14 DAY TRIAL // LG G Flex is the first curved smartphone that truly benefits from mass production. Although Samsung's Galaxy Round has been confirmed as world's first smartphone to pack a curved display, the device was only produced in limited quantities and it's only been released in South Korea.
Well, those who have already bought the G Flex know their device is flexible and doesn't break if they sit on it. But did you ever wonder how flexible the LG G Flex really is? I mean how much pressure can a display made of plastic can withstand? Well, it seems that the answer is “a lot.”
Here is what LG has to say about the G Flex's curved shape: “the flexibility of this product is limited. This phone may be bent flat up to 180 degrees for a limited period of time only. Do not bend inward or twist.”
Nevertheless, the folks over at Consumer Reports were curious enough to ask LG just how flexible the G Flex and they eventually received a vague reply that confirmed the smartphone had been tested at 88 pounds of pressure for 100 repetitions.
Even though this is no small feat, Consumer Reports decided to check things out and here is what they have discovered. They have used an Instron compression test machine to apply certain amounts of pressure on the LG G Flex and started at 30 pounds.
After applying 88 pounds of pressure for 1,000 times and saw the LG G Flex works like new, they have decided to increase the pressure by 50 pounds until the smartphone would break.
According to Consumer Reports, at 450 pounds they heard a crack and thought the LG Flex had finally given up to pressure, but they were amazed to see that only the phone's case popped open a bit.
In the end, they have set the Instrom compression test machine to the maximum pressure their load cell could handle and that's no less than 1,000 pounds. It appears that LG G Flex was too tough for the machine to break, thus making it one of the most resilient smartphones available on the market.
Here is how they put it: “When the G Flex came out fully functional, we all shrugged our shoulders—we had nothing more to throw at this phone short of running it over with a Mack truck or sitting a full-grown elephant on it. That would have been fun, but hardly scientific.”
For more in-depth details on the smartphone's features and capabilities make sure you check out our full LG G Flex review.