Posted by The world of foldables is moving rapidly and today we will be taking a look at a new take on a foldable phone in the form of the LG Wing.
To date most foldables have opened in a side by side screen expands the main surface area of the device turning it into a mini tablet. The Galaxy Fold, Galaxy Z Fold 2, and Huawei Mate X are good examples of this. We then have a class of foldables that essentially add an extra screen for multitasking and to some lesser or greater extent Apps can be spread across them. The ZTE Axon M, LG V50 / V7 / G8x ThinQ, Surface Duo are good examples of this type of category of device.
More recently foldables have moved to flip phones in which the main screen folds in two. The Samsung Galaxy Flip and the Motorola Razr 2020 fit into this category. The LG Wing however takes a totally different tack with the second screen rotating 90 degrees to provide a ‘T’ type shape. This is achieved from the use of a clever hinge which is secured by two springs whilst having a double locking mechanism. There is a little movement in the second screen when engaged in this mode which is to be expected, but the flipping motion feels very solid and LG have rated the MTBF as supporting up to 200,000 uses.
The core specifications of the LG Wing are:
- Two device color options: Aurora Gray and Illusion Sky
- Android 10 LG UX 9
- Snapdragon 765G chipset / Adreno 620 GPU
- 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage + Micro SD Card slot
- Hybrid dual-sim if Micro SD not used
- 4,000mAh battery
- 5G connectivity (mmWave and Sub-6)
- Primary display is a 6.8″ OLED (2,460 x 1,080 resolution; 20.5:9 screen ratio; 60Hz refresh rate)
- Secondary display is a 3.9″ OLED (1,240 x 1,080 resolution; 1.15:1 screen ratio; 60Hz refresh rate)
- Wi-Fi Direct
- VOLTE support (depending on country / model – EU model worked on VOLTE in UK. Korean version did not)
- NFC
- Bluetooth 5.1
- IP54 certified. The 5 refers how much the Wing is soil protected. It is usually rated from 0–6. Zero means not dust proof and 6 means fully dust protected. The second number (4) is meant to show much the Wing is water protected. It is usually rated 0–9. Zero means not water proof and 9 means fully water proof.
- LG 3D Sound engine
- No 3.5 mm headphone jack so its WiFI or USB-C headphones
- USB Type-C™ port; wireless charging; Qualcomm Quick Charge™ 4.0+
- Wacom ink-active stylus support (stylus not provided)
The phone is also fairly light for a foldable (coming in at 260 grams) particularly when compared to something like the Galaxy Z Fold 2 (279 grams) or the Huawei Mate X (295 grams). It is a little heavier than a normal phone but manageable.
The main camera setup of the Wing is very novel in its approach. It features:
- 64MP main camera,
- 13MP ultra-wide shooter
- 12MP Ultra Wide camera
There is also a unique Gimbal Motion Camera feature which enables a user to use the smaller second screen as a grip with the Gimbal feature enabling the camera focus and view to be moved by moving the virtual joystick. The selfie camera, when used, activates a motor controlled 32MP popup camera which promptly hides when selfie mode is de-activated. Suffice to say the camera features of the phone are very slick and offer something a little unique to other devices.
Apps an be opened on either screen and the phone settings has a specific section for setting second screen option including what Apps can be accessed. Not all Apps are accessible by default but once switched on I did not find any that did not work and App like WhatsApp, Slack, Gmail etc work really well. App Pairs can be setup so that when clicked one App will launch on the larger screen and another App will launch on the smaller screen so you could pair up, for example, YouTube on the larger screen and a web browser on the smaller screen, or GMail on the larger screen and Slack on the smaller screen. From a productivity viewpoint it actually works well even if the implementation is different to other dual screen devices such as the Surface Duo.
There does not yet seem to be Apps optimized for the LG Wing yet on the Android App Store but it is possible to use at least one of the other Apps that works on other LG Dual Screen devices (LG V50 ThinQ, LG V60 ThinQ, LG G8x). G8X Browser helper installs and works on the LG Wing of a fashion. If you set it not to open on the smaller screen (the default install) and share to it from any links on the smaller screen they will instantly open in the browser on the larger screen.
The Wing also supports an active stylus although it does not ship with one. Users on Reddit have suggested this Wacom ink-active stylus works well.
There have been regular updates from LG and the three finger swipe common on their other LG devices has now been included in an update and can be used to fling apps from one screen to another.
Many of the questions for devices like this are often ‘how can I protect it’. Well actually the device is fairly well supported. Screen Protectors for both screens are easy to source on Amazon and I also investigated the Spigen Thin Fit case. It was very light and added good protection to the phone. Obviously if the phone was dropped when in its flipped screen mode then all bets are off !
In summary I think this is a very cool device, certainly worthy of the term ‘MadBadGadget’ like no other device I have reviewed. One would think that it perhaps is only for younger users who may be watching YouTube, NetFlix etc whilst chatting to their friends though SnapChat or WhatsApp on the second screen but it actually has some genuine business productivity value. The bottom line, you are highly unlikely to be disappointed with this device if you purchase it and you can count on being stopped and asked what it is every time you go to use it in public !
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