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Comment by bee_rider | Hacker News Reader

I was really surprised that all the cellphone manufacturers went with flip phones, rather than roll-out phones like a miniaturized version of this.

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I’d honestly love a slap bracelet phone that I could wear on my wrist.

This seems doable but you're going to lose like half of the viewable screen area just to view angle geometry.

Apple watch seems to be the best solution here most likely

Right but that's assuming you'd be consuming content while the device is rolled up. I like the idea simply for portability - I don't have a large phone primarily because it's awkward to stick it in my pockets.

Rolling your wrist to scroll and just accepting the poor visibility on part on the screen could still be pretty good.

Not the same thing but the Apple Watch has an LTE model that can allow you to leave our phone at home.

I think they're still struggling with durability. I think it's likely we'll see rollable phone screens of sorts within a few years though. A rollable screen could just be an extension screen that could be pulled out when needing more screenspace

I'm trying to think of where I've seen this in TV and movies. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (IIRC) and there was a TV show where some Asian man had a plasma gun embedded in his wrist or something. Aliens were involved, and their cell phones all had roll up screens.

That's basically an extension of how current bendable screens work, right? Just with the whole thing bending instead of just the middle.

Rollable means there's less space for other components like battery, SoC, antenna, and camera. Currently foldable is the only viable option to have a tablet on my pocket until space is not matter. Oppo have a concept model. https://www.oppo.com/en/smartphones/oppo-x-2021/

Less bending overall results in less failures?

Also it would be hard to talk on a floppy phone

Make it so it has no speaker or microphone, and then you don't have that problem and can sell more wireless earbuds.

Tangentially, you also solve a security/privacy concern.

Heck, make the band a wireless display and solar/kinetic charger and you can mind the guts to a wirelessly connected device that never leaves your pocket.

> Tangentially, you also solve a security/privacy concern.

You also introduce/force a security/privacy concern. Bluetooth can get your device remotely hacked and it's routinely used to track you, your location, and nearby devices. It's one reason I always use phones with headphone jacks, I never have a need to enable bluetooth.

There's "more bending" in some sense because the whole thing has to bend, but it avoids the seam problem.

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