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• LG is finally shutting down the update servers for its phones in June
• This will mark the final end of LG's phones, a market it quit in 2021
• We've ranked our favorite LG phones from the last 25 years

Remember LG phones? Not too long ago, the Korean tech giant was one of the most exciting phone makers around, dazzling us innovators like the LG Chocolate 'slider' phone and the swivel-screened LG Wing.

But sadly, no more – as spotted by Android Authority, LG plans to finally shut down the update servers for its phones on June 30. On a practical level, this means that if you still own an LG phone (a gold star for your commitment, if so), you have exactly two months left to download a final Android update on it before the cord is cut.

Yet, the news is arguably more symbolic than practical. It's now four years since LG confirmed that it would stop making smartphones, after an impressive 25-year run of doing so.

Indeed, LG was one of the first tech giants to step into the phone space in the 1990s, alongside Samsung and Sony, when it took on Nokia and Motorola and became a big player in the 'feature phones' space.

So what exactly were LG's biggest phone hits, and the ones we look back on most fondly? Here's our list – let us know which ones you think are missing in the comments below.

7. LG G Flex (2013) Image 1 of 3

(Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3

(Image credit: Future)

The most human phone ever. That was LG’s slogan for the wonderfully crazy LG G Flex - a handset that featured a ‘flexible’ display and ‘self-healing’ back.

The device itself was also ‘flexible’. The G Flex had a natural curvature, which LG said allowed it to sit more comfortably against your face, and position the microphone closer to your mouth – who remembers the Nokia 8110 ‘banana phone?

However, as I said in my review of the phone, “don't get too excited about its flexible abilities...you can't actually go about folding it up.

“Lay the LG G Flex face down on a flat surface and at its most curved point the screen is still just a few millimeters above the surface. But then comes the fun part. Apply a decent amount of pressure to the rear of the G Flex and you can flatten the handset out.”

And the reaction it got when I showed people this flexible feat? “I was met - without fail – by a sea of wincing faces as the G Flex made seriously concerning creaking and crunching sounds. Sure the handset does flex, slightly, but it never sounds like it's enjoying the workout.”

Then there was the ‘self-healing’ back, which was able to soak up minor bumps and knocks, but it certainly wasn’t immune to a scratch or two.

The LG G Flex wasn’t the best phone, and it was extremely expensive, but it did what LG did best – something different, something unique, something wild. And that’s what I love.

By John McCann

6. LG KU990 Viewty (2007)

(Image credit: Mobile Phone Museum)

The very fact that I refuse to throw this phone away – 18 years after its release – shows the love I have for it. This phone had a 5MP camera, Xenon flash, DVD(ish) quality video recording, a manual zoom button – and a touchscreen.

For all you kids out there, you don’t know how exciting this was to use when you’d been only used to tapping away at keys. A keyboard that could move and become a movie screen? Amazing! (Skipping past the fact that there was very little video content out there to actually watch).

There was a stylus that you could attach with a little cord (although that quickly got annoying) and I’m certain that if I fired up the phone now, the resistive touchscreen would drive me up the wall (where it senses pressure over spotting the electrical conduct in your fingertips) by inaccurately guessing which part of the screen I wanted to prod.

It was rumored that this phone actually outsold the initial iPhone, thanks to the higher spec, lower price (and the fact Apple wasn’t officially reporting sales figures…), and while that lead didn’t last long, it was entirely deserved in my eyes.

By Gareth Beavis

5. LG Cookie (2008)

(Image credit: Destructive Dan)

When the LG Cookie launched in 2008, it took youngsters by storm. I know that, because I was one, and it marked the first phone I could actually call my own. In hindsight, the Cookie wasn’t all that spectacular, and in fact, LG used it to target the entry-level touchscreen market by keeping the cost of the device as low as possible.

That scrimping resulted in a 3-inch, 240 x 400 pixel touchscreen powered by an ARM9E CPU with a clock rate of 175 MHz. It also had a 3.15MP camera capable of capturing videos at 12 frame/s, and no flash option.

