Real phones have curves. Or something like that. And with the LG G Flex, there is certainly no shortage of curves: around the edges, its packaging and especially the entire phone itself. If you're looking for something different, something that stands out against the rest, look no further.
Thanks to flexible display technology, we'll soon be seeing more curved devices and wearable gadgets and gizmos. In some cases, it makes perfect sense - like wristwatches or any other wearable that wraps around you or parts of your body.
On the other hand, we have to start questioning its use in devices that have always been flat, like smartphones and TVs. What benefit, if any, does a curved display have in these cases?
LG G Flex Review
Our instincts tell us there really isn't much of an upside. We've become so used to living in a flat-screen world that introducing curved displays would garner Christopher Columbus-like reactions. Curved?! Nonsense! Except that was a myth.
First, let's make one thing clear about the LG G Flex: It is a phablet more than just a smartphone, with a display six inches on the diagonal. It's huge, like the Nokia Lumia 1520, but its gentle curve makes it somewhat easier to hold.
However, with its size come some benefits, like better viewing for videos and photos. A bigger phone also means, presumably, a bigger battery, so you'll get through your day with a more peace of mind.
In fact, LG claims that the G Flex will get two to three days of mixed use, but more on that later.
So, is there a reason for you to buy a large, curved smartphone? Let's find out.
Hardware
(Note: We are using a Korean version of this smartphone loaned to us by LG because the device is not yet available worldwide, and LG was unable to disclose whether it will hit U.S. or European markets.)
The LG G Flex is large, there's no doubt about that. It's a six-inch display with a 700mm radius of curvature from top to bottom, which LG says is just the right amount of curvature for viewing, holding, manufacture and so forth.
LG G Flex Review
The display is 720p, which isn't the sharpest on the market by any means, but LG says it's because it was the only way to get the RGB stripe on the curved display without resorting to PenTile for higher resolution.
At any rate, the display looks nice enough, but for a device this large, you can definitely tell that it isn't as sharp as the Nexus 5 or HTC One. It also has a strange, matte quality to it: it looks like it has some kind of grain or noise like you'd find on a photo shot with film or high ISO digital. Except it looks a lot more like color noise than luminance noise. In some cases, it's quite pleasing and somewhat cinematic, but other times you wish the images and video were cleaner and sharper.
LG G Flex Review
It seems like that noise may also be a quality of the coating of the display, just underneath the glass. Either way, it's very noticeable.
Above the display is the earpiece and front-facing camera along with ambient light sensors, and at the bottom edge of the phone is the microphone, charging port and 3.5mm headset jack. The top edge has another small microphone, presumably for helping in noise reduction.
On the back is a 13MP camera with flash, and the volume rocker and power button, placed just like it is on the LG G2. We're not too fond of this particular design, but we've learned to live with it.
At the bottom of the backside is the speaker, which works nicely with this phone's design. When the phone is resting on its back, the speaker is slightly elevated thanks to the device's curvature. This makes speakerphone calls and music much louder when the phone is on its back.
At the very base of the phone, there is also an antenna that you can pull out for watching TV, though we were unable to test this feature in the U.S.
Inside, there is a 2.26 GHz Snapdragon 800, like the Nexus 5, with 2GB RAM and 32GB on-board storage. There is no memory card slot on the device.
LG G Flex Review
LG added a 3,500 mAh battery for the G Flex, which is higher in capacity than the LG G2's stellar 3,200 mAh unit. We've had limited testing with the G Flex's battery life so far, but we expect it to outperform the LG G2 by a good margin.
The backside itself has what LG calls a self-healing coating. When you feel it, it feels like the thick, transparent plastic you'd find in some packaging materials. LG tells us that its molecular structure allows it to recover from scratches from springing back. But common sense makes it feel like it's just springing back from a dent, rather than a true scratch.
LG G Flex Review
We scratched the back lightly with the corner of a USB jack, and in 24 hours it has yet to recover. The scratches are superficial and light, rather than the deep scratches you'd expect to be permanent.
Design
The most noticeable feature of the LG G2 is its curved design, and that's really the whole schtick for this smartphone, too.
Without that soft curve, this would likely be just another phablet on the market from LG. The curve happens from top to bottom, unlike the Samsung Galaxy Round prototype, which curves from left to right.
LG G Flex Review
As far as we know, the phone only comes in a dark gray or silver color, but that could change in the future.
Otherwise, you can picture the G Flex as an oversized G2 with a curve and you wouldn't be far off.
The back buttons are also going to be a trend from LG moving forward, as we were told during our meeting that it has to stick with something to distinguish it from the rest of the smartphone makers out there.
LG G Flex Review
Long pressing the volume down button activates the camera, just like it does on the G2. The power button glows as a notification light if your phone is facing downward on a table so you know when you have missed messages or notifications.
Beside the camera, opposite the flash, is an IR blaster, though we find very limited use for those when we do review new smartphones. However, if you like controlling your TV or music player from afar and it supports it, having the IR blaster is convenient.
