LG Electronics has officially announced that its flagship LG G5 modular smartphone will hit the US stores in ‘early April.’ Surprisingly, the company did not reveal a specific release date. The phone along with its Friends is likely to arrive in the United States on April 8, the day it will go on sale in both Canada and the UK. LG had unveiled the modular phone at the Mobile World Congress last month.
Consumers ‘incredibly excited’ about LG G5
The Korean company said the G5 will be available at AT&T, T-Mobile, Best Buy, B&H, US Cellular, Verizon, and Sprint. It is still unclear how much the device would cost. Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S7 and S7 that were announced the same day as G5, went on sale in 60 countries on March 11. LG Electronics MobileComm SVP Morris Lee said consumers were “incredibly excited” about the phone, and the company was proud of practical innovations in G5 and Friends.
Friends are modular accessories that help transform the LG G5 into things like a mobile virtual reality viewer or a DSLR-quality camera. The Friends include a small 360-degree camera, a virtual reality headset, the Camera Plus module with physical camera buttons, a hi-fi audio DAC LG built in collaboration with Bang & Olufsen, and the Rolling Bot that you can use to amuse your pets or monitor your house.
Some ‘Friends’ may arrive later
However, not all the modular accessories will be available at the time of launch. An LG representative said at the MWC that the Rolling Bot would not arrive before the summer. LG has sweetened the deal by announcing that US customers buying a G5 will get a free second battery and charging cradle. This is going to be a limited time offer, though LG did not specify how long consumers will have to take advantage of it.
LG G5 sports a 5.3-inch display, an octa-core Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB RAM, 32GB of built-in memory, and a dual-camera setup on the back. The device is designed such that you can replace the battery within seconds, or replace the battery module with other modules. The phone packs a 2,800mAh battery.
