The LG Wing is an experimental design for a future generation of cellphones. It’s clear that LG is onto something here, but the product still has some ways to go before it can win over more than the early adopter set.
To put it another way, we can’t wait for LG to release the Wing 2! The smartphone industry has stagnated. Black glass slates cover the entire wall within the store. They are essentially identical in appearance.
It makes you question whether smartphone manufacturers are still making an effort. The LG Wing is the company’s first attempt at its Explorer Project, an initiative to explore alternative smartphone designs and functionality. The dual-screen swivel phone is unlike any other smartphone on the market today.
It enables previously inconceivable applications, equips filmmakers with a potent new tool, and may finally provide mobile gamers with the form factor they’ve always wanted.
Of course, there is more to a phone’s success than just a cool new feature and a few good use cases. Whether or not the Wing can make those prospective skills operate effectively enough to have buyers fall in love with it is the huge issue hovering over it.
LG Wing Design
The LG Wing, once removed from its packaging, looks like any other smartphone from the year 2020. The device is thicker and heavier than average, but otherwise it has the standard features: a glossy glass back with a big multi-lens camera bulge, a USB-C connector, no headphone jack, and a tall glass front with rounded edges are just some of the features.
There is nothing unusual about this phone, not even when you first turn it on. Realizing what you’re holding requires pushing the display out from the bottom right, revealing the mini-display underneath. As soon as you expand the screen past its normal viewing angle, you leave “Basic Mode” and enter “Swivel Mode.”
The LG Wing’s design is particularly impressive because of how well it accommodates either mode. Using the phone in Basic Mode was similar to using other large phones this year, such the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, if you can get past the bulk and heft. The back camera assembly is very reminiscent of the Note 20 Ultra’s.
LG Wing Display
If you’re considering the LG Wing, the novelty of its dual display may be more appealing to you than the displays’ technical specifications. Unfortunately, the Wing’s two screens are permanently limited to 1080p resolution.
Both of them can only refresh at 60 frames per second. A 60Hz screen on a phone of this price is a huge misstep, especially given that the majority of recent flagships have 90Hz or even 144Hz panels.
LG could have upgraded the main panel to at least 90Hz while leaving the secondary panel at 60Hz, but whatever. Yet, the pixel densities of both OLED panels are extremely high. There is abundance of light, with vivid colors and dark blacks, in both panels.
Display quality can be adjusted in the customary ways thanks to LG UX’s myriad display mode options and granular control over aspects like color temperature, saturation, and more.
LG Wing Specifications and Software
The primary screen is a large 6.8-inch 20.5:9 OLED with full-HD+ quality, and the secondary screen is a smaller 3.9-inch LCD. The LG Wing has 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5G-capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G chipset.
With the hybrid dual-SIM slot, you can add up to 2TB of extra storage, but you’ll have to sacrifice a second SIM if you do so. The LG Wing has dual-band WiFi ac and Bluetooth 5.1 for connecting to other devices.
The 4000 mAh battery and Quick Charge 4.0+ compatibility are nice features, but the slow 16.2W charger included with the phone prevents you from making full use of them.
LG Wing Performance and Battery Life
During my time with the LG Wing, I experienced zero issues. The in-screen fingerprint reader is lightning fast and can usually unlock the phone with a single scan. I had no trouble utilizing two apps at once, and they both opened quickly.
The LG Wing’s primary display is great for watching videos, but I wish it had louder speakers. On the LG Wing, I did the standard battery of tests we use. It scored 8,131 on PCMark Work 2.0 and 321,311 on AnTuTu.
It scored 603 on Geekbench 5’s single-core test and 1,795 on Geekbench 5’s multi-core test. The LG Wing was able to achieve 60 frames per second in the T-Rex scene and 17 frames per second in the Car Chase scene of the GFXBench graphics benchmark.
If you’re searching for a strong smartphone at this price point, the OnePlus 8 Pro packs in more performance, despite the fact that its scores are lower than those of the base edition we tested.
LG Wing Cameras
LG has equipped the Wing with not two but three cameras. The default resolution for the 64 main camera is 16 megapixels. In addition, there is a 12-megapixel ultra-wide gimbal motion camera with an f/2.2 aperture, 120-degree field of view, and 1.4-micron pixel size, and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera with an f/1.9 aperture, 117-degree field of view, and 1-micron pixel size.
Strangely, when the LG Wing is in its folded form, only two of these cameras can be activated. T-mode utilizes the 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle gimbal motion camera. LG has also created two user experiences for their camera app. The standard options and shooting modes are accessible when the camera app is launched while the device is folded.
Conclusion
The LG Wing is a revolutionary smartphone with a crazy rotating design that stands out even among the most out-there gadgets of the year 2020. It’s also the debut device from LG’s Explorer Project line, which explores novel approaches to smartphone design and function.
The LG Wing has a sleek design, but it comes at a hefty price of $999, making it more expensive than the brand new iPhone 12 Pro or Galaxy S20 and many other excellent smartphones.
When compared to other phones with comparable specifications, such as the Motorola One 5G, the Pixel 4A and Pixel 5, and LG’s own Velvet from this year, the Wing’s high price tag is understandable.
