CES 2015: LG Flexes Muscles With LG G Flex 2

The Flex Effect

More than 900 media members attended LG’s early morning press conference at CES 2015 in Las Vegas Monday, as the South Korean company was rumored to make a big splash early at the tech show.

After showing off a series of 4K OLED TVs, a new dryer, a new two-door fridge endorsed by Rachel Ray and even a new washing machine that can clean two separate loads of laundry at the same time, LG rolled out its new smartphone in the LG G Flex 2.

The device is quite unique and the company may be right calling it ’our most ambitious smartphone yet,’ because it could be the first curved device to gain traction in the mobile market.

The Flex Display

What draws attention to the device is its curved frame. The curved screen of the device measures at 5.5 inches and is a bright 1,080p OLED display.

The display is much improved from last year’s G Flex phone as the company says it has had major advancements in display technology since then. The curve of the device itself makes the LG G Flex 2 more durable, the company says. When dropped on a hard surface face down, the device can absorb the impact 30 percent better than a typical flat phone. LG has also made advancements in screen durability, using a 20 percent more durable Gorilla Glass covering.

Self-Healing Case

Another unique innovation by LG is the self-healing casing of the phone. If a user drops and scuffs the plastic case, the marks will disappear on their own. This feature also existed with this device’s predecessor, the original G Flex, but LG says the company has made major advancements in this technology as well. Where some marks took minutes to go away on their own on last year’s Flex phone, those same marks will now vanish in seconds.

Internal Specs

The LG G Flex has the latest and greatest from Qualcomm in a 2GHz Snapdragon 810 processor for 64-bit octa core performance. The device also features 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of built-in storage with a microSD card slot for upgradeability. The Snapdragon 810 processor is new to the market, making the LG G Flex 2 one of the first smartphones on the planet to have it, giving LG a bit of an advantage.

Camera

The G Flex 2 camera has some big improvements over the camera of its predecessor with a new 13-megapixel camera featuring advanced OIS+ and laser auto focus.

Optical image stabilization allows for pictures to look better in poor lighting and eliminates motion blur that may come from holding the device.

The LG G Flex 2 also has a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera.

Software

It’s no surprise that the LG G Flex 2 runs on the latest Android OS, Android 5 Lollipop.

The phone has a couple of different photo features including Gesture Shot, which allows a user to take a selfie with a simple hand gesture from up to 1.5 meters away.

Gesture View makes looking at those pictures easier as it will immediately display a photo or after it is taken.

Glance View lets a user see all the important information with just a quick glance at the phone and a flick of the finger down the curved display.

Battery

The smartphone has a large 3,000 mAh Li-polymer battery. LG did not specify the hours of battery life but it’s safe to say it’ll last even longer than its predecessor’s more than 20 hours of battery life with light to regular use. What is most impressive about the phone’s battery is its charging capabilities.

LG says that with its new fast charging capabilities, a user can charge up to 50 percent of its long-lasting battery in less than 40 minutes. This is the only phone on the market that can do this, competing with the Turbo Charge features of the Motorola Droid Turbo and the Google Nexus 6.

Release Date

The G Flex 2 is set to roll out in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year with Sprint and AT&T already planning on carrying the phone.

Pricing of the device was not given at the event, but should be revealed in the coming weeks along with an official release date. The device comes in silver or red.