Are foldable screen phones too new and a gimmick? This is faster than full screen | jack krauser re4 remake, cambodia results, harian togel

Hardware conditions determine whether it can survive, and software ecology determines whether it can succeed.

Folding up a large screen like a book and putting it into your trouser pocket is no longer just something that exists in science fiction works.

Within a month, domestic Royole Technology and South Korea's Samsung Electronics have released their own foldable flexible screen mobile phones one after another. Whether it is Royole Technology's FlexPai or Samsung's Infinity Flex, they have announced that mass production of the products is imminent. Royole has already started selling, and Samsung will stock 1 million units in 2019. Manufacturers are coming aggressively.

Since Xiaomi released the MIX mobile phone in 2016 and proposed the "full screen" concept, mobile phone manufacturers have been making great efforts in this direction in the past two years. Apple has also tried a bold new design on the iPhone X. No one seems to think that this concept is about to become outdated. But suddenly, foldable and flexible screen mobile phones appeared one after another as challengers, which seemed to indicate that a new era was coming.

Whether you are an ordinary user or a digital enthusiast, you will be curious and confused when you see such news. I’m curious about what changes this product that was once featured in science fiction movies can bring about? I wonder if this is just wishful thinking on the part of the manufacturer? What exactly is the future of this kind of device? To know these answers, we might as well take a look at the past and present of folding screen devices.

The wind blowing before full screen

Rome was not built in a day. When many people argue about flexible folding screen mobile phones and wonder why they appeared so quickly, an easily overlooked fact is that the trend of flexible folding screen mobile phones has actually been blowing for a long time.

The foldable screens we see today evolved from flexible displays. Xerox first proposed the concept of flexible displays in 1974. This kind of material that can be bent like paper and can directly display images has always been attractive, but it has not been able to come out of the laboratory for a long time because it is not easy to make the screen material thinner and lighter, maintain its power and durability, and even display rich colors. Such complex requirements are not easy for mass production.

This matter finally got some answers from the manufacturers. In 2012, the screen manufacturer Plastic Logic produced a flexible display that was claimed to be "unbreakable" and was made entirely of plastic. In 2013, it also demonstrated the MorePhone, a flexible screen mobile phone jointly created with Intel. Among mobile phone manufacturers, Sony, Samsung, etc. also developed a strong interest in flexible screens at about the same time and began research and development of related technologies.

Screen developed by Plastic Logic, picture from Wikipedia

In addition to hardware, another difficulty lies in human-computer interaction. How to provide a suitable human-computer interaction system for flexible displays? This matter is actually not simple. Unlike the computer human-computer interaction we all use, the main operation is concentrated on the combination of mouse and keyboard. The TV interaction in life is completed through the remote control. None of these solutions are natural enough on flexible screens.

Faced with this problem, Professor Vertegaal, also a scientist from Xerox, mentioned a system interaction method that can be carried out through an organic user interface (OUI). This concept is distinguished from the traditional graphical user interface (GUI), and three core rules were subsequently established in the form of workshops, which guide today's interaction design:

First, input equals output. The input and output of flexible screens should be different from traditional devices. Traditional device input and output are physically separated from each other. For example, using a computer requires a mouse or keyboard. On OUI, the trajectory of user interaction should be based on the screen surface.

Second, function equals form. The shape of an interface determines its physical functionality and vice versa. For example, the spherical multi-touch interface is particularly suitable for geographic information interfaces. On the OUI, the interface displays a spherical shape and should be able to operate like a real spherical one.

Third, form follows process. Flexible displays, which are different from traditional displays, have their own physical changes, so different states should be related to operations. In OUI, such as foldable screens, there should be different instruction feedback when folded.

The proposal of OUI brings system interaction solutions to flexible screen devices. Together with the attempts of smartphone manufacturers in the direction of hardware, it provides an opportunity for flexible screen devices to enter the market. With more and more mobile phone manufacturers using flexible screens, manufacturers finally have the opportunity to take another step forward and move towards bendable or even foldable screens. The first one to bear the brunt is wearable devices.

Trying with wearable devices

In 2014, the Japanese crowdfunding website Makuake launched a special crowdfunding product - an E-ink display watch. This product does not have a variety of information reminders, display and other functions like other smart watches, but the entire watch is composed of a flexible e-paper screen, which means that when you wear it, from the dial to the strap, it is a genuine full version of the e-ink screen.

