The Samsung Galaxy S4 Is Completely Amazing and Utterly Boring

wired.com

It is, just like every other phone will be this year and next. Let's face it, the form factor is basically tapped out - there's only so many ways you can deliver a glass slab and right now Samsung will sell you a glass slab from 3" to 10", with every inch in between covered. The glass slabs get predictable hardware improvements (they all have the same innards too), so software touches are the only exciting thing left. In Samsung's case, you have to wait to Google IO for that.

Personally, I think foldable dual-screen phones will be the next revolution in the glass slab form factor, but it doesn't seem like they'll be shipping this year or next. I have both a 7" tablet and a 4.x" phone and I think it's pretty silly that they're separate devices. Imagine the GS4, with a single screen wrapped around the phone (like a book cover), with the ability fold it out into a near-tablet. That would be completely amazing and utterly exciting.

How would you do a foldable book style screen though? Even if you can make a screen that folds and bends how does the phone know how much you've tucked behind the phone. It's going to be awfully floppy unless you use some material that can stiffen on command. Another problem would be the thickness of the screen. If it is uniformly thick then the phone will half in thickness going from phone to tablet and if the guts of the phone are hidden underneath one half of the screen then when you lay it flat the gubbins of the phone will stop the phone/tablet from sitting flush with whatever you put it on. And the weight won't be balanced. Seems like a ton of problems just to stop one from carrying a 300gram tablet.

Samsung needs to address the look of the software. They put all this work into making Android ugly for no reason other than differentiation.

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