LG appoints new mobile head in annual management restructuring

LG electronics has just appointed a new head of its mobile division. Juno Cho will be taking over the position of president and CEO of the division from Park Jong-Seok, who has been dealing with health problems, but will retain a supporting role in the management. The new CEO will be in charge of leading a formidable expansion in global markets, which builds upon the company's recent success in the mobile sector. This year the second largest Korean handset manufacturer regained profitability, with a formidable 16.3% market share in North America during Q3. This is in large part thanks to the huge success of their flagship device, the LG G3. This sets a veritable record for LG, with almost double the market shares from last year. Furthermore the company announced its highest operation profits, since 2010 at $152 million. Juno Chou can already boast formidable success at LG. He is largely credited for the North America branch success around the mid-2000s and the very well-received Chocolate Phone in 2006, which he was in charge of. This track record has made him a perfect candidate to lead LG mobile sales into foreign markets and especially China. The announcement also commented on several other management rearrangements. Kwon Bong-suk, who is currently heading LG Corp's Synergy Division, was promoted to president and CEO of the entire consumer electronics segment at LG. It seems that this is part of the expansion of OLED TVs, planned for next year. This drive towards the technology is also supported by the decision to keep Han Sang-beom as CEO of LG display. Several other rearrangement are also set to occur in LG affiliates - LG Display, LG InnoTek and LG Chem, but they concern mostly mid-level management.

LG G Flex Video Review - the Curved and Bendable Android Smartphone

Smartphones are smartphones; generally they all look alike. So LG decided to throw us a curve ball with the LG G Flex. This is a curved and flexible phone, though the curve is gentle and there's little flex in this Flex. LG said they could've made it more bendable, but customers might equate a Gumby phone with cheapness. The G Flex is a phablet with a 6" plastic AMOLED display. Don't worry; you wouldn't know it's not glass when looking at it, and plastic is what allows it to be flexible. Inside the G Flex is filled with flagship specs: a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad core CPU, 2 gigs of RAM, WiFi 802.11ac, NFC and high megapixel cameras. The price, at least on AT&T and Sprint is higher than flagship: $299 with 2 year contract rather than the usual $199. That's a $100 curve. T-Mobile will also carry the LG, but they price things using monthly payments, which in the case of the G Flex will be 24 payments of $28 ($672 total).

The one spec that isn't flagship? Display resolution. It's a 720p (1280 x 720) display rather than the usual full HD 1920 x 1080. The technology just isn't there yet to make a full HD flexible display. 720p isn't horrendous, but on a phone with a bigger than average 6 inch screen, we noticed text wasn't quite a sharp as we'd like. The 245 ppi display also has a minor blue color bias that's more pronounced at the top. 

I had my doubts about curved phones, be it the LG G Flex or the Samsung Galaxy Round. But once I used the G Flex for a few hours, I found it more ergonomic and the screen produced fewer reflections that flat phones like the 6" Nokia Lumia 1520 smartphone. The 700mm radius curve isn't just there to fit the curve of your face, it also makes sense in the back pocket of your jeans (particularly if you have a 700mm curve to your bottom). I found videos more enjoyable on the curved display, even though there's no clear reason why this should be so: after all, it's not a 60" TV where a curve makes more sense to replicate big screen viewing at a movie theatre. Does the curve make this otherwise big phone feel easier to handle or more hand-friendly? I'd say yes (note, I do have large hands).