Over the weekend I took several shots with the HTC 10. I also had the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7. I discarded most of the S7’s shots except one as I preferred the photos from the HTC 10. I will create a separate post for the LG G5 and S7 shots.
George – Pro mode, RAW, cropped to 16:9
Mud Bath
Panoramic Shot of Dartmoor
Tiggy
George and Tiggy
Sharp Tor
Tree
Most of my photos this weekend came from the HTC 10, but I did snap several from the LG G5 and S7. Sadly I was disappointed with the S7 photos versus the rest except for one shot below.
George and Fury – S7
Sharp Tor – LG G5
Soussons Forrest – LG G5
Stormy Clouds over Warren Inn, Dartmoor – LGG5 wide
Soussons Forrest – LGG5 wide
I do think the LG G5 is better for landscape type shots especially using the wide lens. It will be interesting to see how the S7 fares when I use it with the official wide lens from Samsung later this week.
It was a real big, mud and water fest on Dartmoor this morning.
But I had a go at recording a Hyperlapse video. I was walking and holding the HTC 10 in Dartmoor. It was a bumpy walk too.
The LG G5 comes with a few modules that when fitted mean you can’t use a case.
Fortunately an eBay seller from Korea is now selling one which arrived today.
I am going to have to make one modification to the case with my drill and that is to enlarge the headphone cutout hole marginally. The hole fits several headphones except some of mine. It’s an easy tweak to do just an oversight in the design.
Anyway here’s the link to the eBay seller.
So what else does the case offer. Well for starters it is a typical silicone TPU case. The front of the case offers between 1-2mm of a lip so you can place the phone screen side on a table. The rear of the case has cutouts for the fingerprint sensor and camera. The top edge has cutouts for the mic, IR blaster and headphone port. The volume keys on the left side are covered, but has raised plastic keys so you can operate these with ease. The sim/micro SD tray is completely covered by the case. On the bottom edge, there are cutouts for the DAC loudspeaker, mic, USB Type C port and the DAC headphone port. As mentioned above, you might find yourself needing to make the headphone holes slightly larger. If you remove the silicone case it will bend as its a clear rubber TPU silicone material. Fitted to the case its rather good.
Below are a selection of photos from the HTC 10 camera. I really like the natural look of the photos.
Below is a crop from the 4:3 to 16:9.
The sheep suddenly walked across the road. The HTC 10 was quick enough to launch and snap this. Cropped again from 4:3 to 16:9.
One of several from a burst and cropped again.
Natural shot of the ponies.
The local church. Realistic shot.
Merivale Quarry with the bird in the sky. Really realistic shot again.
Overall some really pleasant shots from the HTC 10.
So should you need to buy anything on Amazon, please head over by using the respective links below. This helps by contributing towards the running costs of Gavin’s Gadgets.
The best part is that it also costs you nothing extra!
Amazon UK – CLICK HERE
Amazon US – CLICK HERE
Have a good weekend.
Welcome to my review of the Audioquest Dragonfly Red. The Dragonfly Red is a USB DAC, Preamp and Headphone amplifier all squeezed into the size of a USB memory stick.
The Key Specification
– USB Stick-Sized Digital-to-Analog Converter
– Plays all music files: MP3 to high-res
– Compatible with Apple and Windows PCs, as well as iOS and Android mobile devices (requires Apple Camera Adapter or Made for Android/OTG adaptor)
– Drives headphones directly
– Fixed output feeds preamp or AV receiver
– Asynchronous transfer ensures digital timing integrity
– High output (2.1 volts) drives almost all headphones, including power-hungry models
– 32-bit ESS 9016 DAC with minimum-phase filter
– Bit-perfect digital volume control
– Firmware upgradeable
The Sound Quality and Experience
For the purposes of this review I tested the Dragonfly Red using my iPad, Samsung Galaxy S7 and Macbook. Headphone used were Oppo PM-3, Dunu Titan 5, Sony XBA-1, Sennheiser HD598se and Audio Technica M50x.
All three source components had no issues functioning with the Dragonfly Red. To use with the iPad I needed to use the Apple Camera adapter and with the Samsung Galaxy S7 an OTG adapter. Samsung include an OTG adapter in the box which is handy.
Also worth noting on the S7, to get the best experience you must use an app called USB Audio Player Pro. If you listen to the S7 using other music services/apps they don’t connect to the digital direct drive volume so at max levels the volume may not be high enough. With UAPP the volume is immense.
