These bold LG phones once broke the mold, and we seriously miss them

We ’ve already said our arrivederci to LGafter itshuttered its peregrine divison in 2021 . But while time may heal all wound , for me , there still exists a boring ache in my eye where LG ’s smartphones used to sit . And that ache has only become more acute with the concluding rolling of the Vanessa Stephen for LG Mobile — on June 30 , LG ’s mobile update servers will give up functioning , finally consign even the most loyal of LG ’s followers to another make of smartphone .

See , LG was no common smartphone producer . While it made someexcellent ( but normal ) smartphones , LG ’s genuine expertize lie in the off-the-wall . For everyGoogle Nexus 5 , there existed another smartphone with a wholly off - the - paries conception . And while other manufacturers would make something innovative and flaky every now - and - again , it truly became what LG was know for . From phones that live before their clock time , those with two screens , and the truly bonkers LG Wing , here are five of the craziest smartphones LG made .

cheerio LG Mobile , I ’ll lack you .

LG Optimus Vu at MWC.

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Ahead of its time: LG Optimus Vu

I ’ll start this tilt with a sound that ’s less crazy and more ahead of its time : The LG Optimus Vu .

Look at the Optimus Vu with modern eyes and you might wonder what ’s wrong with it . One of the first “ phablets ” to bridge the disruption between standard smartphones and tablets , the LG Optimus Vu ’s 5 - in display was ludicrously large for the time . That may seem weird to us now , with our 6 - inch plus phones as standard , but the iPhone from the same class , the iPhone 5 , had a 4 - inch showing , and as such , this earpiece seemed enormous .

To be fair , it was tremendous , and that ’s because of the dimensions . Rather than the more standard slim rectangle we ’re used to , LG decided to squish the earphone into a 4:3 aspect proportion . And you could see why it might have worked : That ’s the view ratio for most paper size of it , and non - widescreen TVs . But on a phone ? It prepare for a strangely squat figure , with reviews of the metre complain of how difficult it could be to connect with the other final stage of the presentation . And they have a point — at over 90 mm astray , the Optimus Vu ’s wideness dwarfs even theiPhone 16 Pro Max‘s 77.6 millimetre breadth . To those ancient the great unwashed of 2012 , it must have seemed like a mammoth monolith of a phone .

The LG G5 and its friends.

LG G5 and LG Friends modular componentsDigital Trends

The LG Optimus Vu had its fans , and itsold over 1 million unit in LG ’s homeland of Korea , and had sequels , but its most enduring bequest is demonstrate that LG ’s move from dumb phones to smartphones had n’t slaked its originative juice in the slightest . And really , we had n’t go steady anything yet .

Adaptable but flawed: LG G5

impress into screwball territorial dominion , we have theLG G5 . By itself , the LG G5 is n’t particularly rum . By the standards of the time , the G5 was a solid flagship smartphone that took on theSamsung Galaxy S7andiPhone 6S. It miss in battery baron , but in term of pure operation , good looks , and secure tv camera , it was a winner . So why is it on this inclination ? It ’s because LG could n’t resist add a bit of weird into the commixture , and like many of us , LG G5 has a very strange family .

Press a push at the bottom of the telephone and the lowest section of the phone would slip properly off , along with the shelling module . And frankly , that seems like aterriblething to happen to your earphone — but do n’t worry , those mad people at LG did this on purpose . The G5 Family was a series of modules you could snip onto the bottom of your phone to enhance and change its capabilities on the fly . There was a strapping verbaliser mental faculty create with Bang & Olufsen , a practical reality camera , and the ( in reality pretty dear ) CamPlus faculty , which bestow another battery camp , hand - travelling bag , and tv camera controls to your sound .

It ’s an incredibly innovative idea , but one that unluckily did n’t overhear on . The problems with the on - the - rainfly swapping were obvious from the start — the stamp battery slither out every time you wanted to change faculty was a pain in the ass , and those supplement were an extra expense on top of having just spent $ 600 on your new phone . That ’s a midrnage earphone today , but in 2016 , that sum make you a top - of - the - line flagship , and having to pay supererogatory to get the most from your phone did sting .

The LG G5’s CamPlus module.

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So it ’s not really a massive surprise that the LG G5 ’s weirdness stop with it . But even so , I love it . The LG G5 was the first of LG ’s creations to really get my eye , and I really regret not grab one when I had the fortune .

But we have even uncanny to go , because once again , LG went ahead and just neat - up foretell the future tense .

A vision of the future: LG G Flex

Jump back in time to 2013 , and whoa , LG predicted the future ! But in typical LG way , it go and predicted it slimly wrong . Curved show were the future yes , but not likethis . But no matter , because the LG G Flex is still one of the nerveless smartphones around , and mostly alone even today .