Pretty impressive, right? No, not really, but the combination of super cool looks (yes, I had the white version) and a neat little stylus hidden away in the phone’s body meant the LG Cookie was, for me, the height of style and innovation during my formative years.

By Axel Metz

4. LG enV2 (2008) Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Future)

It may not have been my first phone, but the enV2 was definitely one of the first – and one I still have in a closet somewhere.

The LG enV2 wasn't the original clamshell, but it did have a large number pad with a tiny screen on the front and the ability to fold open to a bigger screen (well, big by non-smartphone standards). With speakers on either side and a closer to full-size QWERTY keyboard, it was a real BlackBerry rival.

The LG enV2 offered some smartphone-esque, BlackBerry-esque flair without the smarts, and it was quite fun to use and served me well, even with a removable battery on the back. It also has a decent camera, though not with shots I’d want to share now. But I remember getting pretty good at typing on the inside keys and had a lot of fun responding to text messages on it.

In the years since, I reviewed a number of other LG phones. In my early blogging days, I fondly remember chatting with Mr. Mobile – aka Michael Fisher – at LG G3 Day. But the LG enV2 offered a lot of features, even some mini mobile games, in a durable, not-so-smart package.

By Jacob Krol

3. LG Wing (2020)

(Image credit: Future)

The LG Wing was supposed to be unlike any other smartphone the world had ever seen. It was the first device in LG’s 'Explorer' series of devices, which would have been a series of products meant to explore unconventional form-factors – such as the LG Rollable.

The LG Wing broke every rule of the textbook, with a big and bulky design, far too many moving parts, and at a premium price point for mid-range specs. While it was not really the best phone for the price, it was among the most enjoyable devices that I ever laid my hands on.

It was a cool party trick to reveal the second display with just a swipe, in what was probably the most polarizing design of its time. Notably, even for a first-gen product with an unfamiliar form factor, it was surprisingly not bad, with a decent number of features and third-party apps optimized to make use of the dual-screen approach.

The Wing is a fitting swansong for LG’s smartphone journey, cementing its place in the history books as one of the most innovative brands in this space, being unafraid of experimenting and going against the norms; while serving as a reminder of how unforgiving the smartphone market can be.

By Aakash Jhaveri

2. Google Nexus 5 (2013)

(Image credit: TechRadar)

2013 was a big year for LG in the smartphone world. Alongside its G2 flagship and its first bendy phone, it was invited to make the next iteration of Google's Nexus line of smartphones.

Nexus was a project from Google that brought in Android phone manufacturers to make hardware designed to show off what the software can do in its purest form. The Nexus 5 was one of the best handsets in the series, and a big part of that is down to LG's impact.

The Nexus 5 had a lot of similarities with the LG G2 we've mentioned below (spoiler alert), but this used Android software in a way that Google intended. It felt even sleeker than the LG G2, and it had an affordable price, too.

As one of the first smartphones I used as a technology journalist, I began to see what Google was aiming for with its Nexus line on the Nexus 5. I also spotted what LG was capable of in one of the best time periods for LG smartphones, and I'll always have a fondness for this specific phone because of that.

By James Peckham

1. LG G2 (2013)

(Image credit: TechRadar)

There have been a few smartphones over the years that have almost exquisitely got the blend of features, hardware, and price right, and the LG G2 (or Optimus G2 in some regions, as the company inexplicably kept jamming a clunky extra word into the title) was just that.

This was just a great handset. A 5.2-inch screen was huge at the time, and the 13MP camera was right in the race for the best out there, with loads of great features to tweak and some top snaps being possible. The shiny, rounded plastic shell felt robust in the hand, and the overall interface was brimming with clever little tweaks to improve the basic Android experience.

But the main star was the placement of the rear buttons – a power key that was flanked above and below by the volume buttons on the back of the phone!

