LG G Flex 2 Review: An Underrated Flagship

Background

January 2015, I read the announcements of the LG G Flex 2 in some of the tech websites. I was totally awed by the device’s design. A simple curve makes a phone look that much more unique compared to the other flat slabs in the market. However, as my wallets are tight (and I still had like 3 months in conscription at that time…), I passed on the device.

Then all the video reviews came in, and they came with a similar consensus; this is a device that is plagued with poor optimisation of the software and the processor. So many were skeptical about it, thus the rather poor reception. Eventually the Samsung Galaxy S6 came out, and well, we don’t need to say more about that.

LG then released the LG G4 to fight with the Samsung S6. Many praised the LG G4 for being an excellent and stable device with no compromises (unliked Samsung which is “Apple-fied” as they remove SD Card and removable batteries). After the G4, many would probably look at the G4 when we talk about LG.The LG G Flex 2 became like the red-headed stepchild of LG.

However despite its popularity, LG gave quite a lot of love to its stepchild. Updates after updates came to the device. Due to the lack of demand, many third-party retailers dropped their prices to unprecedented level. Eventually, I caved in and bought my G Flex 2. After testing the device for a week, I firmly believe that the LG G Flex 2 deserves much more popularity than it should.

Physical Hardware

There is no way to get around it. This phone is curved. Really curved.

Kudos for those who get the reference. 🙂

To be honest, this is a love-it-or-hate-it appearance. Some would not like the design of the phone. However others would find it absolutely stunning. I am in the latter group.

The phone feels superb and very well built in the hand. Due to its ability to flex (yes I did try this), this phone seems to be rather durable and able to withstand the physical challenges. The glass of the screen is the market standard for flagships (Gorilla Glass 3), so it is a tried and tested glass display.

The back cover is made of plastic that is touted to be “self-healng”. Before you ask, I will say “Nope” to anyone who wants me to knife the phone to test this. I also used a case for the phone because I am wuss. However there are many videos of the self-healing coating. The consensus is that it would probably work for half of the scratches, and that is not a bad feat actually. Plus if all else fail, I could always swap out the back-cover for a new one.

Speaking of that. Yes, the back-cover could be removed. No removable battery, however it does come with a MIcro-SD slot. So that’s rather nice.

One last thing about the physical hardware is that the buttons is at the back of the phone, which is a trademark for LG devices. For skeptics of this layout, I would say that this is a non-issue. I got used to the button configuration pretty much in half a day. Plus the buttons feels extremely sturdy when pressed. So it probably won’t die anytime soon.

Specifications

I will try not to bore those who aren’t into specs, so here are the most notable things that I would like to talk about.

The processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core. If you google this title, most of it are the overheating rumours of this particular chip. Initially in the LG G Flex 2, there is indeed some overheating in the device, which result in severe thermal throttling in the phone itself. To put things simply, the phone is not silky smooth, and lagged quite frequently.

So what did LG did to remedy this? They under-clocked the processor. It downscale its processor speed from its original 2.0GHz, to the more modest 1.5GHz in the most recent firmware version. I would say that LG did an excellent job in that department and remedied it well. The overheating problem became similar as the other phones. They do get hot, but you probably can’t use it to cook an egg in a saucepan and burn your pants.

EDIT: After some research about the Snapdragon 810, I realised that the application I used to detect the clock speed is using the low-powered quad-core as the basis of reading. The high-speed core is sleeping most of the time. So LG might not have underclocked the high-speed cores, but rather optimised the usage of the high-speed cores to ensure it don’t overheats. I will write a blog about this in due time. Sorry for any misinformation though. 

Second thing is the RAM. The version we have in Singapore is the 2GB RAM variant. After system apps and stuff, I am left with a paltry 800mb of RAM to work with. This sort-of hinder the multi-tasking quite a bit, as I would find my apps closed sometimes after I used another app for sometime. Not very frustrating, just something I would like to point out.

Note: In the original version of the firmware, the amount of RAM is not available in the multi-task menu. This is due to me using Xposed Framework to add it into the menu. However for those who aren’t familiar with the process, just take note of the short amount of RAM available.

Be wary of the RAM!

Lastly is the screen. The screen is a full HD 1080p screen. I would say that 2K screens on phones (I am looking at you Samsung) is rather unnecessary, and I have little complaints about the resolution of this particular device. However, I do have some things I would complain about though.

The screen’s brightness controls are rather limited. The maximum brightness is barely enough to see in direct sunlight, and the minimum brightness is too bright to see in a dark room. In addition, some of the colours looks rather grainy. Perhaps it is due to the LG’s P-OLED limitations.