When using portable devices or your smartphone, the Dragonfly Red does drain the battery of your device faster than normal. This is to be expected as its needs power from somewhere. However, unlike other portable DAC/Headphone amps that have an built in battery, it never goes flat or needs recharging.
I listened to a number of different genres – dance, classical, jazz, rock and blues. I found the Dragonfly Red provided oodles more power and control than using the source components own headphone jack. Also the layering and delicacy of the music was lovely at times. This was more noticeable with classical and jazz genres. The soundstage improved too with the DAC. Overall the music was clearer, more defined, better layered and provided a decent lift in quality.
Conclusion
A remarkable piece of kit from Audioquest. Top notch sound quality bundled in such a small package. Recommended.
For more information and the latest deals on Amazon UK, click HERE.
Welcome to my review of the LG G5.
This review has been written after spending 1 month with the LG G5. It has also had a firmware update during this time. Before this review I have published several ongoing posts with guest posts from readers Mark and Mat.
UPDATE – February 2017 – I have now re-reviewed the LG G5 running android nougat. Click HERE.
LG G5 – Can you manage without an app drawer
LG G5 – First Shots from the Camera
LG G5 – My fav shots so far with comments
LG G5 – How to get 10 hours screen on time
LG G5 – More shots from the camera
LG G5 – Shots from London Docklands with Comments
LG G5 – How to unlock the bootloader
LG G5 – What I like about the G5 camera so far
LG G5 – Time Lapse and 360 Cam footage
LG G5 – highlights from the weekend
Mat shares his photos and views on his new LG G5
Camera Decisions – LG G5 vs Samsung Galaxy S7
How I see the pros and cons of the LG G5 and S7
LG G5 vs Samsung S7 – Another camera comparison
Mark shares his views on why he picked the S7 over the G5
LG G5 vs Huawei P9 – camera comparison
Hardware and Design
LG decided to be bold and create a modular phone. A phone where the bottom end detaches and allows for other components to be fitted. So far there is a HiFi Plus and Cam Plus module. What comes next is anyones guess. LG also created LG Friends for the G5. Some of these Friends also work with other android phones and iOS. In fact the HiFi Plus module is also able to work with iOS, android and other OS’s in standalone mode.
I have all the modules and friends. I swap the HiFi DAC on and off regularly and there are absolutely no signs of wear and tear. None whatsoever. So the initial web reports on build quality must have been a faulty first batch. The G5 is made from metal and then painted to hide the antenna lines. Once again the internet reacted to such a scandal. Well, don’t believe everything you read as these publications need visitors to feed their advertising revenue. Nothing wrong in this, but you need to be objective. So lets start with facts. The G5 is the only flagship phone that doesn’t show my fingerprints like there is no yesterday. The Samsung S7 is a disaster for fingerprints. There are also no scratches or marks on my G5 after one month. So LG got something right!
In reality, if you put a case on any phone, it looks no different from another phone.
LG G5 Modules, Friends and Accessories. Below are all the links to the individual reviews –
LG G5 BCK-5100 Hybrid Battery Dock Charger review
LG HiFi Plus review – and reviewed with the S7
LG Tone Platinum HBS-1100 Bluetooth Headset review
The Key Specficiations
– Screen IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 5.3 inches (~70.1% screen-to-body ratio)
– Resolution 1440 x 2560 pixels (~554 ppi pixel density)
– Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 4
– Always-on display
– LG UX 5.0 UI
– OS Android OS, v6.0.1 (Marshmallow)
– Chipset Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820
– CPU Dual-core 2.15 GHz Kryo & dual-core 1.6 GHz Kryo
– GPU Adreno 530
– MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 200 GB (dedicated slot)
– Internal 32 GB, 4 GB RAM
– CAMERA Primary 16 MP (f/1.8) + 8 MP (f/2.4), laser autofocus, OIS (3-axis), LED flash,
– Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR
Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps, HDR, stereo sound rec., check quality
– Secondary 8 MP, f/2.0, 1080p@30fps, 135º wide angle
– Audio – 24-bit/192kHz audio
– COMMS WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot
– Bluetooth v4.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD
– GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
– NFC Yes
– Infrared port Yes
– Radio FM radio
– USB v3.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go
– Sensors Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, colour spectrum for camera
– Fast battery charging: 83% in 30 min (Quick Charge 3.0)
– Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
– MP4/DviX/XviD/H.264/WMV player
– MP3/WAV/FLAC/eAAC+/WMA player
– BATTERY Removable Li-Ion 2800 mAh battery
– Stand-by Up to 400 h (3G)
– Talk time Up to 20 h (3G)
– Display Contrast ratio: 1855:1 (nominal), 2.905 (sunlight)
– Dimensions – 149.4 x 73.9 x 7.7 mm (5.88 x 2.91 x 0.30 in)
– Weight 159 g (5.61 oz)
Phone Basics
The G5 comes with LG’s latest UI launcher version 5 which has no app drawer. LG added the app drawer back in an update after a week. However, I never bothered to use the app drawer until I decided to install Nova Launcher after 3 weeks. LG launcher does have optional themes but these do not theme the entire phone UI like the Samsung Galaxy S7 themes. I would recommend either installing the Google Now launcher or Nova.
