Motorola on the Razr's Folding Screen: 'Bumps and Lumps Are Normal' (theverge.com) 39
Last week, Motorola's Razr handset went on sale for $1499. Alongside the pre-order launch, Motorola has posted a series of videos on its YouTube channel that are somewhere between brief ads and how-tos for the folding phone. And as you might have guessed from the headline, "Caring for razr" caught The Verge's eye. From the report: In it, Motorola runs through the basics of what you need to know if you have a phone with a plastic folding screen. We thought we knew most of them already based on our experience with the Galaxy Fold, but Motorola's video has one more thing to think about: "Screen is made to bend; bumps and lumps are normal." With the Galaxy Fold, "bumps and lumps" ended up being the first harbingers of a catastrophic screen failure on our review unit. Apparently that's not going to be the case with the Razr. There are lots of ways to build a hinge for a folding plastic screen, and Motorola apparently opted for a design that allows for a little more flex than the original Fold design did. It's also able to close completely flat. Because of that plastic material, the screen is likely to have some kind of crease -- though we weren't really able to see much of one in our original hands-on. We'll obviously need to review the phone in full before we can say ourselves whether the screen has a notable crease, bumps, or lumps.
For $1500... (Score:4, Insightful)
...one would expect to not find a manufacturer trying to pass off shitty screen defects as "normal".
Re:For $1500... (Score:5, Insightful)
There is a limit to material science.
When something bends their is either compression, expansion or both to a material. As well due to weather and tempature conditions materials will contract and expand. Unless you really want your device to fail in under a year, you should expect some imperfections.
while $1.5k is a lot for a phone (why I am not getting one) it is still too cheap for a flawless surface.
If you want to pay $15k for the phone, then you should expect perfection.
Re:For $1500... (Score:5, Interesting)
Which is a good argument for why folding screens aren't ready for market.
If you really want the folding huge screen effect there are better ways to achieve it anyways. Simply two screens with a clever hinge could do the same thing while being better, cheaper and more robust. bezel-less screens are available today.
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Apparently they are working on bendable Gorilla Glass. That should solve most of the issues.
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You can't expect companies to perfect technology before releasing it to market. They need to release imperfect interim versions to help recoup their R&D costs, so
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You there! Take your logic and calm rationality elsewhere!
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Still isn't. The deal was in the early days you could have crappy TN screens that had poor contrast and lots of hosting, or a nice TFT screen that good contrast, good colors and no g
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These folding screens aren't very superior to what we have right now so people who buy them will be far less tolerant of issues.
Sure they are. They give you a large screen but fit in a small pocket. If that's what you need, then they're definitely superior, and you'll likely be happy tolerate some small issues. My wife is interested in the new Razr because women's clothes have ridiculously small pockets, but she likes large phone screens, and this promises to provide both.
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There are women's clothes with big pockets, but they aren't fashionable, and women would rather be in fashion than have big pockets. Plus, it gives them something to blame the patriarchy for while they do it to themselves. No man ever said "that woman is gorgeous, but her pockets are too big"
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When the selling point of the product is that the screen is flexible, one should expect the screen to flex. The thinner and floppier they can make it, the less it will be damaged by repeated bending. It will obviously not have the aesthetics of a slab of rigid glass because it isn't one.
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one would expect
I still don't have an expectation that repeatedly folding a electronic display device is going to end well. In fact, I can't think of anything less flexible than cloth that I expect to survive more than a small number of folding operations with no visible effect.
So my plan is to let the suc^H early adopters do the in field Q&A with their disposable income until the designers and manufacturers somehow overcome the laws of thermodynamics.
Re:For $1500... (Score:4, Insightful)
You can't tell that it's a "shitty screen" until you've actually used it.
Reports I've read is that the fold is findable, but not really intrusive when you're not specifically looking for it. However that's something that depends on how OCD you are about such stuff. That's what makes design hard; people's emotional reaction to things is highly subjective.
Suppose you "needed" a screen that size, and you also "needed" it to fit in your pocket. Objectively speaking a detectable but non-interfering fold would be a reasonable compromise. Unfortunately it just might also drive you crazy.
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Reports I've read is that the fold is findable, but not really intrusive when you're not specifically looking for it.
I don't own a smart phone. When I look at other peoples' phones, all I can see is a massive smear of fingerprints and other grime. They are truly disgusting.
I find it amazing that anything on the screen could be visible when specifically looking at it.
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Don't look under the keycaps on your keyboard then.
Who will have the first $5,000 phone? (Score:1)
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1500$ for a plastic screen (Score:2)
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But worse, is that it only has a Snapdragon 710 cpu.
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Looking at ti wrong (Score:1)
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Am I the only one hearing Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice saying, "It's not a tumor"?
Perhaps... (Score:3)
Booo (Score:2)
Hard pass (Score:3)
Who is paying $1500 for a screen that's expected to develop a crease down the middle?
Maybe in a few years this will be ready for prime time. As it stands, nevermind the early adopter tax---I wouldn't buy it as an equivalently priced option.
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more money than sense.
Not really. I expect most of them will finance these devices. So NO money and no sense. Now pay the interest.
Instead of being all kewl and hip... (Score:3)
...instead of being all kewl and hip, why not just make a new razr, like the old razr, with a screen on top for display, and another screen in bottom replacing the number pad of the original?
Man I miss that phone. EL wire around the keys. Keyboard made from tempered steel. Solid pin-and-barrel hinge.
Why try to fold something (a screen) which really has no earthly intention of folding? Besides trying to be alllll kewl n' shit.
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They should have brought back the RAZR like the old RAZR but thicker so it could have more battery. But instead they abused the name by using it for a device with gross imperfections.
Moto is dead to me anyway because they appear to not be bringing out Android 10 for my X4 Android one edition, which was supposed to have guaranteed updates. My next phone will likely be a Xiaomi. Thank fuck I didn't pay full price for this phone or I'd really feel stupid. /Former owner of V300, V500, V555, two classic RAZRs, E
Sounds familiar (Score:2)
A blast from the past: "Broken pixels are normal for you new flat-screen monitor."
Bumps and lumps are not normal (Score:2)
I have two original Razr's... (Score:1)
will the new Razr fit in my old belt clips?