Source: HardwareZone

However other than the above issues, there is nothing much I would complaint about. The colours are pretty, and the contrast is beautiful. Watching videos is a pleasure when coupled with the slight radius curve. So the multimedia performance is really awesome.

Performance

The LG G Flex 2 is currently running the latest version of Android (5.1.1), and the latest firmware I was on (LMY47S-V15c) fixed some security issues that was found (such as Stagefright). So LG is trying their very best to update their phones as much as possible. I applaud their effort for doing so.

I have absolutely no complaints about the performance in the current state. The lags are extremely minor most of the time, and I was blazing through daily usage all the time.

To test the limits of this device, I played 3 games on the phone.

The first was Quiz RPG, a game which I frequently play back in my army days. It handled flawlessly. But then again my Nexus 4 did well for this game too. So this is not a very demanding task, and I would be worried if any phones don’t play this game well (I am looking at you i600).

The second game is a Japanese game that I played in the past, 白猫プロジェクト (Shironeko Project). This is a game that is moderately demanding for the phone. My old Nexus 4 is although playable, but it struggled quite a bit in framerate, G Flex 2 handled this game almost flawlessly. An extremely enjoyable experience with the phone (So much that I nearly missed my bus stop a few days back).

The last one is the ultimate test. I loaded in PPSSPP, an emulator for the PSP, maxed out every single graphic settings that I could ask for. Graphics are rendered in full HD 1080p, full sound, no frame skips. I tested the game “Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core”, as it seems to be the game with the highest graphic demand that I have in my computer. This test totally demolished my Nexus 4 even on the lowest graphic settings. However on the G Flex 2, it was playing the game at its maximum 30fps in full HD. This meant it looked even better than the PSP itself.

So I would say this. You win G Flex 2. You aced all my tests with flying colours.

Test #1: Quiz RPG

Test #2: Shironeko Project

Test #3: PPSSPP (Crisis Core)

Software

Other than the screen, I would say this might be also one of the lower points of the device.

LG Launcher. Applied a theme on top.

After using the standard LG Launcher for a day or 2. My thoughts is that “It’s passable”. Yes it have a theme engine, however the theme engine is rather sparse, so there is nothing much I could do with its below average appearance. The good thing is that it’s Android. So feel free to do anything you want.

The first thing I did with the settings menu is to change the menu to List Mode. For the casual users the tabbed menu is fine, however for me it looked like a mess. So for Android purist, that option is there as well.

For multi-taskers, there is the QSlide apps which allow you to compress the app into small windows and make it transparent. There is also dual-window for 2 apps to run at once. However like I said above, prudence is required due to the rather low free RAM.

QSlide & Dual Window. Man that screen is packed.

There are also some nifty features as well. There is the one-handed mode that allow the user to shift the dial-pad in the phone app and PIN lockscreen. There is also certain gestures that are rather useful, such as turning the phone over to silent, and just take the phone up to the ear to receive phone calls.

However, there are 3 most useful features for me. KnockON, KnockCode, and Shortcut Key.

KnockON is just double tapping the screen to wake. Although technically it is possible to do it by a 3rd party method, however LG’s sensitivity to the KnockON is spot on, and it won’t randomly unlocks in my pants pocket. It is extremely useful to power the screen on when the phone is on the table.

KnockCode is a unique unlocking security, that you press different area of a specified area to unlock the device. It is extremely secure as most people don’t know what am I doing when I unlocked the device.

Shortcut Key is simply holding down the buttons on the back to launch either QuickMemo (which I rarely use. Sorry LG), and the Camera. The Camera feature is probably the most useful. Although the speed is not as fast as Samsung’s double-tap Camera, it is still nifty to use.

Camera

The Camera is a 13MP shooter, with Optical Image Stabilisation, Laser Autofocus and LED Flash. I am not good in photography, as all my phones in the past literally have potatoes as cameras. I would say though. Although this phone is definitely no potato in camera, there are still some flaws with the camera.

Outdoor shots looks beautiful in my eyes, although the saturation leaves something to be desired. However the main issue the indoor shots. The camera tends to struggle with indoor lighting, and makes the photos looks as though they came out of oil paintings once we zoom in on the image.

Video recording is fine, and OIS is useful. However like stills, it struggles with darker lighting conditions as well. The phone is capable in doing 4K recording too. However it is recommended to use a Micro-SD card for this due to the huge size of 4K videos.

For those into photography, below are some photos I took with the Camera. Everything is in AUTO mode.

Outdoor Shot 1

Outdoor Shot 2

Indoor Shot

Battery

If I would rate the battery for this phone, I would probably give it a B+.