The idea was that this would be more of a natural, ergonomic fit in the hand, given its ‘huge’ size, and therefore you’d be less likely to drop it. Some reviewers found that it was too hard to reprogram the brain to look for the unlock key there, but they weren’t using it for long enough. I sometimes still yearn for it now, and keep wondering why phone brands aren’t using the rear of the phone for some kind of touch interface.

Of course, I’m pretty sure the annals of time are making me remember this phone with a rosy hue – Android overlays were often buggy back then, the fiddly camera settings probably irked, and the buttons probably fell off or something. But I remember this phone with true fondness – for a time, it looked like the success of this phone was going to keep LG at the top table of the smartphone world for years to come, but sadly, that never materialized.

By Gareth Beavis

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• Amazon's flagship Fire TV Omni with Mini-LED is getting two new features
• Interactive Art adds some motion-triggered movement to your ambient screen
• Dual-Audio arrives and lets the TV send out audio to a hearing aid and its speakers simultaneously

Amazon only entered the Mini-LED TV market with its own Fire TV Omni brand last year, yet its first entry into a crowded market proved to be not just the best in its line-up, but a compelling budget option.

Now Amazon’s rolling out two upgrades to its best TV, and you won’t need to pay anything extra to use either of them. As we’ve seen from the likes of Roku to Amazon in the past, this is a free upgrade for the platform that powers the television.

Up until now, you’ve been able to set a static scene for the Fire TV Omni Mini-LED to display when not in active use. These came in the form of works of art, photographs – akin to Samsung’s Frame TV or Hisense’s Art TV – or even stack widgets to make the TV into a giant smart display. But with the new update, Amazon is injecting some motion into the artwork.

(Image credit: Amazon)

There are now 12 pieces of ‘Interactive Art’ that Amazon promises will make the Fire TV into a "dynamic art piece." These will interact with movement in the space where the TV is, as it tracks motion using a high-fidelity radar sensor built into the unit. Meaning that if you select a koi fish scene, these creatures might swim across the screen, or a butterfly might flutter in via another choice.

It seems pretty neat and lives within the Fire TV’s Ambient Experience, and as with anything on the Fire TV, you can ask Alexa to open it up and then select an Interactive Art option. You can also use the remote and, via ‘Quick Settings’, suggest a new Art type to choose from one of the 12.

Interactive Art isn’t replacing the pre-existing options either – you can still pick from works of art and photographs, but you can also ask the TV to whip up a work of art through “AI Art.”

(Image credit: Amazon)

The second upgrade is one that Amazon first announced back in December of 2024, and it’s that the Fire TV Omni Mini-LED can send out two streams of sound.

One stream of sound can be outputted from the TV’s built-in speakers, while another can be streamed to hearing aids via the 'Dual-Audio' feature. This is a long-awaited, customer-requested addition to the Fire TV’s Accessibility feature set.

It’s nice to see Amazon now rolling this out to the Fire TV Omni Mini-LED, and it will work with any compatible hearing aid.

First, you’ll connect the hearing aid to the TV, but to turn on Dual Audio, you can do it in Quick Settings or the main Settings panel under Accessibility and select the feature.

To find Dual Audio or Interactive Art, ensure your Fire TV Omni Mini-LED is running the latest version of the operating system. Amazon has recently rolled out a software update, so check for it and trigger an update if available. From there, you’ll find these two new features that make Amazon’s best TV even better.

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• Google will roll out a version of Gemini AI for kids under 13
• The app will include parental controls and safety features via Family Link
• Google is pitching Gemini to parents as a way for kids to learn, be creative, and get help with homework

Google is keen to widen the usage of its Gemini AI assistant and is creating a version of the Gemini app for children, including parental controls on content. The company sent an email to parents about its plans for a Gemini designed for children under 13, first spotted by 9to5Google.

Google's email cites comments encouraging managed access to AI from parents, teachers, and experts on kids as the reason for the new app. The child-friendly AI assistant will supposedly help kids with homework, answer idle questions, and help them with creative writing. Parents will be able to set Gemini as the child’s default assistant on Android devices.

