LG Unveils Curved, Self Healing G Flex
If you think the current trend in mobiles is thinner and lighter, think again. Samsung and now LG seem to think otherwise and it seems that their new motto is “real phones have curves”. After Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Round smartphone in early October, last week it was LG’s turn to unveil a new curved smartphone, the G Flex, which will be released this month.
Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company said that “The LG G Flex is the best representation yet of how a smartphone should be curved [...] The LG G Flex with its distinctive design, innovative hardware and consumer-centric UX represents the most significant development in the smartphone space since smartphone became part of our regular vocabulary”. LG is currently still advertising its G2 handset, but it seems that Telefe (from Argentina) got the upcoming curved smartphone from LG photos of the upcoming G Flex surfaced online.
The LG G Flex will be released with a 6 inch curved display; the display will apparently make calls louder due to it being closer to the user’s mouth when held to the user’s ear. LG emphasizes the audio part of the upcoming G Flex as it will feature CD quality HiFi playback and it will make calls 3 louder with dB than flatter handsets, due to its curved display. However, despite the LG G Flex featuring a curved form factor, a curved display and even a curved battery, it will not be flexible or bendable.
In a press release, LG mentioned that “The curved design also offers a more reassuring grip and fits more comfortably in one’s back pocket [...] What’s more, in landscape mode, the display offers an IMAX-like experience, with the result being the most comfortable viewing angle for watching videos or playing games“.
The LG G Flex’s other specs include a 2.26 GHz quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 CPU, an Adreno 330 GPU clocked at 450 MHz, 2 GB of RAM and a 3,500 mAh battery. The G Flex smartphone will also include support for next gen WiFi 802.11 ac, NFC and surprisingly, Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2. We would have expected LG to release the curved G Flex with the latest Android version, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, especially considering that Samsung will release its upcoming curved smartphone, the Galaxy Round, with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of the box. The LG G Flex will also include a few UX features from the LG G2, including KnockON, Guest Mode and Plug & Pop, but it will also come with new features such as QTheater (a feature that lets you access multimedia from the lock screen), Dual Window (a feature that divides G Flex’s 6 inch display for multitasking purposes), a camera timer that lets you know when the countdown begins by making use of the rear key LED and Urgent Call Alert, a feature that also makes use of the rear key LED as it flashes the LED when multiple calls from the same contact remain unanswered.
The LG G Flex curved smartphone will also come with a 13 MP camera sensor, the same resolution as Samsung Galaxy Round’s camera sensor. G Flex’s rear buttons will also be mounted similarly as G2′s rear buttons. A very interesting new feature of the upcoming G Flex curved smartphone is its rear cover which is said to be “self healing” by the Korean press release which compares the feature to Wolverine from X-Men. What this actually means is that you won’t have to deal with the “daily wear and tear scratches and nicks” that you can find on other smartphones, due to a special protective film on the smartphone’s cover, a protective film that quickly eliminates scratches on the smartphone.
It seems that LG will released its first curved smartphone, the G Flex in South Korea this month, while a release in the U.S. and Europe has not been planned at the time. There is no pricing information available at the moment, but considering the LG G2 will have you pay $149 with a two year contract, we expect the LG G Flex to feature similar pricing. We would like to know what you think about LG’s first curved smartphone, the LG G Flex. Will you buy it when it will be released in your region? You can leave us a comment in the dedicated section below.
