Brief Look at LG G Flex [CES 2014]

The LG G Flex was announced earlier last year in October and is due to be released in the U.S. sometime in quarter one. I got my hands on one at CES and wanted to share a few pics that I took. This is by no means a review, rather just a brief impression of the few minutes I had with it.

As the name suggests, it does actually flex, I was able to almost push it flat on a table. Also, the self-healing Woverine-ish skin is something else, though I was unable to witness this voodoo as watchful eyes were protecting the devices as if they knew that I (and everyone else) wanted to to see how self-healing the skin actually was. It’s a rubbery plastic that is a fingerprint magnet, so those with OCD among us will still cringe after holding the device for two seconds. Though it’s flexible, it still felt solid in the hands and I could see this shape fitting nicely in a pants pocket.

The Optimus UI skin turns AOSP (stock Android) on its head and spits out cartoon-y icons with bright colors everywhere. Much of this is customizable, but if you’re a HOLO warrior, forget it, this is Rainbow. I’m not a fan really, the look reminds me of the many TouchWiz variants, but it’s still very functional and snappy. I experienced no lag and was able to easily navigate throughout the interface without a hitch. There’s some new features not seen on the G2 such as dual-window multi-tasking, which takes advantage of the ginormous screen; it’s similar to what the Note line has been bring us for years. If you’re interested in a full review of the UI, one can be found HERE.

The G Flex looks like a contorted and stretched version of LG’s G2 and has the same form factor with buttons on the back. In fact it shares many of the same internals as the G2 including the same RAM, CPU, and GPU. Specs include (per Phone Arena):

• OS: Android (4.2.2) UX UI
• Screen: 6″, 720×1280, 245 PPI, P-OLED
• Camera: 13MP back, 2.1MP front
• CPU: 2.26Ghz Snapdragon 800, Krait 400
• GPU: Adreno 330
• RAM 2GB
• Storage: 32GB
• Battery: 3500 mAh

When the LG G Flex becomes available in stores, I suggest checking it out for yourself. It’s similar to the G2, but the updated UI features, bigger screen, and flexibility make it worth your time to see first-hand. I can’t say that this phone is for me, but it’s nice to see fresh ideas on a dated form factor.