Gadgetory

if there's one in arguable wind that the G flex 2 can claim it's that it improves on its predecessors Hardware in almost every measurable sense we've already covered much of that in our G flex 2 review now it's time to put the 2 curve eke in face to face I'm Michael Fisher with PocketNow and this is new G flex versus old G flex the first generation G flex was a bold experiment on LG's part and not just because of the curve size-wise it was also a monster with a 6-inch display and pronounced bezels above and below that made it even taller than most phones in the same class the screen had a low pixel density even for 2013 and it was subject to image retention problems and an ugly blotchiness it also lacked features offered by some other high-end phones like expandable memory all this made it doubly doubtful the first G flex would ever be a mainstream hit not only was it expensive relative to its spec sheet it was also bigger than most were willing to deal with with the G flex 2 LG Slim's everything down it's smaller in every way and lighter to the industrial design is more modern the build quality is better and the fit and finish shows greater attention to detail the somewhat mushy rear keys of the first generation are clicky ER and more ergonomic on the newer model though I do miss the notification LED the IR port has been moved from the back cover to a more sensible location on the top edge that cover is now removable so the ugly external SIM tray is no more there are now two colors available instead of just one and there's also microSD expansion on the new phone probably the most visible improvement is the display the half-inch size reduction and increase to Full HD makes it much sharper and the burnin and blotchiness problems seem all but solved the newer screen has a shallower apparent curve because of its reduced size so it is slightly less immersive but given all the other improvements that's hardly worth mentioning the Gorilla Glass 3 covering that display has been chemically restrain thenbye LG for a 20% increase in damage resistance versus standard Gorilla Glass the company says and LG also claims the self-healing coating on the back cover of the new phone repairs superficial scratches 18 times faster but as you can see neither phone is as immune to damage as the hype would suggest a better durability demonstration is in the Flex test where the phones each take my full weight before springing back to shape while the G flex 2 creaks and pops more dramatically because of its removable back cover it's the harder one to bend and it doesn't show damage like this bump shaped distortion on the first gen model stay tuned for more durability testing in the weeks ahead to see if that changes on to the user experience the Qualcomm processors powering these phones are similarly named but they're vastly different in design potential power and actual performance but the same token the software load out on both phones is the same basic idea Android with an LG UI at it on top but there's a huge gulf in aesthetics and responsiveness between the original phones KitKat and the new ones lollipop at the risk of oversimplifying that means this the first generation software looks dated almost comically so at times but it's very responsive on the flip side the G flex 2 brings all the cosmetic and feature upgrades of the latest Android but it's not very responsive to say the least and it tends to run much hotter in the hand than its predecessor I won't belabor this point as we covered the new phones performance problems extensively in our full review check it out at the link in the description below for more details software isn't the only place the new phone lags behind in user experience if you're a road warrior spends a lot of time between charges the G flex 2 should not be at the top of your list probably thanks to those software and processor issues I find it's sometimes hard to get through a full day with it even given moderate use I've never gotten past three and a half hours of screen on time now you might make the point that I'm using a South Korean phone in a market it wasn't designed for and you'd be right but the same exact thing is true of the first-generation flex which we've been using for over a year the older phone routinely delivers up to six hours of screen on time per charge in fact it's such an endurance champ that we often use it at trade shows for this exact reason it's a shame that we haven't seen similar staying power on the newer phone not yet anyway finally we come to the cameras again on paper LG has corrected all the shortcomings of the original flexes shooter the new one keeps the resolution at 13 megapixels but brings optical image stabilization and the laser autofocus of the g3 the biggest improvements to my eye though have nothing to do with those changes but with color reproduction the G flex 2 is much more faithful to real-world color doing away with the to warm tones of the original the newer phone is also better at picking out details in faraway objects and all this applies in good lighting whether you're outdoors or in ironically one of the issues I have with the G flex 2 camera is with focus in a few shots the supposedly superior laser assisted module on the new phone produced a blurrier photo than the older one that happened in video 2 for all the ballyhoo about the laser it's obviously not comfortable with a lot of snow around thankfully the optical image stabilization did its job the flex 2's picture is much more steady even in a shivering hand and you can also shoot an UHD with it as well the concluding comparison sample taken in low-light indoors is another point for the older phone the newer phone brings washed out color and much more digital noise to the shot which is a shame but we can tie up this crazy back-and-forth category with good news for the G flex 2 its selfie camera spanks the one on its predecessor despite being the same 2.1 megapixel resolution and it's more fun to use too instead of focusing on gimmicks like that sliding lockscreen animation on the original flex LG has gone for practicality to some extent with the new one building in a handy gesture trigger to help with selfies also reviewing the shot is as easy as bringing the phone down to chest level no button pressing required if you watch our G flex 2 review video or read the full review you know it's not necessarily the slam-dunk that we might have hoped and you also know our coverage doesn't stop with this import model we'll be testing the device in its US trim as soon as we can all we need to know in the context of this comparison for now is how well the G flex 2 fares against the original G flex and the answer is as unsurprising as the brand names are the newer phone is the one to get if you want contemporary tech in a beautiful package and you don't mind some software bumps if instead you want to save some money and you don't mind a huge chassis with a disappointing screen or you just want a battery that lasts forever the original G flex will be the better fit for you folks LG has released a statement commenting on the performance issues in the current build of the G flex 2 you can read it in the description below for more on the G flex 2 our full review is available both here on YouTube and at pocketnow.com and stay tuned for our coverage of the US Edition coming soon until next time this has been michael fisher with PocketNow captain to phones on twitter making the claim that to notification lights are better than one agree disagree let me know in the comments till then thanks for watching we'll see you next time