LG G Flex: A Comprehensive Overview

The LG G Flex is a groundbreaking smartphone that was first released in 2013. It was the first phone to feature a curved OLED display.

One of the standout features of the LG G Flex is its 6-inch OLED display, which is curved to fit comfortably in the user's hand. The display is also quite vibrant, with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels.

The LG G Flex is powered by a 2.26 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, which provides smooth performance for gaming and multitasking. This processor is paired with 2 GB of RAM, ensuring that the phone can handle demanding tasks.

The LG G Flex has a 3,500 mAh battery, which provides up to 13 hours of talk time and up to 13 days of standby time.

The LG G Flex has a unique physical design that resembles the LG G2, featuring a polycarbonate shell with a curvature of 700 millimeters.

The phone's rear casing has a "brushed metal" look and a "self-healing" coating that can repair minor scratches and abrasions.

A power button on the rear of the device doubles as a notification light, and the phone can withstand being bent without permanent damage.

The G Flex's internal hardware is nearly identical to the G2, with a 2.26 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and 2 GB of RAM.

The phone supports LTE or LTE Advanced networks where available, and comes with 32 GB of internal storage.

The G Flex's display is a 6-inch, 720p, flexible OLED display coated with Gorilla Glass.

A non-removable 3500 mAh battery is specifically optimized for the G Flex's curved form factor and curves around the frame to fill any empty space.

The ability to film in 4K (2160p) resolution was added through a subsequent software update.

The LG G Flex runs Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean" out of the box, with a user interface and software similar to the G2.

You'll find some minor new features, such as dual-window split-screen multitasking and the ability to slide on-screen navigation keys to one side of the screen.

The G Flex's camera is similar to the G2's, with a 13-megapixel sensor and a new "Face Tracking" shooting mode that automatically focuses on the user's face.

LG began rolling out an update to Android 4.4.2 "KitKat" in March 2014, which adds "Knock Code" and other improvements.

The G Flex won't be updated to Android 5.0 "Lollipop".

The software is a mixed bag, with some apps using a buttoned-down, all-black interface and others diving into the skeuomorphic rabbit hole with fake LCD pixels and torn note pages.

The G Flex's configurable on-screen button bar is back, with a neat addition that lets you color match the current app.

The device's performance is great, with the 2.26Ghz Snapdragon 800 CPU and Adreno 330 GPU delivering smooth performance in most apps.

However, the CPU does seem to be heavily throttled, which affects benchmark scores and real-life performance.

The G Flex's massive 3500mAh battery is supposed to deliver tablet-level battery life, but it actually burned through its battery in just six hours and 38 minutes in our Wi-Fi browsing test.

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The LG G Flex's software is built on Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean" with a user interface and features similar to the G2.

One of the notable features added to the G Flex is the "dual-window" split-screen multitasking mode, allowing you to use two apps at the same time.

The G Flex's 13-megapixel camera is similar to the G2's, with the addition of a new "Face Tracking" shooting mode that automatically focuses on the user's face.

However, the G Flex does not have optical image stabilization, which was excluded to fit the device's body.

The LG G Flex will not officially be updated to Android 5.0 "Lollipop", but it did receive an update to Android 4.4.2 "KitKat" in March 2014, which added "Knock Code", a security feature that allows users to unlock their device by tapping certain quadrants of the screen in a sequence.

The G Flex's software is a heavy mess of a skin, with a notification panel that's half filled with junk and an app selection that's made up of two wildly different competing app designs.

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About 70 percent of the apps use buttoned-down, all-black, tabbed interfaces, while the other apps dive head first into the skeuomorphic rabbit hole with brushed aluminum, fake LCD pixels, and torn note pages.

The G Flex's configurable on-screen button bar from the G2 is back, with a neat addition that allows it to color match the current app.

LG's multi-tasking tricks from the G2 are also here, including floating apps and "Slide Aside", a custom app-switching interface.

The G Flex also features split-screen apps, which work by long pressing the back button and dragging one app to the bottom of the screen and one app to the top.

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The G Flex's performance is a mixed bag, but let's start with the good news: it uses the same 2.26Ghz Snapdragon 800 processor as the G2, Nexus 5, and Note 3.

The CPU in the G Flex is heavily throttled, which means it can't run at full power for long periods. This leads to lower benchmark scores, but surprisingly, it doesn't seem to affect real-life performance.

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The GPU, on the other hand, shows standard Adreno 330 numbers, so it's not been throttled in the same way as the CPU.

One area where the G Flex's performance falls short is in battery life. With a massive 3500mAh battery and a 720p screen, we were expecting tablet-level battery life, but it only lasted six hours and 38 minutes in our Wi-Fi browsing test.

The display is the primary power draw, and the P-OLED screen is likely the culprit behind the G Flex's poor battery life.

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The LG G Flex received mixed reviews from critics.

Many praised the phone's durability and bendability, with some even putting it through rigorous testing without causing any damage.

However, others felt that the self-healing rear cover wasn't effective enough, and couldn't recover from scratches.

The phone's design was also panned for being too similar to the G2, and lacking a unique identity.

Despite this, the G Flex's performance and battery life were praised, making it a decent option for those in need of a reliable device.

But, the phone's software was criticized for not taking full advantage of the curved screen, and the removal of optical image stabilization from the camera was a major disappointment.

Some users also experienced issues with the display, including a low resolution and grainy appearance.

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The LG G Flex is a device with some notable drawbacks. The impossible-to-reach rear buttons are a major inconvenience on a device this big.

The battery life is particularly disappointing, considering the amount of power available.

Here are some of the key cons of the LG G Flex:

It's worth noting that the bundled software and skins are also subpar.

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The G Flex's design has some major flaws. The rear buttons are impossible to reach on a device this big, making it frustrating to use.

The battery life is a significant issue, considering the device has a large 3500mAh battery. It's terrible, to say the least.

LG's bundled software and skins are a letdown. They're all bad, and it's disappointing to see such poor quality.

The plastic back is typical of many devices, but it's even cheaper feeling than usual because it deforms a little more than normal.

The menu button hides all the overflow menus you should normally see, making it harder to navigate.

Here's a summary of the G Flex's major drawbacks:

The first generation features of the LG G Flex are a mixed bag. A curved device isn't really useful and doesn't really make any sense at the moment.

The self-healing plastic backing is supposed to fix light scratches, but it didn't work for us. We were unable to get it to do anything significant.

The image quality of the G Flex's display is terrible, and it burns through the massive 3500mAh battery much faster than it should. Devices are mostly screens, and when the screen is bad, the device is mostly bad.

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