Of course, as Google is often quick to point out, Gemini can make mistakes. Any kid using Gemini should check with their parents about any facts (and frankly, adults should confirm anything Gemini tells them as well). So if Gemini tells your child that Abe Lincoln invented peanut butter, hopefully they will ask you before they turn in their essay on how the Gettysburg Address was so short because Lincoln had a mouthful of peanut butter and nothing to wash it down.

The idea is that if AI tools are going to shape the future of learning, kids should be introduced to them under controlled circumstances. Those digital training wheels will help kids learn how to use AI safely before the parental limits are removed when they're older.

The Gemini for Kids app will come with many extra safety and parental control features, powered by Google's Family Link, which provides tools for parents to limit their children's activities online. Parents will be able to monitor their child's Gemini activity and be alerted if their kid starts using it for less-than-pure purposes, asking questions like, “Can you do my science fair project?” or “How can I start betting on football games?"

Schools will also have protections in place. If kids access Gemini through school-issued accounts, administrators can set usage policies and supervise interactions using the Google Admin Console.

Gemini kids

This is arguably much more than just another checkmark in Google's plans for Gemini. It marks a real push by Google to normalize AI for the whole family, specifically Gemini. Google is planting a flag with the app. If Gemini is a child's first AI app, the one they grow up with, they're more likely to trust it and keep using it in their adult lives too.

There are serious questions about deploying AI to kids. Making sure Gemini doesn't mislead kids or mess with their critical thinking development is critical. And Gemini is not where kids should find answers to their deepest emotional questions, but it's hard to imagine a child not at least trying to ask Gemini about drama with their friends.

To assuage some of those concerns, Google told parents there will be no ads or data harvested from the kids version of Gemini. Instead, the focus will be on learning and creative expression. That it might conveniently train a generation to be comfortable using Google's AI tools is not brought up by the company, but it feels a lot like a very elaborate and high-tech version of a college giving out branded pens to second graders to get them thinking about applying in a decade every time they reach for a pen.

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• YouTube has rolled out some new improvements for smart TVs and consoles
• They include several new sections to help you find videos and music
• This follows news of a bigger redesign due to roll out "this summer"

YouTube is committed to polishing its smart TV experience in a big way this year – and the first signs of its efforts are rolling out now for its app on both TVs and game consoles.

As Google announced in a new YouTube support post, there are nine new UI tweaks that are designed to help you find shows, podcasts, and live music. While they're not quite as big as the promised redesign of YouTube's TV experience, they should help save you time and effort when navigating the slightly dated app.

Firstly, there's a new 'Continue your search' section on the home screen, which will apparently display your top three searches. That sounds handy considering the search experience on TVs can be pretty inconsistent and laborious.

Other new home screen sections (which YouTube refers to as 'shelves', for some reason) include 'Listen again' (showing you the top songs you've searched for) and a handy new one called 'Live performances, remixes and covers'.

As someone who regularly digs into YouTube's treasure trove of obscure live performances, I can see myself using that quite a bit.

Another new section includes one for 'Primetime channels', where you can see the channels you've subscribed to, like Paramount+, Showtime, Starz, or DAZN in one place. It seems the lines between YouTube and YouTube TV, its cable replacement service in the US, could soon start to blur further.

The final new 'shelf' (or section) might be the most useful, as you can see in the image above, the 'From your top channels' section provides some shortcuts to your most-watched YouTube channels. That should mean less time hunting in the slightly annoying subscriptions section.

(Image credit: YouTube / Google)

Outside of those new sections, arguably the biggest arrival is a new Podcasts tab. In February, YouTube noted that it is now the most popular service for listening to podcasts in the US (according to Edison Research), so this feature certainly makes sense.

Another promising upgrade is that YouTube has now split its more mobile-friendly Shorts from its longer-form videos. There'll now be a 'Shorts Row' in your 'Watch Next' feed, plus a dedicated Shorts section in your Subscriptions tab.

It isn't yet clear if this means you'll now never see Shorts in your subscriptions feed (something I'd be happy with), but either way, it should make the experience feel cleaner.

