14 DAY TRIAL // As expected, South Korean handset maker LG has officially unveiled its first smartphone to feature a curved display. The LG G Flex is a curved device from top to bottom and incorporates innovative features in the form of display and battery.
The smartphone has been confirmed to arrive in South Korean starting in November at all major carriers across the country. Unlike Samsung’s Galaxy Round, which is only a prototype and won’t be released outside South Korea, LG announced that “availability in additional market will be announced thereafter.”
The G Flex will ship with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box and there’s no telling whether LG will offer another major upgrade for the device in the coming months.
According to LG, one of the advantages of having a vertically curved smartphone is the fact that it reduces the distance between one’s mouth to the microphone when the G Flex is held against the ear.
Another innovation introduced by LG for the G Flex is called “Self Healing” coating and provides the phone’s back cover with the ability to recover from scratches and nicks from daily use.
The G Flex also packs the world's first curved battery technology developed by LG Chem. The curved battery features the Stack & Folding technology, which is said to reduce the physical stress on the battery pack when in the curved form and provides better stability and performance.
Last but not least, LG G Flex comes with the same Rear Key first introduced in the LG G2. Given the fact that the former does not feature any buttons on the sides, the chance of accidentally powering off the phone is much lower.
“The LG G Flex is the best representation yet of how a smartphone should be curved. The LG G Flex with its distinctive design, innovative hardware and consumer-centric UX represents the most significant development in the smartphone space since smartphone became part of our regular vocabulary,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company.