Outside of 3D, curved TVs are astir apt 1 of the industry’s astir ill-advised gimmicks. Unless you sat astatine a precise circumstantial constituent successful beforehand of them, they resulted successful a warped image, harsh reflections, and a mostly unpleasant viewing experience, for adjacent to nary benefit. Seriously, they were terrible. It felt similar curved TVs happened due to the fact that companies could marque them, alternatively than due to the fact that they should.

It took maine a small portion to recognize it, but LG’s caller 42-inch OLED Flex, which it’s announced this week astatine IFA and hopes to bring to marketplace this fall, efficaciously marks the instrumentality of curved TVs. It whitethorn person a monitor-style basal featuring immoderate gamer-styled RGB lighting, and LG whitethorn person confused things somewhat by placing the OLED Flex connected apical of a table similar a show successful its demo area. But marque nary mistake, this is simply a TV-ass TV. It’s got 4 HDMI 2.1 inputs, runs WebOS, and has a built-in TV tuner. It’s a TV.

Well, it’s a TV with a beauteous absorbing instrumentality — it transforms. At the property of a fastener a bid of motors wrong the instrumentality statesman to whir, turning it from a accepted level TV into a curved TV. (You tin besides power the bending process with the navigation fastener connected the underside of the display.) Or a curved TV that looks a batch similar a curved monitor, astatine immoderate rate. That’s however it’s capable to debar the curved TV curse; it’s not ever curved. It’s an absorbing attack that means you shouldn’t person to woody with the problems the curve creates erstwhile you’re not going to acquisition its benefits.

From the back, the TV looks a batch similar a gaming monitor.

To amusement disconnected precisely erstwhile you mightiness privation a curved TV, LG had the racing crippled Forza Horizon 5 hooked up to the display, and was encouraging radical to beryllium astir three-to-four feet distant from it to get the astir retired of the vision-enveloping benefits of a curved screen. At its maximum, the surface tin crook to an impressively curved 900R, but it tin beryllium adjusted connected a percent slider successful 5 percent increments, for a full of 20 antithetic curvatures. It was hard to archer amidst the sound of the IFA amusement floor, but the whirring dependable was decidedly noticeable, and it goes without saying you astir apt wouldn’t privation to perceive it mid-game.

Outside of its curving mechanics and chunky stand, the LG OLED Flex is efficaciously the aforesaid arsenic LG’s existing 42-inch C2 TV. It’s got the aforesaid LG Display OLED Evo panel, and supports some Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos (it tin make a virtualized 7.1.2 situation sound). It has a 4K resolution, 16:9 facet ratio, and a maximum refresh complaint of 120Hz. Obviously that means successful signifier it looks each spot arsenic bully arsenic LG’s fashionable OLED range.

The LG OLED Flex is improbable to beryllium cheap. Spokespeople for LG were unwilling to corroborate however overmuch the TV volition outgo erstwhile it goes connected merchantability aboriginal this year, but fixed this happening fundamentally contains a full $1,399 LG C2, positive a bid of nary uncertainty precise analyzable mechanisms to marque the automatic bending process work, I’m guessing we’re looking astatine a instrumentality costing astatine slightest $2,000. Is it worthy it for a 42-inch display?

One statement could beryllium that the OLED Flex is efficaciously 2 products successful one. It’s 1 portion accepted level OLED TV, and 1 portion curved gaming monitor. But I’m little definite astir however a hybrid surface similar this would acceptable into astir people’s homes. Is LG expecting customers to person it acceptable up similar a curved show connected their desk, acceptable to beryllium turned into a TV for watching films? Or is the program to person it acceptable up similar a regular TV connected a cabinet, but with the enactment of pulling your seat close up adjacent and putting it into curved mode for immoderate immersive gaming action? I’m not wholly sure.

Between this and Corsair’s ain instrumentality connected the bendable form-factor — which inactive has an LG Display OLED sheet but a wider 21:9 facet ratio and a transforming process that asks you to crook it by manus — it feels similar we’re entering a caller epoch of curved displays. Curved TVs ne'er truly worked out, but curved monitors person proven beauteous fashionable successful the years since. LG’s OLED Flex appears to beryllium trying to span that gap.

Photos by Jon Porter / The Verge