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Comment by pier25 | Hacker News Reader

Personally I don't see the attractive in dual screen devices unless we reach Westworld-like devices that are super thin and can go from phone to large tablet that can potentially replace a laptop.

Otherwise it's just a thick phone that converts to 2 phones...

In case anyone hasn't seen Westworld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3dD7jOLaes

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I'm excited for two reasons.

I find the ability to completely "close" my phone really appealing. It feels easier to ignore it, and the screens feel more protected to me.

I can also only describe the second benefit as "its like two monitors". I can watch TV on one and respond to messages/browse on another. I use a Note8+ already, so big screens for watching crap are already my preference though.

Eh I'm not too interested in multitasking on my phone. Even on my 12.9 iPad Pro multitasking is mediocre. If I want to be productive I simply go to a laptop or desktop.

As long as there is enough clearance between the two screens to add a temper glass screen protector to each.

Every phone I've had with a case, grit collects betweeen the case and the back of the phone and scratches the phone up. I can imagine the same thing happening between the two screens if folded in my pocket.

Only problem is I like messaging in portrait mode, but watching things in landscape. Kind of kills the benefit for me.

Clamshell phones let you close your phone completely, and have been around for a long time. Actually, are they still a thing?

last mainstream device i can recall in this form factor was the droid 2? I think it's been a while since a major one was released, but I could be wrong.

So Clamshell Android phones are a thing. The Freetel Mushashi is a T9-style Android phone with dual touch screens on either side.

Samsung has the Android W series phones which have a similar format.

Regarding the sibling comment, after the Droid 4 and the Motorola Photon Q, there has been a drought of physical keyboard landscape slider phones. Portrait sliders have been available for the Blackberry Priv and KeyOne/Key2, but aside from the soon-to-be-released Fxtec Pro1, not much landscape slider android phone action is going on.

Agree. I love the design behind the Westworld folding tablets. I don't see myself jumping aboard the train until we get at least a little bit closer to that form factor.

There's an interesting subtlety in Westworld devices that I didn't notice until now, though - they're insanely durable. Dust, blood, hard impacts, slamming the device closed, etc don't seem to damage or impede them at all which simply wouldn't be true of real devices. I think foldable devices are inherently more fragile than smartphones which are already too fragile IMO and thus they'll never work, but few people seem to care about that right now.

Definitely. In order for WW style tablets, I think the biggest hurdles would be material science.

It's also sci-fi and the rule of cool. If someone wanted to parody WW, then a fun scene would be the tech support at HQ. Imagine seeing main characters treating them as disposable and regularly having to pick up new ones.

Thin-film electronics would probably be the starting point. As far as I can tell, that industry is very concentrated on display, solar and "gimmick" electronics (think electronic tamper seals or marketing strategies.)

To make this device, you'd need: - A battery breakthrough (hard) - Flexible OLED and peripherals (easier) - Flexible chips (hard but optional) - High power efficiency or microfluidic cooling (hard depending on thickness.)

Depending on where you let the device be folded, if you had a small enough SoC, you could protect it from bending and hide it in the panel sections that don't have a seam. The trickier bit is raw power and thermals, which will be the bottleneck for the next few years.

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