LG Gets Curvy With The New G Flex Smartphone
LG's new G-Flex phone was officially unveiled on Monday and comes with a 6-inch 720p P-OLED display along with a with 'self-healing' covering.
LG's response device to the Samsung Galaxy Round is curved along with the contours of your face, in contrast to Samsung's offering, which curves on the phone's vertical axis. Its vertically curved display offers more immersive video watching experience and the phone uses a curved battery to support its form factor, LG said.
The smartphone has a 6-inch HD Plastic OLED (POLED) screen at 1280 x 720. The flexible POLED display and curved OLED panel are built on plastic substrates instead of glass, giving LG G Flex its unique shape and durability. LG claims that the POLED display is brighter thanks to the application of Real RGB, which contains all three sub-pixels - red, green and blue - in one pixel.
The G Flex is powered by a 2.26 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, it has a 13MP rear camera and 2.1MP on front. The device measures 160.5 x 81.6 x 7.9 - 8.7mm ad its weight is 177g. It runs Google's Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 with LG's Android skin. The LTE-enabled phone is powered also comes with 2GB DDR3 RAM along with a MicroSD slot, NFC and BT 4.0 connectivity.
LG Chem developed the first curved battery technology specifically for application in LG G Flex. The curved battery in the G Flex is designed with LG Chem's patented Stack & Folding technology, which reduces the physical stress on the battery pack when in the curved form. Despite its thin form, the LG G Flex battery has a capacity of 3,500mAh, enough power for more than a full day of use.
Among the several new technologies, the LG G Flex is the first smartphone to apply a "Self Healing" coating on the back cover. The elastic coating has the ability to recover from the daily wear-and-tear scratches and nicks that un-cased smartphones are likely to receive. It seems that if the self-healing technology really works as advertised, then I think this should be the phone's selling point, rather than the curved display.
Users of LG G Flex will have a wider selection in the ability to enjoy in various format of music - MP3, CD quality or 24 bit/192kHz Hi-Fi playback. UX features, such as KnockON, Guest Mode and Plug & Pop, which were first introduced in the LG G2, can also found in the LG G Flex. The LG G Flex also includes an array of new UX features:
- QTheater gives users quick access to photos, videos and YouTube right from the lock screen. By touching the screen and dragging outward along the curved surface with both fingers, the apps appear with the effect of theater curtains being drawn.
- Dual Window divides the wide 6-inch screen into two separate windows for more effective multitasking.
- Swing Lockscreen alters the image on the lockscreen depending on how the G Flex is held.
- Face Detection Indicator displays the LED on the Rear Key in green to confirm status of face detection and focus.
- Camera Timer flashes the Rear Key LED to indicate that the countdown has begun. - Urgent Call Alert flashes the LED on the Rear Key in red when several consecutive calls from the same person go unanswered.
LG said the phone will be available from next month through South Korea's three mobile carriers, with other markets to be revealed later.
The fact that both Samsung and LG are initially releasing these curved-screen phones only in Korea shows that the devices are still in the concept stage.
Key Specifications (Korean Version):
- Chipset: 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (MSM 8974), Adreno 330, 450MHz GPU
- Display: 6-inch HD (1280 x 720), Curved P-OLED (Real RGB)
- Memory: 2GB LP DDR3 RAM / 32GB eMMc
- Camera: Rear 13.0MP / Front 2.1MP
- Battery: 3,500mAh (embedded)
- Operating System: Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
- Size: 160.5 x 81.6 x 7.9 - 8.7mm
- Weight: 177g
The smartphone has a 6-inch HD Plastic OLED (POLED) screen at 1280 x 720. The flexible POLED display and curved OLED panel are built on plastic substrates instead of glass, giving LG G Flex its unique shape and durability. LG claims that the POLED display is brighter thanks to the application of Real RGB, which contains all three sub-pixels - red, green and blue - in one pixel.
The G Flex is powered by a 2.26 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, it has a 13MP rear camera and 2.1MP on front. The device measures 160.5 x 81.6 x 7.9 - 8.7mm ad its weight is 177g. It runs Google's Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 with LG's Android skin. The LTE-enabled phone is powered also comes with 2GB DDR3 RAM along with a MicroSD slot, NFC and BT 4.0 connectivity.
LG Chem developed the first curved battery technology specifically for application in LG G Flex. The curved battery in the G Flex is designed with LG Chem's patented Stack & Folding technology, which reduces the physical stress on the battery pack when in the curved form. Despite its thin form, the LG G Flex battery has a capacity of 3,500mAh, enough power for more than a full day of use.
Among the several new technologies, the LG G Flex is the first smartphone to apply a "Self Healing" coating on the back cover. The elastic coating has the ability to recover from the daily wear-and-tear scratches and nicks that un-cased smartphones are likely to receive. It seems that if the self-healing technology really works as advertised, then I think this should be the phone's selling point, rather than the curved display.
Users of LG G Flex will have a wider selection in the ability to enjoy in various format of music - MP3, CD quality or 24 bit/192kHz Hi-Fi playback. UX features, such as KnockON, Guest Mode and Plug & Pop, which were first introduced in the LG G2, can also found in the LG G Flex. The LG G Flex also includes an array of new UX features:
- QTheater gives users quick access to photos, videos and YouTube right from the lock screen. By touching the screen and dragging outward along the curved surface with both fingers, the apps appear with the effect of theater curtains being drawn.
- Dual Window divides the wide 6-inch screen into two separate windows for more effective multitasking.
- Swing Lockscreen alters the image on the lockscreen depending on how the G Flex is held.
- Face Detection Indicator displays the LED on the Rear Key in green to confirm status of face detection and focus.
- Camera Timer flashes the Rear Key LED to indicate that the countdown has begun. - Urgent Call Alert flashes the LED on the Rear Key in red when several consecutive calls from the same person go unanswered.
LG said the phone will be available from next month through South Korea's three mobile carriers, with other markets to be revealed later.
The fact that both Samsung and LG are initially releasing these curved-screen phones only in Korea shows that the devices are still in the concept stage.
Key Specifications (Korean Version):
- Chipset: 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (MSM 8974), Adreno 330, 450MHz GPU
- Display: 6-inch HD (1280 x 720), Curved P-OLED (Real RGB)
- Memory: 2GB LP DDR3 RAM / 32GB eMMc
- Camera: Rear 13.0MP / Front 2.1MP
- Battery: 3,500mAh (embedded)
- Operating System: Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
- Size: 160.5 x 81.6 x 7.9 - 8.7mm
- Weight: 177g
