Review - Revisiting the LG Wing, 4 months on - Android

Rounding off the Wing's spec sheets are some notable, nice-to-have extras that still aren't guaranteed in every high-end Android. While it only makes the Wing splash resistant, not fully water-resistant, the phone comes with an IP54 rating and MIL-STD 810G compliance, along with microSD expandability and Qi wireless charging. The only smartphone nerd port you're missing, really, is the 3.5mm headphone jack.

The built-in 4,000mAh battery may seem on the low side for a phone with a 6.8-inch display — to say nothing of the Wing's secondary panel and 5G connectivity. That said, the 60Hz display sips power, and as such, I never had trouble getting through a full day on a single charge. That held true even on busier days when I was out and about shooting photos and using 5G data.

This won't be a two-day phone for most people, especially if you're making liberal use of that secondary display with lots of media consumption. However, battery anxiety never managed to cut into my enjoyment of the Wing.

LG Wing Software and Swivel Display

Let's face it, LG isn't exactly known for stellar Android software. The most recent iteration of the LG UI skin, based on Android 10, is basically a riff on Samsung's One UI. It's mostly inoffensive, though lacking some of the visual polish of the Samsung Galaxy UI that it's clearly imitating.

Plus there's LG's less than fantastic track record for Android platform update that casts doubt on the timeliness of any Android 11 update. (To its credit, though, LG has pushed out security patches to our review device on a fairly regular basis.)

For the most part, if you've seen the software of the LG Velvet or V60 ThinQ, you'll be right at home on the LG Wing. Not a whole lot has changed.

The most interesting part of the Wing's software experience is the new experiences it enables for the dual-screen pairing. Some of these are inherited from LG's Dual Screen accessories, like the ability to save shortcuts of pairs of apps on either panel. Others are new, like the new Rolodex home screen setup that pops up when the Wing is fully deployed.

The Wing can multitask like no other phone.

Fully opened out, the Wing's unique form factor allows you to run up to two full-screen apps on the main display, and one on the secondary display. That could mean a miniature Instagram feed down below and a full-sized video up top. Or, rotate 90 degrees and you could have a small video playing on the second screen while you scroll through Twitter on the main panel. Or if you want to go completely wild, hold the phone upside down and use the full-sized keyboard to type into a document on the secondary panel.

Anytime you're viewing a video, the optional control panel can give you direct control of brightness and volume levels. When using other apps, a swipe-down gesture on the second screen loads up a tweaked quick settings menu, and from there it's possible to activate "grip lock," disabling the display and turning it into an oversized handle. Alternatively, you could try the LG Trackpad, which conjures up a mouse pointer on the primary display, controlled by a virtual trackpad on the second.

There are countless fun possibilities here, like having a Google Meet call going on the secondary panel while playing a game on the main screen. LG has even worked with app partners like Gameloft to bring extra functionality to Asphalt 9 when played on the Wing, like a map view while racing.

LG's software has plenty of first-generation gripes.

In that same upside-down configuration, LG's keyboard even allows you to swipe outwards for a more ergonomic, split keyboard arrangement. (That said, using the Wing in anything other than the "closed" or "T-shaped" configurations isn't the most comfortable experience.)

Which brings me to the root of my many bugbears with the Wing: You need to rely on LG's software. Gboard and other third-party keyboards won't work properly with the swivel screen: Instead of intelligently popping up on the secondary screen when it makes sense, you might get a squished keyboard taking up half of the main screen. So just stick with LG's keyboard, right? Well, its prediction and correction is noticeably inferior to Gboard, which is a problem when that's realistically the only keyboard you can use with this device.

The aforementioned Rolodex home screen when using the Wing in a T-shaped configuration also seems like a waste of space, letting you see fewer apps for no good reason. And, infuriatingly, apps need to be manually whitelisted to be able to show on the secondary display. If an app isn't whitelisted, it won't show up on the second screen's app drawer, and you'll need to dig deep into the settings and do a lot of scrolling to manually tag it.

A bigger problem is that Android's default task-switching system just isn't suited to this form factor. App switching when the Wing is opened out is frustrating and unreliable with gesture navigation. Thankfully, a recent update has made juggling apps between the two displays a little easier — similar to LG's Dual Screen accessory, you can transfer apps between the two panels with a three-fingered swipe.

Even a few months on, the software of the LG Wing feels like a very first-generation user experience. Much of the innovation of the Wing is undermined by the reality of using Android — LG's Android — on this form factor.

LG Wing Cameras

The biggest upgrade the LG Wing can boast over the Velvet is its triple camera setup. Around the back, there's a 64-megapixel unit with OIS (optical image stabilization) behind an f/1.8 lens. That's flanked by two ultrawide cameras — a "regular" ultrawide for photography, and a gimbal-mode ultrawide for use with LG's new video features.

The main shooter goes toe-to-toe with some of the best Android cameras out there, with impressive dynamic range and color clarity, plus minimal noise even in darker conditions. LG's newly improved night mod helps out here too, allowing for computational long exposures. As is typical for many LG cameras, a decent amount of sharpening is applied to photos from the Wing's main camera, but unlike the Velvet, this doesn't result in artifacting or other unpleasant visual effects, even when digitally zooming beyond 2X. For everyday use, this is an excellent smartphone camera.

A competent main shooter, backed up by two ultrawide cameras.

The ultrawide shooter also holds up well next to the competition, with minimal distortion around the edges of the frame, and competent indoor and low-light performance. Once again, you'll notice some artificial sharpening in certain situations, but it's not a huge deal.

Likewise, the 32-megapixel popup camera performs adequately across the board, with moderate skin-smoothing effects and an almost 80-degree viewing angle that's just about wide enough to fit in a couple of extra people.

Gimbal mode seems like a missed opportunity.

Open out the LG Wing when the camera app is open, and you'll enter Gimbal mode. This isn't a mechanical gimbal-like Vivo's Apex 2020 handset, but an electronic gimbal built upon the second ultrawide camera. The idea is you can comfortably hold the camera in your hand and pan around using controls on the secondary display.

And for the most part, this works pretty well: With a reasonable amount of light, you'll get incredibly smooth video, with hand shake being completely obliterated by LG's software stabilization. But therein lies the problem: In less than ideal conditions, video shot in this mode quickly starts to become grainy. And even then, you're limited to either HD or Full HD resolution, so super-stabilized 4K footage is out of the question.

Like much of the LG Wing overall, the software gimbal mode seems like a good idea that hasn't yet matured into a complete thought. It's fun to play with, but far from a killer app.