Almost everyone said that curved displays are just gimmicks but it seems that they are here to stay. LG’s new phone is sleeker, smaller and a lot prettier than the previous model.
Here is our LG G Flex2 review.
Hardware
It’s easy to see LG’s first G Flex as a device made to fire back at the company’s rival Samsung. Once all the novelty of a curved display smartphone wore off, however, we were left with a device that felt like it needed improvement. And the company definitely improved it. The G Flex2 is a lot better than the original G Flex. It’s improved every aspect of the original one and it is the greatest curved smartphone we’ve used to date.
It may look like calling it the greatest curved smartphone isn’t such a big deal but let’s face it, the device will always be primarily known for its curviness instead of everything else it has to offer. The mobile phone actually stands out in a crowd as it is something that people never saw (or rarely saw) before. We tested the “Flamenco Red” model and the burgundy finish looks amazing. However, it’s still its curviness that stands out the most.
But if you look past its design, you will find a lot of things that you’ll love. The edges on the Flex2 are completely empty other than the headphone jack, microphone, the tiny IR blaster and the micro-USB port. LG once again put the volume control and the power button on the back of the Flex2, under the 13MP camera with laser autofocus. It takes a while to get used to the placement but after this you will wonder why other manufacturers don’t do the same thing with the button placements. Your index finger naturally stands on the back of the phone which makes the button placement feel natural.
There is a micro-SD card slot next to the micro-SIM tray on the back of the smartphone, under the back plate. This might not seem like a big deal but it’s good to know you can pop in a memory card in case you run out of storage and want to watch that whole season of Game of Thrones you like so much. We’ve had on our hands the 32GB model but there is also a 16GB one.
Because of its curviness, the G Flex2 embraces your face more comfortably than any other phone we’ve tested. The G Flex 2 hugged so very neatly my thigh that at times I almost forgot I was carrying it. This is excellent news if you are sick of smartphones that resemble bricks constantly pressing down on your leg. The G Flex2 feels a lot more comfortable than the previous model, mostly because LG decided to put a slightly smaller 5.5 inch P-OLED display on it but with a higher resolution than the previous Flex.
It’s obvious that the device is curved. But the question is: does it flex? And this is the answer: kind of. You could flatten the device if you wanted to but that’s obviously not what LG wants you to do with it on a regular basis. Even though LG didn’t say how much weight the device can take, at the CES briefing we saw someone from the staff at LG throw the smartphone on the floor and jump on it. Our test wasn’t as dramatic, however, but the results were practically the same. I sat on it many times and didn’t feel like it was about to get damaged and I mushed it a couple of times. It’s obvious that you don’t have to treat it with a lot of care but this doesn’t mean you should put it through very dangerous scenarios.
The Flex2’s self-healing back also works great. LG said the back can repair itself if it has minor scratches in around 10 seconds. We didn’t have an old Flex to compare but LG was right on the money. Tiny scratches that appear on the smartphone from daily use quickly repair themselves. However, don’t expect miracles if you drop the device.
Display
The best decision LG made was to get rid of the 6 inch display on the old G Flex. They replaced the screen with a curved 5.5 inch P-OLED 1080p one and it is definitely better than the one found on the 2013 model. It’s a huge difference and comes as kind of a surprise seeing how young this kind of technology was just a couple of years ago. Not to mention how expensive it was to have this kind of screen on a device. While it isn’t as crisp as the display on the G3, you won’t see any individual pixels on the screen of the G Flex2.
It’s true that these things would mean nothing if the screen was lousy at all the rest. But be rest assured, the screen is amazing. The display is very bright and crisp and has deep blacks with great colors. You can even choose between “Natural” and “Vivid” color schemes in the presets from the settings menu on the smartphone. The display looks amazing in the “Vivid” color preset and looks more saturated without being overly violent.
The viewing angles on the screen are great as well. Whites will, however, get sort of a bluish look when you look at it from very awkward angles. The curve of the screen is what makes it great for visibility but it’s not as revolutionary as LG claims it is. You won’t really notice the curve if you are very close to the screen so it’s not as immersive as the company claims it is. There’s not really a great difference between the G Flex2 and other smartphones with big screens.
There is a single speaker on the back of the G Flex2 and it’s not as bad as we expected it to be. There is a lack of depth because of the single speaker setup and there are parts on tracks that overshadow others but it’s actually pretty good. The speaker is pretty loud and music and YouTube videos sound really great on the device.
