LG’s latest has an optional second screen and a headphone jack

Published February 26, 2020

One thing you can say for sure about 2020’s smartphone landscape: There’s no shortage of options. Sales have taken a dip in the last few years, causing a number of manufactures to get creative with their offerings. LG’s certainly in that boat. It has been a less than spectacular few years for the company’s mobile offerings, but it’s not for a lack of trying.

It’s probably not due to its unwieldy naming schemes, either, but here we are with the LG V60 ThinQ 5G (even more accurately, the LG V60 ThinQ 5G with LG Dual Screen). As the verbose name suggests, the device sports 5G connectivity, likely at a price that won’t require a second mortgage. No actual specifics on that yet, but the company has noted that it will be cheaper than Samsung’s pricey S20, and probably more in line with last year’s flagships — closer to a more reasonable $800.

Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra is a lot of phone for a lot of money

The most interesting bit here — and frankly, the one reason I feel compelled to write about it — is the return of the second screen case. LG established its take on foldables last year with a standard handset that converts into an optional dual-screen with an add-on case. In spite of having “thin” in its name, previous models were dinged for being far too bulky and thick when folded.

LG says it has addressed that to some degree, as a “new Dual Screen tips the scale at the same superbly portable weight as its predecessor, thanks to the thinner OLED panel.” From the looks of it, it’s still on the thick side, but that’s going to continue to be one of the downsides of a second screen that’s simply an add on. The other being that considerable bezel/hinge between the two screens.

The means the two massive 6.8-inch screens don’t really effectively combine into one contiguous display. The second screen is more effective for things like multi-tasking or using one of the screens as a game controller. We’re going to see similar functionality from products like the forthcoming Surface Duo.

Perhaps most remarkable of all here, however, is that LG is carrying a torch for the headphone jack, which stubbornly (and beneficially for some) hangs on for dear life into 2020. The device will hit retail at some point in the coming weeks.

Huawei’s ill-fated foldable returns with a more robust upgrade

Published February 24, 2020

MWC may have been canceled on account of rising coronavirus concerns, but the party still went on for Huawei (albeit to what appears to have been a mostly empty room). A year after wowing crowds with the Mate X, the company is introducing the Mate Xs.

Rather than a proper successor, the device appears to be the result of Huawei’s decision to go back to the drawing board, following Samsung’s very public problems with its own original foldable.

The design looks nearly identical to the original version of the phone — which is a pro. Honestly, the one major downside of the device (aside from a lofty price tag) is the fact that it never fully arrived, outside of what appears to be a relatively small batch offering in China.

Like Samsung, Huawei’s update focused a lot on the hinge; with increased mechanical components, the product should be more rugged than the original. Keep in mind that, while we were able to play around with the original Mate X, that was about it. Personally, I saw one at MWC and had an opportunity to try one for a few minutes during lunch, between meetings at Huawei HQ in Shenzhen.

Now that foldables have arrived, it seems Huawei is finally ready to take the leap. Of course, one ought not forget the company’s ongoing issues here in the States that will not only make it more difficult to procure here, but also blocks access to Android apps and services. That will continue to be a major issue for the company’s products, going forward.

Price, too, will continue to be an issue, at around $2,700 when it goes up for sale in certain markets next month. That extremely inflated price gets you a 6.6-inch display, 5G, a beefy 4,500 mAh battery, the latest Kirin 990 chip, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Go big and/or go home, right?

Do trade shows still matter in the age of online business?

Published February 18, 2020

The death of Mobile World Congress 2020 started as a trickle.

First, it was an understandably nervous ZTE. As a Chinese company, it was undoubtedly going to receive extra scrutiny — never mind that ZTE’s Shenzhen headquarters are a two-hour flight from Wuhan. Soon enough, South Korea’s LG backed out, followed by Nvidia and Ericsson.

