MWC 2016: LG G5 officially announced with a metal, modular design

Surprise, the LG G5 was announced today at MWC 2016, as if you couldn't tell from the weeks of leaks that even LG was in on disclosing. We finally know the official specs.

It's a 5.3-inch Android phone with an always-on display that never sleeps. This means that even when it's off, you can check the time, date and see the notifications icons at a glance.

The quad HD display is surrounded by an all-metal design, a real switch from the leather-and-plastic LG G4 and silicon-and-plastic LG V10.

On the back, there are two cameras, one that's 16MP and the other that's 8MP. While half a megapixels seemingly makes it less appealing, it takes extra-wide photos at 135 degrees. That's wider than the human eye can see, which ensures you can get tall buildings in the background.

At the heart of the LG G5 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a healthy 4GB of RAM and a 2,800mAh battery. That's smaller than the LG G4 battery, but remember, it's a smaller screen.

LG G5 has new friends

The LG G5 is trying to rival the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S7, which is also launching at MWC 2016. It's bringing posse to do just that.

In addition to including a removable battery and expandable storage in the form of a microSD card slot, it's adding two modular-like accessories.

The bottom metal chin of the LG G5 comes off and this "magic slot" enables users to add a battery grip that includes manual camera controls.

There's also a Hi-Fi digital-to-audio-converter that can plug into this bottom slot for audiophiles who want the purest music quality available on a mobile phone.

LG hasn't announced an LG G5 release date or price, but it's expected in April and we're expecting it to retail for the same amount as the LG G4 when that launched a year ago.