LG "G Flex" Curved Phone Rumored for November
LG's curved phone may arrive next month.
Unsurprisingly, unnamed sources have confirmed with Cnet that LG is currently working on a smartphone with a curved display, similar to what Samsung is gearing up to supposedly reveal this month. The plans haven't been finalized, but the company is expected to call this device "G Flex", and use a curved 6 inch display. The unannounced phone is slated to be introduced next month.
As previously reported, the curved Samsung model is expected to be revealed within the next several weeks. Earlier talk pegged the device as a variant of the Galaxy Note 3 equipped with Samsung's curvy plastic-based display, but a new report suggests that the company will introduce an entirely new series under the Galaxy brand, much like it did with the Galaxy S and Note series.
The report arrives by way of Korean outlet Money Today, which claims that the curved phone will be similar to the Youm prototypes that made an appearance back in January during CES 2013. The curved device will supposedly not ship with an S Pen, and it will not be a rugged variant of the Note 3. In fact, this phone may have been recently spotted on a GFXBench benchmark, sporting a Snapdragon 800, a Full HD display, and Android 4.3.
Samsung’s mobile business head of strategic marketing D.J. Lee confirmed last week that a device with a curved display will be released in South Korea this month; so far it's unknown when this device will ship to other countries. Park Sang-jin, the president of Samsung SDI, added that the phone will be rigid, and feature a "unique" design.
On the LG front, the company revealed its curved screen back in January during CES 2013. The company teased the tech again in its product announcement for SID 2013 back in May, demonstrating not only the drool-tastic 55 inch Curved OLED TV, but a flexible 5 inch plastic OLED panel. That said, don't expect phones that bend at will, but solid form factors with a slight curve that's comfortable next to the user's face without looking highly odd.
LG just recently launched the G2 flagship smartphone, and is gearing up to introduce the Nexus 5 within the next several weeks. LG will likely reveal its G Flex phone sometime after that unless the company has the urge to beat Samsung to the market.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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WithoutWeakness I really liked Samsung's prototype that had a curved "edge" on one side of the screen. They used a flip cover like the SGS4 has that left that curved section uncovered so you could see status updates without having to open the cover and without the gimmicky window the SGS4 cover has. Since Samsung uses their AMOLED screens the phone could shut off all of the pixels covered by the case and only turn on the section of the screen that displayed updates.Reply
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/9/3855960/samsung-flexible-oled-phone-prototype-hands-on -
milktea Now Apple is in trouble. If Apple doesn't have any innovative releases like LG or Samsung, then Apple's stock would start to plummet.Reply
Would they have trademarked "iCurved"? :) :) -
soldier44 LG and Samsung should have done this with their flagship models that just came out people are buying up. Note 3 and G2. I wasn't expecting curved displays to be ready for phones till next year.Reply -
southernshark I'm still confused whether these phones are flexible or curved..... Flexible is awesome. Curved to me anyway is kind of men.Reply