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Folding Screen For Mobile Phones Unveiled

sumj sends in word out of a Taiwanese research institute of a folding display on a smartphone that allows its screen to double in size to 5 inches (slideshow here). It's a prototype at this point. Don't bother clicking for the article's second page — it's one sentence with an interstitial before.

54 comments

  1. Right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Look mommy! I did some brake-through R&D!

    "But Timmy boy, it's just a 3d model!"

    1. Re:Right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Look mommy! I can't spell "breakthrough"!

    2. Re:Right... by mk2mark · · Score: 5, Funny

      Cut him some slack, he's just a kid.

    3. Re:Right... by lysergic.acid · · Score: 1

      it looks like a physical mockup, not a 3D render. most publicity/promo photos are cleaned up a fair bit to give them an unrealistically "perfect" look, but these are pretty clearly touched up photos rather than 3D renders.

      and if you go to the Pilotfish website, you'll see that these publicity shots are exactly the same look/feel as those of their other products (which have already been released).

      but no doubt there'll still be some paranoid arm-chair digital imaging experts screaming "fake!" or "photoshopped!" over these photos.

    4. Re:Right... by camperdave · · Score: 1

      They've been gimped.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    5. Re:Right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ITS CALLED A SPELL CHECKER ASSWIPE

      no go fuck yourself.....

      regards,
      The Troll

    6. Re:Right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      haha! And here I mis-read the quote as "T o mmy Boy", the Chris Farley dude selling brakes.

  2. So Long Kindle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A little larger fold out display on the iphone will be the death knell of Kindle

  3. screenviagra wtf ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    now they spam the tags too ?

    1. Re:screenviagra wtf ? by jornak · · Score: 1, Funny

      want a bigger scr33n? ur in luck! get scr33nvigara cheap from our supliers!!!11!

  4. Don't bother... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Don't bother clicking for the article's first page.

    It's just renders, not even a prototype.

    1. Re:Don't bother... by SIR_Taco · · Score: 4, Funny

      Your making a suggestion not to RTFA?
      That should just be implied around here.
      You're new here aren't you?!

      --
      I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
    2. Re:Don't bother... by mobby_6kl · · Score: 3, Informative

      Click here instead. Here's another version. This video's pretty shitty in terms of both visual quality and cinematography, but at least it seems legit. It shows Samsung's foldable OLED scren prototype, built into a smartphone-ish form factor. I don't recall any specifics, and unfortunately searching for it just returns a bunch of identical blog posts.

      The concept is pretty exciting, but can't help but wonder about the durability of this thing, the regular wiring in the laptop screens seems to fail due to folding often enough as it is.

    3. Re:Don't bother... by Dan541 · · Score: 1

      Click on an Article Link?

      Why the hell would I do that?

      --
      An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
  5. Crease in the Screen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know about you, but reading a web page or watching a movie when there is a huge crease in the middle of the screen would just bug the hell out of me.

    1. Re:Crease in the Screen by lysergic.acid · · Score: 1

      RTFA. that's a taskbar, not a crease. you can disable/remove the taskbar to use the entire screen for a single image/application/etc.

  6. Dock setup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought Apple had that patented?

    _AC

  7. Looks a bit like... by FreakCERS · · Score: 5, Informative

    .. the one samsung displayed not too long ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2SCZvU8sGU

  8. @Home by zwei2stein · · Score: 1

    Now, was I the only one excited and then let down because speedread left though title left me with "Cool, Folding@home@mobile phones".

    Shame.

    --
    -- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
    1. Re:@Home by lilomar · · Score: 1

      Dude, read slower; type slower.

      did you mean...

      Was I the only one first excited and then let down after speedreading through the title? Because it left me with, "Cool, Folding@home mobile phones".

      --
      The creator of this post (Jacob Smith) hereby releases it, and all of his other posts, into the public domain.
    2. Re:@Home by totally+bogus+dude · · Score: 1

      I'd really like to know why the idea of running CPU-intensive computations on your mobile phone would excite you in the first place. Devices with relatively slow CPUs running from relatively limited power sources doesn't seem to be ideal platform for distributed computing applications...

  9. In other news... by pythonhacker · · Score: 1

    In other news, trailers of a new, to-be released Sci-fi movie has hit the theatres in Taiwan.

    "Honey, I Flexed my iPhone!"

    --
    If you don't succeed at first, try again. If you still don't succeed, try harder. If nothing works, try reality shows.
  10. If your speed read is as bad as your speed write by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can see why you don't have a clue

  11. Anyone wanna see my mock-up time machine. by Atrox666 · · Score: 1

    I made it out of some christmas lights and and old Delorean.
    Does it do anything..well not really.

  12. Look mummy I can read! by Ross+D+Anderson · · Score: 1

    Don't bother clicking for the article's second page -- it's one sentence with an interstitial before.

    kdawson's trying to prove he reads the articles before posting them!

    1. Re:Look mummy I can read! by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      Apparently still not showing much judgment in whether to run a story.

      It's not really a folding screen anyway like flexible paper. It uses two borderless screens connected with a thin hinge. If you're going to show off a render, might as well make the panel itself fold.

  13. old news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it's the first time it happens to me:

    a tech news was first in my local daily newspaper and only 2 days later on /.

  14. Re:Patents more dangerous than once thought by somersault · · Score: 1

    the source for creative and innovative things will no longer be the U.S

    Yeah, because there was a time when the only place where humans were able to be creative and innovative was the US. That's not even a slightly bigoted opinion.

