Gadgetory

lifeproof technology paint that repairs itself displays that can't shatter tablets that you can use as trampolines without breaking it sounds futuristic and some of that is still a ways off but reality is fast catching up to those sci-fi notions and LG is at the head of the mobile front of the self-healing revolution with its new G flex smartphone that can repair itself at least that's the claim but can this curvy phablet really make the everyday signs of wear and tear just vanish all on its own let's find out I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is our initial durability report on the LG G flex we'd like to mention up front that this Qi flex review unit comes to us from Negri electronics if you want one of the world's only curved smartphones do what we did head over to Negri electronics comm and pick one up for yourself the G flex is resilient reputation is made up of two parts and the first is its ability to self repair scratches made on the glossy back cover within minutes we'll have more information on just how that coating works in our full review coming soon it makes sure to follow us at all the usual online public houses so you don't miss it when it lands we've been using the G flex for seven days and already the back plate exhibits some fine hairline scratches nothing you'd be able to see unless you were looking for it but that doesn't actually comfort us too much because you'd think that a phone billed as self-healing would have no trouble sealing up tiny scratches like these but they've been here for a few days and they don't look like they're going anywhere anytime soon still we wanted to test fresh damage so we loaded up an array of objects the typical person might carry in a pocket from car keys to coin change to ear phones to breath mints we threw in a USB Drive and a hairpin and even a cigarette lighter for you smokers out there we tossed all that into a pocket followed by the G flex back first of course and took a walk around town on our constitutional we tried to maximize the phone's contact with the sharp objects we switched pockets periodically to capture motion at different points on the body and we changed up our gait from time to time we went up the stairs and down the stairs a lot we even did a couple Sprint's down the sidewalk in the manner of a harried commuter trying to catch a bus and then just for good measure we dumped everything into a zippered pocket and gave it a good shake up because apparently we are sadists what we found in terms of damage wasn't actually much at first the diagonal pattern under the phone's glossy coating does a good job at covering up minor scratches until you really pour some light on it we took the unit outside briefly to get a good look at the corner scratches then brought it into a 75 degree Fahrenheit room to allow it to heal when we returned to the phone to the testing table the Sun had moved but the scratches had not it could be that the phone just needs more time but given our experience with the hairline mark from earlier we're doubtful these scratches will ever heal still those marks were pretty minor so we put the device in a few more harrowing but common situations for a smartphone we put it down on a sugar covered countertop at our local coffee shop accidentally grinding a few granules to dust on the phone as we brushed it away we carelessly tossed it into a car a few times subjecting it to the rough and dirty fabric of the footwell mat and yes we did that thing all drivers have done to their phones at least once the dreaded forgot it was in my lap maneuver that really hurt after all that another sunlight past shows us a much more significant damage pattern now no one should reasonably expect some of these deeper gouges to come out despite all the terminator jokes the G flex is not a t-1000 and LG even says so in its own promo video but we did hope some of the finer scratches might vanish as they did within minutes in LG's bronze brush test yet even after another half hour in the warm air our test unit was still pretty well scored we really wanted to see a scratch heal itself though so sticking with an item we might reasonably find in a pocket we took a common American penny 1973 if you're wondering and rubbed a clean spot on the flexes back for a few seconds at light to medium pressure giving us a nice and visible but still fairly shallow damage pattern we also rubbed the same penny slightly harder in an adjacent zone so we could compare the effects of different depths then we photographed the flecks every 5 minutes to see what happened now even after 40 minutes sitting in prime self-healing temperature the scratches didn't really go anywhere even after we tried rubbing them with a sleeve to try to get them to fade but when we sat down to edit this video about an hour and a half later we found that the scratches had in fact faded to a dramatic extent we're not sure if we have a rise in the rooms temperature or just the passage of time to thank but the G flex is indeed capable of self repairing minor shallow scratches unfortunately though as you can see from the rest of the device it's not likely to cover up the dings and scrapes that most of us encounter when carrying a naked smartphone the other big part of this phone's durability push is the flexibility that gives the device its name it conforms nicely to the posterior when placed in a back pocket and so you can sit on it without too much fear of trouble outside the occasional butt dial more importantly the Flex is resistant to bending the other way because heaven knows we all sit where we shouldn't sometimes and that means sometimes we sit on our phones now we didn't like doing this but we did it anyway for science as you can see the Flex is aptly named even after multiple sittings by a pretty bulky dude on unyielding wood on a cold winter day the phone has no trouble taking the stress in stride it flexes under weight and springs right back once that weight is removed no part of the device shows any ill effects aside from some expected scratches on the front panel and two small deformations on the display which are only visible when the screen is off we're not sure if these came from something within the phone or instead were a result of some nails on the porch will ask LG about it when we get a chance so where does this leave us well in terms of the scratch test we certainly weren't as lucky as LG was in its own promo video that's because we didn't test the device in lab conditions with a bronze brush but then again most consumers won't be doing that either while it is really impressive to watch a certain type of scratch disappear before your eyes we were able to come up with many types of scratches not all of them deep that don't respond as well to LG's magic paint job on the flip side though the phone had no trouble standing up to the bends for a curved smartphone to take the full weight of an average human male and then spring right back to shape with no cracks or creaks is to say the least very impressive and very reassuring so while the G flex is probably just as prone as most smartphones to scratches and surface damage the flexibility of its durable curved design still puts it a step ahead of the competition for all you folks out there who don't necessarily look before you sit don't forget folks we have a full review of the LG G flex coming up very shortly and if you want one of your very own visit our friends at Negri electronics Negri electronics dot-com but before you go anywhere please toss us a like if you enjoyed this video leave a comment down below if you have some feedback of your own some follow-up questions we'll try and get to them if we can and thank you very much for watching we'll see you soon