Kozminski Techblog

Courtesy: https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/14/18088620/samsung-foldable-phone-science-fiction-movies-television-westworld-star-trek

You’ve probably heard about flip phones. You’ve probably owned one. You felt cool, flipping that phone way too loud to answer or end a call, didn’t you? There is no denying that. Yet, somehow we’ve all switched to touchscreen smartphones. why is that? Well for one, Motorola and other manufacturers leading in the flip phone business didn’t make any groundbreaking changes throughout the time they existed. That period was a weird time for phones. You could use your phone for a solid few years and then change for a phone that looked and worked the same way. Now it’s different, every time you check the tech news some new manufacturer has developed a new phone with the same adaptation of the “smartphone” idea. They all circle around the same idea – one screen, getting a bit bigger or smaller, more cameras and a different implementation of a front-facing camera. You may ask, Kamil, what is there to be changed?

Courtesy: https://www.t3.com/news/best-folding-phones

Well, you’ll be surprised. Have you heard about the foldable screen? If you haven’t then don’t worry, a lot of people still don’t know that they exist. At the time of writing this article, there are six announced foldable screen phones. Five out of six are technically small foldable tablets. While open, they have a screen ranging from 7 to 8-inch. When you are finished using it, you can fold it up into a more compact form, creating a normal-looking smartphone. This kind of technology is certainly not for everyone as the pricing starts at 1500$. Because of that, you have to ask yourself, do I need that kind of phone? For most of you, the answer is probably going to be no. In the tablet mode, you have a screen smaller than most tablets on the market. In the folded state, you have a smartphone that isn’t as good as any smartphone at this price point. So, let’s forget about that implementation of foldable screens for now, and move on to Motorola.

Courtesy: https://www.t3.com/news/best-folding-phones

Yes, that same company that made your flip phones back in the day is back with a new concept. It’s called Razr, as was the classic released in 2004. While it’s in a folded state, it has a very compact form that will fit anywhere. At that time, it shrinks its size in half. After opening your flip phone, you have a full-length touch screen. An additional screen will be implemented on the outside, serving a notification only function. Here are some specifications for all of you that may care about this kind of info: 6.2-inch internal OLED display, 2142 x 876 resolution, Secondary external display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 710, 4GB or 6GB RAM, 64GB or 128GB storage, 2730mAh battery. Price is still unknown, but we’ll probably know it as it is expected to be unveiled on November 13th.

So let’s answer the question in the title, should you care about it? Motorola’s variant of the foldable screen is highly interesting and has an enormous potential to be the actual future. That implementation also serves a real purpose, unlike those folding tablets that are just a gimmick. You don’t have to buy them right away, but just bear in mind that foldable screens exist, and watch as they develop.

Edit: Motorola did show us their product on November 13th, here is first hands-on impression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCv7qwuLpHs

Courtesy: https://www.mymemory.co.uk/blog/huawei-enters-the-foldable-phone-market-with-futuristic-mate-x/

Sources:

https://www.cnet.com/news/that-motorola-razr-foldable-will-squeak-out-debut-before-years-end/

https://www.t3.com/news/best-folding-phones