There are reports LG may exit the smartphone industry soon. While the Korean giant has posted losses for several quarters, it has continued to show with the launch of its products that it hasn’t lost its drive for innovation, a trait that we wish was common among manufacturers.

In honor of LG’s contribution to the phone industry, here are six innovative smartphones that it has made, some of them from an era when it wasn’t a struggling phone company.

LG DoublePlay

Dual display phones are not new to LG and one can even say that only a very few manufacturers have as much experience with dual displays as LG.

One of its earliest dual-display phones was the 2011 LG DoublePlay, an Android smartphone with a horizontal slider design that opened to reveal a QWERTY keyboard with a screen in between the keys.

The main display was a 3.5-inch screen with a 320 x 480 resolution and the smaller display was a 2.0-inch screen that divided the keyboard into equal halves giving it a split design.

What did the smaller display do? It could display music playback controls while you surfed the web on the main screen. The smaller display also served as an extension of the bigger one for certain features. For example, you could cycle through your bookmarks or open tabs on the small screen while the main browser was open on the larger display. There was also an app called Richnote that allowed you quickly jot down information or ideas without exiting the app on the main screen. There were multiple other uses too but one interesting feature LG added was the ability to push the app on the small screen to the larger display with a single button.

LG Crystal

These days, we have seen companies launch phones with see-through back panels that allowed you to see their “internals”. These phones are meh when compared to the 2009 LG GD900 Crystal, a slider phone with an actual see-through part that didn’t show fake or ugly internals.

The LG Crystal’s transparent alphanumeric keypad is actually a touchscreen with alphabets and numbers etched on the surface. It had its own illumination which made it even cooler in the dark. And since it is actually a touchscreen, you could glide your finger over it and use it to navigate the device just like you would use a touchpad. It also supported multi-touch gestures such as pinch to zoom.

LG G Flex

The LG G Flex was a device that packed multiple impressive technologies. From its concave curved Plastic OLED screen that made it comfortable to use, to its flexible LiPo battery, and the specially coated back panel that self-healed from scratches; the LG G Flex deserves to be in the smartphone hall of fame.

Other interesting features of the LG G Flex include its rear-mounted power and volume buttons as well as its rear-mounted IR blaster that allowed you to control electronic appliances by holding the phone upright rather than horizontally like a regular remote control.

LG G5

The LG G5 may have been considered one of LG’s failures but it deserves to be mentioned as it is LG’s take on a modular smartphone, an area that only a few manufacturers dared to tread.

The G5 had what is called a Magic Slot that allowed you to remove the bottom part of the phone and swap it for an add-on accessory. LG called these accessories LG Friends. One of these add-ons is the LG Cam Plus which brought hardware camera controls such as a physical shutter button, a camcorder button, and a zoom dial. This add-on also had a built-in battery, thus bumping up the phone’s total battery capacity. Another add-on was the LG Hi-Fi Plus which had a Bang & Olufsen DAC for hi-res audio.

LG V10

Remember we said earlier that LG isn’t new to dual displays, the LG V10 is another example of the Korean manufacturer’s obsession with dual screens. This flagship which launched in 2015 had two screens that sat atop each other.

The main screen was a 5.7-inch QHD screen and on top of it was a smaller 2.1-inch touchscreen next to the dual selfie cameras. By the way, LG was the first manufacturer to launch a phone with two front-facing cameras.

This second screen had its own display driver which means it worked independently of the main screen. It was always on and apart from displaying notifications, it also had shortcut icons for certain apps and toggles for features such as Wi-Fi, camera, Flashlight, and ring mode. You could also customize it to display a message of your choice. When the main display is in use, the smaller screen displayed the recent apps menu and shortcuts to features such as taking a screenshot.

LG Wing

The LG Wing is the manufacturer’s latest attempt at a dual-screen device and its approach is different from the others we have mentioned above.

This time, LG has hidden a second display behind the main one, and to access it, what you have to do is slide the 6.8-inch outer display, which is connected to a swivel mechanism, to the left. With the main display, which now sits in a landscape position, out of the way, you can now access the smaller 3.9-inch secondary display. When opened, the LG Wing looks like an upper case “T”. You can hold the phone in this mode or turn it upside down, so the larger display is at the bottom.

There are several use cases for this dual-screen design. You can watch a YouTube video on the main screen while scrolling through the comments on the second screen. Also, if you launch the camera app, the second screen will display the camera controls and you can decide to scroll through your gallery on the smaller screen and the larger display will show the current selection. A number of multimedia apps also take advantage of the second screen by displaying controls there while the content plays on the larger screen. These are a few of the use cases of the LG Wing.

