Gadgetory

well this is David with the verge and this is the LG G flex this is the first smartphone in a while to offer something genuinely different it might be the start of a huge new trend or it might be a pointless tech demo or it might be something else entirely it's going to live or die based on one feature and one feature alone its curve display the G flexes six inch screen is subtly vertically curved so that the top and bottom curl inward and the back sticks out it's like a crescent moon shape or maybe a banana it's supposedly more comfortable to hold against your face more immersive for watching movies and less reflective because of the angle light bounces off the screen it does seem to be ever so slightly less reflective but by and large there's really no practical improvement or even change with a screen like this you can tilt the phone and see the wallpaper move although that's really awkward and laggy and there's a cool motion for unlocking the phone straight to one of a handful of media apps but those really have nothing to do with the curved screen the screen doesn't just Bend though it flexes when you rest it facedown on a table the screen doesn't quite touch the ground but you can press it down so that it does you can actually flatten the phone with enough force and it just pops back into form whenever you let go there's also a coating on the back of the device that supposedly self heals protecting the phone from dings and scratches that seems to work with really imperceptibly small ones but if you get your keys and phone in the same pocket you're probably still in trouble the screens only noteworthy features that it bends and it's otherwise fairly ordinary it's a 720p display which looks good but can be a little pixelated and jagged at such a large size and it's an O that instead of a more standard LCD and it has great colors and good viewing angles but it's just not as stunning as some other smart phones I've seen it's all very futuristic using a phone with a flexible screen that supposedly heals itself but since none of it really comes into play what you're essentially using is LG's g2 the G flex has the same Snapdragon 800 processor the same two gigs of ram the same 13 megapixel camera the same overwrought over-designed software that looks like Samsung's TouchWiz from two years ago just the same everything that's mostly a good thing actually the camera is fast and versatile with lots of scene modes and wacky ways to take pictures and the G flex is incredibly fast and powerful for even the most intensive tasks there's a monstrous feature list here - an IR blaster with a universal remote control app a notification LED eye tracking phase tracking and on and on it goes some are really useful and most are just pretty inoffensive I hate LG's scan of Android 4.2.2 though from the rows of toolbars that take up half the screen in the notification pulldown - the ugly redesign system and app icons everything LG touches here just gets worse the slide aside apps are a cool idea letting you store frequently used apps off to the side of the screen but they don't work very well neither do the overlaid queue apps which show up over top of whatever you're doing otherwise and why do your Lord why is the Vienna Boys Choir singing my ringtone but where the g20 edge let's the G flex down most is in the hardware design the G flex is such an impressive piece of engineering such a futuristic object that it really deserves something better than the slick plastic gray shell it comes in it's not particularly thick at between eight and nine millimeters and at 6.24 ounces it's not very heavy either but it just doesn't feel good to hold it's huge as any six-inch phone is but it's the slick cheap feeling body that really lets it down the ergonomics of such a huge device are helped a bit by the power and volume buttons being placed on the back of the device rather than the sides at the top but it's actually a clever spot for them to be right where your index finger goes when you hold the phone the only problem is that the buttons are right next to the camera lens which I keep hitting by accident I wind up constantly cleaning the lens to get my fingerprints off one of the best things about having a huge phone is that it can have a huge battery inside and the G flex does it's one of the longer-lasting phones we've tested and can handle a day and a half of solid use without causing any problem at all okay I'll give LG credit for one thing it did something new and if you do spend nearly a thousand dollars and buy the G flex you'll certainly never mistake it for any non curved phone but other than the sheer novelty of the thing it's just not worth buying even LG makes a phone with great battery life great performance a better screen and a more reasonable size that doesn't bulge out accord Lee in your pocket the G flex is just a tech demo a toe in the water a proof of concept that LG can make a phone with a curved display maybe next time it'll show us why a curved display is a good idea in the first place