We've gotten to the point in the smartphone industry where almost every phone is similarly stacked with pretty great hardware, and so just about any idea that sets a phone apart will find its way from the drafting table to reality, eventually. The LG G Flex 2, the second iteration of LG's curved smartphone line, is a prime example of this, and not entirely in a bad way.

The G Flex 2 was released at the beginning of this year, and while it will remain a curiosity for most, the phone is loaded up with the kind of hardware you'd expect from any major flagship phone. It's the first phone released this year running a Snapdragon 810 system on a chip, and it comes with a 13-megapixel camera, a full 1080p resolution, and a 3000 mAh battery, among several other impressive specs.

But while it sports a unique design and all the right ingredients, the LG G Flex 2 didn't exactly add up to more than the sum of its parts.

Curved Screen: Gimmick or Innovation?

Let's say it right now: the curve of the LG G Flex 2 is definitely more of a gimmick than a true innovation that the industry as a whole might adopt. But that doesn't mean it's a useless gimmick at all.

In fact, the curve of the G Flex 2 gives the phone several advantages over the flat, straight-line standard smartphone design.

It's surprisingly easy to reach everything on the screen, for one. The G Flex 2 has a 5.5-inch display, putting it in phablet territory, but you wouldn't think it when using it with one hand. And while the bendy screen definitely gives you a different experience -- scrolling down a page felt odd. Not unpleasant, but a little bit like spinning a game show wheel.

Another pleasant surprise from the curved screen comes when you use the G Flex 2 as a phone. Whether attributable to the microphone being placed closer to your mouth or just good hardware, the voice quality on phone calls was definitely higher than other recent premium smartphones. And holding it to your ear feels like you're using an actual phone again.

Solid Specs, Spotty Performance 

The LG G Flex 2 comes with a relatively huge battery, but battery life was so-so. It has the latest Snapdragon processor, but some processes would randomly lag now and then. It runs Android Lollipop, but LG's custom UI negates many of Lollipop's convenient features, not to mention ignoring Google's Material Design software language in favor of an interface that feels out of date.

That, in a nutshell, is the paradox of the G Flex 2: it has premium smartphone specs built into a sleek, attention-getting package, but the overall feeling nevertheless is just off the mark of premium, and more akin to a contemporary "lite" or "mini" -style smartphone.

There was nothing egregiously wrong about the LG G Flex 2, but it just doesn't add up to an experience that's as fluid, fast, and dependable as its rivals. For example, LG's UI layer takes away several of the convenient shortcuts built into Lollipop, like fast-switching notifications settings and interacting with notifications in the lockscreen.

Meanwhile, its phone app works just fine, and was obviously built with attention to detail. For example, it has one of the best-placed hang-up buttons of any Android dialer I've used. But it looks like Jelly Bean, with dusty graphical elements and an ugly color scheme.

Similarly, LG's "rear key" volume rocker/standby combination on the back of the phone lends itself to easy adjustments in-call, but LG's "knock on" wake feature -- which replaces the need to reach for the standby button by double-tapping on the screen -- is passably useful, but feels clunky and outdated compared to the competition.

No complaints on the camera, which is snappy enough for casual picture taking and well-balanced enough in its features that it doesn't feel too stupid or too complicated. But shutterbugs will want to look elsewhere for a standout camera.

Who Is This Phone For?

My gripes aside, the LG G Flex 2 is a phone I would recommend, but only to a certain rare subset of Android users.

It's not the powerhouse that heavy smartphone users would want and its far from the perfect all-around smartphone. But people whose top priority is having a smartphone that stands out from the crowd, aesthetically, would love this phone -- as long as their expectations are for a moderate level of day-to-day performance. Because even with the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge on the market, there's no smartphone with a curve quite like this one.