The LG G Flex 2, LG's latest curved smartphone with a self-healing rear panel, is now available to pre-order from Vodafone. Contracts start at £34.50 per month with no upfront cost of the handset, which will get you 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of 4G data. If you want one of Vodafone's Red 4G plans, though, (which gets you 6 or 24 months of Now TV, Spotify Premium or Sky Sports Mobile TV), you'll have to pay at least £39.50 a month. To help sweeten the deal, the first 500 customers to pre-order the handset through Vodafone's online shop will receive a free LG G Watch R smartwatch to go with it.
The G Flex 2 was first unveiled at CES in January. To help make it stand out from the crowd, the 5.5in smartphone has a curved 1,920x1,080 plastic OLED display that can bend and flex under a small amount of pressure. This not only makes it more comfortable to hold or slip in your back pocket, but LG hopes its curved screen will also prevent more screen breakages if you happen to drop it. Since the screen can never fall flush to the ground, the only thing you're likely to dent is one of the corners.
^ The G Flex 2 will also be available in red, but this won't arrive until April, according to LG
Its rear panel also has a special self-healing coating, which can automatically repair small scratches in just 10-15 seconds. Harder, more deliberate scratches will leave a permanent mark, but at least you can now carry your phone and keys around in the same pocket without any fear of scuffing the back. You'll find the main home and volume buttons on the back of the handset as well, leaving more room for the display on the front. If you'd rather not use the rear buttons to turn it on, you can always take advantage of LG's unique Knock Code tap-to-wake customisations instead.
Powered by an octa-core 2.0GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and 2GB of RAM, the G Flex 2 should have plenty of speed to keep up with all the latest handsets. It also has a 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilisation, a 3,000mAh battery, 16GB of onboard storage that can be expanded up to 2TB via microSD card, and supports fast charging, giving you 50% battery in just 30-40 minutes.
LG's yet to announce a UK SIM-free price for the G Flex 2, but it will also be available to pre-order from Carphone Warehouse shortly. Instead of throwing in a G Watch R, Carphone Warehouse will be offering a free LG Music Flow speaker deal instead. The G Flex 2 is due to start shipping in the second week of March, with its official launch period taking place the week beginning the 16th March. We'll have our full review of the G Flex 2 up shortly, so be sure to check back soon for our final verdict on LG's curved smartphone.