WWW.T 3 INDIA.COM MARCH2 019 T3 Tomorrow’s Technology Today 39The future of phone
The Royole FlexPai is
more prototype than
polised product, but
it shows a very sci-fi
vision of thefuture
eleganntapproach.Butit’snotthe
only wayto do it... you could drill a
hole in theescreen instead.
Huaweiappears to have reached
for the powwertools:itsNova4hasa
little hole inthetopleftofthescreen
for its single sselfie camera. Samsu
has been thinking along similar linesgsimil
for its Galaxy A8S, which has a newA8S
‘InfinityO’ – presumablythe O stands
forOhLook,There’s A Hole In The
Screen – display that also stuffsits
selfieshooterintoacirclein the
display, and the Galaxy S10features
this as well.Nottobeoutdone, Honor
has goneholey as well:the Honor
View 20has a pinholecameratoo–
this looks set to be thefirst on the
market.BEND ME,SHAPE ME
Whetherit’sasliderorapinhole,
the designs we’ve seen so far have
concentratedongivingmore space to
thescreen,butkeepingthe amount of
body down. But there’s another
option, which is to reallygo nuts and
makethescreenmuchbigger – and
thenfoldit.
The Royole FlexPai is the world’s
first foldable smartphone. Unfoldedit’sa7.8-inchtablet;folded,it’shalfa 78
the size. It’s not theprettiest – it
appears to have the ergonomics ofa
half-brick–itruns itsownflavourof
Android and it’s clearlyafirst-
generationproduct,butit’sthefirst
chance we have to see what using a
folding phone could reallybe like.
Partsofthescreencanshowdifferent
elements dependingon whether it’s
foldedornot–welikeitsideaofusing
the ‘spine’ ofthefolded screen as a
notification hub,so a call doesn’t
interruptyour game or movie (and
being a touchscreen,you could
accept thecall bytapping rightthere).
We’renotsureit willeversee awide
release, though – we suspect Royole
is more interestedin showing other
manufacturers whatitsscreentech
cando(andthen sellingittothem)
than making and distributing these
products itself.
That means it’s probablyup to
Samsung to give us ourfirst real taste
of folding goodness. The Galaxy FoldThe ‘spine’ can be
a notification hub,
keeping the screen clear
for fun or work
(as it’s called)will be its first to use the
foldable ‘InfinityX’ displaytech, and
it’s shaping up tobeconsiderably less
boxythan the likes of the Royole
FlexPai, based on theglimpse we’ve
had of a prototype on-stage at a
Samsungevent.
Samsung’shardware prowess and
the wayit customises software well
fortheNoteseries,makinguseofthe
extra screen space for productivity,
means we thinkit’slikelytomakethe
best version ofafolding phone we’ll
see.
Afteryearsofincreasingly
indistinguishable smartphone design,
2019 lookssettobethe year that
things get interesting again.