Screen viewing angles are good. Sunlight visibility can be awkward at times. Cellular and WiFi signal strengths were excellent. The G5 in my testing is better at finding signal than the S7. At times the S7 had no signal whereas the G5 had 2 bars whilst on the same network.
The G5 moves to nano sim and USB Type C with Quick charging 3. With the fast charging provided, the G5 charges blisteringly fast. Unlike every other flagship, the G5 has an infra red blaster for controlling your TV, DVD, air conditioner and much much more. Battery life averaged 4-5 hours screen on time based on my setup which included location settings on high and with a connected wearable. With Quick Charge 3 and user swappable batteries power will never be an issue with the G5.
The rear fingerprint scanner/power button works quickly and accurately. The G5 has the option of an always on display. This is useful as it displays icons of all your notifications without the need of turning the phone on. However, its hard to view in bright light.
Camera
The cameras on the LG G5 are brilliant. It comes with a 8mp front camera and 2 rear lenses. A standard 16mp f/1.8 and a 8mp f/2.4 135 degree wide angle lens. The wide angle lens is phenomenal. You can get shots as shown below from it –
The wide angle lens is so wide at 135 degrees you can capture the whole scene with ease. It also means you don’t have to worry about not having enough room to step back further to capture the entire scene. Below the whole harbour in one shot.
Of course the standard 16mp lens is just as awesome and has no issues capturing kids and pets.
The 16mp lens shoots at 16:9 and provides oodles of detail and the ability to crop and crop.
In fact if you want to see more photos from the G5, head over to my dedicated Flickr album where there are 100 shots to view – Click HERE.
The LG camera interface is similar to the LG G4. You have 3 shooting options. Simple (touch screen to shoot), Auto and Manual. Unlike the LG V10, the G5 has no manual controls for video which is disappointing. In Auto mode you have mode options auto, popout, multi view ,snap, panorama, slo mo and time lapse. Pop out is pointless IMO. See my Flickr album for samples. All the other modes work well. The 8mp from camera is good and offers a sliding scale of beautification. Other settings include photo ratio (16:9, 4:3 and 1:1) video resolution (4K, FHD at 30fps and HD), HDR Auto, 9 filters, timer, voice control, OIS on or off, Electronic Video stabilisation on or off and grid lines. You can also select the 16mp or 8mp wide angle lens or if you zoom in and out it switches on the fly. Manual mode allows RAW capture. Flash has another option over auto called R. Reduced flash. You can also have a histogram showing. Other manual controls are for white balance, manual focus, EV, ISO (50-3,200), Shutter speed (1/3200 to 30 seconds) and AE-L. As mentioned above there are no manual controls for video which means videos can be over exposed sometimes and there is no option to reduce the exposure or anything.
The G5 can record video at 4K and the results are superb with proviso mentioned above. Photo image quality from all 3 lenses are excellent.
Audio Quality
The G5 has an option for adding a HiFi DAC module. But without this it is still a great phone for audio quality. The single bottom firing loudspeaker is really loud. Bluetooth audio is better than all current flagships as it has APT-X HD. This is the Hi Res 24bit bluetooth codec from Qualcomm. With APT-X HD enabled headphones the results are fantastic. The wired audio from the top mounted headphone jack is also good quality and has a much louder output than that of the Samsung S7.
