What Is It? – LG – the Korean manufacturer – is trying again to challenge its home country rival Samsung in the smartphone space. They already duke it out over TVs and appliances like washers, dryers, and refrigerators. Enter the LG G5 smartphone, their attempt to match up with Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S7 line. The G5 comes with the Android Marshmallow operating system, a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 4 GB of RAM, and built in 32 GB of storage. You can optionally add as much as 2 TB of storage on an SD card. So far, it’s much like the Samsung. But the LG G5 has a 16-megapixel back camera – the Galaxy 7 is only a 12 MP – and LG actually has a second 8 MP camera in the back, making it capable of taking wide angle shots. All the standard smartphone stuff is here too: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc., but what really sets the LG apart is that like some of its other models, there’s a removable battery. The bottom edge of the phone pops off, you pull it out, and a large yellow battery appears. It can be easily disconnected and 
replaced with a fresh one – LG sells a separate charger – and the phone reboots. Removing the bottom piece also allows the addition of different modules, one of which contains manual camera controls – you don’t have to touch the screen to zoom or begin to video, for example – plus it has extra battery power built in. There’s also an available module that’s a DAC, (digital audio converter) for playing Hi-Res audio tracks. The LG G5 weighs about 5.6 ounces, or about what most premium smartphones do. Both video and audio performance is what you’d expect from a premium phone.
Is It 50+ Friendly? – I found the LG G5 easy to handle and pretty close in performance to the latest premium phone models. The wide angle photo option is nice. LG also sells headphones, a Virtual Reality headset, and a 360-degree camera to go with the G5, but my review model didn’t include them.
Frustration Factor? – None really.
Is It Worth The Money? – The LG G5 is not an inexpensive phone, and it’s going up against other high end smartphones that we’ve reviewed here, such as the Galaxy S7 and the HTC 10. Besides having a wide-angle camera, the difference is largely in the removable battery, something that was found in old flip-phones then mostly disappeared after the iPhone came without one, and Android makers chose design and style over a battery hatch. It also has those available add-on camera and audio modules. Currently an unlocked LG G5 is about $550 at Amazon.com – or available with contracts from most cell phone carriers.
Here’s the short version of LG’s promotional video:
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