The LG G5 isn’t the best looking device this year, but it perhaps is the most interesting one. With the removable bottom for modules, and the two cameras on the back, it’s a pretty interesting device. The LG G5 is made of “metal”, and we put metal in quotes because the metal is covered in paint. Now LG says that this is to keep the antenna lines from showing and make the phone look nicer. Which it does look pretty nice. But you don’t get the raw metal feel. For many, they are going to throw a case on their LG G5 anyways, so that’s not a big deal. Speaking of cases, we have the VRS Design High Pro Shield here for the LG G5, and we’ve spent about a week using it on the LG G5. So let’s talk about it.
First off, the High Pro Shield comes in four colors. There’s the Pink, Silver, Gold and dark gray. These colors mostly match the color of the LG G5. We’ve mostly been using the silver on our LG G5 since we do have the silver color here. But we do also have it in the dark gray and gold. Both look pretty nice here on the LG G5. The High Pro Shield does come in two parts. You have your soft touch case that goes around the device. Now it’s important that this is a soft-touch case because it’ll protect your LG G5 while in use. Some cases are known to scratch the phone, even though they are supposed to protect it. So that’s great to see here. Then there’s the bumper that is made to look like metal, but it isn’t. This bumper is the part that comes in different colors. It’s not a flimsy bumper, which is great for taking it off of the device, as you definitely don’t want to bend it.
The bumper does have a few cut outs here. So on the bottom there is a cut out for the speaker, USB Type-C port and the microphone hole. On the top there’s a cut out for the headphone jack, IR blaster and another microphone hole. On the left side, where the volume rocker is, there’s no cut outs. But there are buttons, which you can easily see as well as feel. Now when talking about the volume buttons, it’s important to note that we have had a few issues with pressing them. Particularly the volume up button. If you press to far down on the volume up, it’ll actually turn down the volume. Now this appears to be an issue with the LG G5 hardware, as we’ve seen this on other cases – from other manufacturers – too. It’s not a huge deal, just press the button further up and you won’t run into any issues. You’ll just need to adjust your muscle memory here.
On the back of the case, we of course have a cut out for the camera module as well as another one for the power button/fingerprint sensor. The cut out around the fingerprint sensor and power button is a bit chamfered. This allows the cut out to be relatively small, but still usable for unlocking your device with the fingerprint sensor. An issue we’ve heard about with some cases is in regards to the wide-angle camera. With the camera having such a wide angle, some cases are getting in the way of the camera. We are happy to report that is not an issue with the VRS Design High Pro Shield Case on the LG G5. Taking a picture with the case on and off yielded the same results. This means you’ll be able to use both cameras with the case on. Typically this wouldn’t be a problem, but where there is a wide-angle camera on the LG G5, it is something we need to look for.
The design on the back of the High Pro Shield is quite nice too. We have a brushed metal look in the middle with a regular polycarbonate look on the rest of the back. the brushed metal look not only looks great but it also adds some texture to the LG G5. Making it easy to hold onto. Let’s face it, the last thing you want to happen after spending $650 on a new smartphone, is to drop it and crack the screen, or worse break it completely.
Now with the LG G5 being a modular smartphone, and having a removable battery and all, another thing we have to look for is removing the battery. Unfortunately, you will need to remove the case to replace the battery or use any of the modules. This shouldn’t be a deal breaker simply because you need to remove the case on any other smartphone with a removable battery anyways. So this is no different. Remember, you won’t be swapping modules that often anyways. And most people likely aren’t going to buy them.
The High Pro Shield has been one of my favorite case lines for quite a while now. I’ve used it on the Nexus 6P and now on the LG G5 and simply love it. It’s not too bulky, but still provides a good amount of protection for your device. It also provides some grip to the phone, which is almost more important than protecting the phone. Cases are an important accessory for any smartphone, and this is one of the best ones out there. We’d definitely recommend picking one up. VRS Design – formerly known as Verus – is selling the High Pro Shield (along with some other models which we also have and will be reviewing soon) available on Amazon. When picking a color of the High Pro Shield, getting the one that matches your LG G5 is recommended, as it will look really nice on the LG G5.
Right now the High Pro Shield is available for $19.49 on Amazon. Keep in mind that these prices do tend to fluctuate over time. So we may see them drop in price – especially since VRS Design does periodically put their cases on sale.
Buy the VRS Design High Pro Shield Case