Software
G Flex2 certainly turns heads but LG also kind of played it safe regarding software on the device. The G Flex2 has about the same features as the G3. They basically do the same things. You can pin two apps on the bottom and top halves of the display for easy multitasking and a double-tap on the device’s screen will wake it up from sleep mode. If you don’t really like this you can customize it with your own Knock Code. It’s also great for helping you get off the couch. The LG Health is a great addition and counts all the steps you take on a map for later analysis. Long story short, even though this is a new phone, you get the old interface.
Smart Notice, the Google Now competitor is back but it doesn’t look to be any smarter. It’ll let you know the weather is bad and remind you of birthdays but doesn’t do much more than that out of the box. However, Smart Notice will pick up on your habits in a few days of using it. For instance, if you call an unsaved number more than a few times it will ask you if you want the contact saved. I also had a conversation with the QVoice assistant, even though I faced some issues. The voice of the digital assistant sounds pretty natural.
Glance View lets you have a quick view at the notifications and time without draining your battery. Instead of tapping the lock button to light the whole screen up, you can swipe down to get a peek at all the important information. This only lights about a quarter of the screen in order to save power.
The new LG G Flex2 runs Android 5.0.1 Lollipop and the device comes with some software that LG didn’t develop such as Material Design UI. But some of the features in Lollipop can be a hassle to find. Usually manufacturers put their own print on the Android OS before they ship the device, but Google made some major changes in Lollipop and it can be a little frustrating to find all the features.
Camera
The camera on the original G Flex wasn’t really great. Rather than trying to improve the camera, LG simply put the same camera on the new G Flex2 that you can find on the G3. This is a great move from LG. The impressive 13MP camera in combination with the laser autofocus system is really great. All the photos we’ve taken were very detailed and crisp and very well exposed. The G Flex2’s camera performs surprisingly well even in darker environments. The optical stabilization is pretty good too and will save your shots if you have shaky hands.
The camera app is also quite straightforward and intuitive. There are only a back button and a small overlay that shows you the recent photos. You just have to tap on the screen to take a photo. However, if you enter the Settings menu you can turn the camera app into something else. You can set it to focus when you tap on the screen and you will have to tap the shutter button to capture a photo. There aren’t a lot of options to choose from, other than the grid, HDR, timer and the ability to shoot a panorama. You can also take a shot with both of the cameras simultaneously.
Even though the front –facing camera isn’t amazing, it does have some interesting features. If you make a fist at the camera it will start the timer. Once the photo is shot, when you move closer to the camera, the phone automatically enters gallery mode for you to view your photo. It’s a pretty nifty feature.
Battery life and performance
There are some premium components inside the LG G Flex2. The smartphone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core CPU clocked at 2GHz. Even though this chipset was reported to heat pretty badly and Samsung even ditched it, the G Flex2 is the first smartphone to use it. In Korea there were some reports that the chipset is indeed running pretty hot, but some also said that it’s cooler than the previous chipsets from Qualcomm.
In our tests the phone didn’t feel all that hot and I have only great things to say regarding its performance. The top half of the G Flex2 got a little warm when being put through very demanding games but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
Sometimes the homescreen performed slowly and while disabling the Smart Notice widget worked wonders on the performance, it still hiccupped a few times. It seems that 2GB of RAM sometimes simply aren’t enough.
The Flex2 can be a little flaky at times and it did refuse to connect to my Wi-Fi network because it reported it as being a poor connection, despite the fact that moments before it showed it had excellent signal. These are small quirks and aren’t all that important as it happened just once.
The battery life is pretty good. It kept on going for 13 hours on a single charge when being moderately used. We did make a video rundown test and the LG G Flex2 held its head up high for 10 hours and 12 minutes on a continuous 720p video loop. The phone charges from 0 to 50 percent in around an hour and the full charge completed in just under an hour from that.
Wrapping up…
PROS
– Beautiful design
– Good camera
– Battery charges very fast
– Great video and gaming performance
CONS
– LG’s UI seems a little sluggish at times
– Some stock features in Lollipop are missing
– Weak front camera
Verdict
The LG G Flex 2 isn’t perfect. Certain features in Android have been removed and it can be a little sluggish sometimes. Some may want a better battery life and will complain about the Snapdragon chipset inside the device but the balance between performance and style on the device is pretty spot-on.
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