It’s no endurance champ. However moderate use should be able to get anyone through the full day. My usage hovers around 3.5-4.5 hours of Screen On time, and that is probably good enough for most people. However, heavy users might want to have their power banks ready. Remember that we have one of the cheapest and most accessible power banks in the world. (THANKS XIAOMI!)

There is also Fast Charging, which allows the phone to charge rather quickly. I was able to charge from almost dead (10%) to 100% battery in about 90 minutes. That is rather impressive and comparable with the competition’s fast charging technology.

There is no removable battery here, however for most folks, a Flex 2 with perhaps a small power bank in emergencies would be able to power the phone for the whole day no doubt.

Price

This is something that many of the reviews online did not mention about. Partly because on launch, this phone is available at the same price as the other flagships. However sadly in the present context, things are different.

Source: SingtelShop. Comes with some nice freebies too.

This phone is available for re-contract under Singtel, with a recontract price of SGD 198 under the Combo 2 contract (as of 23rd September 2015). This is in comparison to the LG G4, which retails for 468 SGD with the same contract. In that same price bracket is ASUS Zenfone 2 (4GB), Sony Xperia C5 Ultra, HTC Desire 826 and LG G3. The first 3 are mid-range devices, and the LG G3 is last year’s flagship. There are nothing wrong with those devices definitely, however none of the above devices would be as futureproof as the G Flex 2 (on paper the Zenfone 2 might though, but I digress).

Source: expansys.com,sg

If anyone want to purchase from a third-party retailer, it could go as low as SGD 480 in physical shops, and SGD 450 in online retailers such as Expansys. At SGD 480 though, I would still say it is a good buy, as phones with similar specifications usually go for much higher.

For those who likes taking risks, one could always look at using eBay and purchase from there. It could go as low as USD 250 (about SGD 350) if you purchase through this method. Although warranty claims might be a little risky, and firmware needs to be manually configured unlike local sets. The version they ship is usually the 3GB RAM variant, so there is that I guess?

To share with you my personal story, I bought my local set at HardwareZone for SGD 340. So for deal-hunters on carousell and HWZ, there’s that option as well.

Conclusion & Final Verdict

The LG G Flex 2 came so far since its initial launch. It used to be full of issues. Now though, although it has fully grown up, very little people are aware of this gem in the rough. Sure it has it flaws, however I felt that none of these flaws should be absolute deal breakers for anybody.

However what is done is done. It is because of the lack of demand, that is why the price dropped, and that is why I was able to write my review here. Other than the fact that people might not like the “Banana phone” design, there is nothing else I could seriously fault the phone for. At all the low prices I stated above, it felt like a steal to me.

If anyone are interested in getting a mid-tier phone instead, I highly recommend users to consider this device. This device deserves much more popularity than it deserves, and for a bit more from your pocket you get so much more with this device.

I sincerely hope that LG continues with the G Flex series. Perhaps they should work on polishing their devices before launching it, that might have changed everything.

“Although plagued with issues initially, the LG G Flex 2 in its current state is a respectable flagship. With the recent price drops, the LG G Flex 2 is proven to be a phenomenal phone in its price range, and deserves much more popularity from the consumers.”

– NUS Tech Friends

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Final Notes:

Some of the pictures used are not taken by me. The following are some of the places which I took the picture from.

• HardWareZone
• SingtelShop
• Expansys

I would like to also apologise about the lack of photos in this review, as all the photos I shot myself with the phone looks like potato quality. I would update the pictures in when we have access to a nice camera.

For those who are more knowledgeable with Android custom firmwares, below is the phone software details. Feel free to ask any question in the comments section.

Phone Details

• Model: H959
• Android Version: 5.1.1
• Build No.: LMY47S
• Software Version: V15c-SEA-XX
• Rooted & Xposed

Some announcement!

Firstly, I would like to announce that NUS Tech Friends is no longer a one-man company (AWESOME!). We are now a small team of tech enthusiasts looking to have fun in tech. We are still looking for people to join our family, so let us gather all the tech lovers and help our fellow peers together. Registration is available here!

NUS Tech Friends have new content that will be up soon in due time. We have many many things to write about in the coming weeks, so stay with us for our coverage of a few things in technology.

LG G FLEX 2

Being announced in early 2015, the LG G Flex 2 was initially hyped as a phone that breaks the monotony of flat slabs. The initial launch of the device is not that favorable due to its spotty performance. 8 months after launch, and price drops after price drops, how does it fare at the current field of devices? Join us to find out!

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 5

Probably one of the most definitive smartphone of the year. However, this time, the Note evolved into a beautiful glass construction. Does that matter though? Join us as we talk about this potential candidate for the smartphone of the year.

