The LG G5 has been launched in the US and the phone makers home country of Korea, where reviews of the phone are starting to appear. Being on the market has of course meant that it’s been torn down to see what makes it tick. iFixit is probably the most reputable site performing teardowns out there and here’s what they found.
To start with iFixit were massive fans of the LG G4, scoring an 8 out of 10 for repairability last year. The LG G5 is no different, achieving the same repairability score and retaining the love that iFixit showed for the previous model.
iFixit pointed out that the phone has that removable, slide out battery which adds to the life-span of the phone with no tricky replacements of internal components. The device is held together by standard Phillips head screws and there’s not a bunch ad there’s no glue, making opening the device an easy process. The G5 also has a modular design which are easy to replace if they become faulty.
There’s also some not great bits, the modules for the G5 have covers which are glued on which could make for difficult repairs if required. Lastly the device has a fused display assembly meaning it’s an all in one replacement – glass and LCD – if it breaks.
There was some controversy a week ago when another site tore down the phone and showed flakes of metal being scratched from the back of the phone with a razor blade. You can see the video here:
LG responded officially to the video describing the material being scraped off as primer atop a special aluminium alloy. The full statement is here:
Contrary to erroneous reports online that the LG G5 body is composed of plastic, LG would like to state unequivocally that the uni-body casing of the G5 is composed of a special aluminum alloy, LM201 (Feb. 2016 patent pending). LM201 was developed by LG in partnership with the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology for use in high-end sports cars, aircraft and consumer electronic product where durability, rigidity and lightness are required. As a die-cast metal, LM201 was determined to be most appropriate material to accommodate the curves of the G5. After the die-casting is complete, the insulating antenna slit is applied directly to the aluminum casing followed by a coating of primer which provides additional insulation and enhances the surface profile for the “microdizing” process, where pigment containing tiny metal particles is applied directly to the primer to provide a smooth and durable finish. While both anodized aluminum and microdized aluminum will scratch if enough pressure is applied, in the case of the G5 the gray primer beneath the pigment layer may be mistaken for plastic when the coloring is scratched off. We want to reassure our customers that the uni-body of the LG G5 is advanced aluminum alloy, not plastic.
The LG G5 hasn’t launched in Australia as yet, but we have a media launch later this month where we’ll hopefully get more information on their launch plans here in Australia. If you want to find out more about the internal of the LG G5, head over to iFiit and check out all the pictures over there.
Unfortunately IMO LG are taking far to long to release the G5 in Australia. Now the P9/P9 plus have been announced it has even more competition.
Big difference between released/announced. Samsung are the only one to release their 2016 flagship, Sony, LG, HTC, Huawei are still to come. LG are hardly behind the ball here. Australians are always behind the rest of the world due to our relatively unique networks and banding requirements. Our networks are far more advanced than most of the world.
It will be a while before the P9 gets here.
Well the G5 has dropped in the US but there’s still no word on when it will drop in Australia. Motorola have been and still are terrible at making devices available here too. As far as the P9 goes who knows but the longer LG take to make their phone available, the more phones get announced and people may just wait for them rather than buy a phone which has been getting some pretty negative attention. The fact is Apple and Samsung are very good at announcing new devices and making them available very quickly in Australia including a global… Read more »
I was very excited about this phone but the reviews I’ve read since its release have been awful ?