So these were some of the interesting smartphones from LG over the past few years. Do you think we missed out on a particular model? Let us know down below.

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DXOMark has steadily come to be the major benchmark platform for phone cameras. The firm has updated its review process with the addition of two new scores. One of the scores is for ultra-wide-angle cameras and the second one for night mode.

Night mode and ultra-wide-angle cameras are relatively new features onboard phone cameras. The first phone to feature a wide-angle camera is the LG G5 that was launched in April 2016. Since the G5, there have been several other phones with a wide-angle lens. The same thing applies to the Night mode which became popular on smartphones such as the Huawei P20 Pro and Google Pixel 3 even though the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime released in 2014 features night mode.EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi’s bezel-less Mi TV Pro will come in 43”, 55”, and 65” models

DXOMark has tested several phones using the new test protocols and as such, the reviews of phones with either of the features have been updated. The scores have also been recalculated, altering the standings. You can check out the updated scores from the table above. We should emphasize that the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ continued its dominance of the top spot after the recalculation.It’s score sawan increase of 4 points from 113 pints to 117 points. In terms of specific score, it tied with the Huawei P30 Pro and Galaxy S10 in the Night mode test. For the ultra-wide-angle camera test, the Galaxy Note 10+ sood apart from the pack.

You can get more details from DXOMark website.

UP NEXT: Full Specs of the Mate 30 Pro revealed ahead of Official Launch

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LG launched the LG V20 in September 2016 while the G5 was announced in earlier at the Mobile World Congress in February 2016. That means both flagship models are more than two years old. Thus, LG seems to have finally removed them from the list of models that will get any security update. XDA Forum Moderator Redline recently discovered that the LG V20, as well as the G5, are no longer listed on LG’s Security Bulletin webpage. The archive of the page on the WayBack Machine as at December 13 still had the models listed. However, the latest security bulletin saw both models missing.

This is an indication that the devices will no longer receive updates, security patches or otherwise. For fans of the models still having hope that the phones will get Android Pie, that hope should be killed. The models were launched with android Naugat but were updated to Oreo. With this latest development, the devices will not get past Android Oreo.

Read Also: LG G9 packing an SD 821 SoC, QHD+ screen, 4GB RAM, IP68 waterproof body launched in Korea

LG is one of the major Android OEMs that agreed with Google’s Android Enterprise Recommended program. That means LG must offer at least four security updates within one year of the phone’s launch. The program also recommends Android OEMs to provide flagships smartphones with security updates for at least two years. However, LG will still offer security and OS updates for the G6 and G7 series, V30, V35, V40, CV series, LV series, LG Stylo (SF3), and Q series.

(source)

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South Korean electronics giant, LG recently made public its financial results for 2016 and the last quarter in 2016. Due to its diverse streams of businesses which includes home appliances and air solution, home entertainment, and vehicle components, the company was able to record an operating profit of 1.34 trillion won ($1.16 billion).

Although LG managed to record a profit higher than that of 2015, 2016 was not its best year due to the loss it recorded in the mobile division. The total revenue generated by the company for 2016 was put at 55.37 trillion won ($47.92 billion) and net income was 126.3 billion won ($109.31 million).

For the fourth quarter of 2016, the company generated 14.78 trillion won ($12.79 billion) which is 11.7% higher than what was recorded in the the previous quarter and 1.5% higher than that of the same quarter in 2015. But while LG recorded a profit of 348.9 billion won ($299.4 million) in Q4 2015, it recorded a loss of 258.8 billion won ($223.98 million) in Q4 2016, its first quarterly loss in 6 years.

Where the mobile division comes into play is explained as follows: first it contributed 2.9 trillion won ($2.51 billion) to the revenue generated in Q4 2016 which is 15% higher than that of Q3 2016 but 23% lower than that of Q4 2015.

READ MORE: LG G6 to Feature Snapdragon 821 as The Galaxy S8 Requires Entire Snapdragon 835 Initial Supply

LG had an explanation for the loss. In the company’s words “Profitability was hampered by weak sales of the G5 smartphone and higher marketing investments”. The G5 was LG’s stab at modularity, and sadly it failed. They have learnt their lesson already and have said they won’t be replicating the modularity design in the LG G6 which is due to be announced on February 26 at Mobile World Congress.

