Forget all the leaks and rumors leading up to this year’s Mobile World Congress and forget about the actual devices that will be unveiled at the conference this year. It almost as though it goes without saying that Samsung will steal the show. The company goes big with each announcement and we can’t think of a single time in the past few years that another smartphone maker has managed to generate anywhere near as much buzz as Samsung at one of these shows.
That said, LG just took the wraps off of its brand new LG G5 flagship Android smartphone — and if ever there was a handset that deserved to steal a little attention from Samsung, this could be it.
SEE ALSO: Nextbit Robin review: A 32GB smartphone that never runs out of space
First and foremost, the G5 is a big departure from LG’s earlier flagship phones and it might be one of the most original and revolutionary smartphones we’ve seen in recent years. Check out our earlier G5 announcement post for more information on the phones specs, features and everything else you need to know.
But with all that having been said, there are clearly a handful of features on the new G5 that shine brighter than the rest. Here are the five most exciting ones:
Metal body
LG has bounced back and forth a bit between plastic and premium materials, unlike Samsung which stuck to cheap-feeling plastic and refused to budge until last year when the Galaxy S6 moved to glass and aluminum.
For 2016, LG has produced its most premium smartphone yet. The LG G5 features a housing made entirely of metal, putting it on par with its top rivals from Samsung and Apple.
Removable battery
Speaking of Samsung and Apple, there’s one feature in particular that smartphone users constantly ask for, but that these two industry giants simply refuse to deliver: a removable battery. If this is a must-have feature for you, you just found your next smartphone.
The LG G5 packs a large 2,800 mAh battery that will easily carry you through a full day. But if you’re a heavy user or if you want to make sure you never, ever run out of juice, you can swap out the G5’s battery with a fresh one in a matter of seconds.
Expansion slot
This is probably the most novel thing about the LG G5, and it’s something you won’t find on any other flagship smartphone in 2016. The handset’s unique expansion slot allows users to buy specially made module accessories that can completely transform the G5 in the blink of an eye.
Two modules in particular were highlighted by LG on Sunday. The first is the CAM Plus, a special camera accessory designed to “deliver a comfortable grip and convenient control of a DSLR.” It offers auto focus, exposure lock and physical buttons for the shutter and zoom features. Also of note, it adds 1,200 mAh of power to the phone.
Next up is the Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play, a special module that transforms the G5 into a Hi-Fi audio player that supports 32-bit 384 KHz high-definition audio files.
Power
The phone’s specs might not stray too far from what will become the norm in 2016, but the G5’s power is no less exciting because of it. Spec highlights include a quad-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 process, 4GB of RAM and Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Also of note, the 5.3-inch AMOLED display features quad HD resolution and an eye-popping pixel density of 554 ppi.
Companion devices
Last but certainly not least, the LG G5 won’t be alone when it’s released later this year. LG has unveiled a wide range of very cool companion devices that will expand the G5’s feature set even further beyond what it can achieve with its nifty modular expansion slot.
A few of the cooler companion devices you can look forward to are the 360 CAM, which records 360-degree photos and videos for a virtual reality experience; the 360 VR, a virtual reality headset accessory just like Samsung’s Gear VR; the Smart Controller, which lets users control a drone and watch its video stream on the G5’s display; and the Rolling Bot, an awesome little ball robot that rolls around and captures images and videos with its 8-megapixel camera.
