When Samsung released [video=youtube;sAAie_Zf1pU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAAie_Zf1pU[/video] a year ago, I wondered how close they could be to actually deploying such products. Now, in spite of all the coughing, hacking, sputtering and posturing, we still have not seen a truly flexible phone even a year later. Question: Is it actually possible that no one (manufacturer) wants to be first for fear of being made to look like a dinosaur right out of the gate? Or maybe because of fear of being copied as in what happened to Apple? Trade shows have demonstrated that the technology exists. What do you think the delay is?
In order to make a flexible phone one needs to take a flexible display and add a flexible mainboard, flexible battery and so on. I guess not all of those things have been made flexible yet.
I thought LG came out with theirs (LG G FLEX), but I must have misread the specs. Not really flexible, but the screen is curved. Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
To your point, dmapr: Samsung has actually developed a touchscreen flexible display that is attached to black block. Not quite visually appealing, but it does exist. Move marker to 4:10 in the following: [video=youtube;dBYc20bB6LI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBYc20bB6LI[/video]
So the latest rumor, from a good source, is the Apple iWatch coming out this year, will have a flexible display, and made from sapphire, on some models. http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/a...s-will-you-staying-post577807.html#post577807
Quint, it is flexible to a degree. You can put the curved Flex facedown on a hard surface, press on the back and it'll go flat. But we're talking 2-3mm movement. @KevinJames -- I probably wouldn't buy a phone that looked like that
I wouldn't either, but it is an interesting concept to put the circuity at the bottom instead of behind the screen as usual. If you let a few smart minds play around with this, I could imagine in a few years they will probably come up with a flexible phone that we might actually want to buy
Ok, but coming back to initial question: The technology seems to exist; Samsung and others have been teasing the public for a while now; the public is fed up with flat (slate-shaped) phones (at least I am and I know of others); so what's the hold-up? I seriously doubt any of us here know the answer, but I just wanted to see what the community thought.
Looking at the LG "flex" and the Microsoft concept phone, I would say the technology is "getting there" but not really ready for prime-time yet, or to start any new "phone revolution" of any sort. But in a few years everything might fall into place...
I can put in my two cents...for free! One company I worked for had a very, very strong policy of never showing at a trade show a product, that wasn't ready to be sold the next day. I can see some problems to work out before this is ready. Flexing a screen is a lot different than folding a screen...and folding is the function that makes sense for a phone...as in the video. Is the product 'retina' quality yet? I wouldn't put out a low res screen just to be flexible. What is the screen quality? Power requirements. Just now they are producing great quality screens for smartphones in larger sizes...there may be limitations on a flex screen that are just not engineered enough to make the compete with a block screen. The video of the Samsung flex screen, with the 'box' at the end is not practical for a phone. And a truly bendable screen in the video wouldn't play well with 'touch' screen as we have today...how would you use that, even with two hands? There is lots of stuff to work out. However a curved screen is practical and probably useful. Just my opinions.
Here is some more juicy rumors. "Apparently, Apple is already envisaging the iPhone of 2018 — which if current nomenclature trends are followed, will be the iPhone 8 — with a foldable screen, a technology that’s currently being developed by the two Korean rivals. We’ve been hearing about foldable displays for a while, but they’ve always stayed in the realm of fantasy, often used only as eye-catching tech demos at trade shows." Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/apple-samsung-lg-foldable-iphone-8-news/#ixzz3t4SZGgNS Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Here's even more juicy gossip (and this is one I've been waiting for!) http://hothardware.com/news/samsung...crollable-folding-bending-smartphone-concepts
The key is to do it right. Having fooled around with wallet cases, flipping them open can be annoying. And the foldable screen has to be the same quality and durability as a screen is today. Since glass is out, does that mean scratchable plastic once again? That would be a step backwards IMO. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Boy, you're just full of sunshine and lollipops, aren't you? As a young man I used to mentor would say, "It's all guuud."
LOL Just thinking like an engineer, KJ, on how a foldable screen would be in made. People worry a lot about screen damage today, and glass was a big breakthrough in mobile phone. I don't see how glass could be used in a seamless way. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
@viewfly: Well, Mr Engineer (aka doubting Thomas), take a look at this: and this... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_organic_light-emitting_diode
@KJ What the OP video shows is a folding screen, not flexible. So that would be plastic, since glass cannot be folding. Thin glass and thin fiber optics can be flexed into a circle but not folded 90 degrees. The second video you posted is plastic. So for a wallet device with a continuous folded screen as shown in the 1st post here, if it works, would be plastic and not as scratch resistance as glass. I see that as problem, but not a deterrent to a folding device, if you can accept that limitation. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
@viewfly: The CNET video, speaking of Corning's new "Willow Glass," did mention that the product was glass layered in protective plastic. The video demonstrated it being bent and flexed quite easily. I follow what you are saying about not being able to completely fold it over. Give it a couple more decades. Maybe VR, holographic projection retina implants, thought-control interfaces and other technologies will render physical devices (external to our bodies) unnecessary. (But then hackers will become so adept, they will find a tunnel directly into our brains and turn us into drones! GASP!!!!)
It's wrapped in plastic so that is doesn't break while being handled in the convention. Normally it is used by itself underneath a cover glass, as a seal for a display. Any glass that is 0.1mm thick will bend...and break if bent too far. It makes great screen protectors for conventional smartphones. I have a 0.150 mm glass screen protector on my wife's iPhone. Get your new Samsung phone. You will be waiting a long time for a folding screen made from glass. Glass being an amorphous solid is never going to fold. Well, maybe once. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
@viewfly: Oh, I'm not "waiting" in the sense that I won't get another phone until those are released. I still laugh at the 2013 Youm ad that touts: "It's all in a day's work for Samsung." Baloney. Its been YEARS coming and still a "no show." I have determined to wait until the Note 6 is released (which I've already stated ad nauseam).
@dmapr: Yeah, I saw that article earlier today. Display looks way too grainy and besides, I don't need my wife's head popping out of the screen screaming at me.
In order to make a flexible phone one needs to take a flexible display and add a flexible mainboard, flexible battery and so on. I guess not all of those things have been made flexible yet.