    --
    which is totally what she said
  15. Dibs! by geekoid · · Score: 1

    http://harns.blogspot.com/2008/07/additional-smartphone-screen.html

    I've been talking about fold out screens for years. Why laptops don't have two thin screens is beyond me. All the technology is there.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:Dibs! by rbanffy · · Score: 1

      "Why laptops don't have two thin screens is beyond me"

      Maybe because most people would prefer a lighter laptop to a dual-screen one. You know they design this things for the majority of its public, right? They need to make a lot of them to turn a profit.

    2. Re:Dibs! by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Since many corporations are moving to laptops on the desktop, and more ad more people are buying laptops for the home becasue they want something small and reasonably quite.

      If you don't do high end gaming, and don't care about updating your hardware, the laptop is the logical choice. This applies to most people.
      In fact, many new laptops can play most games, like WoW, just fine.

      Certainly there is a power issue for portability use, but if you only power the screen when the second screen is unfolded, that's not a real issue either.
      This leaves us with weight. Is another 16 Oz worth have a second screen?

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  16. Entropy, baby. Entropy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why laptops don't have two thin screens is beyond me.

    High complexity + moving parts = low durability, yielding an increase in fraudulent warranty claims.

    1. Re:Entropy, baby. Entropy. by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Here is some help:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy

      Entropy doesn't apply here.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    2. Re:Entropy, baby. Entropy. by lubricated · · Score: 1

      wouldn't these be just regular non fraudulent warranty claims caused by a shoddy product?

      --
      It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
    3. Re:Entropy, baby. Entropy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure it does. Entropy only increases. Wear only increases. More moving parts means more points of failure given the same amount of time passed.

  17. And it's runs firefox! by uglydog · · Score: 1

    Check out slide 6. Let me tell you, I'm excited.

  18. Dashed hopes by Aceticon · · Score: 4, Informative

    I was hopping for something like a roll-up OLED screen with in a bendable plastic base.

    Instead what we get is basically 2 traditional color LCD screens mounted on a swivel.

    Nothing to see here ....

    1. Re:Dashed hopes by EkriirkE · · Score: 1

      It's not even seamless. WTF?

      move along...

      --
      from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
      to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
    2. Re:Dashed hopes by ascari · · Score: 1

      So it's a flop-phone??

  19. Not really a breakthrough by Aceticon · · Score: 1

    I was hopping for something like a roll-up OLED screen with a bendable plastic base.

    Instead what we get is basically 2 traditional color LCD screens mounted on a swivel.

    Nothing to see here ....

  20. Folding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a fucking mockup, and it's not folding. Looks like this inexistent phone would have two screens, one sliding over the other. There's probably a very visible line between those two half-screens.

  21. Re:Patents more dangerous than once thought by erroneus · · Score: 1

    I meant to say that as far as what we have in the U.S. is concerned. Most of the stuff we enjoy in the U.S. is, in fact, of U.S. origin or invention. It isn't all that bigoted at all. But I wouldn't go into "who invented paper or the wheel" but I would assert that things like modern electronics and computing devices owe their creative origins the the U.S. as are other devices and implementations of related and connected technologies. Philips, in my opinion, created the CD and that is not a U.S. company... so that is a great example to the contrary, but generally speaking, I think that my assertion that includes "most" (which is not "all") is still accurate... or at least has been accurate with respect to U.S. consumers. Things are shifting and that was the point of my previously -1 moderated comment.

  22. That looks kind of nice... by imakemusic · · Score: 1

    but then so did my Iriver T7 Volcano in the publicity shots and I could still make something more attractive out of blu-tac.

    --
    Brain surgery - it's not rocket science!
  23. Not until... by SrWebDeveloper · · Score: 1

    Sliding screens? Yawn. I'll be impressed when they integrate a 3D hologram to project content on a PDA like that. If CNN can do it, as they demonstrated in interviews during election coverage, and Princess Leia can do it while on the run and struggling against the Empire... I mean what's the holdup?

    1. Re:Not until... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I want my flux capacitor with 1.21 jiggawatts already!

  24. Earth Final Conflict Phone by earlymon · · Score: 1

    I don't know anyone who watched the series (before it went downhill and we all stopped...) Earth: Final Conflict and didn't want one of those phone/PDAs. If you're unfamiliar, there was an interesting announcement to something similar much earlier this year: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=1410 - it includes a photo of the EFC phone (opened) and acknowledges Gibson.

    The fictional EFC phone still outclasses anything I've seen dreamt-up to date.

    I couldn't find a youtube of the EFC phone in use - but for EFC early-series (or music or sci-fi) fans, I found this and want to share it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3WqQfTVlTc

    --
    Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
  25. Hmm by mojosmackwit · · Score: 1

    "What looks like a break is actually a software taskbar similar to the one at the bottom of a PC screen. But the taskbar on the smartphone screen can be moved so the whole screen can be used for pictures, video or anything else."

    Ok...so the entire story is about a screen that can be folded without having a break, and the only picture provided of said screen contains a line that had to be excused...?

  26. my phone screen already folds... by Tastecicles · · Score: 1

    ...unfortunately it doesn't show anything.

    --
    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
  27. nouns vs. verbs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What does it mean for a before to be interstitial? Perhaps submitter meant "interstice".

  28. Re:Earth Final Conflict Phone by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

    It's what I first thought of when seeing the story. A pity the device in Earth: Final Conflict was given such a mundane name as "a Global" without even a trademarkable variation on the spelling to allow it to be more easily referenced in popular and technical cultures. "Earth: Final Conflict Global" also doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as, say, "Star Trek Communicator"; the series-as-adjective is too long and cumbersome to say, and even fans might not pick up on "EFC Global".

    The fictional EFC phone still outclasses anything I've seen dreamt-up to date.

    Still, holding a camera on yourself, even with image stabilization software built-in, isn't something most people would want to do in a portable videophone, especially without visual feedback that you're framing yourself properly. And then there's the 100% speakerphone and optical eavesdropping aspects.

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?