LG NEXUS 4

Released in 2012 (the same year as the Samsung Galaxy S3), this device is pretty ancient by today’s standards. How does this 3 year old device stacks up to the current competition? Join us as we find out how it does now.

iOS 9.0

Nope we don’t just cover Android phones. Currently one of the NUS Tech Friends members are looking into the iOS 9.0 update. How does it improve from the previous version? We shall see.

Non Camera Smartphone review: Phicomm i600

I guess I will get the ball rolling for a review! Although I guess this is not a review that would be relevant to everyone, I hope to share my experience of this particular device with everyone else.

With that, I introduce to you, Phicomm i600

Background Information

In the past, most of the guys would need to go through the phase of requiring a non-camera device due to Singapore’s conscription.  In fact, I believe some of the older guys would remember those times. As such, the demand of non-camera devices after that ruling skyrocketed.

Fast-forward to a few years back, security zoning become a thing in the Army camps. Some of the areas also began to accept camera phones (in particular Pulau Tekong being one of the most notable ones to start). As of current state, most of the camps are converted into Green Zones (meaning camera phones are okay).

I don’t have that luxury though. As the whole camp of mine is totally red (-sigh-), I was pretty much limited in choice. Thus, me being a geek and unable to survive without a smartphone, I decided to shell some money on a non-camera smartphone. Initially I got an INO One, however that fell into the toilet bowl (I am not joking on this sadly). So I bought another non-camera phone, which is this device over here. Just for your information, I bought this phone for SGD 138 at that point in time, so it is still relatively cheap to me at least.

Enough of my backstory though, let’s begin.

Hardware

Well you can look at the picture above. Let’s just say that design is not that important here. I mean the audience is army boys (and some SAF regulars), and I believe the aesthetics of the phone would probably be less of a priority.

The screen is a 4.3inch 480×800 LCD display, and it gets the job done. By the current standard, such a resolution display would be rather outdated, and indeed it is. However, it is good enough for occasional YouTube and drama watching.

Underneath the phone lies a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play processor at 1.2GHz, and 512mb of RAM. I don’t really mind the processor to be honest, however that amount of RAM is rather dangerous even a year ago which I bought the phone.

Behind is just a single Phicomm logo sadly. There is absolutely nothing on the back. No camera (obviously), no buttons, nothing. However I did bought some carbon fiber sticker to paste over the back plate, so it feels better on my hand. 🙂

Speaking of which, removing the back plate shows a dual-sim slot, a microSD slot to supplement its 4GB storage, and a removeable 1700mAh battery. The packaging comes with an extra battery, which is for me is either a good gesture by the company, or a bad premonition about its battery life, or perhaps both. I will get to that later.

Software

Inside the phone runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. At the point which I purchase the phone, I could upgrade the phone to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which is unfortunately still extremely outdated when I purchased the phone (I remember the latest was 4.4 at that point in time).

Other than a themed launcher, and some custom widgets, this is a pretty bare-bone skin. They do come with some rather nifty stuff such as a shortcut to turn off WiFi from the notification tray.

Personally, I do not mind outdated software. As long as it is stable, I feel that it is perfectly fine…

That last statement is not true for this device.

Experience

First thing’s first. This device is extremely unstable. I would not comment on the fluidity of the phone, however apps crashes very frequently, so frequently that it causes much annoyance during my 9 months stint with the device.

I tried sending an email to Phicomm Singapore to ask if there is anymore software updates for the device after awhile. The following is their reply:

Dear Sir/Madam,

There will not be any new updates for the software.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you for being so succinct Phicomm.

Another thing about the phone though, it is not very durable. A short fall flat on the concrete floor resulted in not only a crack that resembles the Scout Wings from Shingeki No Kyojin (and yes I am serious about this), but also a loose contact point of my battery, which resulted in me jamming a folded piece of paper below the battery for me to work. I eventually sent it for a 1-1 exchange for $50, which I guess is fair considering it is my negligence. They even gave me a spare battery and a new battery door (other than my carbon fiber one), so hooray?

Imagine this on my phone when it’s off. Yeap.

Battery life is also rather atrocious. I find myself using both of the batteries in order to last a full 24 hours in my camp. Thank god that Power Banks from a certain brand is rather inexpensive (THANK YOU XIAOMI), so for me this is still a tolerable situation.

However, as I have experience being a power user in Android, I decided to try taking the software to my own hands, root the device, load a recovery, and perhaps have a nicely cooked CyanogenMod ready to go. Right?

Nope.