If you like your videos to play on repeat, it's also now possible to loop all on-demand videos on YouTube – a feature that was previously only available for playlists. To do that, head into the Playback Settings menu and choose the 'loop' setting.

The final UI tweak in this round of updates is that 'inline previews' (the little video teasers you see when hovering over a video thumbnail) have now been expanded to pages for channels, subscriptions, and topics.

That feature will likely divide opinion, so it could prove the most controversial of this otherwise positive step forward for YouTube's TV experience.

This update should roll out soon for the YouTube app on your Smart TV or gaming console, or by the end of this quarter in June. I haven't received it on my Apple TV box yet, but it will hopefully be available on streaming boxes soon as well.

What else is coming?

(Image credit: Google)

Last week, YouTube celebrated its 20th birthday by teasing a redesign of its TV experience, which is apparently coming "this summer" (or by the end of September).

It didn't expand much on specifics, but released the preview image above and promised "easier navigation" alongside "streamlined access to comments, channel info, and subscribing."

These upgrades appear to be focused more on the playback experience than the new homescreen improvements, but are certainly welcome too. The big question is whether we'll also see other 'upgrades' like 'pause ads' sneakily added to the mix alongside the broader redesign.

We'll have to wait until later in the year to see, but with a new "second screen experience" that lets you use your smartphone to interact with the videos you're watching, also coming later this year, it's clear that YouTube on smart TVs is changing – and mostly for the better.

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• SK Telecom is now giving away replacement SIM cards
• Earlier in April, it suffered a malware infection in which crooks stole USIM data
• 25 million customers are eligible, but just 6 million will be serviced in May

South Korea’s number one telecommunications provider, SK Telecom, is giving away free SIM cards to 25 million of its customers, after the recent USIM cyberattack. However, due to logistics challenges, it won’t be able to service everyone that fast.

Earlier in April, news broke that SK Telecom suffered a malware infection through which threat actors tried to grab customer USIM information. The attack allegedly happened in mid-April 2025, at night between Saturday and Sunday, when most employees were away for the weekend.

A USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module) is the successor of the old SIM card. It’s used in 3G, 4G, and 5G mobile networks and is found in most devices with cellular connectivity.

Booking a slot online

At its core, a USIM authenticates the device’s identity on a network, stores subscriber data (International Mobile Subscriber Identity, authentication keys, contacts, and sometimes text messages), encrypts the information passing through, and enables secure access to mobile services such as calls, data, or texts.

A cybercriminal could use the data to clone the SIM, track people’s location, bypass app security, or eavesdrop on communications.

While the investigation is still ongoing and the number of affected individuals is yet to be determined, SK Telecom announced offering replacement SIM cards to 25 million mobile subscribers, including some two million spilled over from budget carriers. However, it won’t have more than six million units throughout May 2025, which is why the company urged users to book a slot online:

“SK Telecom has blocked the misuse of SIM information with its FDS and SIM protection services, but it still offers a free service for customers who want to replace their SIM card,” reads the machine-translated announcement. “Currently, we have 1 million USIMs, and we plan to secure an additional 5 million SIMs by the end of May. However, it is expected that there will be a large number of customers at once, so please check in advance through the online reservation application system.”

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Last week, news broke that the Amazon-backed Slate Auto project would begin production of its cut-price electric pick-up next year, but the company isn’t alone.

While pricing is still to be determined, Isuzu – arguably one of the most iconic names in commercial vehicles – has said that it will release an electric version of its D-Max pick-up truck in 2026.

Although its range is startlingly sparse in some markets (only the D-Max is now sold in the UK, for example), the company enjoys success in Asia, including its domestic market of Japan, Thailand and others, where solid, reliable trucks are essential to daily life.

The D-Max EV joins the likes of KGM’s (formerly SsangYong) electrified Musso, the Maxus eTerron 9, the upcoming BYD Shark and a raft of cheap electrified pick-up trucks that could soon make their way from China.

