Foldable smartphones … Foldable smartphones … Foldable smartphones … There is a lot of talk about them lately, but it's not so bad. I myself support new technologies and am very glad that something has appeared that can, if not replace modern communications, then at least add a new form factor. Remember how it was before. Sliders, clamshells, monoblocks, twists and much more. Smartphones now look like “soulless capitalists” in the minds of Soviet society. The ones who wear the same coats and top hat. Therefore, one can only rejoice that after more than 10 years diversity began to appear. Even the gadget that I showed Microsoft … But for some reason it doesn't work.
Large, but generally useless.
I already talked about a smartphone with two displays and was skeptical about its expediency, but the topic lives on and ideas continue to be promoted. Now there is an image of the new device from Microsoft, which should continue the news thread about the Surface smartphones, the first of which was the Surface Duo, which was introduced last October. There are some photos and a two minute video on this topic.
The device has two displays of 5.6 inches, which together seem to “merge” into one large display with a diagonal of 8.3 inches. This is almost a tablet, but we'll talk about this a little below.
In the video, you can see the user of the new smartphone playing on it, and then switching to portrait mode and swiping up to return to the home screen. Apparently, the smartphone is running Android 10 and is not deprived of a dark theme. Most likely, it is needed in order to hide the joint of the screens.
It all looks interesting, but let's imagine how convenient it really is. Especially against the background of what is offered by smartphones with a folding display, of which there are already at least four, and this year there will be several more.
A bold bar divides the screen in two. Horror…
The main feature of a foldable smartphone with one large display is its ability to display content in one large area, rather than two small ones. Let's say we want to watch a video on two screens and get a strip in the middle. We want to work with the image and again past it, as this “slit” will hit the eyes very hard. This scenario is questionable.
Splitting the screen into two apps is possible, but does it make sense?
For example, such a device is well suited for working with two applications, but when you drag text, pictures or something else from one screen to another, you will have to stumble over a fairly wide “threshold”. Moreover, the question arises, in which window to display the controls? I mean system buttons. Let's say there will be gestures instead of them, but then they should also work across the entire area of both screens. This solution also raises doubts about its convenience.
All these issues are solved by using a folding screen. We get a really comfortable big screen in a small smartphone (when folded). Although, this decision has one serious drawback, with which, apparently, nothing has been done so far. Of course, I'm talking about the crease at the bend.
And at this moment we once again come to the conclusion that “smartphones are needed, all sorts of smartphones are important”. Flexible screen technology is still very expensive and, besides the fact that development costs have to be repaid for a very long time, there is a large percentage of defects, which is also included in the cost of a smartphone. With a smartphone like the Surface Duo, this won't be a problem. Yes, there is a folding mechanism, but the risk of failure is not so great.
Probably, it's convenient to do this, but then why do you need a display on the other side?
As a result, the user gets an excellent alternative in the form of a foldable smartphone of a different design. It will not be so convenient in everyday use, but it will be cheaper, more powerful, more autonomous, and so on for both types of smartphones with a folding display (horizontal and vertical). Everyone will choose for themselves what they need. Moreover, there will be four options to choose from at once – a candy bar and three different clamshells. Wow, how interesting! Give us something else new!