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'We're Working On Rollable Phones,' Says LG CTO (tomsguide.com) 70

Posted by BeauHD from the ready-or-not-here-they-come dept.
In a wide-ranging interview with Mark Spoonauer from Tom's Guide, CTO and president of LG Electronics, IP Park, said his company is working on both rollable and foldable smartphones, regardless of whether there's demand for them or not. Here's an excerpt from the report: Are you looking into rollable and foldable phones as well? We are exploring many different form factors for phones, including foldable and rollable. Because display technology has grown so much that it can make it into very flexible form factors. And with 5G, if the market requires much bigger screens, we'll need to fold it or roll it. So we'll explore.

A lot of people are saying the whole smartphone market has stagnated and there are even some who argue that LG should exit the business altogether. What's your reaction to that? The smartphone business is very tough because of the competition. Also because of the penetration. Everyone has a phone now, right? Everybody has a big screen, and everybody has many features that others have. I think this year could be the year of the upgrade in the smartphone industry because of 5G. 5G is going to be available this year, and people will come out with 5G phones. And 5G is different from LTE, not only because of bandwidth, but also latency. You may want to have even bigger screens on 5G phones because of the more content you can get. That could trigger different killer applications that you run on phones.
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'We're Working On Rollable Phones,' Says LG CTO More

'We're Working On Rollable Phones,' Says LG CTO

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  • why (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    why. what problem is this alleged to solve?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by blibbo ( 928752 )
      When you reinvent the wheel, you wouldn't want a rollable one?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      why. what problem is this alleged to solve?

      -

      You want the TRUTH ?

      The REAL problem is that people aren't buying new phones.

      And THAT is the REAL problem a roll-up display is meant to solve.

      As you grow older you will notice that many products are sold which are not really needed or even useful for much that matters. This is the sickness that pervades western countries. Look at all the imbeciles driving huge SUVs. A small fraction of the people who own a huge SUV actually need such vehicles. But that doesn't prevent the millions of utterly useless bags o

    • Well I would imagine latency improvements will be great for hardcore mobile gamers.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Dracos ( 107777 )

      None. Foldable and rollable phones are just the latest non-feature to get the market hyped on because the mobile space has run out of new actual features to add. Smartphones have been fundamentally identical for years, so the manufacturers are conjuring distinctiveness from nothing.

  • I want a Cell Display like on "The Expanse" (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mykepredko ( 40154 ) on Friday January 11, 2019 @09:55PM (#57948034) Homepage

    Rather than concentrate on making displays that are bigger/collapsible, what is the state of the art for getting displays that cause icons/information to appear in the air around the phone?

    Is that complete pie in the sky or is there some way to get molecules of oxygen/nitrogen in the air to fluoresce and provide information outside the area of the phone and its physical display?

    • There are some laser "hologram" technologies able to draw some simple, small linear figures in the air, but they're nowhere "mobile" sized, and it's possible that they'll never be, because physics.

      https://www.popsci.com/secret-... [popsci.com]

      https://www.sciencenews.org/ar... [sciencenews.org]

      • I think this could never be eye-safe, not even skin-safe.
        To render something in the air I guess the laser intensity must be so high that the air turns into plasma. If you put your finger where the spot is it will definitely get burned. And the light passing through the spot will damage the eye. I think that's impossible to avoid, unless maybe if the laser is focussed very strongly, meaning that it only works very close to the focussing lens.
      • Oh, nevermind, they found a less crazy way :) They move a particle with an optical trap. This works with pretty low intensities, though the motion speed and acceleration of the particle are limited

        • Read both articles, they're different technologies. The first one does use plasma only, without a moving particle. They tested it on leather, and they found that femtosecond laser bursts didn't burn it and was safe. Of course I wouldn't try projecting it on eyes, but that's fairly common advice wherever lasers are involved.