While the likes of Ford and Chevrolet experienced relatively slow sales of electric pick-ups, the market could soon become the next hotly-contested EV battleground for global manufacturers.

Towing, hauling and off-road performance have typically proven barriers to entry for this body style, but Isuzu claims its EV is on a par with the diesel option it also offers: it can carry more than 1,000kg in the bed, tow 3,500kg and accelerate from 0-62mph in 10.1 seconds.

The 66.9kWh battery pack is located under the floor and the EV version uses the same ladder chassis as the existing truck. Although here, Isuzu adds permanent four-wheel drive with a motor at the front and rear axles.

According to the marque, off-road performance isn’t affected by the electrified powertrain, with a hefty 210mm of ground clearance and a wading depth of up to 600mm. There are also steep approach and departure angles for when the terrain gets tough.

Pick up a bargain

(Image credit: Slate Auto)

Isuzu hasn’t revealed an official price for the D-Max EV, but we would expect it to be substantially more than the circa $53,000 / £40,000 / AU$84,000 it currently charges for a diesel-powered version.

This puts it in the firing line of the Ford F-150 Lightning, which offers an EV range of 230 miles in the most basic variants. Isuzu, on the other hand, says its truck manages around 163 miles on a single charge.

As we have seen with various electric pick-ups, including the Tesla Cybertruck, hauling or towing loads has a big impact on electric range which, for many, is already too tight for daily use cases.

Slate Auto has been honest about battery range and the very basic nature of its upcoming model, but the upshot is that it looks set to be truly affordable. Those trucks offered by Ford, Chevrolet, Rivian, Tesla and now Isuzu are still likely too expensive for many, given the compromises.

But electric commercial vehicles are rapidly growing in popularity, as the technology is improving and many governments continue to incentivize their use for environmental reasons.

According to one report, the global electric truck market is set to reach a valuation of $78 billion by the end of 2033, up from a $19.5 billion valuation in 2023.

With a host of cheaper, electric models due to arrive from China in the coming years, as well as those from more established Western brands, the electric pick-up market could well be the next hotly-contested battleground for sales.

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• Chinese AI centers are dismantling 4090D GPUs and selling them off
• Reselling idle GPUs yields faster profits than waiting on rental returns
• Some say it’s overcapacity, others claim preparation for newer tech

Some Chinese AI data centers are dismantling and reselling China-specific Nvidia RTX 4090D GPUs, reports have claimed.

A report from DigiTimes Asia says these 48GB cards, designed to circumvent U.S. export restrictions on the flagship AD102 gaming GPU, and initially deployed as part of China’s AI infrastructure push, are now being pulled from racks, refurbished, and sold on the open market.

Data center operators are reportedly finding that this offers a faster and more profitable return than waiting three to five years to recover their investment through GPU rental.

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Each RTX 4090D sells for between CNY20,000 and CNY40,000 (around US$2,735 to US$5,470), and even if lightly used, the cards require modification for consumer resale.

Typically this means converting them from fan-style to blower-style coolers, which are better suited to dense server environments but less effective for single-GPU use.

DigiTimes Asia says this move reflects deeper financial pressure, with many AI data centers struggling to keep their heads above water amid low demand.

According to the report, data centers need utilization rates of at least 70% to break even - but current rates are often below 20%. That leaves expensive infrastructure sitting idle while loan repayments loom.

This isn’t an isolated case. As we reported recently, China’s rapid AI infrastructure expansion - encouraged by state policy - has led to overbuilding.

Hundreds of data center projects were launched across the country in 2023 and 2024, but actual usage has lagged behind expectations. It's no surprise therefore that developers are now offloading hardware to reduce losses.

Although overcapacity is likely at least part of the reason behind the selloff, some operators may simply be clearing space for newer technology.

With interest moving from large-scale model training to real-time inference, older training-focused systems may no longer be as relevant as they once were.

Combined with the latest US export restrictions, which affect chips like Nvidia’s H20, Chinese data centers will be looking at offloading old hardware and shifting to inference-ready setups.

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