Did the unconventional curves of the Galaxy 6 Edge fail to win you over?
- Got a limited budget to spend? These are the best cheap phones available right now
Then maybe you'll be tempted by a folding smartphone - or one you can roll up and slide into your pocket?
These are two innovtive designs that the US patent office recently granted Samsung, in its ongoing quest for "the next big thing"
The first illustrations detail a folding, malleable phone, whose functions would change depending on what state the screen was bent into.
Another outlined design is for a rolling phone that uses a thin "screen" that could be rolled up and slid into a tube.
Both designs would feasibly allow Samsung to create larger handsets (sales of large screened devices recently overtook smaller phones) whilst maintaining an aspect of portability.
The patent doesn't describe exactly what Samsung will be building these screens with: OLED, LCD and "or the like" are listed as potential options (really - "or the like" is actually in there - the patent equivalent of a *shrug*).
Both Samsung and LG have been experimenting with folding OLED screens, showing off their developments at any opportunity - they even made a concept advert for the devices (see below). If the technology proves successful, the new patent could help Samsung tie down unique control methods for foldable phones.
Until then, you'll just have to stick to ruining your jeans' pockets.
