto-brightness on Android devices, and it's no different here. It’s too obvious, results in a stuttering motion and is rarely accurate in its judgements.
Related: Android N hands-on
The G5 display's black level – an area in which many IPS displays struggle – is solid. While not as deep as those on the Samsung Galaxy S7, blacks on the LG G5 are suitably inky and deep, and mean the display has a great contrast ratio.
Just like the Samsung Galaxy S7, the LG G5 has an "always-on" display mode, so the time and your notifications remain visible even when the phone is locked.
LG’s implementation is much better than that of Samsung in just about every way. It uses less battery, about 12% a day (8am to midnight) as opposed to the Galaxy S7’s 15%. The LG G5’s always-on screen also displays all your notifications, including those from WhatsApp and Gmail. This makes it far more useful than the S7, which pushes alerts from only a limited selection of apps.
The display on the G5 is less customisable, however, and since it isn’t AMOLED, it lights up every pixel rather than just the clock. This means it’s far more noticeable, and more distracting, in low light.
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