LG revealed its latest evolution in smartphone technology at the 2015 CES Tech Show in Las Vegas this month. Produced with a 5.5.in screen and described by LG as the ‘sweet spot‘ in smartphone size, the G Flex 2 is half an inch smaller than its predecessor which was unveiled at the end of 2013.
The second generation of G Flex comes with the more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, and tri-band carrier aggregation. This technology provides three different types of frequency bands to a single connection, which can then pick the connection with the best bandwidth. Producing lightning-fast upload and download speeds, the G Flex 2 is one of the fastest smartphones ever made.
Hosting a 13 megapixel camera with an optical image stabiliser for better quality night time pictures, and a plastic OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display covered by glass, the G Flex 2 is 20% tougher than the original with a full HD resolution of 403 pixels per inch.
Mimicking a notification centre similar to the Nexus 6, the G Flex 2 presents a Gesture View display of time, messages and notifications at just a swipe of the screen. It also provides a Gesture Shot feature, allowing the user to take a picture with just a hand gesture.
Despite the obvious advantage of a curved screen on larger devices such as televisions, the launch of the curved smartphone does, however, remain a niche product as the purpose of the curved screen remains uncertain.
Dr. Ramchan Woo, LG‘s mobile architect responsible for the new G Flex described the structural standard of this design: “all design tends to start with straight lines and rectangles, because they‘re easy to make, before proceeding to the more natural and organic feel of flowing curved lines.”
Despite arguments suggesting the curve ensures greater durability, the phone‘s ‘self-healing body‘ and ‘scratch proof‘ properties, are arguably the most revolutionary design features. The back of the phone now removes light scratches in just 10 seconds at room temperature, compared to around 3 minutes for the original handset.
The phone will initially be available in colours Platinum Silver and Flamenco Red, and is set to be a fast competitor in the world‘s biggest smartphone market. It will go on sale in South Korea later this month, to be closely followed around the world.
