LG G Flex on AT&T
BY EUGENE KIM
LG's G Flex might be a part of a fad, or it could be a peek into the future of smartphone design. Either way, the supersized phablet's unique design is a welcome oddity in the homogenous world of touch-screen smartphones. At $299.99 (with two-year contract) on Sprint, the G Flex falls right in between the $350 Galaxy Note 3$285.00 at Dell Small Business and $250 HTC One Max$109.99 at Amazon. The Note 3 remains our Editors' Choice for its sharper 1080p display and stylus integration, but the G Flex comes within striking distance thanks to that immersive curved display and excellent multitasking capabilities.
Bloatware and Android
Of the 32GB of internal storage, 23.85GB is available to users out of the box. After seeing the mess AT&T made with its pre-loads, Sprint should be commended. Its Flex has a good deal of pre-loads, too, but every app except Sprint Zone is removable.
There are a few small differences to Android on the Sprint Flex. The settings menu has a traditional single scrolling page style, whereas the AT&T version groups different settings into tabbed pages. Sprint's version also has a widget loaded onto the home screen that walks you through some of the basic features of the Flex. It's also got pop-up tips like on the AT&T version, so the widget is pretty redundant, but easy to disable as well. The software keyboard choices are different on the Sprint version. Sprint bundles LG's default keyboard and the third-party keyboard Swype, which offers predictive text and swiping text entry. AT&T also has LG's default keyboard, but instead of Swype you get the Android AOSP keyboard. I prefer the latter, but they're fairly similar and it's easy enough to load your own favorite third-party keyboard.\
Conclusions
The curved screen and physical flexibility are the marquee features here, but I'm more impressed with the LG G Flex's power and multitasking chops. That, coupled with the engrossing display, make it a better choice than the HTC One Max or the more affordable Samsung Galaxy Mega$79.00 at Amazon, which Sprint is selling for $150. Neither of those can keep up with the Flex's speed and multitasking features. Still, our favorite phablet remains the Galaxy Note 3, which packs a sharper 1080p display, equally adept multitasking abilities, and superb stylus integration.
BY EUGENE KIM
LG's G Flex might be a part of a fad, or it could be a peek into the future of smartphone design. Either way, the supersized phablet's unique design is a welcome oddity in the homogenous world of touch-screen smartphones. At $299.99 (with two-year contract) on Sprint, the G Flex falls right in between the $350 Galaxy Note 3$285.00 at Dell Small Business and $250 HTC One Max$109.99 at Amazon. The Note 3 remains our Editors' Choice for its sharper 1080p display and stylus integration, but the G Flex comes within striking distance thanks to that immersive curved display and excellent multitasking capabilities.
Bloatware and Android
Of the 32GB of internal storage, 23.85GB is available to users out of the box. After seeing the mess AT&T made with its pre-loads, Sprint should be commended. Its Flex has a good deal of pre-loads, too, but every app except Sprint Zone is removable.
There are a few small differences to Android on the Sprint Flex. The settings menu has a traditional single scrolling page style, whereas the AT&T version groups different settings into tabbed pages. Sprint's version also has a widget loaded onto the home screen that walks you through some of the basic features of the Flex. It's also got pop-up tips like on the AT&T version, so the widget is pretty redundant, but easy to disable as well. The software keyboard choices are different on the Sprint version. Sprint bundles LG's default keyboard and the third-party keyboard Swype, which offers predictive text and swiping text entry. AT&T also has LG's default keyboard, but instead of Swype you get the Android AOSP keyboard. I prefer the latter, but they're fairly similar and it's easy enough to load your own favorite third-party keyboard.\
Conclusions
The curved screen and physical flexibility are the marquee features here, but I'm more impressed with the LG G Flex's power and multitasking chops. That, coupled with the engrossing display, make it a better choice than the HTC One Max or the more affordable Samsung Galaxy Mega$79.00 at Amazon, which Sprint is selling for $150. Neither of those can keep up with the Flex's speed and multitasking features. Still, our favorite phablet remains the Galaxy Note 3, which packs a sharper 1080p display, equally adept multitasking abilities, and superb stylus integration.
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