One last word on the not-so-self-healing coating: it tends to attract dust and dirt, and it sticks to it as if it's statically charged. You can wipe all you like, but it seems difficult to get the stuff off, especially if it's been in your pocket or bag for a while. It'll eventually all come off if you wipe it well enough, but will attract dust and dirt once again as soon as you put it away.
The LG G Flex, as expected, features LG's custom UI over Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. If you've had any time with an LG phone in the past year, its UI will look very familiar to you, too.
You can wake the device by either pressing the power button on the back of the G Flex, or by double tapping the screen - LG's Knock On feature. Sometimes it takes a few knocks to wake it up, like the room of a lazy child avoiding school.
One
new trick on the G Flex is what you can do from the lock screen: in
landscape mode, if you use two fingers, ideally your thumbs, to swipe
outward from the middle of the screen, you'll open up a media center of
sorts.
In it, you'll find quick access to photos, videos, YouTube and a TV app - the latter was in Korean and we couldn't test it, unfortunately. It's just another trick LG uses to distinguish itself from its competitors, and it gets harder and harder each year. However, since you're buying this device for its massive, curved screen, it makes sense to have quick access to apps and services that take advantage of that key feature.
The G Flex also has a series of LG's Q apps, like Q Slide, which allows multi-window use for better multitasking. You can watch videos or look at photos on one section of the display, for example, and take notes or browse the web on the other partition of the display.
By default, the home screen has a widget that shows the time, date, your location and current temperature, which is great info to have at a glance. I do wish the iPhone and Windows Phone were better at doing this.
You have five home screens by default, too, and it wraps, so you can continuously scroll in one direction and it will just keep going and going.
The apps section is separated by apps and widgets, and there is also a search option and settings feature for arranging your apps or deleting them.
When you pull down on the notification panel, you'll get easy access to toggle buttons for NFC, GPS, screen rotation, Bluetooth and more. There is also quick access to QSlide apps.
Brightness and quick settings are also available via the notification panel, along with all your notifications and Google Now information. Many users seem to dislike the cluttered mess of items in the notification panel, along with the overall design of it, but you get used to it after a while and I really don't mind it anymore.
In short, if you have any familiarity with Android at all, you'll feel right at home on the G Flex - especially if you've owned an LG device within the last year or two.
If you're new to Android, and this goes for any smartphone, there will be a bit of a learning curve. For the most part, most of the basic gestures and actions you'll ever want to make on this phone are intuitive. For the other, not-so-obvious ones like the lock screen features, there are tips and tricks available online.
There is more we'd like to dive into here, but being an international version with many Korean apps, the G Flex unit we have may be quite different from what you'll be getting in your region. For now, we've covered a chunk of the basics and feel that the info in this section should give you a good idea of what it's like to interact with the interface of this phone.
Thanks to flexible display technology, we'll soon be seeing more curved devices and wearable gadgets and gizmos. In some cases, it makes perfect sense - like wristwatches or any other wearable that wraps around you or parts of your body.
On the other hand, we have to start questioning its use in devices that have always been flat, like smartphones and TVs. What benefit, if any, does a curved display have in these cases?
LG G Flex Review
Our instincts tell us there really isn't much of an upside. We've become so used to living in a flat-screen world that introducing curved displays would garner Christopher Columbus-like reactions. Curved?! Nonsense! Except that was a myth.
First, let's make one thing clear about the LG G Flex: It is a phablet more than just a smartphone, with a display six inches on the diagonal. It's huge, like the Nokia Lumia 1520, but its gentle curve makes it somewhat easier to hold.
However, with its size come some benefits, like better viewing for videos and photos. A bigger phone also means, presumably, a bigger battery, so you'll get through your day with a more peace of mind.
In fact, LG claims that the G Flex will get two to three days of mixed use, but more on that later.
So, is there a reason for you to buy a large, curved smartphone? Let's find out.
Hardware
(Note: We are using a Korean version of this smartphone loaned to us by LG because the device is not yet available worldwide, and LG was unable to disclose whether it will hit U.S. or European markets.)
The LG G Flex is large, there's no doubt about that. It's a six-inch display with a 700mm radius of curvature from top to bottom, which LG says is just the right amount of curvature for viewing, holding, manufacture and so forth.
LG G Flex Review
The display is 720p, which isn't the sharpest on the market by any means, but LG says it's because it was the only way to get the RGB stripe on the curved display without resorting to PenTile for higher resolution.
At any rate, the display looks nice enough, but for a device this large, you can definitely tell that it isn't as sharp as the Nexus 5 or HTC One. It also has a strange, matte quality to it: it looks like it has some kind of grain or noise like you'd find on a photo shot with film or high ISO digital. Except it looks a lot more like color noise than luminance noise. In some cases, it's quite pleasing and somewhat cinematic, but other times you wish the images and video were cleaner and sharper.
LG G Flex Review
It seems like that noise may also be a quality of the coating of the display, just underneath the glass. Either way, it's very noticeable.
Above the display is the earpiece and front-facing camera along with ambient light sensors, and at the bottom edge of the phone is the microphone, charging port and 3.5mm headset jack. The top edge has another small microphone, presumably for helping in noise reduction.
