A smart device company Oppo, in collaboration with the Japanese design studio Nendo, has created a concept for a “slide-phone” that would allow users to unfold the device into three different screen sizes.
The new smartphone project halfway between the “slider” and the model with a folding screen. Unlike Samsung and the competition, the “slide-phone” concept is designed with three foldable screens attached by hinges folding over in the same direction. The phone measures roughly the same as a credit card – 54 mm x 86 mm.
By providing users with the flexibility to change the form of the phone as needed, users may benefit from the ability to change its size to suit the occasion. When folded, the device takes no more space than a wallet, but thanks to its three hinges, the phone can unfold like an inchworm into a 7-inch screen with a unique, slender proportion.
What is innovative is therefore this multiple unfolding, since we can first reveal a first part of the screen, to display the time, notifications and other classic information. Sliding the second fold reveals 80 mm of the screen as well as the camera, which the user might notice has simultaneously moved to the top of the device.
The controls on the side of the phone are shaped like ellipses cut in half, functioning as two to four buttons, becoming small, semicircular buttons or combining into one large button as the folds slide up and down. Besides, a stylus inserted in phone allows users to expand their productivity by using the phone for work or other more complex tasks.
“In addition to playing videos with an operable side panel, the user may also enjoy the phone as a controller in game mode with panels on either side, in multitask mode with numerous apps displayed in a row, and panoramic photography mode in full screen. Further, the stylus ordinarily inserted in the phone may be taken out for use and the phone folded in half to give the user the feeling of writing in a notepad,” writes Nendo.
Although it is still a concept, all of this is feasible and we hope to see the launch soon.
