J
Jeff Causey
Guest
As word leaked out over the past few weeks about LG designing their new flagship smartphone, the LG G5, to give users the premium build of an all metal body with the convenience of a swappable battery, we also heard the word “module” tossed around a bit. At their press event this morning, LG revealed the first two modules – the LG CAM Plus and the LG Hi-Fi Plus – and showed a little bit of how these new modules will work.
The LG CAM Plus is a module designed to bring some ease of use features to smartphone cameras by incorporating some concepts from traditional cameras. These include dedicated buttons for both the regular camera and the video camera. LG also built in a zoom wheel to make it easier to frame the picture just how you want.
The LG CAM Plus slides in to the bottom of the camera in place of where the battery module would normally be located. Users simply pop out the battery module, swap their battery over to the CAM Plus, then plug that back into their G5.
Besides adding the additional buttons for controlling the camera app on their phone, the CAM Plus should make it a little bit easier to hold the device while trying to capture images. Some additional battery capacity is included in the device giving users another 1,200 mAh of battery life to go with the primary 2,800 mAh battery.
The other primary module available with this initial release is the Hi-Fi Plus. This module is designed for audiophiles looking for better sound experiences from their smartphone. To achieve that, LG partnered with Bang & Olufsen to add B&O Play to the Hi-Fi Plus module. The module itself includes a replacement speaker, though it does not appear to be different than the normal LG speaker.
The magic of the Hi-Fi Plus module is the technology inside and the hardware for connecting headphones. B&O developed a 32-bit digital audio controller (DAC) and a dedicated amp capable of directly streaming high-resolution digital files through a special 3.5mm headphone jack included in the module. LG and B&O say the technology will automatically up sample sources to 32-bit output.
In a bit of a bid to grab part of the market that may not have an LG device, the Hi-Fi Plus module can be used with a special cap that covers the open end. LG says this will make the device capable of being used with other devices like OS X powered computers, iPhones and iPads, and Android devices from other manufacturers.
Be sure to stick with TalkAndroid today and this week for more coverage of MWC 2016.
image sources: DroidLife
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