LG G Flex

LG G Flex Review

Some people have been waiting for a long time to get their hands on the LG G Flex smartphone – mainly just to see how far it really bends. The answer: Not as far as some of the images might lead someone to believe.

When resting on a table or another flat surface, the phone barely curves a few millimeters at each end. However, a little pressure gives it a decent amount of bend. The frame and the screen fold with the pressure, even if it does produce a few noises.

It’s not the most amazing feature ever designed into a phone, but it is promising of where technology is headed. Even at that, this phone still has an impressive 6-inch display, 13-megapixel camera, and a quad-core processor hiding under that flexible design.

Design

LG spent a lot of time designing a phone that flexes. The rest of the case gives the impression that it was the only thing designers gave much time to.

The curve is fairly noticeable, although it becomes natural after prolonged use. The case is made out of plastic and not metal, for obvious reasons. There’s not a lot of grip on it either. Part of this is due to LG using a material they state is self-healing. Drop it, scrape it, or scuff it, and the material is supposed to self-fix any scratches or scuffs it receives. It does all right, but the material makes the phone feel slippery in the hand.

The power and volume buttons are on the back of the phone and under the camera, much like the LG G2. They’re more pronounced on the G Flex, but not exactly formed to the hand. It’s lighter than the HTC One Max and Nokia Lumia 1520 – its competitors – but doesn’t feel like anything special.

Features

Anyone disappointed in the phone’s body after buying it might have hopes that the screen will give them something better. It won’t. Even though it’s a 6-inch screen, the 720 x 1280 resolution has a smaller pixel density than both its rivals. Icons appear grainy, images aren’t as clear. Overall, it’s a letdown.

However, they make up for some of it in the LCD features.

The phone includes a nice double-tap feature that wakes the phone with two taps on the front of the screen. This is nice considering the awkward position of the buttons on the back. Two more taps on the notification bar and the screen shuts off while the phone locks.

If the phone rings, users just have to hold it next to their ear to answer it. Conversely, if they don’t want to answer the phone, they can just flip the phone over to silence it.

The G Flex also allows users to customize some of the onscreen settings, such as the keyboard, pin-code pad, dial pad, and navigation buttons. Considering the size of the phone, these features make it easier to manage in one hand.

Performance and Interface

As mentioned before, the G Flex comes equipped with a quad-core processor. LG elected to pair this with 2GB of RAM and a 2.26 GHz processor. It uses this to run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and does so smoothly.

Although it doesn’t feel as powerful as other phones in the market, it didn’t lag any while running through applications. It also received a multicore score of 2068 on the Geekbench 3 test, which is a decent average.

Unfortunately, there’s no microSD slot, which means that the 32GB that comes with the phone is all a user has for storage – and that doesn’t include the 8GB that the operating system uses.

LG also decided to use some of the screen space to through more features under the notification bar. Unfortunately, they threw a little too much in the default settings. They’re manageable and there are some personalization tools a user has at their disposal, but it’s still slightly dissatisfying.

Battery Life and Other Basics

In a world where smartphone companies advertise battery lives that no phone ever meets, LG might have hit the mark here. The phone consistently lasted over 24 hours, even with heavy usage. Part of this is because LG skimped on the pixels in the display, which means videos aren’t as sharp. The good news is that those who use their phones for basic tasks only may find they can go two hours without charging.

Even if someone uses the phone heavily, it doesn’t take long to charge it up. Tests clocked in at around three hours from near-dead to full-of-life. That was with the basic charger, too. LG packed a faster charger in with the packaging.

Unfortunately, call quality wasn’t the sharpest, but it wasn’t difficult to understand people on the other end either. The G Flex’s curvature was perfect for conforming to the shape of a face, and the microphone was closer to the mouth. However, it didn’t do much to the quality of the call.

What was impressive was the loading time for websites on the Google Chrome browser that comes standard with the phone. (There’s also LG’s browser, but the tests were ran using Chrome.) Sites loaded in around two seconds with standard Wi-Fi and only took four seconds on 3G networks. Plus, with the large display sizes, the websites were easy to read without squinting or holding the phone closely.

Camera

It used to be that a phone with any type of camera was a big deal. Now, camera phones are almost as impressive as their digital counterparts were a decade ago.

The 13MP camera takes sharp pictures and comes with other options sure to please photographers. ISO, lighting, white balance, and other features come standard. Like most phones, low-light photos are tough, but wherever there’s a decent amount of light, the camera took some impressive photos.

What’s impressive about the phone is its ability to take 4K video up to 3840 x 2160 resolution. Played on another device, the video is very crisp, very clear, and very brilliant. However, the display screen on the G Flex is horribly unequipped to handle the video it shoots.

One of the drawbacks was the location of the shutter key – the volume key on the back of the phone. While the camera focuses quickly and the shutter is just as fast, taking a picture can be troublesome. Fingers can get into the shot with just a little slipping. On the plus side, there’s no onscreen button required, which means it’s easier to keep an image focused. That’s good news for those wanting a scenic shot of the mountains – or an impromptu selfie.

Media

The phone’s screen is amazing when it comes to the viewing area of any photos, videos, or games someone might want to play. Sadly, the display fails once again. Images become a little grainy around the edges, and the sharpness tails off as the size increases.

If that’s not a problem, then everything else will be just fine – unless someone is a media fiend. As mentioned before, the storage is low (after the operating system is accounted for, around 24GB is left.) Although everything runs smoothly, users that love storing music, movies, and images on their device will quickly run out of space. But, at least it sounds good and plays without hitches.

Competitive Comparisons

Compared to the other phones in its market, the G Flex lags behind just a little bit. It’s higher price than the HTC One Max and the Nokia Lumia 1520 also sets it apart. Basically, despite all the nice options it comes with, users are paying for the flexibility of the phone. Even that isn’t a major selling point as the durability of the bendable screen and body are questionable.

Other phones have better displays and newer operating systems. Anyone interested in the LG G Flex needs to consider if the larger screen, longer battery life, self-healing screen, camera, and flexibility are worth the extra money for this phone. If so, then this isn’t such a bad deal.

Conclusion

The flexibility of the screen and case are overhyped on this phone. It’s not the first phone to feature a flexible design, but it is one of the first to include a screen that flexes, too. Where it lacks in display resolution it makes up for with screen size, long battery life, and a strong camera. There are features that make this phone worth buying, but they’re probably not the ones that LG is giving the most hype to.