TCL blows everyone away with an absolutely innovative concept: it’s a smartphone, a phablet but also a tablet, and it folds but also rolls up.
Folding smartphones still represent a tiny percentage of the global phone market, but they are undoubtedly the latest frontier in terms of design, engineering challenges and new possibilities for using electronic devices. There are two form factors battling it out for success in this field: foldable (booklet or clamshell) smartphones and roll-up (papyrus) smartphones.
TCL has decided to push the envelope even further by unveiling the “Fold’n’Roll” concept, which, as the name implies, is a smartphone that folds and rolls up. Yes, this concept does both and that allows it to become the first 3-in-1 device: smartphone, phablet or tablet depending on the user’s needs and tastes. Il TCL Fold’n’Roll non è ancora in vendita ed è solo uno delle decine di concept di foldable sui quali sta lavorando l’azienda. Ma è l’ultimo che è stato presentato al pubblico ufficialmente, segno che la tecnologia che lo caratterizza è quasi matura e potrebbe presto arrivare su un prodotto di serie destinato al mercato.
TCL Fold N’Roll, come è fatto
Alla base di questo concept c’è la già nota tecnologia DragonHinge di TCL, che permette allo schermo OLED di piegarsi senza rompersi. Questo meccanismo è accoppiato ad un sistema a slitta, che permette allo schermo di scorrere e arrotolarsi.
Di conseguenza il dispositivo può avere tre dimensioni: 6,8 pollici, 8,85 pollici e 10 pollici. In the first configuration it’s a regular smartphone, in the second it’s a cross between a smartphone and a tablet (i.e. a “phablet“) and in the third it’s a full-fledged tablet.
As is always the case with foldable or roll-up smartphones, the phone’s interface changes along with the chosen shape to occupy as much space as possible and offer new possibilities to the user.
It only has one flaw
The new concept of TCL is the dream of many technology lovers, but it has a flaw and this flaw is also the testimony of how difficult it is for engineers and designers to imagine, even before realizing, a device so advanced.
The flaw is simple: the photographic compartment can neither rotate, nor roll up nor fold, so when the device is in smartphone configuration, that is the one that would be used most often, the cameras are covered. To take a picture, therefore, you have to wait until the device is opened.