First, let's make one thing clear about the LG G Flex: It is a phablet more than just a smartphone, with a display six inches on the diagonal. It's huge, like the Nokia Lumia 1520, but its gentle curve makes it somewhat easier to hold.
However, with its size come some benefits, like better viewing for videos and photos. A bigger phone also means, presumably, a bigger battery, so you'll get through your day with a more peace of mind.
In fact, LG claims that the G Flex will get two to three days of mixed use, but more on that later.
So, is there a reason for you to buy a large, curved smartphone? Let's find out.
Hardware
(Note: We are using a Korean version of this smartphone loaned to us by LG because the device is not yet available worldwide, and LG was unable to disclose whether it will hit U.S. or European markets.)
The LG G Flex is large, there's no doubt about that. It's a six-inch display with a 700mm radius of curvature from top to bottom, which LG says is just the right amount of curvature for viewing, holding, manufacture and so forth.
The display is 720p, which isn't the sharpest on the market by any means, but LG says it's because it was the only way to get the RGB stripe on the curved display without resorting to PenTile for higher resolution.
At any rate, the display looks nice enough, but for a device this large, you can definitely tell that it isn't as sharp as the Nexus 5 or HTC One. It also has a strange, matte quality to it: it looks like it has some kind of grain or noise like you'd find on a photo shot with film or high ISO digital. Except it looks a lot more like color noise than luminance noise. In some cases, it's quite pleasing and somewhat cinematic, but other times you wish the images and video were cleaner and sharper.
It seems like that noise may also be a quality of the coating of the display, just underneath the glass. Either way, it's very noticeable.
Above the display is the earpiece and front-facing camera along with ambient light sensors, and at the bottom edge of the phone is the microphone, charging port and 3.5mm headset jack. The top edge has another small microphone, presumably for helping in noise reduction
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