After hearing about user complaints, the company decided to go back to the drawing board and this year LG released an updated version of the G Flex2. This phone is smaller than its previous variant and has a 1080p display. Apart from this, many other improvements have been made to the phone. For example, the back of the phone uses a self-healing coating. The Gorilla Glass screen protection on this phone is much better. Additionally, the G Flex2 is the first smartphone to feature Qualcomm’s latest and greatest octa-core 64-bit processor – the Snapdragon 810 processor. Is the LG G Flex2 the best curvy version? Let us know.
Appearance and Design
Like the older version, the design of the G Flex2 is also very unique and the credit goes to the curved style. During our review, we found that people turned around when they saw this phone, meaning the handset was doing its job of piquing curiosity. Especially the flamingo red phone we received for review. By the way, the phone is also available in silver. Compared to the older version, the G Flex2 is lighter, thinner, more compact and can be used with one hand. However, this does not mean that this phone is more suitable for one-handed operation.
LG has used a self-healing coating (the G Flex also had this feature) on the back of the phone, which means that if the body gets scratched, it will heal automatically. Due to the thin texture of this coating, we lost the phone from our hands many times. LG claims that the self-healing feature works in just 10 seconds. If scratched at room temperature, it will recover in 10 seconds. That’s much less than the G Flex’s three-minute rating. We also tried scratching the back of the phone and the situation soon improved, but the 10-second claim is nothing short of an exaggeration.
When you pressed the back of the phone, the G Flex2 flexed and returned to its original shape faster than the previous design. Like the LG G2, G3 and G Flex, the G Flex2’s power button is also located between the volume buttons on the back. The volume buttons have a very different texture pattern from the power button, making them easy to identify. The haptic feedback is also quite good. The main chamber is built on top of it. Along with this, there is a dual LED flash and a laser autofocus window.
The front of the phone has a 700mm radius of curvature and the back has a 650mm radius of curvature due to the handle. The G Flex 2 has a 5.5-inch screen and the company has provided on-screen buttons to navigate the operating system. The earpiece, LED indicator, front camera and light sensor are located above the display.
Specifications and software
The phone is powered by a powerful octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor. Along with this, it also comes with support for quad ARM Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.5 GHz and quad core Cortex-A57 @ 2 GHz. Adreno 430 GPU is also part of the SoC. Available in India, the G Flex2 comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. According to the company, the storage can be expanded up to 2TB using a microSD card. Don’t worry too much about this feature as only microSD cards up to 128GB are available in the market.
The phone has a variety of sensors such as accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor and compass. The biggest drawback of this phone is the lack of support for 4G networks in the 2300 MHz band. For this reason, it is not possible to access most 4G networks in India through this phone. In terms of connectivity, the phone comes with support for Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v4.1 with aptX and LG Infrared. LG has used a 13-megapixel rear camera. It is equipped with optical image stabilization. The main camera also supports laser autofocus and dual LED flash. When you flip the phone over, you will find that there is a 2.1-megapixel camera on the front of the phone. To ensure a compact body, LG decided to reduce the size and capacity of the battery. The G Flex 2 has a 3,000mAh battery, up from 3,500mAh in the previous variant. The resolution of the phone’s 5.5-inch P-OLED panel is 1080p. The latest phone’s screen is sharper and brighter compared to the G Flex. Due to the curvature of the screen, the content takes on a three-dimensional appearance to some extent. The experience of watching videos, reading long articles and playing games on the curved screen is simply amazing. This is the real benefit of a curved screen. Viewing angles are also excellent and there is less glare on the phone even in sunlight.
The G Flex 2 runs on Google’s Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system, with LG using its own user interface on top of it. The user interface is very clean and flat, but it doesn’t look like Android Lollipop in any way. LG has kept unwanted bloatware to a minimum, which is great. The software’s Glance feature allows users to view the status bar and recent notifications by swiping down from the top of the screen, even when the phone is locked. KnockCode (customized code to unlock the phone) and KnockOn (double-tap the screen to activate) are features that LG has already launched in its phones are also available in this phone.
camera
Surprising everyone, LG has removed many features from the stock camera app and now only three modes are available – Auto, Panorama and Dual. With the Dual Mode app, users can create picture-in-picture images using both cameras at the same time, but this is not innovative.
The 13-megapixel camera captures photos with detail and natural colors. Focuses on a subject very quickly. However, it is possible that some people may not see the images as colorful as they would like. We noticed noticeable barrel distortion around the edges, which was very disappointing. The HDR mode does a great job of preventing images from being overexposed in bright light.
In low light, the rear camera works well. We took some detailed pictures, but the camera was unable to reduce noise. OIS is here to help. OIS helps prevent shaky videos from being captured. The quality of the 4K video we shot was excellent, but unfortunately the camera limits the clip to 5 minutes. The quality of selfies taken with the 2.1-megapixel front camera was average. However, you can make your photo more beautiful with the built-in beauty modes.
performance
Given the controversy, we were happy to test the Snapdragon 810 SoC. We also discovered that he had a heating problem. The phone gets hot when performing even the slightest challenging task. Even when taking photos, the top back of the phone gets warm. Additionally, simple tasks such as swiping down the notification shade sometimes perform intermittently due to CPU throttling. There is no room for such a flaw in any flagship device.
We’ve got benchmark scores for those interested, but don’t rely on these numbers alone to judge what the G Flex 2 is capable of. In the AnTuTu and Quadrant tests, the phone scored 49,882 and 29,223 respectively, which is impressive. Living up to expectations, the phone scored 17,358 points in the basic 3DMark Ice Storm test.
The G Flex2 played our test video files with ease. The sound quality in the speakers was poor. The headphones that come with your phone provide good sound and you won’t have to replace them. Voice quality was quite good even during phone calls, and the phone was able to maintain a connection in congested networks. In the battery test, the phone lasted 8 hours and 6 minutes, which is less than the G Flex. The company’s decision to use smaller batteries may be wrong. Even with normal use, we found the battery life to be not very good.
our decision
LG’s attempt to create a curved smartphone for everyday users seems to be failing, this time due to processor performance. It’s not that this flaw will prevent the phone from finding users, but knowing that the price of this phone is around Rs 50,000, such minor flaws hurt more.
The G Flex2 can be purchased for its uniqueness. In practice, if you’re willing to spend that much, we’d recommend looking at the iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S6. We would suggest buying the second version of the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S6 Edge, as it is a more stable product.
