- A portion of this video is sponsored by Surfshark.
Earlier this year, I started a series called,
"When Phones Were Fun", to kind of celebrate
the lost era of experimental design in mobile tech.
Well, unbeknownst to me, LG was also waxing nostalgic
about some of it's own phones of fun times past
including one that enjoyed a blink and you'll miss it
cameo in the opening scene of "Ironman".
Since then, years have gotten longer
and phone names have gotten shorter.
I'm Michael Fisher, the year is 2020,
and the phone is the LG Wing.
(electronic music)
I spent part of my week with the Wing
on a hundred mile adventure
from Greenpoint to Greenport, New York.
Mostly, so I could test it's gimbal camera
in the swivel mode for which it was built.
Starting a relaxing Sunday off right
with the Zipcar with no coolant, no fuel,
fuel card that doesn't work, kinda smells like weed.
Good time!
But before we hit the road, let's hit the basics.
Under the hood, the Wing is essentially an LG Velvet
same processor, same storage, similar battery capacity,
and same size display,
but where the Velvet needed an accessory
to reach it's dual display potential
the Wing's second screen is just a swipe away.
The slider deploys with reassuring consistency
and when you stow that screen,
it locks into place with a slick clack
that never fails to remind me of the T-Mobile Sidekick.
(clack)
It's very well built and while its IP54 rating
doesn't give it the water resistance as other phones,
it is rated to survive splashes from any direction
which is at least a leg up over its weird phone cousins
in the foldable category.
My only complaints about the hardware
are the use of a mirror finish on the glass back
which is much too easy to smudge.
Love how the IMEI sticker didn't come off cleanly
so now I gotta Windex the back of the phone
and hope it doesn't smudge forever.
Am I scratching this?
I hate mirror finishes!
And it's cumbersome size.
I use my Twelve South PowerPic Wireless Charger
as a measure for whether a phone is too tall or not
and yeah this scores 11 out of 10 Commander Rikers.
Audiophiles will be disappointed to hear
about the removal of the headphone jack
and Quad DAC that LG typically includes in its flagships
but this isn't really a flagship.
It's an experiment.
One which asks the same questions LG started asking
a couple years ago,
How can a second screen make a smartphone better?
And for some use cases, the company's earlier offerings
make more sense.
For example, side by side displays are better
for consulting one document while annotating another.
The Wing excels when you wanna consume content
while dabbling in another app.
You know, stick CBS up top and Twitter down below
so you can doomscroll while you disco.
Or keep an eye on your Uber while you Telegram.
Music while you map.
Message while you meet.
I don't need to keep going, you get it.
LG's software definitely still has its trip-ups
which I'll talk about in a moment
but the concept makes sense.
When its in basic mode it's your typical Android smartphone
from feeds to phone calls
but when you deploy the wing you get a custom launcher
with a carousel of apps optimized for wide screen.
Tap on a text field up top
and the keyboard pops up down below
or check this out, toggle the track pad
and you get an honest to goodness mouse
complete with pointer and two finger scrolling.
It's not really useful in apps
but on websites that haven't been optimized for touch
its just brilliant.
Of course, it's in the crazy gimbaled camera mode
that the Wing truly soars, but that same camera
is also in some ways a gilded cage.
Join dual Davids and me for wine tasting with the Wing
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(electronic music)
(clink)
Oh ho, cheers.
(electronic music)
(camera shutter clicks)
(electronic music)
I shoot a lot of footage on smartphones
and let me tell ya, filming on the Wing
is more fun than on any other.
LG obviously took its cues from the controls
on gimbal type smartphone stabilizers
so if you've used something like a DJI Osmo
you'll know how this works.
It quickly becomes second nature
to execute a pan or tilt
by driving the view with the joystick.
As you can see here, it's quite a bit smoother
than trying the same shot just by physically
moving the phone and it's more comfortable as well.
There's a pan follow mode that limits vertical movement
so you can try a slow side to side move.
There's a lock button to keep a subject centered
in the frame even if you're moving the camera around.
And there's also a voice bokeh mode
to eliminate background noise
when you're speaking directly to the camera.
While I am speaking directly to the camera,
let me tell you something I forgot to record
in the voiceover, if you use the gimbal mode a lot,
say, more than several times a day,
for extending filming periods,
you're gonna need charge the phone before the day is out.
In basic mode, it's an all day smartphone
like most of them are these days
but that gimbal mode sucks a lot of power
just be advised.
My go-to for most of our two day country excursion
was the FPV mode which just limits bounce in all axis
so you get nice, smooth coverage
that's perfect for casual vlogging.
Or it would be perfect if this hardware
was up to the challenge.
As you've probably noticed video from the swivel mode
is limited to full HD, which ain't the sharpest around.
Just contrast it with the 4k video
you can shoot in basic mode here.
See, this is the detailed, dare I say crispy,
video we've come to expect from a modern phone.
Not this half focused mediocrity
I have to settle for in exchange for the gimbal.
The reason is simple.
When the phone is in gimbal mode
its using the 12 megapixel (camera frame clicks)
ultrawide camera
instead of the 64 megapixel primary.
LG is doing this so it can offer the extensive
stabilization required for the gimbal effect to work
but the result is, you know, fuzzy footage.
That's compounded by poor nighttime performance
and a hobbled selfie shooter as well.
It's high resolution and it's cool that it hides away
in a little cubby hole when you don't need it
and I also love that you can record simultaneously
on front and back, but on a phone like this,
you have to put an ultrawide lens
on your front facing camera
because those are the only selfie shooters
worth anything to the kind of vloggers
who the gimbal mode is expressly targeting.
These design decisions are confusing
this is an interesting device
but it is a confusing device.
- Yeah, but you also get to see emo David.
- Yeah, that is-
(laughs)
Now, those compromises get a lot easier
to understand when you remember
that the Wing is an experiment.
LG knows it not gonna move millions of these.
The whole purpose of the company's Explorer program
is to test the waters to see
what flavor of weirdness sticks.
So for $999 (cash register chime)
this is whatcha get.
The question to my mind is, would you pay more
for the same phone with proper hardware
that could support things like 4k
and universal wide angle?
For me, the answer is only if LG fixes problems
that have been around for way too long.
Its color processing on the camera
is still too saturated.
- Whoa.
- [Micheal] Haha, potent.
Low light performance, as I mentioned, is still mediocre.
And beyond the camera, the software is sluggish.
Touch response isn't the best.
The Verizon version has a shameful amount of bloatware
and the keyboard is just awful
and yet despite all that this is my favorite
LG phone since I started this channel four years ago.
For years, I've memorialized not just the bolder days
of the industry in general
but specifically LG's experimentation
with alternative form factors and bleeding edge materials.
I liked the dual screen case, but it was a half measure.
The Wing is a product purpose built to push the boundaries
and it succeeds far more often than I'd have expected.
For the money, most folks will be better served
buying something more conventional
but products like the Wing prove that phones
are indeed fun again.
And I couldn't be happier.
Speaking of fun, the LG Wing makes a pretty great
ping pong paddle as well.
Credit to David Cogen at theunlockr
for the ridiculous idea.
His real world test video featuring this game
and much more footage from our adventure
in the countryside is linked in the description.
As always, LG provided no compensation for this coverage,
nor was it offered copy approval
or an early preview of this video.
They're seeing it for the first time
right alongside you.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
and remember when you're near other people
stay safe and mask up
while you stay mobile, my friends.
(electronic music)