          • Ok thanks, that looks interesting. Well, probably the laser is ablating the skin and leather pretty slowly. i think it is impossible that it could be below the damage threshold of skin or leather, unless it is reflected near 100%. This also seems impossible though, since these intensities lead to multi photon absorption.
            My point is, it could be ok in a controlled environment, but such "dangerous" things won't get permission for consumer devices nowadays. Laser safety rules are pretty strict. The optical tr

    • Also, these.

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=... [youtube.com]

      The "projection on a fan" thing might be the most viable to be embedded in a phone.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's probably pie in the sky I'm afraid.

      The problem is that there is no way to control the air molecules. You can't bounce light off them, you can't heat them in any kind of controlled manner good enough to make an image.

      A more practical option is contact lenses with displays in them and some kind of wireless link to the phone. Can you imagine the security nightmare it would be though.

    • Why? Every time I see something like this (or transparent monitors, see "Minority Report") I think with all the concerns about privacy why would anyone ever want a device (phone or monitor) that allows everyone around them to see what they're doing? Besides the fact viewing transparent objects against bright backgrounds would be a usability nightmare.

  • Completely missing the market (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fred6666 ( 4718031 ) on Friday January 11, 2019 @09:58PM (#57948044)

    I think this year could be the year of the upgrade in the smartphone industry because of 5G. 5G is going to be available this year, and people will come out with 5G phones. And 5G is different from LTE, not only because of bandwidth, but also latency. You may want to have even bigger screens on 5G phones because of the more content you can get. That could trigger different killer applications that you run on phones.

    I know this is BS speak (marketing) but still, almost everything is wrong in that statement.
    First of all, most people won't care about 5G and won't upgrade until forced to (new phones will be 5G, and old phones will break or become too slow at some point). Just like when going from 3G to 4G, except that it is going to be even worse since the added bandwith isn't as useful.
    5G definately won't require or even benefit from bigger screens. Altough he's right that phone screens keep getting bigger every year, but this has nothing to do with 5G. And finally, there won't be any killer 5G application, especially not this year.
    The first 5G phones are probably going to suck (expensive, poor battery life, non-existing networks) anyways.

    • Re:Completely missing the market (Score:4, Interesting)

      by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Friday January 11, 2019 @10:14PM (#57948092) Journal
      I tend to agree with all that: 5G could turn out like 4k televisions: the tech is there, prices are dropping and people are buying it... but the vast majority of people still do not have a compelling reason to select devices that support the tech, other than bragging rights.

      That idea is supported by the statement that the smartphone market has stagnated. People do not upgrade as often as they used to. And I suspect rollable phones and 5G are not going to change that. But it’s silly to think that’s a reason to exit the smartphone market. It is however a reason to rethink your value proposition: instead of thinking about what features you can keep adding that will make customers upgrade their phones every 2-3 years, think about what you can do to make consumers select your phone to use for the next 5-7 years.

      • think about what you can do to make consumers select your phone to use for the next 5-7 years.

        Headphone Jack
        Thicker case to hold a larger, user replaceable battery
        Fi compatibility
        microSD card slot
        Two USB-C ports. One for charging, one for other stuff.

        • think about what you can do to make consumers select your phone to use for the next 5-7 years.

          Headphone Jack Thicker case to hold a larger, user replaceable battery Fi compatibility microSD card slot Two USB-C ports. One for charging, one for other stuff.

          All out of keeping 1/10th of 1 percent of the populous happy. Good luck.

    • Not many people are going to want to stream 4K over a cell phone plan to a display of any size unless the data plan prices change dramatically. I'm not sure 5g is even going to be that great, it's almost entirely line of sight only. Even with beam forming it uses a ton of power at high bandwidth which only makes current battery limitations worse.

  • Finally! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Friday January 11, 2019 @10:08PM (#57948072)
    Thank god someone finally realized the problem with today's phones is they are all still to thick! Who needs a reasonable replaceable battery, a headphone jack, or even a functional antenna? I'm not sure I can handle 5g as my doctor told me people with my conditions should avoid anything over 2g. Please, please, please tell me they cost at least 1500 USD and I'm sold anyway. /s

    • Thank god someone finally realized the problem with today's phones is they are all still to thick! Who needs a reasonable replaceable battery, a headphone jack, or even a functional antenna?

