Samsung’s Possibly Crafting A Tablet That Folds Up To Become A Phone!
Samsung’s apparently trying to make the idea a reality.
Samsung has made a name for itself, for it’s brilliant technology and manufacturing prowess. Of very recent years, it’s also been noticed for it’s R&D and some of it’s biggest innovations have come from it’s R&D labs.
While Samsung is becoming game-changer in the world of technology one also realises that innovation in the field of smartphones (and not only those from Samsung’s stable) has been slowing down for a while now. There is only so much that a phone can do!
Now, Samsung seems to be doing something to the basic concept of a smartphone that will help it get a new lease of life, and perhaps be able to do more.
Samsung seems to be creating a phone that you can fold in and out like paper!
A foldable tablet-cum-smartphone, actually a phablet in the truest sense of the word possible.
We hear that the device would be a 5-inch smartphone that could be unfolded into a 7-inch tablet whenever needed. That is all that is known about the device as of now since the company has not yet released any information on the specifics of it.
But since it is Samsung, we can expect the specs to the top notch, at least the display, the design and the camera. We can expect good RAM, around 3 GB hopefully, and a microSD slot as well. We can also expect it to run on the latest available version of Android operating system.
The battery though, is something that might not make one as happy, but it perhaps wouldn’t displease us either.
Regardless, these are only assumptions based on Samsung’s track record in its devices.
We do not yet know when this new device would be out in the market. The company had recently mentioned that they plan to bring to the market foldable device “soon”. How soon, though, is a question we can’t answer.
We don’t see it happening this year at least. So maybe we can cross our fingers and hope to have our hands on something of the kind in the first half of the next year.
“It is going to mass-produce foldable display by the end of this year and is planning to sell Foldable Smartphones on markets starting from next year”, a Korean news site reported on 1st April.
If even more rumours are to be believed then SamMobile, a trusted rumour blog, reported that “anonymous sources claim the device is currently being tested in China”. The same source also claims that the device is being developed under the project codenamed Project Valley, in addition to claiming that he/she has great knowledge of the device itself.
Samsung has refused to confirm any of this information.
The technology for such a device would of course not be easy to develop. Samsung has reportedly had to partner with domestic and foreign researchers as well as other companies to put this one together. The lynchpin of it all though, would be the foldable bendy plastic screen that’s been reported earlier as being developed by Samsung’s own display division.
The idea of a flexible phone has existed in the market for a while. In fact, another Korean company is Samsung’s biggest competitor in this budding field.
LG has already marketed a flexible phone which bends up to a certain point.
Additionally, LG recently showed off a working model of an 18-inch Ultra HD screen that used a special film instead of plastic as backing, thus allowing the screen to be rolled into a tight tube for transport, much like a sheet of paper! This was in 2014, and at the time, the screen was expected to be on devices in 2017.
Subsequently LG also debuted a concept they called the ‘Wallpaper TV’. In physical form, it is an ultra thin unit that is less than 1mm thick, and weighs only four pounds (1.9 kgs).
The TV is so thin that it can be attached to the wall only using magnets!
This however, exists only as a prototype at this time and is not expected in the market anytime soon.
But the key difference between LG’s offers and Samsung’s current novelty is that a foldable tablet-cum-smartphone needs to fold at a sharp angle of 90 degrees (and not bend marginally).
It would also need to be able to bear comparatively more wear and tear, and thus need to be much stronger.
While we’re talking about the phone, let us also discuss it in the context of the technology that already exists.
There are companies already working on phones with holographic displays that allow you to see your phone’s screen as a virtual image display above your phone. Similar to projectable keyboards that are fully functional and virtual, and have been around in the market for a while now. There are others working on creating phones that provide a true 3D experience
The question I always have, is around the utility and the product life of something niche — like a foldable phone (or any of the above experimental projects).
Could these possibly live a short-lived life in the fast-paced world of technology, and die out soon, like CDs, having lived only for a couple years did, when data and music went cloud?
The question of the market also stands. Will current users of tablets want the utility offered by a folding (and smaller) device, when they have easy and economical access to 9 and 11 inch products? Not sure.
Prolific smartphone users who yearn for larger screens and don’t want to be saddled with a huge device in their pockets (or belts), on the other hand, might be the target for such a phone than can turn into a tablet. But there are other issues related to longevity of the hardware, the hinges, and even the utility of a screen that’s cut down the middle (where most of the action is usually concentrated in movies and videos)
Regardless — we don’t yet know when can we expect it in the market.
One thing, however, is for certain. With Samsung working on it, and LG (as per some unsubstantiated rumours), also working on something similar, we can expect something out in the market soon.
Whenever it happens, it would be fun to watch LG and Samsung battle for the market of foldable devices, as whoever else bags it first will probably be the one folding a big piece of the market into their pockets!
Originally published at Chip-Monks.