(Source)

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The LG G5 was launched in February 2016 at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona and it became available shortly after in the market. The phone marks a change in design from its predecessor as LG did away with the cheap plastic and confusing leather finishes of the G4 in favor of a full metal body, while keeping fan-favorite features like a removable battery and microSD card.

Reports from South Korea indicate that the LG G5 may face production issues as a result of one of the parts supplier getting into financial troubles. The LG G5 back casing is supplied exclusively by Hallacast but the part supplier is said to have filed for bankruptcy. The company is said to have applied for statutory management on December 29, 2016.

Curiously, LG G5 back casing was initially supplied by Hallacast as well as Fine Technix and BYD. But just this year, LG gave Hallacast the sole franchise to supply the back casing. Now that the company has filed for bankruptcy, the G5 production could be affected. The LG G5 is already set to get a successor, though, as the company is billed to release the G6 this February at MWC, 2017.

Read More: LG G6 Invitation Reads February 26 Launch at MWC

However, LG wasn’t planning to halt the production of the G5 until June 2017 and was said to be planning to produce additional 220,000 units of the LG G5. The company was also planning to cut down the price of the G5 and to continue selling it with the G6. All that may hit the rock if the report is actually true. Perhaps LG may quickly revert back to the other two suppliers of the back casing in order to avert any production hitch.

(via)

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Even though LG has not confirmed it directly, it is heavily pegged to unleash the LG G6 flagship in February through MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2017 event. LG has released a teaser video that reveals that the LG G6 will be an ideal smartphone.

The teaser video begins with a question: “What’s on your wish list for the ideal smartphone?” People can be seen asking for larger screen in a compact, comfortable to hold and use, one-hand usability, waterproof, a camera that is able to “capture it all once” and a “more reliable” device.

At the last part of the video LG hints that these features will be arriving on its new smartphone. The description of the video on YouTube reads: “Your wishes for the ideal smartphone will come to life. Stay tuned for its arrival in February 2017.” Hence, it seems that the South Korean company is hinting on LG G6 features that will get unveiled to the world at MWC 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr-N5cZBcl0

Related: LG Confirms That The LG G6 Won’t Be Modular

Recently, LG announced a new display that would support a quad HD+ resolution of 1,440 x 2,880 pixels along with an aspect ratio of 9:18. It delivers a higher pixel density of 564 ppi. It is known to consume 30 percent less power than its predecessor and offers better viewing under direct sunlight.

The 5.7-inch quad HD+ display is speculated to be taller and slimmer than the 5.7-inch quad HD screen on LG V20. The taller display would allow users to easily multi-task through multi-window mode. It can be seen see that a larger screen for multi-tasking is one of the desirable features for ideal smartphone. In spite of having larger screen, the LG G6 will arrive with a smaller body.

Another important feature that LG seems to confirm in the video is the water-resistance capabilities of LG G6. If the South Korean company brings this feature on LG G6, it will be its first global smartphone to feature it.

The LG G5 failed to impress the audience with its modular design. Will the LG G6 turn out to be the ideal smartphone that people are looking for?

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When LG launched the G5 last year, it released a couple of accessories it called the LG G5 Friends. Two of the G5 Friends the CAM Plus and Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play are actually modules which you can add to your phone to expand its functionality. The LG G5 can be said to be the first major phone to take a stab at modularity and sadly it failed terribly. LG has learnt it’s lesson and will not be repeating that mistake with the LG G6.

According to a LG spokesman, the Korean company will be ”scaling back the modularity” for it’s next flagship which is launching this year. Feedback from users about the company’s take on modularity has prompted it to make this decision and sincerely it’s in the best interest if they do not want their sales to drop further.

LG will instead focus on the overall design of G6. Some of the rumors we have heard about the upcoming phone include it sporting a unibody design with a non-removable battery and the retaining of the 3.5mm audio jack.

READ MORE: LG Tone Studio Wearable Speakers and Tone Free Earphones Appear at CES

LG G6 Release Date and Price

The Chief Technology Officer Skott Ahn is said to have mentioned in an interview that the LG G6 will be released in ”the very near future”. The plan is to announce the phone at the Mobile World Congress holding in February but a company spokesman also stated that a different announcement date is under consideration.

The LG G6 is said to be priced at the same price as last year’s G5 which is about $500 to $600 but might cost less to manufacture according to reports. The larger profit margin may help LG stem the losses it has been facing in recent quarters.

(Source)

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