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Cellphones Displays Patents Technology

Samsung Wants To Bring Back the Flip Phone With Bendable Screens 59

Posted by Soulskill from the just-crazy-enough-to-work dept.
redletterdave writes: A new patent filed last April but published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month suggests Samsung might be working on a smartphone that can bend in half like a flip phone. The biggest problem, according to the patent, is all the strain that accumulates by continually folding the display, or keeping the display folded for a long period of time, which can result in deformations and imperfections, Samsung notes. But Samsung's patent also describes how the phone could keep track of how long it's been in the folded and unfolded states, so as to alert the user of any strain that needs to be relieved. This could help extend the lifetime of the phone and its display.
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Samsung Wants To Bring Back the Flip Phone With Bendable Screens More

Samsung Wants To Bring Back the Flip Phone With Bendable Screens

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  • A solution in search of a problem (Score:5, Insightful)

    by the grace of R'hllor ( 530051 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @01:16PM (#50224499)

    A problem we've solved already. Just use a hinge and two screens. Use code to stitch them into a logical entity. Bezels can be small, on one side.

    I have a feeling it's just patent-troll-defense.

  • You mean Samsung would know when to tell the phone "not" to open as per their planned obsolescence policy.

    • Re:"This could help extend the lifetime of the pho (Score:4, Interesting)

      by The-Ixian ( 168184 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @01:34PM (#50224637)

      This assumes some kind of software controlled physical locking mechanism wouldn't it?

      Not really sure how useful a physical locking mechanism would be on such a small device... It makes me think of the little lock on children's diaries... utterly pointless against a determined attacker with physical access.

      If Samsung wanted to enforce obsolescence in a dastardly way, it could do it a lot easier by simply bricking the phone through a software mechanism.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by lgw ( 121541 )

      You mean Samsung would know when to tell the phone "not" to open as per their planned obsolescence policy.

      Hey, now, this isn't Sony [j-cast.com] we're talking about. ("Sony timer" was a common phrase in Japan for a few years, with a strong urban legend that actual timers were built in to pop the day the warrantee expired. My favorite urban legend was that Sony employees carried a remote that could expire all your Sony timers early if you annoyed them.)

  • Just what I want... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31, 2015 @01:25PM (#50224567)

    A phone that nags me because it's under stress.

    Get a fucking shrink like the rest of us.

  • Warranty Denied (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "But Samsung's patent also describes how the phone could keep track of how long it's been in the folded and unfolded states, so as to alert the user of any strain that needs to be relieved."

    So sorry, your RMA request is denied due to error 666: Folding counter too large. Please enable SMARTS on your new phone.

  • Execution on this sort of thing is why Samsung shares dropped.

  • This revolutionary touchscreen appears to be foldable in exactly the same way that a standard modern-day touchscreen is foldable. You can fold it, but it won't really work afterwards.

  • Hardware QWERTY keyboard. This is the only reason why I haven't upgraded from my Epic 4G.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Hydrian ( 183536 )

      I totally second this. If you type a lot with your smartphone, a physical keyboard is invaluable. If you use a slider style, you don't have to worry about that always fragile hinge and not sacrifice any screen size for the keyboard. Yea, your going to add some weight and thickness to the phone. But in my opinion, phones have become too light and thin. They always feel like they are going to slip out of my hands unless I put some type to tacky material/case on them.

    • And you've never tried typing with any swipe keyboard? Android's built-in keyboard lets you swipe and spell and is faster than I've ever been able to get with a physical keyboard. And that's one-handed operation.

  • Kirk to Enterprise.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by tekrat ( 242117 ) on Friday July 31, 2015 @01:47PM (#50224749) Homepage Journal

    Of course the flip phone is coming back, they are even in use in the 23rd century! I have seen the historical documents!

    • Of course the flip phone is coming back, they are even in use in the 23rd century! I have seen the historical documents!

      I'm sure it will make a comeback. Never give up! Never surrender!

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • ...Why does every new phone have to be a testament to landfill management?

      It's the economy stupid! How are we going to keep the shareholders in Guccis and Beemers unless we keep dumping non-renewable resources into landfill and robbing future generations of their chance at a decent life on Earth?

    • They're all in search of the next big thing. Smartphones, right now, have hit a plateau. You can tweak some feature sets here and there such as adding some additional CPU power/memory/battery life, but overall pretty much any smartphone is the same as any other smartphone. If a phone manufacturer comes out with a "more power" smartphone, all it will take is their rivals packing more power into THEIR next product to dethrone the "more power" phone. So phone manufacturers are resorting to gimmicks to get

    • This is especially true for these "flagship" phones. Give me something really impressive rather than some gimmick. I think that Nokia was the only one who got anything close to this wit their 42 megapixel camera on a phone. Everybody else is just making it thinner or adding gimmicks like the edge screen that are fun for the first 10 minutes and then eventually don't actually provide any useful features.

      How about sticking an actually actual SSD [wikipedia.org] into a phone. Those things are getting pretty small. It would be

    • Why cant phone manufacturers provide a product with features people actually want? a charger that doesnt change every year, removable storage, replaceable battery, support for multiple sims?

      They do already. My phone (Cubot GT72E) has all that, and it was only $60 new.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      Why cant phone manufacturers provide a product with features people actually want? a charger that doesnt change every year, removable storage, replaceable battery, support for multiple sims?

      Those are as common as pimples at a school dance. If you can't find a phone with those features, you haven't been looking.

  • This is brilliant! All the kids will want one so they, too, may brag about how long they've been able to keep their pet^H^H^H cell phone healthy and alive.

  • Having recently dealt with Samsung on a warranty issue, I promise I won't be an early adopter of anything they push out. Especially first gen.

    • I am coming to realize that with the smart TV I bought about a year ago.

      Amazon and Netflix keep breaking causing me to update the TV and the apps pretty regularly.

      Not exactly a harsh criticism of Samsung but I have never seemed to have this issue with my Roku on the other TV.

  • I'm waiting for Apple to accuse them of stealing this idea from them. Their late 80s video "Knowledge Navigator" constitutes copyright on the idea, right? \

  • How about giving me a phone that makes it through a full day or two of real world use without running out of juice? Bonus points if I can actually make a decent quality phone call where both parties easily hear each other.

  • Seriously?

    Flip phones reduce the joy of having my family and friends butt dial me from their cars, from a party, and oh so many other events.

    Save the butt dial!

  • I'll buy one.

    If they flip it the other way. I want a bigger screen when I choose to unfold it that way.

  • It had excellent fidelity (loud too, can use while window was open), large tactile buttons for me to dial numbers without taking my eyes off the road. Though it considered now as big, heavy, and scary (Motorola flip phone with GTE wireless embellishment).

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