Before you get too excited, lets remember two things: one, companies file patent applications for things all the time that never see the light of day. Two, the application is for the hinge specifically, so don't get your hopes up for a BlackBerry 10 laptop. That being said, this glimpse at a potential future form factor has us intrigued. Even when the company formerly known as RIM has experimented with design in the past, it's been conservative. The Pearl squished the keyboard and split the keys, the Storm went with a touchscreen that was also a giant button and the Torch opted for a sliding mechanism that was old hat for most other manufacturers. This is a little different, however. It's a hinge, not terribly dissimilar to that on HTC's ancient Tilt2, that lets you adjust the position of a screen in relation to a base. This version offers a lot more freedom than the HTC creation however, seemingly allowing the screen to flip 180-degrees on the arm. This design could be used for a future phone, and would be a great fit for a larger device -- say five-inches or more. Alternately, it could wind up as part of a keyboard dock for a future tablet, which would be closer to the filings illustrations. Then again, it could just end up collecting dust in a corner at Waterloo. If you'd like to check out the patents for yourself hit up the source links.
Filed under: Mobile, Blackberry
Phones with dual displays have been done, and Sony's foldable Tablet P brought similar functionality to tablets with mixed results. It looks like the Japanese electronics giant isn't done with such devices, however, as it's just been granted a patent for a gadget that can fold on multiple axes. The patent in question describes a device constructed of two rectangular casings that can be "rotated relatively in one of a first rotation direction and a second rotation direction orthogonal to each other." Translation: a sort of next-gen Jacob's ladder with hinges that open up on both sides of a right angle, which would allow you to set screens side by side or on top of one another. Want to know more? Check out all the patent claims and drawings at the sources below.
Sony patents a two-way folding device, wants you to have extra screen real estate where you need it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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