The Extra Experience with the Modules
Of course the G5 currently has 2 modules that replace the bottom section. The HiFi Plus DAC provides 32 bit sound. This DAC is really good, see links above for review. It improves the sound quality a lot and can power many headphones. It also provides a louder loudspeaker. The cellular antennas are also inside this along with the mic. The other module is the Cam Plus. Again see review links above. If you are going to be out all day taking photos this improves the photo taking experience.
Of course, more modules could arrive and add more functionality. As to if and when and what only time will tell.
Conclusion
The LG G5 is a real workhorse. It has many unique features and functions over the competition and is one of my favourite phones to date. Currently it is on sale at Amazon UK for £449 which makes it great value.
More information and the latest pricing on Amazon UK – Click HERE.
More information and the latest pricing on the LG Friends and modules on Amazon UK – Click HERE.
Welcome to my review of the Huawei P9. The Huawei P9 is Huawei’s flagship phone that for the first time is available from all UK networks. The P9 is by far the best Huawei / Honor phone I have used from the software, hardware and cameras.
The Key Specifications
– Screen 5.2-inch IPS LCD, 2.5D glass, 1920×1080 resolution (423ppi)
– Cameras – Dual 12MP (colour & monochrome), ƒ/2.2 lens, Leica certified
– 8MP front camera
-Battery – 3000mAh capacity Non-removable
– Processor Huawei Kirin 955 Quad-core 2.5GHz
– 3GB or 4GB RAM
– 32 or 64GB internal storage
– microSD slot
– Dimensions – 145mm x 70.9mm x 6.95mm
– Weight – 144g
Hardware and Design
If you buy a phone just based on looks then the Huawei P9 is a winner for you. It is beautifully made. The phone is only 6.95mm thick and still comes with a 3,000 mAh battery and the twin Leica branded rear lenses do not protrude.
The phone has the fingerprint sensor on the rear along with the two lenses, two tone flash and laser auto focus. The right edge has the power and volume buttons. The bottom edge house the USB Type C connector, 3.5mm headphone jack, mic and loudspeaker. The left edge houses the nano sim card/micro SD card. I have the 3gb ram/32gb P9. The model number is EVA-L09. This specific version does have NFC. Some of the models sold in different countries have 4gb ram and sometimes don’t have NFC so it is worth checking before you buy. Any official UK model should have NFC which is important as android pay is about to go live.
Software and Phone Basics
Huawei still use EMUI, this time as version 4.1. I installed the Running theme which I felt looked the least offensive. You will either love or hate EMUI. EMUI like many other phones does not include an app drawer which really in my book doesn’t matter. If you want to change the launcher just install Google Now or Nova Launcher.
Some of the software features provided by the P9 include WiFi Direct, Data Traffic Management, NFC, Tethering, Link+ (WiFi+, Signal+, Roaming+, Link+), Normal or Easy Home layouts, Themes, Colour temperature display adjustments, LED notifications, Fingerprint gestures (show notification panel, browse photos, Floating dock (icon appears on screen so you can easily access back, home etc), motion controls (flip to mute, pick up to reduce volume, raise to ear to speak, knuckle screenshot, knuckle gestures used to draw a letter to open camera, designated app, music or weather), One handed UI (shift screen, mini keyboard), Voice control, smart cover options, smart headset control when using Huawei Music app, Gloves mode and Huawei ID. So the kitchen sink of options!
Call quality is excellent on the P9 as are most of the other cellular and connectivity options. This is a strong point for the P9. However, I did notice that if the WiFi signal was weak, it did not automatically reconnect unless you selected the WiFi network manually.
The 1080p panel offers decent viewing angles and is readable in the sun. Battery life is excellent on the P9. I always got to the end of the day with ease. The combination of the 1080p screen and a 3,000mAh battery really helps. The Kirin processor seems to play most games reasonable well. Occasionally there was some stuttering/lag.
Camera and Audio
This is where Huawei made all the focus during the P9 launch. On the rear you will find 2 lenses with LEICA branding. The lenses are not made by LEICA, merely endorsed by LEICA who helped co-engineer and worked with Huawei on the development and processing aspects.
What I initially discovered is the P9 for very fast action shots in burst mode was not fast enough. Future testing improved this slightly. However, I don’t think the shutter speed goes fast enough for very fast shots. However, the shot of George does actually look cool and you get a sense of his speed.
The P9 colour reproduction is outstanding at times. It can produce such real life like images that are better than the S7 or G5. The menu is incredible.
What you have with the rear lenses is one monochrome lens and the other a standard lens. The concept is that together more light and depth data can be gathered.