Sad potato

After flipping the whole google search engine, I could not find a single recovery loadable on this phone. Similarly there are no ROMs available as well. Rooting is also a rather pain in the rear, as the rooting software is in Mandarin, and I replaced the Chinese App with the SuperSU app to change it to English. It worked somehow and I managed to obtain root.

However, with only root access, I was unable to do much with the software situation. So I tolerated the app situation until I was discharged from my conscription (ORD LO!).

Conclusion

So if you look around in online shops, you probably could get this phone below $100. From my previous look, the lowest I could find is $98 for a brand new set. With that price point, this meant that this is probably the cheapest non-camera smartphone one could buy for it’s money. So for those sad people who got posted into a red zone, or you just need a non-camera smartphone for other reasons, should you still buy this phone?

Before that, be warned that the software ain’t gonna age very well as times move forward. Coupling the app-crashing situation into the picture, it could be a rather frustrating for the user.

If you are just looking for a WhatsApp machine to talk to your friends and do less heavy activities, this phone should serve you decently. However, there are better options out there. Although I never used the device before, the LG L60 non-camera should be a rather decent non-camera smartphone as it is at least at Android 4.4 Kitkat.  That is not that much more expensive (~$160) than the i600. You could also probably get a 2nd handed INO 2 around that price, or even lower if you are lucky.

For those with the luxury of green zone, or you are not in military service at all, don’t bother. There are many many many other options out there which are similar in price, and outperforms this device flat. Xiaomi Redmi 2 comes to mind for those who want an inexpensive phone that is decent enough, and you won’t feel as bad for breaking it.

Redmi 2. Both the cheap and less cheap one looks the same.

I eventually bought a Nexus 4 about 4 months before I was discharged from NS for $168. That compared to this device felt like heaven compared to this device, and perhaps this might be a story that I would share with everyone when I feel it’s time.

But for now, that is all for my review of the Phicomm i600. Bottom line, the Phicomm i600 is for the absolute money pinchers. You could get better stuff for slightly more. But for those who just want a phone with smart features, this would do albeit with many compromises.

Some questions answered.

I am happy that I have applicants already. So keep the application going! 🙂

Anyway I will answer a few doubts that some people might have regarding the blog.

Dedication required?

Depends on the response of the applications. I am currently looking into 2 groups of people.

The first group being the contributors. They will get to experiment with the products and write reviews for it. This will require less commitment.

The second group being the admins. The admins will have first priority in handling the products, however they will also help out in arranging for review devices for the blog, and also help out with other miscellaneous stuff.

However to have such grouping will require a sizable amount of manpower, so it will be subjected to changes. But for now this is the plan. 😀

Speaking of review devices…

How is the blog going to obtain review devices?

To be honest, as a new blog this might be rather tough. However for now I have 2 propositions.

The first is to request review devices from the companies directly (meaning directly mailing companies such as Samsung, HTC, Dell etc). This however would be quite tough and require their support in order to make this happen.

The second is to collaborate with 3rd party retailers, such as LAZADA or Expansys to obtain the review devices. Similar to the above, we would need their support as well.

This is my insights for now. However like I said in the first question, everything is still subjected to changes. Once I feel that the blog is ready, I will be setting up the blog’s email account, and start mailing the companies with regards to this.

Feel free to indicate your questions in the comments section in the application form. For those who aren’t with me in the first post, the application form is available right now on Google Forms. So if you have a small bit of interest, feel free to join me!

First Post! (and some information)

So this would be the first post of this blog. 🙂

Welcome to anyone who is reading this blog. For more information regarding this blog, you might want to look at the “About NUS Tech Friends” in the menu on top.

What’s this blog?

Initially, I wanted to create a club regarding technology. I asked for suggestions from NUSWhispers (shoutout to that btw), and they recommended me to ask for opinions there.

After that I created a Google Form to ask for people’s opinion for that, and although I did not receive a lot of responses (thanks for those who responded btw), I am relieved that there are people who have the same interest as me.

Thus, I decide to create this blog, specially to review technology that I could get my hands on. I do hope that this blog won’t remain a “I” forever. So…

NUS TECH FRIENDS IS RECRUITING!

Currently I hope that more people would join me to contribute in this blog. I would be trying to arrange for some review devices in the near future , however I would need the manpower to review these in order to make this a reality.

So I would hope that anyone who have a interest in technology news to join me on this journey in technology.

As for how this blog would be managed will depends on the response of the application.

Interested NUS students can apply here!

Hope to see your application!

P.S: I just learnt how to manage a WordPress blog. However I don’t really have aesthetic senses and a total newb at it.  So if any applicants have some wordpress experience, please indicate in the comments section. TQVM! 🙂