LG Wing brings swivel to new level

LG Electronics on Monday unveiled a whole new form factor for its LG Wing smartphone, part of the company’s first Explore project for innovative user experiences.

Amid the pandemic, the South Korean tech titan held an online unpacking event for its second flagship model of 2020 through multiple social media channels to global audiences for about 30 minutes.

High-profile YouTuber Unbox Therapy presented the Wing, highlighting the new form factor and different user experiences during the show. Other YouTubers including Korean Englishman, Azzyland and Zach King shared their own experiences with the Wing.

As anticipated, the Wing comes with two screens.

In Swivel mode, the 6.8-inch main screen spins 90 degrees, giving the device a T shape. Then the second screen appears underneath.

The secret to the swiveling displays is the smallest hinge, proprietarily developed by LG.

The hinge has a hydraulic damper that makes the swivel soft without harming the displays.

LG used polyoxymethylene for the second screen to prevent scratches during swiveling. 

“The durability of the swivel technology has been tested thoroughly for more than 200,000 times,” a company official said.

The two screens are capable of running two different apps at the same time. For example, while users watch YouTube on the main screen, they can chat or make calls on the other.

Users can set up pairs of apps that they frequently use and start them with a single touch.

Even when the device is turned around freely, the two screens quickly and seamlessly change in accordance with the direction, enabling users to take advantage of the new form factor.

The Wing features the first notchless OLED screen, which provides the fullest screen experience among LG phones.

The main screen doesn’t have the hole cutout that exists in many rival products for the front-facing selfie camera.

When users want to take selfies, a small 32-megapixel camera module pops up from the top of the device.

The rear camera includes 64-megapixel wide angle, 13-megapixel ultrawide and 12-megapixel ultrawide lenses.

To maximize the advantage of the form factor, LG has adopted the gimbal camera feature for the first time on any mobile device.

With the main screen being swiveled, the gimbal camera enables users to capture moving objects while staying still by controlling the camera with a joystick-like button on the second screen. 

The LG Wing features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G 5G chipset, which is 10 percent faster than the Snapdragon 765 in processing.

The newest LG phone will be released worldwide next month, starting with the Korean market.

It is expected to retail for around 1 million won.

“The LG Wing marks the start of LG’s new challenge to explore new mobile experiences for users,” said Lee Yeon-mo, head of mobile communications at LG.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)