Android Curveball: LG G Flex Review
Camera and Battery Life
The LG G Flex incorporates an improved camera module that features a larger image sensor. As a result, LG claims the G Flex’s camera is better suited to take brighter photos since it can absorb more light.
Some of the camera features include HDR technology, face tracking, Cheese shutter, VR panorama, Dual camera, Time catch shot, and more. While using the camera, you may notice the LED light on the Rear Key changes colors. When Face Tracking is enabled, you’ll notice a yellow light while the camera is focusing and a green light when the camera is properly focused. If you’re using the timer feature, the LED will blink blue as the countdown for the timer begins. The blinks will become faster and turn red before the photo is taken.
During our tests, we felt the LG G Flex did a very good job at capturing images. On multiple occasions we noticed that if we took two sequential pictures of the same subject the focus and crispness of the second photo was much better than the first, especially when shooting subjects that were within a close range of the lens. Landscape photos showed good depth.
Battery Life
You’ll find a 3300 mAh embedded Li-polymer battery inside the LG G Flex. Talk and standby times vary on the G Flex depending on which carrier’s phone you have. Our Sprint version is rated at up to 25 hours of talk time on 3G and up to 585 hours of 3G standby time.
In an attempt to quantitatively measure the G Flex's battery life in a controlled benchmark environment, we ran the AnTuTu Battery Test which is available from the Google Play Store. For this test, we set the G Flex's display to 50% brightness, which is still plenty bright and easy on the eyes. The G Flex scored 575, earning it the second spot in our chart behind the HTC One Max. Although we always like user-replaceable batteries in phones, the longevity of the G Flex should eliminate the need to swap batteries for most users.
During our real-world testing, the G Flex had no problem making it through a day while checking emails, making calls, taking pictures, and playing a few games. We would expect an average user should have no problem making it through an entire day with moderate use as well. Of course, battery life will vary depending on how the phone is used.