LG recently teased an upcoming smartphone that has a rotating screen design that hasn't been seen for over a decade. There have been significant leaks for this device, which has now been confirmed by the manufacturer to exist. LG's teaser didn't give much away, but suggested the rumors of a new 'Iron Man' phone were true.
When Tony Stark dove from an exploding Humvee, whipped out an LG VX-9400 and rotated the top of the screen ninety degrees to send a text, it was a dramatic moment. In 2008, that was something special, though the physical dialpad would not impress today's consumers. In the past, LG has been among the most experimental phone manufacturers. For example, its folding dual screen phones have many of the characteristics of Microsoft's Surface Duo, but at a much lower price. This new dual screen adds a twist that makes it even more interesting. More recent Iron Man movies depicted the tech super hero using much more futuristic transparent phones with holographic projection capability. It may take several years before reality catches up to the cinema's holo-phones, but a more advanced pivoting dual-screen smartphone will be released by LG soon.
LG's YouTube teaser video shows an all-screen design on both displays with absolutely no bezels and perfectly square corners. This has to be artistic license, but it is certainly eye-catching. The new phone is expected to be called the LG Wing, though LG Horizontal and LG Swing have also been mentioned in rumors. LG's video shows both screens playing a video of a surfer riding a wave and reveals a launch date of September 14. A time of 11:00 a.m. is given, but note that this is for South Korea. The video is continuous and adjusts with the rotation of the screen, keeping perfect alignment between the two displays. Again, this is just an animation that teases the new phone. The final product probably won't synchronize the display rotation in increments of less than a degree. It is more likely that each display panel will switch from portrait to landscape in a manner similar to other Android devices.
LG's Pivoting Design
There is something very interesting about how the rear display rotates. The axis of rotation is not at the center of the phone. A central axis would form the shape of a plus sign when the wing was opened. Instead, the point the rear screen swings on is higher and has to be offset to still allow the front and back panels to align. Also, note that a portion of the rear screen peeks out as it is being rotated only to be hidden again when it locks in the 90-degree cross position. There is a chance the rear display panel will not be a full-size panel, but roughly half the size of the front screen. This is something new and how well the pivoting design holds up remains to be seen.
LG Wing Specifications & Price
There's no certainty on the specs, but some reasonable assumptions can be made based on prior leaks. For example, a device thought to be the LG Wing has appeared on a Geekbench performance test. The scores were in the mid-range, with a single-core rating of 600 and multi-core score of 1800. More details revealed in the test indicated the new phone will contain the popular and 5G-ready Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC, along with 8-gigabytes of RAM. The recently released LTE Axon 20 has the same processor, as well as Google's upcoming Pixel 5. Unsubstantiated rumors suggest the main display may measure up to 6.8 inches, while the wing panel will add about 4 inches. If that doesn't seem like proper math, remember that screens are measured diagonally.
Leaked Videos Provide More Insight
Two leaked videos, revealed by Android Authority, show what appears to be LG promotional videos. These do not look like conceptual renders, but an actual product being held and operated. The leaked videos seem like a more reasonable design compared to the teaser that LG showed in its video. The front display does have bezels, although they're very narrow, similar to the LG Velvet. The rear panel shows a much larger bezel at one end and only black at the other end. Neither video demonstrates any rotation, so these may have been prototype units that didn't swivel at the time.
Both recordings take place in a moving vehicle and one of the videos shows the LG Wing mounted in a dash clamp, with the primary screen displaying directions and the wing showing music playback controls. A call comes in and replaces the music controls on the wing panel, a seamless transition. The other video demonstrates a game being played by the passenger. The game has been customized to display a map on the rear panel while the main screen shows the primary action taking place. These are good use cases, although it remains to be seen if this will be representative of the experience for all apps or only a select few.
Weight & Thickness Concerns
If the phone is truly large enough to sport a 6.8-inch screen, it will be among the largest phones on the market. That sounds nice, but having a second panel on the back could mean a thicker and heavier phone than what most people are currently accustomed to. Since the rear portion seems to have a small square display instead of full-size, the weight may be less than 50-percent more than a standard phone. A display only panel could be thinner than a second phone since battery requirements would be lessened.
Android & App Considerations
How the two screens work together in the Android operating system and how many apps and games will support the unusual dual-screen configuration is not known. Google worked with Microsoft to make the Surface Duo integration a thing of beauty. One would hope that similar smoothness and intuitive usage could be expected when using the LG Wing. However, the combination of one large and one small display may pose problems and require special consideration for best use.
Overall, the leaks and rumors so far suggest the LG Wing could turn out to be a marvelous phone. However, there are some concerns as to whether the design is going to be sufficient enough for the device to be used as a daily driver by consumers, or whether this is just another attempt by LG to flex its design and concept muscles. Of course, all of these questions will be answered in time and with what seems to be a confirmed September 14 launch date, it won't be that long before LG officially reveals the evolution of the 2008 'Iron Man' phone.
Source: LG/YouTube, Android Authority/YouTube, Android Authority, Geekbench, Sarang Sheth
September 07, 2020 at 12:32AM
https://ift.tt/2GraE1B
LG Wing Rumor & Leak Roundup: What To Expect From LG's 'Iron Man' Phone - Screen Rant
https://ift.tt/3eaxdmA
LG
No comments:
Post a Comment