Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/28/who-needs-foldable-smartphones.html
…
1 Like
Mugger: What is this? Why does this phone have a camera glued to it?
Bret: It’s a camera phone. Jemaine wanted one for his birthday.
Mugger [to other mugger]: Look at this. [To Bret]: Oh yeah? Where’d you get it?
Bret: I made it. It’s homemade.
Mugger: Yeah, it’s a piece of shit.
Bret: Well, how come Jemaine likes it so much?
Jemaine: You can have it
19 Likes
I literally came here to post the video of this.
Thanks for taking care of things for me.
9 Likes
I don’t doubt that LG will somehow manage to pull disappointment from the jaws of mediocrity; because a sort of drab sadness that manages to lack even compensatory utilitarian elements seems to be part of their essence these days(the last LG anyone gave a damn about was because Google was still selling unmutilated android relatively cheap before they gave up ‘nexus’ for ‘pixel’; and that one earned quite the reputation for boot looping); but I also don’t doubt that the ‘two slabs of mature technology clipped together’ approach will probably be a more flattering look after both it and its competitors have had a thousand plus cycles of opening and closing and a commensurate number of hours of ISO Standard Pocket Abrasion.
5 Likes
I feel like the guy that came up with this was watching his kid play with a Nintendo 3DS.
16 Likes
I was gonna say, congratulations LG, you’ve reinvented the 3DS.
What irks me is that this relentless need to “innovate” with useless new engineering will mean that if I’m shopping for a new phone many years from now, they’ll all have adopted some obnoxious new feature.
3 Likes
I just want a waterproof smartphone with a week of normal use per charge.
I don’t understand how this isn’t a thing.
I don’t need nfc. I don’t need a camera better than 8MP. I don’t need a forward facing camera. I don’t need proximity sensors, light sensors, stereo speakers, more invasive built in malware, any app branded with the phone’s manufacturer, wireless charging that gets alarmingly hot, or A GODDAMN THINNER PHONE.
You could double my phone’s thickness and I wouldn’t notice. You could double its thickness with battery and I’d be ecstatic.
10 Likes
@LDoBe you might like this 18,000 mah brick phone from energizer
It turns out there are actually some phones on the market with big batteries, they’re just not coming from the major manufacturers, or available in western markets.
4 Likes
Is it waterproof?
2 Likes
It’s called, “Throwing shit against the wall, and seeing what sticks”.
The US never quite got the benefit from the absolute insanity of the Asian markets. But, man. This thing is hideous, and I don’t want one, but I am glad it exists.
When I go to buy a new phone, the options almost universally are:
- iPhone clone.
- Feature phone
And nothing weird or bonkers or even all that different of a form factor. I bought a Blackberry Priv, which was worth a shot at $300 but ultimately sucked. But it was an option.
My favorite phone of all time, form-factor wise was the Nokia e90. I am a sucker for the communicator series, though. Having perfect spelling, punctuation while texting was something I used to pride myself on. If it was easier, I’d go back to it.
5 Likes
Not the first phone with this design to be honest.
1 Like
Yeah, if they can make this stupid fucking thing, they can make a phone with a proper damn keyboard.
I was just lamenting the boringness of phones the other day. A decade ago I was shopping eBay for crazy NES emulators in the form factor of a GameBoy Micro that was also (barely) a mobile phone.
1 Like
I still have my e91. Still works, although it only holds a charge for about an hour. I’d love a keyboard like that again. I never liked Blackberries.
1 Like
Sony failed with a two-screen model about a decade ago. https://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/sony-tablet-p-1044037/review
Interesting hardware, poorly thought out UI.
Classic Sony. Seems like always one or the other with them.
And now Motorola wants to come with a foldable phone, when what they need to come out with is a Razr V4 that is 4G, lets me move my SIM and SD cards from my smart phone, maybe better screens but still the thin aluminum case. Not a fan of T9 texting? Let them add voice-to-text. If they use KaiOS (which Google is backing among others) they won’t have to have as powerful of a processor which means longer battery life. Make if very reasonably priced (under $100? $200 tops) and they will sell a lot. I believe many, like me, need a durable phone for many occasions when a smartphone would be at risk.
They should look back to a couple of years ago when everyone was all aflutter over the video that showed a possible revival of the Razr V3 and act accordingly.
I have one of those credit card holder cases - debit card, credit card, ID + phone is convenient. The few times I’ve gone with a slimmer case I always feel like the phone is too light.
I prefer a clamshell over a slider, but the Galaxy O Oxygen is looking pretty interesting.
Or if you want an absolutely gigantic phone, there’s a kickstarter for something with an honest-to-god laptop keyboard in it. (I have the non-phone version already, or I’d buy it)
God, just look at it. It is gloriously huuuuuuuuuuuuuge.
2 Likes
I hadn’t seen this one, thanks! But some of those tiny Chinese Windows 10 computers that Liliputing covers, with phone tethering, has appealed to me.
