Tag Archives: rollable phone

Samsung’s Rollable Phones Will Be Able To Measure Air Quality, Thanks To A New Patent

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Representational Image

Your phone is an absolute jungle of sensors – it can measure temperature changes, pressure changes, touch input, voice input, environment brightness, gyroscopic tilt, movement, among quite a few other things… and now Samsung wants it to measure the air quality around you too. It might seem odd at first (I felt so too), but this feature ties in with the broader approach at making your phone or any other wearable a health-focused device. If your watch can tell you that you’re in a high-noise environment and you should consider protecting your hearing, why not have a phone tell you if the air you’re breathing is polluted or contaminated? A patent uncovered by Twitter user @xleaks7 and tech blog Pigtou highlights the integration of an air quality sensor into Samsung’s upcoming Rollable Smartphones. This effectively helps your phone constantly measure the air quality on a hyper-local level, letting you know if you need to ventilate your kitchen or living room, or if the area you’re in has bad air, prompting you to leave or put on a mask.

Designer: Samsung

Representational Image

Imagine a phone that unfurls to reveal a sensor, discreetly tucked away when not in use. This is the essence of Samsung’s patent. The phone’s rollable display transforms into a gateway for external air, allowing the sensor to take accurate readings without compromising the phone’s sleek design. This eliminates the need for bulky external components, a common drawback of conventional air quality monitors.

But what makes air quality monitoring so important? Air pollution, particularly fine particulate matter (PM2.5), poses a significant health risk. By integrating sensors into everyday devices, Samsung offers a solution for convenient, on-the-go air quality monitoring. This empowers users to make informed decisions about their health and well-being, especially when spending time outdoors or in unfamiliar environments.

Here are a few features highlighted in the patent:

  • Adjustable Housing Concept: Tailors the display size and regulates airflow for precise sensor functionality.
  • Flexible Display Technology: Adapts seamlessly to varying screen dimensions, maintaining device portability.
  • Innovative Airflow System: Channels external air directly to the air quality sensor, enhancing measurement accuracy and speed.
  • Intelligent Opening and Closing Mechanism: Seamlessly integrated with the housing, optimizing sensor performance by managing air intake.
  • Improved Sensor Response Time: Facilitates swift sensor reaction to air quality fluctuations, ensuring timely feedback to users.
  • Built-in Sensor Protection: Shields the sensor from internal contaminants, guaranteeing consistent air quality assessments.
  • Streamlined Design: Maximizes space utilization, keeping the device sleek without compromising functionality.

The implications extend beyond personal health. This technology has the potential to foster a more environmentally conscious society. By raising awareness of air quality fluctuations, users can be prompted to take action, such as using public transport on high-pollution days. This collective effort can contribute to cleaner air and a greener future.

Patent via USPTO

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TECNO Phantom Vision V concept phone folds, rolls, and has plenty of screens

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Although there is still plenty of doubt and hesitation surrounding foldable phones, especially due to their prices, there is no shortage of vendors trying to get into the game nonetheless. It isn’t just foldables either, with some companies doing research and tests on phones with rollable screens as well. This latter category has still to make any formal entry into the mobile market, but there has definitely been plenty of ideas on how such a rollable phone should work. Young brand TECNO, which has been showing off a few bold concepts recently, has also thrown in its two cents, demonstrating a concept of a phone whose screen both folds and rolls yet still has two additional displays for good measure.

Designer: TECNO

Foldable phones try to solve the puzzle of screen size and portability. While many people wouldn’t mind having a large display they can view more content on, they do mind not being able to easily keep it in their pockets or small bags. Foldable phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the OPPO Find N2 offer a small phone-sized device that has a tablet-sized display, but that display is still no match for something like an iPad, at least not in size.

One alternative solution that has been proposed is to combine both foldable and rollable technologies to truly deliver that “tablet in your pocket” experience. That’s precisely what the TECNO Phantom Vision V brings to the table, at least in concept. Just like the aforementioned foldables, the devices opens to reveal the flexible display inside, but it still has one trick up its sleeve. The left side of the device expands further, rolling out additional screen real estate that would be equivalent to a 10.1-inch tablet with a more normal rectangular aspect ratio.

An additional detail that makes the Phantom Vision V a bit more interesting is another small display below the camera array on its back. This mimics the cover display of flip-type clamshell foldables that offer a more restricted set of functionality, mostly for notifications and quick actions. It’s not hard to imagine it’d also be used for taking selfies using the more powerful rear cameras.

It isn’t exactly clear from the video and images if the TECNO Phantom Vision V has a more traditional cover display on the opposite side, allowing the device to be used like a regular phone when folded close. There’s a possibility that the rollable side of the screen would also be used on that external part, which would save up on the components and build costs. That does mean that a flexible part of the screen will be exposed on the outside, which could raise concerns about durability. Given the non-trivial design, it will probably take some time before it even becomes reality, and TECNO isn’t saying anything about its prospective timeline to take the Phantom Vision V into production.

