Smartphones are getting thinner and thinner by the day. The latest thin smartphone is the Motorola Moto Z, which has a thickness of only 5.2mm. The biggest nightmare of thin smartphone is the dreaded bend test – so does the Moto Z lives up to the test?

Yesterday, LG announced its successor to the LG G Flex smartphone at the CES 2015 event held in Las Vegas. The new LG G Flex 2 comes with a sleeker profile and a number of additional features, making it a true successor to the G Flex curved smartphone. LG has incorporated some important changes in the new device, like a smaller display with a higher resolution, top of the line Snapdragon 810 processor, Laser AutoFocus from the LG G3 and a fast charging battery. Apart from the impressive tech specs, the overall design has been improved to make the phone more ergonomic. The 5.5-inch display with a 700mm radius curvature makes it fit perfectly in the user's hands. Thanks to the curvature, the microphone is much closer to the mouth, thereby reducing background noise. The self-healing feature also makes a comeback, but this time it is much faster and effective. LG has managed to reduce the heal time from 3 minutes to just 10 seconds in normal room temperature. With the help of a special chemical treatment process developed by the company, the cover glass on the display is now 20 percent more durable too. The 3000 mAh battery onboard charges up to 50 percent in just 40 minutes. LG will start selling the G Flex 2 in South Korea by the end of January and will later release it in additional global markets. Full tech specs of the LG G Flex2 are given below.

• 64-bit 2.0 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor
• Adreno T430
• 2GB DDR4 RAM
• 16 / 32GB memory + expandable storage up to 2TB
• 5.5-inch display (1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, Curved P-OLED, 403 ppi)
• 13MP rear camera (Laser Auto Focus, OIS) + 2.1MP front camera
• 149.1 x 75.3 x 7.1-9.4mm | 152 grams
• Supports 4G / LTE / HSPA+, 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, GPS, USB 2.0
• Features Gesture Shot, Gesture View and Glance View
• 3000 mAh battery (Fast Charge)
• Android 5.0 Lollipop
• Available in Platinum Silver / Flamenco Red

LG is one of the few other major manufacturers to have come out with flexible displays such as those on the LG G Flex smartphone. According to a roadmap of it's flexible displays, we could soon see foldable and rollable displays in tablets, smartphones, cars and TVs in 2017. The roadmap also reveals that smartphones with bending or bendable displays (probably the LG G Flex 2) and smartwatches or other wearables are due in 2015. LG will be using P-OLED display technologies to create a plastic substrate for a more durable, thinner and lighter flexible display. No Malaysian release dates or pricing details were available yet, but hopefully LG increases their presence here in Malaysia a bit more before 2017 rolls around.

Apart from being both curved and bendable, the LG G Flex is one of the first smartphones to utilize a flexible battery. How does this 3500 mAh battery perform? Well, it does manage a fairly good performance with a bit more than 7 hours worth of heavy non-stop usage. Since it's doubtful that anyone will be doing 7 hour marathons on the LG G Flex, this generally means that it can last for more than 24 hours or so on normal use before needing a recharge. Check out the full test results and comparison in this article.

We're all fairly curious about the Samsung Galaxy S5, so much so that there are quite a lot of concept renders, especially as Samsung have recently patented a smartphone which could be the Samsung Galaxy S5. Check out these renders below:

This is the leaked image from the US Patents Office, rumoured to be the Samsung Galaxy S5 or the Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Despite it's limited initial release in South Korea, the LG G Flex looks to finally make a global release to the rest of the world. The global release will begin from 8 December 2013 with pre-orders for Singapore. It will then go on to Hong Kong from 13 December 2013, with subsequent roll-outs to other countries like Malaysia afterwards. Asides from being the only other curved screen smartphone in the world at this moment, the LG G Flex offers tech specs and features that include a 2.26gHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, 6-inch plastic substrate OLED display, 13MP rear camera, 3500 mAh battery and a 7.9mm thin body. Pricing for Singapore is expected to be at S$1088 (RM2798) but Singapore prices are usually higher by about RM200 or so, so we would likely see the LG G Flex priced around RM2499 or similar in Malaysia.

The curved LG G Flex is coming along with international release and sales outside of Korea, but already rumours are spreading that LG are working on their 2nd generation flexible phone. While this could be called the LG G Flex 2 sources say that it will have certain features that the LG G Flex isn't capable of. This includes the ability to bend at a 90 degree angle and come with a hard rubber body encasing a flexible battery. Hopefully, LG would have found a more durable glass alternative as even though the plastic substrate screen has proven tough enough to withstand falls, the glass covering usually ends up shattering. These sources say that we may see the LG G Flex 2 in Q3 of 2014 but since the LG G Flex was launched in November 2013 we're betting the LG G Flex 2 to perhaps come in the same month of November 2014. No news yet on other features or tech specs or even pricing and Malaysia release dates, but we're expecting the initial price to be high as LG continue to tinker with the whole flexible display smartphone form factor.

The LG G Flex is one of the first smartphones to sport a flexible display using a more durable plastic substrate. However, many people are saying that a flexible display is the same as an unbreakable display, which would be awesome for those of us who tend to drop our smartphones a lot. The guys at Android Authority managed to get their hands on one LG G Flex and proceeded to do a drop test, checking to see if a flexible display actually does mean an unbreakable display which you can check out in the video in this article.

Quite a few people are looking forward to the Samsung Galaxy S5, including those who can create a reasonable concept render. This concept render of the Samsung Galaxy S5 appeared from the folks at O2 Guru TV sporting a curved screen from top to bottom, much like the LG G Flex. While this looks pretty and all, what is really interesting are the tech specs coming with the concept render. These Samsung Galaxy S5 tech specs include:

• A 64-bit octa-core processor and chipset
• 3GB RAM
• 5-inch Curved Super AMOLED display (2560 x 1440 pixel resolution)
• 16MP rear camera (4K video recording)
• 4000 mAh battery
• Android 4.4 Kit Kat + updated TouchWiz
• 4x front facing speakers

Despite recent successes in the smartphone market like the LG G2 and the notable LG G Flex, LG is apparently shifting their focus from smartphones to more successful industries. Despite positive response for these latest of smartphones, LG will be shifting their focus to TVs and related industries as these are getting better overall response. This news comes courtesy of Korean media who say that this will result in less LG employees working on smartphones and more on HDTVs. While this doesn't mean that LG will stop production completely it does mean we're less likely to see cutting edge smartphones from LG in the near future. However, LG are likely to continue development on flexible screens as curved and bent OLED screens are just as likely to be used in the TV industry as they are in a smartphone. Rather than be a player in the smartphone field, LG are likely to become parts suppliers instead. Here's what one analyst had to say about it:

"With the premium market slowing down and Chinese companies charging forward in the sluggish mid-to low-priced market, there is not much choice for LG Electronics. For starters, it may be better off to improve its financial status by increasing its TV sales, and then invest properly in the smartphone business."