Reviews for the LG G5 are starting to come in

LG’s flagship smartphones are always decent, and that’s why they’re never as successful as Samsung’s flagships, because just being decent isn’t enough to compete against the likes of the Galaxy S series. That’s why LG is being a little more bold with its next flagship, known as the LG G5, by giving it an always-on display and making it semi-modular. The company is also doing away with the leather backing of the LG G5’s predecessors in favor of a more premium-feeling metal build, and is equipping it with the most-powerful hardware out there, such as the Snapdragon 820. Will this be enough to make the LG G5 more enticing than its predecessors?

It’s nice. That’s about the G5 in a nutshell. With rounded edges and premium build, the handset feels great in your hand. The camera works well and dual lenses allow for different shooting options not found on other smartphones. And LG stuck with its roots and included a removable battery and microSD card slot in the G5 but did so in a novel fashion. Props to that. It took LG several version of the G series to make a top-tier handset. The G3 was acceptable and the G4 was nice. The G5 improves on the G4 in most ways but still, it doesn’t feel like a must-buy phone over the previous model. The G5 sports an expansion port on the bottom of the device. The entire bottom of the phone snaps off, allowing the owner to change batteries or swap in one of LG’s expansion packs. It’s novel, though, perhaps, just a gimmick depending on how LG prices the accessories. LG is initially producing two expansion packs but isn’t revealing how much they will cost. At launch G5 owners can buy a camera pack called the LG Cam Plus that adds an additional battery and physical controls for the G5’s camera like a dial for zooming and a shutter button. This pack combines with the phone’s standard battery, providing 4,000 mAh of power.