Picture from Sony

This watch that caused a sensation at the time came from Sony and was called the FES Watch.The design of the curved display screen as a strap gives the entire watch the ability to "change" from the dial to the strap. Coupled with the clear black and white display effect of the e-ink screen, the content can be clearly displayed regardless of the external light, which undoubtedly gives many people a sense of science fiction.

Sony turned the e-ink screen into a bendable watch strap, and Samsung on the other side was not idle either. On the Samsung Gear Fit launched in 2014, Samsung bent its own AMOLED screen to become a smart wearable device that fits the wrist better. Compared with e-ink screens, AMOLED screens that provide powerful color display undoubtedly give everyone more room for imagination.

Picture from PCMag

Whether it is Sony or Samsung, their attempts at wearable devices are undoubtedly exploring more possibilities for flexible displays. On the one hand, smart wearable devices, like smartphones, are already a part of people's lives. The durability and reliability of materials are tested from the daily operation level, which lays the hardware foundation for further folding screens. On the other hand, when exploring bendable flexible displays, wrist devices also force manufacturers to find more interaction possibilities, which is very important for human-computer interaction.

Here is the Sony FES Watch as an example. By default, this watch does not display the time, but displays beautiful and personalized patterns. But when you raise your hand to look at the watch, the patterns on the dial and strap will change together and display the time. This is the "motion sensing" function, that is, when the dial changes from a vertical state to a horizontal state, the time will be displayed. The time display will last for 4 seconds, and then return to a state where no time is displayed. This is naturally a highlight of interaction.

From wearable devices with curved flexible screens, manufacturers such as Samsung and Sony have undoubtedly accumulated data on the durability and practicality of flexible screen materials, and have also gained valuable experience in operational interaction. But it is not enough to fold the flexible screen in half to create a mobile phone product that is different from the past. Before the emergence of flexible folding screen mobile phones, another product - dual-screen folding mobile phones provided more valuable experience for today's exploration of flexible folding screen mobile phones.

From folding mobile phones to flexible folding screen mobile phones

Speaking of dual-screen folding mobile phones, I believe you who are reading this will immediately think of the ZTE Axon M mobile phone released in 2016. This product has two screens and can be operated on a single screen in daily conditions. It is no different from ordinary mobile phones. However, when large-screen interaction is required, it can be divided into two parts to become a complete large screen.

ZTE Axon M has proposed three ideas for the interaction of dual-screen mobile phones, including a large-screen mode in which the two screens merge into one to form a complete screen, a split-screen mode in which the two screens perform their own duties, and a mirror mode that allows the phone to be stood up directly by folding it in half.

Picture from ZTE official website

The addition of dual screens does make the interaction of ZTE Axon M look a little different, but in fact such an attempt can be seen from the Kyocera Echo launched by Kyocera in 2011. On the products at that time, the two screens could be combined into one to provide more screen content, but it did not cause much sensation.

Since the iPhone generation, mobile phone manufacturers have made many attempts, but dual-screen folding mobile phones seem to have never been successful. The reason may not only be that the hardware level did not meet expectations, but more importantly, the interaction of this type of product has not changed significantly, so there has been no substantial change in terms of use.

This incident sounds a bit pity, but it has given flexible folding screen mobile phones a lot of valuable experience. Just like the chemical reaction brought about by the iPhone's near-perfect combination of hardware and software, when the hardware matures, without changes in software and changes in interaction, there seems to be no way for such a product to survive for a long time.

So when Samsung released Infinity Flex, based on this, they decided to join forces with Google to jointly develop a foldable mobile phone software interface. In the demonstration, we seem to have been able to see that after the interaction changes, the flexible folding screen mobile phone began to show another way we imagined:

When it is closed, its external screen is that of a 4.95-inch ordinary smartphone. Although the screen is not large, it is easy to carry and sufficient for daily use. When you need to do office work or audio-visual entertainment, you will see a 7.3-inch large-screen device when you open it, which is enough to be used as a tablet.

Picture from TheVerge

As Samsung CEO Koh Dong-jin said: "We have overcome many obstacles, including making the folding line invisible. We just need to provide the details of the user interface."He believes that the opportunity for change lies in real interactive changes, so Samsung does not want to make a "product that people will soon get tired of." For the mass production of this product in 2019, the official statement is to stock 1 million units, which is obviously not a "play".

And Google’s official vice president of the Android project, Dave Burke, seems to be more confirmed: “This is an exciting concept, and we hope to see foldable products from several Android manufacturers.” It seems that this will indeed be the closest to us about flexible foldable screen phones.

Via Geek Park

Header image from Samsung