Inside G Flex: LG's long and winding road to setting the curve

CNET takes you through the five-plus year process of developing the phone, and explains why it's critical to LG's success.

    With the curvy G Flex, it's LG -- and not Apple -- that is showing it can "think different."

The G Flex, which arrives in the US via Sprint stores on Friday, with AT&T and T-Mobile following suit in the next few days, shakes up the normal conventions of the flat, rectangular slab of a touch-screen device pioneered by the iPhone. It was one of two curved phones that debuted late last year, the other being Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Round.

The immediate benefit is obvious: The curved design better conforms to your face, offers a better video-viewing experience, and theoretically a superior sound. Longer term, the G Flex sets the groundwork for a fully flexible, and far more durable, smartphone. Perhaps most important, however, may be the phone's ability to bend the perception of LG itself.

The company, which has long languished in the shadow of the larger and flashier Samsung, could be poised for a breakout year. With hits such as the Google-branded Nexus 5 and the G2, and now the G Flex, LG could finally shed its also-ran status in mobile and inject some serious competitive pressure in a field dominated by Apple and Samsung.

"A high profile, hero phone, first to market in its form factor, could really help reset people's expectations and confidence in LG, and it is hitting at a good time," said Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD.

Mobile was a bright spot when LG reported its fourth-quarter results on Monday, with the unit seeing sales rise 28 percent. The company shipped a record 13.2 million smartphones in the period, up 54 percent from a year ago.

LG's steady progress comes in contrast to the myriad companies that have struggled to turn a profit at a time when consumers are primarily flocking to an iPhone or Galaxy S smartphone. Even Google ended up dumping Motorola Mobility onto Lenovo after successive quarters of losses. LG's share of the global market rose to 4.5 percent from 4 percent a year ago, according to Strategy Analytics. That's tiny relative to Apple or Samsung, yes, but it's growing at a time when other players are seeing their own position erode.

The G Flex could potentially accelerate its ascent. It is by no means a guaranteed blockbuster, with its 6-inch display potentially turning off consumers agitated by the "phablet" category of oversize phones, and its $300 on-contract price tag steeper than the normal flagship device. It also lacks the marketing heft of Samsung or the rabid following of Apple.

"Curved phones are a major branch of our tree."
--LG design executive Chul Bae Lee

Still, it's won some critical praise, including from CNET editor Lynn La, who said in her review that the G Flex was a "memorable device with plenty of potential," and called the curved shape "more than just a party trick."

Even if it ends up as a niche product, it will have achieved what LG has long sought: legitimate buzz. As I've written before, LG's biggest public image problem is that it doesn't have one. It makes decent phones, including several worthy budget models, but is barely on anyone's radar.

LG certainly has a lot riding on the G Flex. It has spent more than five years developing the phone, coming up with the concept and driving different lines of LG's businesses to help make it a reality. LG envisions G Flex to be the start of something big for the company.

"Curved phones are a major branch of our tree," said Chul Bae Lee, the head of design for LG Mobile responsible for the hardware and software of the G Flex. In a recent interview with CNET, Lee discussed the origins of the G Flex and the future of bendable phones.

Because we can... 
The G Flex was started on a whim.

Chul Bae Lee, vice president and head of LG's mobile communications design.

(Credit: LG)

Well, LG probably wouldn't characterize it so flippantly, as the phone required years of planning and a massive amount of cooperation with different parties. More than five years ago, a small group of designers began looking at where mobile phone design was headed, and began playing with the idea of phones that were flexible, foldable, and ones that you could even roll. After countless meetings and discussions about what was and wasn't feasible, they ultimately just made the decision to go with it.

"It was a starting point for us," Lee said. "We figured if we can do it, we should try it."

The problem: The unique parts necessary to build such a phone didn't yet exist.

Which is one of the primary reasons why the G Flex is unique. Typically, a smartphone -- even a high-end one -- is designed and built using components that are available, or at least visibly coming down the road.

LG, like Samsung, is a massive conglomerate with its hands in multiple businesses, several of which provide key components to various smartphone companies. Over the last few years, LG has begun to more fully take advantage of the resources of its sister units.

The Optimus G, for example, was hailed as the first smartphone to use top-shelf LG-made components, including the battery from LG Chemical, the screen from LG Display, and the camera module from LG Innotek.

But the Optimus G used the best parts available. For the G Flex, LG Electronics had to push its sister companies to come up with something new. It's a subtle, but significant difference.