The concept is simple. The Wing is a creative expansion of LG’s continued push for dual screens. The core tenet is that two screens are better than one and by now we tend to agree. Is the LG Wing 5G a good marker for what future mobile computing could be? Let’s talk.
Quite a head turner!
On the face of it, LG Wing 5G looks similar to any modern Android flagship. What differentiates it is the fact that its gorgeous 6.8-inch POLED primary screen can be flicked away in landscape orientation, revealing a secondary 3.9-inch OLED screen underneath. This swivel mechanism is impeccably well balanced and clean. A double lock structure with dual sprint and hydraulic-damper ensures stable and uniform motion. The display glides smoothly and locks with a gratifying ‘snick’. The mechanical hinge is quite sturdy and has been tested for 200,000 rotations. The screen can be comfortably flicked using a single hand, and at the same time, the hinge is firm enough to avoid accidental motion when the phone lies in your pocket.
But, what difference does the swivel screen make?
We will get to how the extra half screen makes a difference and what all you may use it for, but before that let’s detail why the swivel screen implementation makes sense over Foldables or the other dual-screen cover implementation that we saw on LG Velvet. Firstly, with a simple swivel you get to push away all interruptions like media playback controls, popping notifications, incoming calls, etc. to the secondary mini screen and enjoy an uninterrupted, comfortable viewing experience on the primary screen – which isn’t something a foldable or even a dual-screen arrangement can as seamlessly deliver. In fact, LG goes all the way and eliminates the notch interruption using a pop-up front camera just so as to make the screen more immersive. Secondly, you get to enjoy the landscape orientation without giving up the firm and convenient one-hand portrait grip, thus significantly enhancing one-hand usage. LG beautifully leverages this advantage in the Gimbal camera mode. Yes, the Wing can swiftly transition into a gimbal for recording action footage, where it detects motion across 3 axes and delivers incredible software stabilization. The bottom screen lends a natural grip with the gimbal joystick and other controls, while the primary screen acts as the horizontal viewfinder. This is incredibly useful for action photography! Thirdly, LG Wing makes it a lot more convenient to carry around two screens and users get to quickly switch between single screen and dual-screen modes when needed. That’s important because despite the dual-screen advantages you will keep running into tasks like making mobile payments at dairy booths or docking the phone in a car stand, where a regular single-screen phone would make more sense. LG has managed to restrict the weight to just 262 grams and thickness to just 10.9 mm, which is quite impressive considering that there are two displays on board. This also makes LG wing slimmer and handier than popular Foldables that provide a similar advantage of carrying larger display real estate in a compact form factor but are a lot more expensive.
What you can do with two screens?
LG has baked in several interesting applications for the dual-screen on wings. Its proprietary apps like the gallery and camera can leverage the extra screen in meaningful ways. We have already talked about the gimbal camera mode where users can also record footage from both the rear and front camera simultaneously. The bottom screen also makes it simpler to edit recorded videos. You can keep the primary task on the main screen and leave the secondary screen to deal with all the unexpected interruptions, calls, for controls, or other multitasking needs. For instance, for the YouTube app, all controls show up on the bottom screen leaving the primary screen just for uninterrupted content streaming. Or while navigating on the primary screen, you can use the secondary screen to attend calls or for messages. These specialized features aside, it’s always helpful to have a secondary screen. Be it for making a quick google search while watching an informative video, for fact checking right before you post an impulsive tweet, for comparing products across two e-commerce stores, for sharing an unsaved contact from call log to a WhatsApp contact …. we could really go on and on. The point is that having two separate screens is so much more effective when it comes to multitasking on phones as compared to a single screen or even a big foldable screen. Once you break the one screen conditioning and get in the groove, there is just no going back. There is also the option to create app pair shortcuts so you can quickly launch two apps you frequently use together.
A premium high-end experience!
Keeping the cool swivel mechanism aside, you are getting a lot of high-end smartphone experience here. There are three cameras on the rear including the main 64MP f/1.8 camera, 13MP f/1.9 ultra-wide shooter, and a second 12MP 120-degree FoV f/2.2 ultra-wide camera used for the videos in the swivel mode and for gimbal camera. There is also a 32MP front selfie camera that captures astonishing details. The Wing is steered by the very dependable Snapdragon 765G octa-core chipset paired with ample 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage (expandable by another 2TB). The performance hardware is fully capable of handling two screen multi-tasking as well as demanding workloads like gaming. The phone has a fast and reliable in-display fingerprint unlock, a 4000mAh battery that delivers a convenient one-day mileage, a USB Type-C port for fast charging and data transfer and is Mil-STD-810G certified for toughness. LG Wing 5G is a phone that’s sure to turn heads, but the idea here is to not make a fancy show or to just pass on incremental specs, but to innovate for a refreshing, unique experience that adds value and makes using the phone more exciting for end-users. The bottom line is that LG has managed to get the foundation right in a new device experience. LG Wing 5G indeed works and feels like a refreshing change of pace in a sea of trite Android devices. It’s a thoroughly premium phone with powerful hardware, capable cameras, one that offers unmatched dual-screen convenience. If you are looking for a phone that truly stands out, this is a phone that’s surely worth considering.
Δ