      Dood! Look outside - those damn teenagers are on your lawn again. Go yell at them real good.

  • Same pie in the sky bullcrap (Score:3)

    by OYAHHH ( 322809 ) on Friday January 11, 2019 @10:13PM (#57948090)

    that has been being pushed for as long as I have been alive, which has been a while.

    What's the point? I don't want a roll-up phone. I want a phone that is rigid and goes into my shirt pocket without significant effort.

    Anything else and I will not buy it. That means too big, too small, and too flippy floppy.

    • What's the point? I don't want a roll-up phone. I want a phone that is rigid and goes into my shirt pocket without significant effort.

      I want a phone that I unroll like a Roman scroll. I just think that would be so cool.

      Or a phone that can roll up into the bill of my trucker's cap that I can roll down like a window shade in front of my eyes.

      I could sit here and probably think of a hundred cool uses for roll-up phones, but I'll have to be a little bit drunker. Give me half an hour and I'll get on that.

      • I want a phone that I unroll like a Roman scroll. I just think that would be so cool.

        Or a phone that can roll up into the bill of my trucker's cap that I can roll down like a window shade in front of my eyes.

        I could sit here and probably think of a hundred cool uses for roll-up phones, but I'll have to be a little bit drunker. Give me half an hour and I'll get on that.

        Pornhub called - they have some interesting ideas for roll up screens and things.

    • You don't know what you want until they make it.

      Because you won't know what the tech lets you do until they make it.

      Consider the possibility that the rollup phone will have velcro on the back and stick to the outside of your clothing. Suddenly women can have their phone even when the fashion police won't give them pockets.

      Or a cell phone that literally sticks to your skin - put it on your hand/jaw, etc.

      The innovation is not the roll up, that the technology. The innovation comes after they create the roll

  • Well that's mighty nice of them...

  • Features no one wants. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Stuff no one asked for, with no market, developed at enormous expense.

  • Good with fruit filling or for snorting coke - not much else.

  • You may want to have even bigger screens on 5G phones because of the more content you can get. That could trigger different killer applications that you run on phones. Seriously? We didn't bother to get 6 or 8 inch smartphones back in the day because LTE can't fill such huge screen with enough information? Mmokay.
  • What I'd personally love to have is a Victorinox smartphone with built-in can opener, bottle opener, corkscrew, knife, fork, scissors and saw.

  • My flip-phone did that for a decade. Replaceable battery too.

    But I guess that's the problem.

    Here's an idea...let's put more cameras on them. Everyone needs more selfie cameras.

  • That could trigger different killer applications that you run on phones.

    I want my phone to be a thin client that streams 1080p video from a cloud computing cluster whenever I wake it. All my presses can be sent over the network, it's processed, and the video is sent back. It's the future of cell phone privacy and performance! /s

  • They've had rollable phones [dhgate.com] since the 80s.
  • You can roll you phone into a straw for boba tea or coke.
  • This is a solution looking for a problem. There is nothing wrong with the way smartphones currently operate and I see no need for a smartphone that you can roll-up or fold. The bottom line is that we've passed peak smartphone and everyone involved in this sector of electronics is desperately searching for new sources of growth where there is simply none to be had. I am not about to fork over the kinds of money that an electronics company would want for such a gadget anyway. As it is, I refuse to pay more th

  • Everyone's going off about foldable/rollable phones. Aside from the fact that that should prevent some types of crush/bend damage (sitting down with your phone in your back pocket at a weird angle), I'm not sure how much value is there.

    OTOH, I do feel like LG is really underrated when it comes to phones generally. Samsung gets all the limelight (so much so that I've had to explain/clarify to a few folks that my Android phone is the same as their "Samsung" when it comes to being an alternative to Apple), but

  • or are you just happy to see me?

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