The new G Flex 2 by LG has been well received internationally and for good reason. The South Korean smartphone manufacturer has improved on all aspects from its predecessor – it’s smaller, weighs less, has a better grip and the curve is subtle. 

The 5.5-inch curved display has been bumped up to a full 1080p HD screen, while its unique 'self healing' back cover has been improved to recover faster from scratches. With the LG Flex, it took three minutes for the cover to heal and now it’s down to 10 seconds at room temperature. If you’re prone to getting nicks and scratches all over your handset, this is the smartphone for you. It's also quite fun to deliberately scratch it and watch it heal.

As expected, the G Flex 2 is more powerful – it runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 64-bit Octa-Core processor, which is currently the fastest mobile chip available for Android 5.0 handsets. The handset is super fast, which is noticeable when browsing, and quite efficient for multi-tasking. It has 2GB of RAM and either 16 or 32GB of memory, and expandable via microSD up to a whopping 2TB. 

The curved glass panel has also been improved to be 20 percent more durable, thanks to LG developing its own special chemical treatment technology. The new ergonomic design also brings the microphone closer to the mouth, which LG says has better sound pickup. The handset weighs 152g.

The 13-megapixel rear camera has Laser Auto Focus that measures the distance between the subject and the camera with a laser beam to capture the best picture, a dual LED flash, OIS+ and Gesture Shot (so you can take selfies with a hand gesture).

The 3 000mAh battery has a fast charge feature that is capable of charging up to 50% in less than 40 minutes. Other features include NFC, A-GPS, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and LTE capabilities. 

It's clear that the G Flex 2 is a very good smartphone, but the question remains: do you need a curved screen smartphone? 

The LG G Flex 2 runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and will be available exclusively from Vodacom in April 2015.