What you need to know
- The LG Rollable was cancelled just before the company could launch the device.
- The phone was set to be the first rollable smartphone on the market for consumers.
- A new hands-on video shows the hardware and software in action.
LG is no more, but the company left a legacy of interesting (and sometimes unhinged) smartphone experiments. One that never saw the light of day, at least in a consumer sense, was the LG Rollable, which was teased ahead of LG's departure from the market. While the phone never received a commercial release, it was reportedly sold internally to some LG employees. Now, a new hands-on video of the device gives us a good look at the phone that never was.
The video is in Korean, but thankfully YouTube's subtitles work pretty well for those that don't understand the language. However, the device speaks for itself.
The packaging is unique because it pulls out to mimic the rollable display expanding outwards. At first glance, the phone looks similar to the LG Wing, the experimental flagship that came before it, although with a frame surrounding the top and bottom of the device, not unlike many of the best foldable phones on the market today.
Functionally, the device appears well-made and ready for prime time. Extending the display outwards requires a three-finger swipe, which appears to work very smoothly. Software adjusts according to the display aspect ratio, with the app drawer and web pages expanding and contracting nicely to fit your view. Full-screen videos are probably the most impressive, spanning most of the display when held horizontally. There is some wonkiness when transitioning in the settings menu, but when expanded, the menu shows a two-panel view with the page to the right and the list to the left.
Interestingly, the volume buttons on the side aren't physical but pressure-sensitive.
The display is also useable from the rear when the device is closed, allowing users to interact with several widgets, functioning as a sort of second screen, a feature LG has highlighted for years in various forms on devices like the LG V60. It also allows users to use the primary 64MP camera for selfies since a rather small 2.8MP camera was squeezed into the frame on the front. The rear also has a 12MP ultrawide sensor and a fingerprint sensor.
The phone would have competed with some of the best Android phones at the time of its release, sporting a Snapdragon 888 chipset, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and a 4,500mAh battery. That said, many of us will seemingly never get our hands on the device, but fortunately, rollable phones aren't DOA just yet, as companies like OPPO and Samsung have shown concepts similar to the LG Rollable.