These day , phones with curve screens are nothing singular . Heck , we ’ve even moved on tofolding phoneswith entirely folding display — but in 2013 , a curved silver screen was something quite incredible , and the LG G Flex stand largely alone because of this . While phones like theGalaxy Nexushad used curved screens before , we ’d seen nothing on the stratum of the sizing and curve of the G Flex .

It was actually a very effective phone as a issue . At the time , a 6 - column inch display was something large and gawky , and phones like theGalaxy Note 3were seen as almost too - liberal . The G Flex evade that with its curve , which help it sit around comfortably in your handwriting even helps when it ’s being keep back by your font . funnily , LG also decide to move the speech sound ’s buttons to the rear of the gadget , a fantastic idea even now .

The LG G Flex with curve visible.

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Ultimately , the LG G Flex was a really estimable sound , as it packed in top - level power ( for the sentence ) and two to three days of battery living , which would be telling even today .

But strap yourself in , because here ’s where affair start to getreallyweird .

Two screens for the price of one: LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen

TheLG G8X ThinQ Dual Screenmight not be the vertex of LG ’s uncanny pattern , but it was sure enough the tip of LG ’s naming conventions . I have in mind , just look at the perfectly horrid name this poor speech sound was stupefy with .

In LG ’s defence , the LG G8X packed a lot into it to merit the hyper - appellation ( as long as you ignore the “ ThinQ ” part , anyway ) . Not only was it a solid flagship phone in its own rightfield , but the G8X came with asecond display . This second display clipped onto the side of the actual telephone set using a case , and functioned as a proto - turn up earpiece of sort . And it worked too — while it did n’t have a vast amount of backing , it did declare oneself some actual benefits , and at the price of $ 700 , it was almost three - times less than its primary competition , the first generationSamsung Galaxy Fold .

So what went wrong ? Well , along with arriving towards the end of LG ’s time as a mobile manufacturer , the LG G8X simply did n’t offer enough . By itself the G8X was a bit boring , and while the Dual Screen could hardly be accused of such , it wasmassiveand did n’t do enough to justify all that extra heft and displaced space . Plus , while the Galaxy Fold may have been a small second rubbish , it was a technological wonder that showed where the future was go , and as a result , the Dual Screen already seemed obselete shortly after launch .

The LG G Flex from the side.

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But do n’t occupy , LG still had one ace up its arm — and while it may not have been anywhere close to enough to save the variance , it was a fittingly insane swansong for LG Mobile .

Still bonkers: LG Wing

Just look at it . calculate at it . The LG Wing is a in truth and impressively bonkers piece of kit . The windup of LG Mobile ’s decennium of design experience , the Wing draws heavily from LG ’s preceding experience with sliding dumb phones , while also being unwilling to let go of the musical theme of have more than one screen .

The LG Wing await just like a regular phone ; until you promote slenderly on the bottom of the display , and the entire instrument panel swivel around to ride in a thyroxine shape and reveal a small-scale display underneath . It was incredibly well built , and the mechanism felt wonderful , but ultimately , there was n’t in reality all that much to do with the display once it was out . Unlike theGalaxy Z Fold 2 , most subject did n’t adapt to the T - shaped display , and it mean its the States were deplorably few .

To LG ’s credit entry , the Wing fixed a lot of the problem with the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen . For one , the name was much smaller , a backup for tech writer everywhere , but more importantly , the bulk was reduced . It was still noticeably unlike from a usual telephone though , being over 10 mm blockheaded and 260 Hans C. J. Gram in weight . Yes , it was n’t as thick or heavy as the Galaxy Z Fold 2 , but it wasn’tthatfar off , which should have been a admonition for LG from the beginning .

The LG G8X open in a Dual Screen.

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The LG Wing was modern , technologically sophisticated , and extremely well built . But was it a good speech sound ? alas not , which in a lot of ways , makes it stomach out even further from the other phones on this leaning . Perhaps it could be said that the LG Wing was an LG too far , but lamentably , the writing was already on the bulwark for LG even before the Wing was released , and the company did n’t last much longer .

Was I surprise when LG Mobile close down ? dead not , it was clear it was n’t doing all that well for years before it finally exclude down . But I still leave out it , purely as a manufacturer that ’s unforced to create some rightfully eccentric smartphones . While innovation has n’t stalled by any agency , most major manufacturer like Apple and Samsung are happy to release standardized - take care smartphones year - after - yr . Yeah , they ’re almost alwaysbetter , and the software and computer hardware improves all the sentence , but where ’s the joy , where ’s the insanity ? Whenever LG launched a new phone you have it off you were about to number across something incredibly deadening , or incredibly freakish , with seemingly nothing in between . And I overleap that dedication to the extremes .

The smartphone world feels a little ho-hum without LG , and I ’ll miss it terribly for that reason .

The LG G8X being used.