The first foldable smartphones with flexible displays should begin shipping in the next few months. But they won’t all fold the same way.
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold closes up like a book, with the screen on the inside, which means the company had to slap a secondary display on the outside that would let you use the phone in its folded state. Huawei’s Mate X and Oppo’s foldable prototype have screens that stay on the outside and wrap around the phone when you close it, letting you use half the tablet screen as a smartphone display when the phone is folded.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The folks at The Verge have put together a nearly comprehensive look at all the different sorts of foldable smartphone designs we’ve seen over the past few months… and attempts to come up with descriptive, memorable names for each folding style.
The results are… a bit interesting. Think you can come up with better names? Sound off in the comments.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
- A field guide to the wacky future of folding phones [The Verge]
If we’re lucky, some of these names for foldable smartphone styles will stick. - Android Q beta lets you remap Active Edge [xda-developers]
Android Q may let you remap Active Edge so squeezing a Pixel 2 or Pixel 3 does something other than launch Google Assistant (like launching Cortana or Alexa). - The mid-range Google Pixels may launch as the Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL
The smartphones formerly known (unofficially) as the Pixel 3 Lite and Pixel 3 Lite XL may actually be sold as the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL. Expect mid-range specs and prices, but the same camera found in the Pixel 3. - Improved Nintendo Switch controller support for Chromium [Chromium Gerrit]
That includes Joy-Con controllers and the Switch Pro controller. - Chuwi AeroBook 13″ laptop gets a pre-release update (USB-C charging) [Liliputing]
Chuwi updates the design for its upcoming Aerobook laptop to include a USB-C port and support for USB-C charging. Other features include a 13 inch FHD display, a Core m3-6Y30 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a starting price of $399 (during crowdfunding). - Gearbest left its database unsecured, payment information and other customer data easily accessible [Android Police]
One of the big names in packing up Chinese gadgets and shipping them anywhere in the world apparently left a big hole in its security system for the past two weeks. It’s unclear if any data was stolen, but if you’ve purchased anything from Gearbest, it might be a good idea to change your passwords and keep an eye on your credit card statements for unexpected activity.
Just because it’s the verge I figure I ought to at least try to encourage people to think for themselves, so without looking at their article, here’s my names for all these form factors, left to right, top to bottom, as English is written:
Fold in, 2 screen; flexible smartwatch (that only becomes a phone when you pair some headphones to it); Flexible Flip Phone; fold out; flat fold out; flip-open second screen accessory; wrist-wearable flexphone; flippable flexphone; fold in, wrap out; total flexphone; scroll flexphone; segmented stretchphone.
Although looking at the article it looks like they didn’t take the naming QUITE as seriously as I did.
What ever happened to Bendy McBentface?
This is why I’m still hesitant to buying online outside of a select few online retailers like Amazon (still avoid 3rd party sellers).
This seems like major news. Especially for this site where I’ve read many commenters talking buying stuff from Gearbest. I’m surprised this data breach is buried inside a Lilbits article.
Yeah, based on comments of previous Lilbits posts, it seems like most folks just read the headline. At the very least, Gearbest leaking customer financial information should have been the top story and put into the headline.
Good thing I’ve been too wary of buying anything from Gearbest. I also aboid Geekbuying and AliExpress.