LG announces Wing, its weirdest (and most ambitious) smartphone to date

We’ve been keeping an eye on LG’s true dual-screen smartphone, called Wing, for some time now. A few brief looks are all we had before LG presented the device to the world, officially, and we’re happy to say that the handset doesn’t look anything like what we were expecting. For starters, this incredibly oddball phone… might just work.

Let’s Wing it

Wing is a well-engineered (on video, at least — we are dying to test that swivelling hinge for ourselves) dual-screen smartphone that combines a 6.8in P-OLED panel with a secondary 3.9in P-OLED screen. The secondary is designed to let users combine media consumption (think Netflix) on the top, horizontal screen with messaging on the bottom, vertical display.

That’s not its only use but it is the selling point. Video controls, messages and notifications will work on the bottom screen while your newest binge-watch plays uninterrupted up top. But of course, there are other ways to take advantage of the only smartphone to T-pose to assert its dominance.

DJI who?

LG also claims to have come up with some interesting camera tech that takes advantage of the strange shape. Long story short, the handset is able to act like a six-axis gimbal, giving you steadier video without needing to stick the phone into a difficult-to-balance contraption. There are pan and tilt controls, as well as the ability to lock on a specific target, on the bottom screen. It’s a little less ergonomic than a DJI Osmo Mobile but you don’t need to buy yourself one of those if you own a Wing… so there’s that.

And LG’s gone wild with the cameras as well. The front-facing camera doesn’t really face anywhere — it’s a 32MP pop-up sensor, which retracts if you drop the phone. Don’t drop the phone, though, okay? Around back is a triple-sensor arrangement, with a 64MP f/1.7 wide, 13MP f/1.9 ultrawide and a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide that works with the gimbal. If you’re looking for something different in the camera department, you can stop looking.

Inner strength

LG’s stocked the Wing with a Snapdragon 765G — which isn’t Qualcomm’s top-end chip but it does confer 5Gm capabilities on the phone. There’s 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage — which is handy because you’re supposed to be filming a lot of video with this one. You can also stock up on microSD space, up to 2TB if you feel like overcompensating. There’s a 4,000mAh battery running the whole thing. That’s perhaps our major concern with this phone, actually: how the battery holds up to the Wing being used as intended.

LG’s done its level best to make us think there’s a sane idea behind Wing’s form factor, and we’re almost convinced. Almost. What comes next is actually using the phone, so we can tell the marketing from reality. When that happens is a little uncertain — pricing and availability worldwide is a mystery at this point, which is a pity. We’re looking forward to getting our hands on this one.