On the back is a 13MP camera with flash, and the volume rocker and power button, placed just like it is on the LG G2. We're not too fond of this particular design, but we've learned to live with it.
At the bottom of the backside is the speaker, which works nicely with this phone's design. When the phone is resting on its back, the speaker is slightly elevated thanks to the device's curvature. This makes speakerphone calls and music much louder when the phone is on its back.
At the very base of the phone, there is also an antenna that you can pull out for watching TV, though we were unable to test this feature in the U.S.
Inside, there is a 2.26 GHz Snapdragon 800, like the Nexus 5, with 2GB RAM and 32GB on-board storage. There is no memory card slot on the device.
LG G Flex Review
LG added a 3,500 mAh battery for the G Flex, which is higher in capacity than the LG G2's stellar 3,200 mAh unit. We've had limited testing with the G Flex's battery life so far, but we expect it to outperform the LG G2 by a good margin.
The backside itself has what LG calls a self-healing coating. When you feel it, it feels like the thick, transparent plastic you'd find in some packaging materials. LG tells us that its molecular structure allows it to recover from scratches from springing back. But common sense makes it feel like it's just springing back from a dent, rather than a true scratch.
LG G Flex Review
We scratched the back lightly with the corner of a USB jack, and in 24 hours it has yet to recover. The scratches are superficial and light, rather than the deep scratches you'd expect to be permanent.
Design
The most noticeable feature of the LG G2 is its curved design, and that's really the whole schtick for this smartphone, too.
Without that soft curve, this would likely be just another phablet on the market from LG. The curve happens from top to bottom, unlike the Samsung Galaxy Round prototype, which curves from left to right.
LG G Flex Review
As far as we know, the phone only comes in a dark gray or silver color, but that could change in the future.
Otherwise, you can picture the G Flex as an oversized G2 with a curve and you wouldn't be far off.
The back buttons are also going to be a trend from LG moving forward, as we were told during our meeting that it has to stick with something to distinguish it from the rest of the smartphone makers out there.
LG G Flex Review
Long pressing the volume down button activates the camera, just like it does on the G2. The power button glows as a notification light if your phone is facing downward on a table so you know when you have missed messages or notifications.
Beside the camera, opposite the flash, is an IR blaster, though we find very limited use for those when we do review new smartphones. However, if you like controlling your TV or music player from afar and it supports it, having the IR blaster is convenient.
One last word on the not-so-self-healing coating: it tends to attract dust and dirt, and it sticks to it as if it's statically charged. You can wipe all you like, but it seems difficult to get the stuff off, especially if it's been in your pocket or bag for a while. It'll eventually all come off if you wipe it well enough, but will attract dust and dirt once again as soon as you put it away.
The LG G Flex, as expected, features LG's custom UI over Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. If you've had any time with an LG phone in the past year, its UI will look very familiar to you, too.
You can wake the device by either pressing the power button on the back of the G Flex, or by double tapping the screen - LG's Knock On feature. Sometimes it takes a few knocks to wake it up, like the room of a lazy child avoiding school.
One
new trick on the G Flex is what you can do from the lock screen: in
landscape mode, if you use two fingers, ideally your thumbs, to swipe
outward from the middle of the screen, you'll open up a media center of
sorts.In it, you'll find quick access to photos, videos, YouTube and a TV app - the latter was in Korean and we couldn't test it, unfortunately. It's just another trick LG uses to distinguish itself from its competitors, and it gets harder and harder each year. However, since you're buying this device for its massive, curved screen, it makes sense to have quick access to apps and services that take advantage of that key feature.
The G Flex also has a series of LG's Q apps, like Q Slide, which allows multi-window use for better multitasking. You can watch videos or look at photos on one section of the display, for example, and take notes or browse the web on the other partition of the display.
By default, the home screen has a widget that shows the time, date, your location and current temperature, which is great info to have at a glance. I do wish the iPhone and Windows Phone were better at doing this.
You have five home screens by default, too, and it wraps, so you can continuously scroll in one direction and it will just keep going and going.
The apps section is separated by apps and widgets, and there is also a search option and settings feature for arranging your apps or deleting them.
When you pull down on the notification panel, you'll get easy access to toggle buttons for NFC, GPS, screen rotation, Bluetooth and more. There is also quick access to QSlide apps.
Brightness and quick settings are also available via the notification panel, along with all your notifications and Google Now information. Many users seem to dislike the cluttered mess of items in the notification panel, along with the overall design of it, but you get used to it after a while and I really don't mind it anymore.
In short, if you have any familiarity with Android at all, you'll feel right at home on the G Flex - especially if you've owned an LG device within the last year or two.
If you're new to Android, and this goes for any smartphone, there will be a bit of a learning curve. For the most part, most of the basic gestures and actions you'll ever want to make on this phone are intuitive. For the other, not-so-obvious ones like the lock screen features, there are tips and tricks available online.
There is more we'd like to dive into here, but being an international version with many Korean apps, the G Flex unit we have may be quite different from what you'll be getting in your region. For now, we've covered a chunk of the basics and feel that the info in this section should give you a good idea of what it's like to interact with the interface of this phone.