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LG Rollable phone hands-on video shows the future that we could have had

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Samsung might be crazy about foldable phones and is trying to make them mainstream, but these aren’t the only futuristic designs that could change the way we use smartphones forever. In some ways, it might actually be the less practical and less economical option, considering all the costs and compromises that had to be made to make it work well. Another option that phone manufacturers have been looking into is a phone that expands its display by rolling out part of the screen. LG was one of those dreamers and was on the verge of finally making it happen when it sadly had to close up its mobile shop. While the LG Rollable will no longer be, new information and videos show how this design could have offered a better way to have a phone and a tablet in one.

Designer: LG

To be fair, there is no clear winner yet among the different designs of these “morphing” smartphones. Foldables are currently leading the race, but it might only be a matter of time before rollables start rolling out. Despite being relatively older, foldable designs still have a lot of growing up to do. For example, one design requires having a second on the outside to make the phone even usable when folded. There is also still plenty of room to improve the hinge in order to reduce creasing. There’s also the fact that the flexible panel used is still more fragile than the regular displays on regular phones.

As this new hands-on video shows, the LG Rollable almost fixes most of those concerns. When rolled up, it is pretty much just a regular phone in a regular size that happens to have a softer display on the back. When rolled out, however, the 6.8-inch phone becomes a 7.4-inch tablet that, while smaller in size, could easily replace “mini” tablets in terms of use.

That’s the same spiel that phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold series make, but a rollable design has a few advantages. One of the biggest is that the “main” part of the display doesn’t need to be flexible and fragile and can be as rigid as typical smartphone screens. Only the area that actually bends and rolls has to be flexible. This makes the phone easily usable in its rolled-up form while also minimizing the potential for damage.

As a first-gen device, the LG Rollable does still have a few flaws. The creases aren’t completely gone, and there are actually more than one of them this time. There’s also an audible sound when the motors roll the side of the phone to shrink or expand the display. These imperfections could be solved by iterating over the design and the technology, though that will no longer be possible in LG’s case.

It is definitely a tragedy that LG shut down its mobile business, especially before it had the chance to bring the LG Rollable to the market. There are, of course, other brands that will try to pick up where it left off to prove the feasibility of a rollable design. Perhaps those would have already addressed the flaws of what would have been the market’s first rollable phone and would deliver something that is a bit closer to the ideal form-changing phone.

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Samsung Display teases a future filled with foldable and slidable devices

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We are so dependent on screens and displays these days, even just for looking at content. Most of the things we need to see every day are often displayed on computer monitors, TVs, and our phones. With more content and more data coming into our lives, it’s almost like we can’t have enough screens around us. In the somewhat distant future, every surface might indeed have a display, an interactive display even, but there are still plenty of technological and psychological hurdles before we get there. In the meantime, Samsung is more than happy to fill our world today with screens that can fold, roll, or even slide in order to give us as much display real estate as we need without forcing us to carry large backpacks or briefcases just to fit a 12-inch tablet.

Designer: Samsung

It isn’t time yet for a new foldable phone, but it’s Display Week 2022 in sunny San Jose, California, and Samsung isn’t going to miss out on the opportunity to show off what it has been cooking behind closed doors. Then again, some of these aren’t particularly new to our eyes, given how they’ve been prefigured by patents and even revealed by Samsung a few months ago. And given how these are already on display for the public to see, they’re more likely to arrive in the next few years rather than the next decades.

Fold it Your Way

Foldable phones are no longer alien to us now, but they’re still novel enough to be seen with some suspicion and apprehension. As marvelous as these may be from an engineering point of view, we’ve barely scratched the surface. Earlier this year, Samsung showed off its Flex G and Flex S foldable screens in action, and this week it’s reminding everyone who will listen to what these flexible displays can offer, presuming they actually become products.

The Flex G, for example, can either be a large screen that folds down twice into a more bag-friendly form, or it could be a makeshift laptop, with one-third of the screen as the keyboard and the other two-thirds for the display. The Flex S, on the other hand, can fold in opposite directions, forming a Z or S shape, and it’s easy enough to imagine it as a phone that transforms into a true tablet or vice versa. Both designs have been spotted before, both in patents and in prototypes, but Samsung might be more confident now to move forward and bring these displays to commercial products.

Let it Slide

The newest member of its gallery, however, is its “slidable” screens. Technically a combination of a sliding mechanism and a rollable display, this technology allows a device to expand its screen space without drastically changing the form of the device. A phone, for example, can remain a phone while its top slide out to show a bit more content. Given how tall smartphones are these days, that’s not exactly a big leap in form factors.

Similarly, an 8.1-inch tablet that suddenly has its sides slide out to expand to a 12.4-inch screen won’t drastically change the way you use the device. You just have more space for content or possibly more apps side-by-side. This kind of shape-shifting device might be a bit more approachable to consumers compared to foldables since it doesn’t require them to switch between modes or mindsets. Whether these are more robust than folding screens, however, remains to be seen.

