LG Wing: The Most Innovative Implementation of Dual-Screens Yet

So, LG has officially announced its swively phone: the LG wing. It’s very unique, to say the least. It has two screens, a larger one and a smaller one. But the implementation of these screens is very different from any other dual-screen phone on the market. The screens here are stacked on top of each other and the larger screen is on top. So, how do you get to the second screen? Well, it should be pretty obvious by now that you have to swivel away the first screen to use the second. You can use both screens at the same time and it looks like a T-shape. Now, let’s get into the specs and use cases for this phone. We don’t have a price on it yet but we can discuss the specs and features without the price. Do keep in mind that I cannot make a recommendation on it yet. With all that out of the way, let’s get into it. 

LG Wing: The Swively Phone

First things first, it’s a 5G phone, so that’s a good thing. The processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G. It comes in two versions, one with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage and the other with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. It also comes with Android 10, not the newly launched Android 11 but it should be upgradable to Android 11. In the performance department, the phone is very capable. The Snapdragon 765G is a very capable processor and 8GB of RAM is also very, very nice.

In the camera department too it performs very well. It has a 64MP main camera, a 12MP f2.2 aperture ultra-wide camera, and another 13MP f1.9 aperture ultra-wide camera. It also supports 4K video recording. For the selfie camera, it has a 32MP pop-up camera, and it also has a motion stabilizer built into the camera system. The camera quality is very good and it can take quality low light photos too. Now, it’s not as good as the Google Pixel or the iPhone but it’s capable of nice photography. The camera is also supported by the two screens and software features added due to them but we will get to them later. 

It has a 4000 mAh battery with 25W fast charge and also wireless charging support. It doesn’t have the headphone jack but LG includes the adapter in the box. So, if you’re one of those people who want a headphone jack on their phone, you might want to consider this. It also has an in-display optical fingerprint scanner.

Credit: LG

Right then, let’s talk about the dual displays now. The larger top display is a 6.8 inches 1080p OLED panel. Whereas the smaller is a 3.9 inches 1080p panel. How can the two displays be used? Well, there are a lot of ways these screens can be used to make yourself more efficient. For instance, when you want to type you can use one screen to see and the other to type. This can be especially useful in case you are writing a long email or something. You can use the larger display as a keyboard or vice-versa.

If you’re a gamer, you can game on the larger screen and use the smaller screen to see a walkthrough of the game. Some developers have already started implementing the second screen in their game. Take the example of Asphalt 9: Legends, wherein the developers used the second screen to display the in-game map while you race.

For a camera person too, LG has made specific hardware changes so that the two screens are useful. For example, the camera controls are moved to the smaller display so that there is no interference on the larger screen. You can also use this extra space for vlogging. There is a separate mode for this as the selfie camera will pop up and you can now see both the cameras on the larger display with the controls still on the smaller display. This will give you more screen real-estate which is especially good for vlogging.

This will also be especially useful while driving. You can open navigation on one display and on the second, you can attend a call without disrupting the navigation screen. You can even open a music app on your phone with navigation which is quite nice. While watching media, you can have the controls on the smaller display which is quite useful or you can open some other app to use with the media app. You can also open a browser window on the larger screen and open the calculator app or Gmail or something else on the smaller screen. The possibilities are endless and it will be nice to see what people do when they get this phone in their hands.

Now, just the hardware of dual screens would not have been enough without good software implementation. And on the software front too LG has done a brilliant job. LG has made custom home screen software for the ‘wing mode’ and the implementation has been just perfect. With good developer support, we are already seeing the second screen in innovative ways. LG has also made the modes in such a way that when you change the orientation of the phone, the modes automatically change seamlessly. In my opinion, LG has done an impressive job and they should get the credit for it. It’s a revolutionary idea and I think it’s better than any other dual-screen implementation that we have seen before. That's all from my side. If you liked it, please share it with others too and follow me to get more articles like this.