Swiveling LG Wing 5G takes dual-screen phones in a new direction

LG finally took the wraps off its new smartphone and it’s certainly … different.

The LG Wing 5G comes with two displays: a main display on top that swivels to reveal a second screen underneath.

If you’re wondering why LG decided to suddenly experiment, it’s all part of the company’s new Explorer Project, which it announced earlier this month.

This isn’t the first phone LG got experimental with this year. This summer, the company launched the minimalist LG Velvet. Still, it’s safe to say the LG Wing’s “T-shaped” dual screens push the boundaries further in both design and features.

SEE ALSO: LG’s rotating phone is officially named the LG Wing

While pricing and availability will vary depending on the carrier, LG says you can expect the phone to set you back around $1,000. However, you won’t be able to purchase it unlocked — the LG Wing 5G will first be available from Verizon with T-Mobile and AT&T to follow.

So, what exactly can you expect from the LG Wing 5G? Let’s get into all that it has to offer.

Blast from the past, sort of

If the look of the LG Wing makes you feel a bit nostalgic at a glance, that’s likely because you’re having flashbacks to the LG VX9400. And in case you’re wondering, yes, LG did use this as inspiration for its latest device. But this time, you’re not swiveling the phone to access the keypad.

When you're using just the front display, it's called Basic Mode. — When you’re using just the front display, it’s called Basic Mode.

When you're using both displays at once, you're in Swivel Mode. — When you’re using both displays at once, you’re in Swivel Mode.

The LG Wing’s main screen is a 6.8-inch FHD+ P-OLED edge-to-edge display (2,460 x 1,080 resolution) with a 20.5:9 aspect ratio. You can use the top display as you would any other standard touchscreen smartphone, which LG refers to as “Basic Mode.”

When you swivel it open, the front display rotates 90-degrees clockwise to reveal second 3.9-inch OLED display (1,240 x 1,080 resolution) underneath. That way, you can run two apps on your phone simultaneously.

Referred to as “Swivel Mode,” you can have Google Calendar running on the top display while also watching Netflix or scrolling through social media on the bottom. Or, if you’re out and about, you can have Google Maps running on one display and take a phone call on the other.

Or, you can also expand one app across both displays. For example, if you’re editing a photo or video, you can have the gallery up on the top (larger) display while you edit content on the second screen.

This push for multitasking ha

Hot on the heels of the layoffs that have swept through Xbox, the founder of Microsoft-owned Arkane Studios has hit out at Game Pass, whose subscription model he called “unsustainable.”

Raphael Colantonio, who founded the Dishonored and Prey developer and served as its president before leaving in 2017 to start Weird West maker WolfEye Studios, took to social media to ask: “Why is no-one talking about the elephant in the room? Cough cough (Gamepass).”

When asked to expand on his thoughts on Game Pass, which Weird West launched straight into as a day one title in March 2022, Colantonio said: “I think Gamepass is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidized by MS’s ‘infinite money,’ but at some point reality has to hit. I don’t think GP can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else, or give up.”

Colantonio’s comment sparked a vociferous debate about the pros and cons of Game Pass in industry terms as well as for the customer. Microsoft’s subscription service has been called many things over the years: the death of the video game industry; the savior of smaller developers who benefit greatly from payments made by Microsoft to secure their games; and everything in between. During the great Xbox FTC trial to decide the fate of Microsoft’s $69 billion aquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan claimed that he had talked to “all the publishers” and that, unanimously, they all hated Game Pass “because it is value destructive.” He also said Microsoft “appears to be losing a lot of money on it.”

Back in 2021, Xbox boss Phil Spencer countered Game Pass doomsayers, saying: “I know there’s a lot of people that like to write [that] we’re burning cash right now for some future pot of gold at the end. No. Game Pass is very, very sustainable right now as it sits. And it continues to grow.”

That was four years ago. What about now, in the wake of cuts that have seen Rare’s Everwild, the Perfect Dark reboot, and an unannounced MMO in the works at developer behind The Elder Scrolls Online all canceled?

Colantonio’s comments were backed by a number of industry peers, including the former VP of biz dev at Epic Games. Michael Douse, publishing director at Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian, said that the biggest concern right now revolves around what happens when all that money runs out. This, Douse added, is “one of the main economic reasons people I know haven’t shifted to its business model. The infinite money thing never made any sense.”

(It’s worth noting that Baldur’s Gate 3 has so far not launched in Game Pass or PlayStation Plus.)

Colantonio then ridiculed Microsoft’s insistence that launching games into Game Pass did not impact sales, only to later admit the contrary.

Douse responded to to say he prefers the Sony way of doing things. Sony’s PlayStation Plus policy is to keep first-party games off the subscription service at launch, only adding them some time later. That’s why you won’t see this year’s Sony’s Ghost of Yotei launch straight into PS Plus, but you will see Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as a day one Game Pass launch.

“The economics never made sense, but at the same

Swiveling LG Wing 5G takes dual-screen phones in a new direction

Blast from the past, sort of

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