For the Rest of Us

Truth be told, only a small fraction of today’s smartphone-using population has embraced foldables. There are a variety of reasons to hold off from those, with durability and price being the strongest deterrents. Until Samsung and other manufacturers have sufficiently addressed those concerns, foldables, rollables, slidables, and other -able displays will remain novelties and luxuries that could eventually die off as fads.

Of course, Samsung hasn’t completely forgotten about common people and has a few of its more normal but more usable innovations also on display, no pun intended. Amusingly, its latest QD-Display technology also stands as a testament to how technology, marketing, and even design go back and forth like a pendulum. The display market swings between LCD and OLED technologies every so often, sometimes with different marketing names and tweaks like MicroLED and Quantum Dots, in an attempt to get buyers’ attention and money. Samsung’s QD-Display TVs and monitors are just about to roll out to the public, so we’ll see soon enough what that buzz is all about.

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This rollable phablet brings the big screen experience to your pocket without any excessive bulk!

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A big rollable screen smartphone/tablet (a phablet to be precise) that’s designed to be the style statement in your pocket without the bulky form factor associated with big-screen mobile devices.

After foldables, the next revolutionary upscaling to the contemporary form factor of smartphones and tablets is going to be the rollable design. The Scroll bendable roll-out phablet designed by Compal Electronics is a perfect example of how smartphones will be an even more of an extension of our personality. The rollable device takes a cue from the hotshot mobile device manufacturers who have already fascinated us with their rollable phone concept designs. The likes of LG, Samsung, TLC and OPPO who are looking beyond the avenue to make scroll-like mobile devices mainstream.

Compal’s rollable phone (or should I say tablet) draws inspiration from the ancient papyrus rolls, enhancing the in-hand experience with readability. The upmarket device does this by enhancing the inherent benefits of the flexible display. Scroll comes with a 10-inch bendable screen that rolls out with the push of a button and retracts back into the opulent tube when not required. The amount of screen real estate that you require (up to 10-inches) is completely at the user’s discretion. A perfect way to carry the digital world in your pocket or bag in style. The company envisions this concept to radically reduce the packaging required, due to this compact shape and design.

Scroll has a secondary display on the outside to beam important notifications, display the interface of media players, or alert the user of incoming calls. The rollable device is targeted for the high-end market since it comes in a plush casing and leather finish. The front-facing camera is placed on the upper edge of this casing so that the user can click selfies. The rear-facing shooter is positioned on the opposite end of the casing, although no specifications of either camera are mentioned by the designer.

Designer: Compal Electronics

Oppo demos true wireless charging on its rollable phone

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Apparently Xiaomi isn't the only mobile company working on over-the-air wireless charging. At MWC Shanghai 2021 earlier today, Oppo unveiled its own take on this futuristic tech, which is aptly dubbed "Wireless Air Charging" for now. Th...

OPPO’s expanding rollable display concept is a breathe of fresh air in the smartphone category!

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Smartphone innovation is now heading into the display innovation territory – we saw that with the second generation Galaxy Z Fold 2 and the never before seen LG Wing which enchanted us all with its swivel display at the time of launch. Sure they all are eye-popping technologies, though with a caveat – such form factors make the phones bulky to accommodate the extra screen – whether it be the folding action or the swivel mechanism. OPPO has been one OEM that’s known for its practical smartphone innovations – literally changing the design status quo, and now there’s out with a rollable phone display that already seems to be the future. And yes, it solves the bulkiness issue fair and square, giving you a big-screen tablet-like format when needed – only to retract back to a normal-sized phone when you need a compact screen. A 6.7-inch phone that spills its magic extending up to 7.4-inches just like a sliding window pane without adding to the bulk and also boasting zero-crease aesthetics!

At their Inno Day 2020 event, the Chinese smartphone maker revealed the OPPO X 2021 rollable smartphone concept. Although TCL and LG have been tinkering with a similar concept, OPPO has created a prototype which is based on the continuously variable OLED display technology –sans any creasing that foldable phones are susceptible to with long term usage. The magic here is courtesy of the OLED display panel laminated on top of a “Warp Track” (just 0.1mm thick at its thinnest point) that tucks the display in a hidden compartment for a compact form factor and with the touch of a button, the display expands for a larger screen phone. OPPO has filed 122 patents for this rollable technology, out of which 12 are just for the scroll mechanism.

The technology is a first for phones, although rollable OLED TVs have entered the consumer market just recently for a filthy sum of money. The Chinese smartphone maker says that they’ll bring the rollable phone to the consumer markets at the right time, and that’s a clear indication it is surely going past the prototype stage. Would you want such a phone as your daily driver or do you fancy the folding or swivel display phones as your future device? We’re eager to know!

Designer: OPPO

Oppo’s X 2021 rollable concept phone expands in your hand

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TCL and LG have been teasing the idea of an extendable display on smartphones for some time, and now, we finally get to see a working prototype courtesy of a third brand. Today’s Inno Day 2020 event unveiled the Oppo X 2021 concept smartphone, which...