The LG G5 looks to be a phenomenal phone. It improves on its predecessors
in many ways, or at least carries over a lot of what we loved about the LG G4 to
an updated design. And LG is trying many new things, from a metal uni body
design that still includes a removable battery to a dual-lens camera system.
But the most unique feature is one that hearkens back to an earlier era of
mobile computing: swappable expansion modules. (None of us would even be here
if it weren't for Visor Central.)
There's just one problem: I don't think that the G5's modules are going to
matter at all.
I'll give LG credit: they're always willing to try new things. The LG G2
moved the buttons onto the back; the G3 brought us laser auto focus, a QHD
display and manual camera controls. And the G4 went crazy with a Quantum
display, an extra-bright aperture and swappable leather backs.
With the G5, LG's trying more crazy things than ever before. But the
craziest is without a doubt the swappable base. Pop off the bottom of the
phone, slide it out with the battery, snap the battery off and attach it to a
new module, and slide that whole bit back into the phone and boot back up. It's
an opportunity to add new functionality to the phone without increasing the
base price, as LG demonstrated with a camera controls plus extra battery module
and another with improved audio chips.
Removing the bottom of the LG G5 to add on a new module and a Handspring
Visor Pro with a OmniSky Minstrel S Wireless Modem Springboard module.
Almost immediately I was struck by the similarity with something from the
early days of mobile computing: Handspring's Springboard expansion slot.
Introduced in 1999, the Handspring Visor wasn't the first mobile device with an
expansion slot, but the Palm OS PDA was certainly the most prominent such
device (you know, relatively speaking). The Springboard modules added a range
of functionality to compatible Handspring PDAs, including games, reference
libraries like the medical dictionaries and language translators, device backup
drives, cameras, MP3 players, cellular radios, GPS navigation, and RFID and barcode
scanners. It was a diverse and vibrant little ecosystem with multiple third
parties producing modules for the Springboard platform.
There's nowhere near as much need for physical attachments to add mobile
device feaures as there was in 1999.
It's clear that LG wants something similar to happen with the G5's modules
(which still, we should note, lack proper branding), but there's a huge
difference between today's mobile device market and that of the turn of the
century. For one, there's nowhere near as much need for expanding the
functionality of smartphones with physical attachments like this as there was
back then. Every reference library and game Springboard module is just an app
these days. We've got excellent built-in cameras on every smartphone now (two
of them on the G5, actually), built-in MP3 players and GPS and more than enough
internal storage, and our smartphones have built-in wireless modems and radios
now. Many of the other modules — gaming controls and scanners — have been
replaced with universally-compatible Bluetooth devices.
The Springboard modules were also compatible with a number of devices: the
Visor, Visor Deluxe, Visor Platinum, Visor Neo, and Visor Pro. The last
Springboard-compatible device was the Visor Pro, released in 2001. The next
year Handspring went all-in on the Treo line of smartphones and two years later
was acquired by Palm.
We've seen no indication from LG that the expansion modules on the LG G5
will be compatible with any future device, and we'd frankly be surprised if
they were. The Handspring Springboard worked because Visor handhelds were all
roughly the same size and the expansion slots were all narrower than the entire
PDA and slotted into the back. With the LG G5 you're removing the bottom of the
phone and attaching a different bottom in its place.
The LG Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play expansion module brings a dedicated
digital-to-analog converter and amp for high-end 32-bit audio on the LG G5.
It's a more elegant solution thank the clunky Springboard, sure, but it's
one that either limits future compatibility for modules purchased with the G5
or hamstrings LG's industrial design for future handsets in order to maintain
compatibility. My money's on modules that work with the G5 only working with
the G5, which is guaranteed to infuriate any G5 owner that invests in a module
or two when the time to upgrade comes. It's one thing for a case to no longer
be compatible, but when you've dropped who-knows-how-much these modules and
they don't work with your next expensive smartphone, that's an issue.
Everything else we use with our phones — speakers, chargers, robot toys, home
security systems, etc — are by-and-large universally-compatible. I don't even
expect modules purchased for the G5 to work with the eventual G6, and that's a
problem.
LG said they're making more G5 modules and an API for anybody to make their
own. But who will?
LG says that the CAM Plus camera controls module and Hi-Fi Plus dedicated
DAC module are just the first two and that they both have more in development.
And they'll release an API for other companies to make their own modules. But
who will? And will LG subsidize the cost of manufacturing such a niche
accessory?
Sure, the LG managed to sell nearly 60 million smartphones in 2015, but by all
indications they've struggled to sell on the high end — how many G4 phones do
you see on the street? There's nothing about the LG G5 that strikes me as
particularly compelling next to its Android competition, and certainly they'll
be buried yet again on the marketing front by the Samsung Galaxy S7. Who is
going to develop these modules for LG, given the small addressable market and
previously-mentioned future compatibility concerns?
Then there's the question of what modules are we going to see? What's the
compelling use case going to be? It's certainly not the camera module — the
extra bulky block on the base of the phone with awkward physical controls will
appeal to few. Maybe somebody will make a better version of it. The Bang &
Olufsen co-developed Hi-Fi Plus module seems interesting, but as the many cheap
Apple earbuds and overpriced Beats headphones you've no doubt seen wandering
around in this world can attest, dramatically-better audio quality is not a
pressing concern for most potential buyers. There's certainly interesting potential
here — maybe a super-high-end camera module or an extended battery or a better
speaker or physical gaming controls — but it's a tough sell.
The LG CAM Plus expansion module for the LG G5 adds 1100 mAh of additional
battery and physical camera controls.
The LG G5 is LG at its most LG. They're throwing in everything — kitchen
sink included — and hoping something will stick.
That sell could potentially become even harder when you factor in the price
of these modules. Which is to say that we have no clue what the price will be.
LG's Frank Lee (Director of Mobile Communications) told us that they're aiming
to ensure that the modules will have a "reasonable" price, but that's
still open to interpretation. Reasonable to what the average consumer will
expect something like this to cost? Reasonable for the technology that has to
go inside them? Reasonable for anybody to turn a profit on them? It's worth
noting that there's a minimum level of technology that will be required in any
of these modules — at a bare minimum they'll need to include a USB-C port, loud
speaker (since LG opted to include that on the removable portion of the phone),
mounts for the battery, and contacts to transfer data and power back-and-forth
with the phone. Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder.
The LG G5 is LG at its most LG. They're being innovative and trying new
things and throwing in everything — kitchen sink included — and hoping
something sticks. The Galaxy S7 is Samsung at its most Apple; they've taken an
already excellent smartphone and refined and improved almost every aspect of
it. The LG G5's modules are a unique and innovative idea, but they're solving
in a clunky manner for a problem that doesn't necessarily exist; in the process
LG will either aggravate their customers or design themselves into a corner —
or both.