The P9 has loads of camera modes but one of them is a refocus mode. After taking the above photo, you can tap anywhere on the shot to create a focus point and then adjust the f stop from f/16 to f/0.95. You can create and save as many different refocused images from one image too.
The Huawei camera app is one of the best available. Features includes, filters, 14 shooting modes (beauty, beauty video, light painting, watermark, monochrome, HDR, night shot, slow mo, photo, video, panorama, time-lapse, document, audio note), film modes (standard, vivid colours, smooth colours), camera grid options (grid, phi grid, fibonacci spiral left, fibonacci spiral right), Timer, audio control, touch to capture, smile capture, object tracking, ultra snapshot and image adjustments. The P9 also has a Pro mode which gives you options from focus points, ISO(50-3,200), Shutter speed (1/4000 to 30 seconds), EV, AF-S, AF-C and Manual Focus and AWB. The max photo resolution is 12mp. The max video resolution is 1080p at 60fps.
I have created a dedicated Flickr album for the P9 – Click HERE. Jonathan Morris has created an open Google Photos Gallery which has over 14 different people contributing photos from their P9 phones. Click HERE.
My opinion on the P9 camera is that with some care and skill it is possible to snap some great shots. The monochrome mode is superb and works well. Some of the special light painting modes are unique to the android phones e.g. silky water. In fact the light painting modes includes car light trails, light graffiti, silky water and star track. The P9 is the only flagship phone to offer such options. RAW capture is equally impressive. Video recording is just average and there is no 4K option. The lack of OIS will mean you will end up with a few blurred shots from time to time. The front facing camera is reasonable too with plenty of beauty options to knock 10 years off your age! A weakness of the P9 is low light shots with people or movement. However, static shots using the night, light painting, monochrome or Pro modes produce stunning photos.
The headphone quality is reasonable with Dolby DTS provided. The output is loud, but not of the highest audio quality available. Bluetooth is ok too. The loudspeaker is average but acceptable.
Conclusion
When you consider everything you get in this phone, it is quite remarkable. At an official retail price of £450 there are plenty of other options available that might be more appealing. But when you consider several places are now offering the P9 at less than £400, this becomes a more viable option. Even more appealing Vodafone is offering this at £300 on Pay as You Go and is unlockable after 30 days. At this price it becomes a great option and unique.
Huawei are soon to be selling the larger version of the P9, the P9 Plus. This is slightly improved as it has a 5.5 inch AMOLED screen, not IPS. It also has 4gb ram and 64gb rom, Infra Red Blaster, 3,400 mAh battery, stereo speakers and Press Touch screen technology.
For more information on the Huawei P9 and the latest pricing on Amazon UK click HERE.
Title says it all.
Lots of reviews this week. Starting Monday, then another on Tuesday and more on Wednesday. Reviews include –
– Huawei P9
– LG G5 – The 26 Part Mammoth Review
– Audioquest Dragonfly Red
Coming soon – HTC 10, Samsung S7 Protective Lens Cover, Garmin Fenix HR and more.
So should you need to buy anything on Amazon, please head over by using the respective links below. This helps by contributing towards the running costs of Gavin’s Gadgets.
The best part is that it also costs you nothing extra!
Amazon UK – CLICK HERE
Amazon US – CLICK HERE
Have a good weekend.
Once again I went out with the Huawei P9 and took some more photos. I have add some comments after each shot. Also don’t forget to click on each photo to view full size.
Tomorrow I will be publishing the Huawei P9 review.
Above are shots of the National Park Visitor Centre. First auto and then in monochrome. The sun was at an awkward angle just above the building i.e. I was partially shooting at the sun. Shots were both ok considering that.
Same issue with both of these shots in that the sun was in the wrong place. But again reasonable shots from the P9.
The church is well captured here. There is something really appealing about the photos from the P9. They look so life like.
Shot in monochrome and into the sun. I like this photo.
So the same view but in Pro mode and the above photo is the taken from the raw image which was post processed on the phone using Adobe Photoshop Express. I have noticed that the raw image files possess huge dynamic range.
Another Pro mode shot and using raw. Post processed in the same method as above. Here I made the image more vivid. Using raw images on the P9 really helps sometimes.
So there you have it, some more shots with the sun in awkward places and some taken in raw. Tomorrow I will have my main review covering all the other aspects of the phone.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 