Modular design can make LG’s G5 smartphone and ‘friends’ the perfect fit

The main camera on the G5 will have two lenses, one for standard shots, and one with a wider angle so you can capture more of what’s in front of you without having to step back. Bebeto Matthews / AP PhotoShow less

BARCELONA // With the new G5, LG may well have come up with the defining smartphone of this year's MWC. Not necessarily the best – the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is probably the lead contender right now – but the G5 is the boldest flagship smartphone from a manufacturer in years.

Billed as the world’s first modular smartphone (a few Kickstarter inventors might be consulting lawyers), the G5 enables the user to remove the bottom of the device via a surprisingly smooth mechanism, and fit in a number of interchangeable modules, or “friends” as LG describes them. LG has already shown us the LG Cam Plus, an enlarged camera grip with additional controls and more battery power, as well as the LG Hi-Fi Plus, a high-resolution audio module developed in conjunction with Bang & Olufsen.

And in an age of tweaks and upgrades, these “friends” have game-changing potential.

It would be a mistake, however, to describe the G5 as just “the module phone”. The neat lines of the G4 and G3 have been transformed and replaced with a beautifully crafted minimalist look with soft curved edges, putting the G5 in the same league as the HTC M9 and the iPhone 6 in terms of design.

The G4’s superb 16MP camera is once again present and has been joined on the rear of the phone by a 135-degree wide-angle 8-megapixel camera.

The 5.3 inch display is a touch smaller than the G4’s, but sports a higher pixel density, with images and videos as pleasing as on their predecessor. And at long last, a rear-mounted fingerprint reader is also thrown in.

The G5 is expected to hit the shelves from the beginning of April, with no word on price so far. But however expensive it is, it will be near the top of our wish lists in the next couple of months.

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