By the weekend, as deaths from the coronavirus rose to more than 800 (surpassing SARS in the process), event organizers GSMA put strict guidelines in place for approximately 100,000 expected attendees:

No travelers from the Hubei province would be permitted access.
Attendees were required to prove that they were outside China for 14 days prior to the event (passport stamp, health certificate).
Temperature screening was to be implemented.
Attendees needed to self-certify they had not been in contact with anyone infected.

Ultimately, it was too late. Soon enough, Amazon was out and the list ballooned to dozens of companies, including AT&T, Intel, Nokia, Sony and Vodafone. Each offered a similar boilerplate response, noting the cost-benefit analysis for sending staff to a large international show amid concerns of a global epidemic.

PCMag’s Sascha Segan wrote a piece worth reading on “snowballing hysteria” around a trade show killed in a country that only had two reported cases at the time of cancellation. It’s a valid point, though speaking purely pragmatically, I can understand why companies felt obligated to back out.

If you want to give them the benefit of the doubt, there are some valid concerns about sending employees into the petri dish of colds and flus that is basically every trade show, coupled with the novelty of a new and still not completely understood virus. It can be difficult to balance concerns for employee safety with the need to resist panicking over media reports that tend to overemphasize threats.

Images of TCL’s slide-out display smartphone surface in wake of MWC cancellation

Published February 17, 2020

This morning brought a look at some of what we’re missing at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The show may have been called off on account of coronavirus concerns, but the news goes on.

We knew that TCL was planning to show off a number of “alternative” smartphone form factors, and one just showed up on CNET. The device presents a promising take on the world of expandable screens, with a kind of slide-out display that expands the standard smartphone into something more akin to a tablet.

GSMA cancels Mobile World Congress due to coronavirus concerns

TCL, of course, showed off its own foldable at MWC last year, but the device was encased in a block of glass. By all accounts, the company’s decision to not rush to market was a good one, as foldables have not gotten off to the most auspicious of starts.

TCL teases a 5G device, headset and its first foldable at CES

The sources behind the images say that the device would have debuted at MWC, though it’s hard to judge how far along the technology is, given the fact that these are, indeed, renders. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that best-case scenario, it would have been another under-glass, hands-off debut. These days, it seems that manufacturers are increasingly following the automotive model of showing off early concepts that may or may not ever actually come to market. The word “prototype” certainly seems apt in this case.

In either case, a TCL rep declined to offer TechCrunch a comment on the images or whether we’ll get a better look in spite of the show’s cancellation.

As top exhibitors pull out of MWC, organizers implement stringent safeguards

Published February 9, 2020

A couple of weeks out, Mobile World Congress organizer, the GSMA, has issued some fairly sweeping safeguards over growing concerns around the coronavirus. After a number of high profile back outs, including ZTE, LG, NVIDIA and Ericsson, the company issued a new list, including a ban of visitors originating from the Hubei province, whose capital Wuhan is believed to be the origin of the epidemic.

Per GSMA CEO John Hoffman,

All travelers from the Hubei province will not be permitted access to the event
All travelers who have been in China will need to demonstrate proof they have been outside of China 14 days prior to the event (passport stamp, health certificate)
Temperature screening will be implemented
Attendees will need to self-certify they have not been in contact with anyone infected.

[Updated] LG withdraws from MWC due to coronavirus-related concerns

More than 800 people have died from the virus, surpassing the 774 people who were killed by SARS circa 2002-2003. Hoffman adds that the organizer will be increasing a disinfectant program around the site and promoting a “no handshake policy.” As the organization notes, some 5,000-6,000 people from China attend the show each year, accounting for around 5-6 percent of visitors.

The GSMA is clearly interested in addressing concerns over the virus, while limiting further attendee or exhibitor erosion. The release quotes Catalan health minister Alba Vergés, who notes, “The Catalan health system is prepared to detect and treat coronavirus, to give the most appropriate response, and this must be clear to those attending MWC Barcelona.”