Huawei’s Mate X foldable went on sale for the first time in China yesterday. And it was sold out in less than a minute. But looks like the company is already eyeing at different foldable designs, including ones like the Motorola Razr flip folding design. Today, Huawei’s new patent was published by WIPO revealing its interest in vertical folding smartphones.

The patent, registered by HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO. LTD and published in the Hague Bulletin no. 46/2019 reveals a vertical folding design patent by Huawei with at least three cameras at the back. The phone will have a single display on the inside that folds with the help of a hinge. However, the folding position is not exactly at the center which leaves a small part of the display exposed even when it’s completely folded. This is actually a very interesting take on the flip foldable design as it eliminates the need for a secondary display on the outside.

We can’t see any cameras on the flexible display side of the phone, but there are three sensors at the back placed in a vertical arrangement. There’s are some unidentified components below the flash in the camera setup. The design also reveals the buttons are located on the right side.

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Editor’s Pick: Huawei Mate Xs: A Mate X powered by the Kirin 990 5G; arrives March 2020

A couple of days back, we reported that Xiaomi had patented a Razr-style flip foldable smartphone. However, Huawei’s take on the vertical folding design looks a lot more minimalistic and refined than Xiaomi. Of course, at this point in time, these are just patents, and we are not even sure whether these two companies are actually working on a vertically folding flip phone.

So for now, Motorola Razr is your best bet at a flip folding design. However, we do hope other companies join the party very soon as Razr’s average internals leaves users wanting for more.

UP NEXT: World’s first foldable PC and Motorola Razr showcased at Tech World 2019 in China

(Source: WIPO bulletin, Via)

The post Huawei’s Razr-style flip foldable patent design is Fresh & Minimalistic appeared first on Gizmochina.

The Motorola Razr is the third commercial foldable smartphone in the market from an established tech company. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is already available for purchase across the globe, and the Huawei Mate X went on sale in China today. Now, the Motorola Razr is here to challenge these two foldable smartphones, with a unique design. Instead of adopting a form factor that transforms your regular-sized smartphone into a tablet, the Motorola Razr makes your regular smartphone a lot more compact by folding it in half.

The Razr 2019’s design is inspired by the iconic Razr v3 clamshell smartphone from the 2000s. However, the new model gets rid of the physical keyboard and brings an all-screen design on the inside, featuring a flexible pOLED display panel. This enables the phone to transform from a regular-sized smartphone into something as compact as the Nokia 110 when folded in half.

But do we really need a super compact smartphone like the Motorola Razr? Especially when it’s only half a phone, literally, with its less than impressive hardware?

A lot less phone at $1500.

Today’s smartphones pack in a lot of features in an incredibly tight space. So if you are going to add some cool new tech without increasing its size, some features have to be axed.

First, a foldable flip design divides a regular-sized smartphone into two sections for hardware. The manufacturer has to work with these two sections to fit in the components. Not to mention, it will need a robust hinge design, as seen in the Motorola Razr, which will further take up some precious space. So you are left with limited space for essential hardware like processor, battery, and even cameras.

Editor’s Pick: Xiaomi patents Motorola Razr-like foldable phone

Now let’s take a closer look at the Motorola Razr.

The phone features an incredibly tall form factor (172 x 72 x 6.9mm). However, some space is taken up by the hinge at the center. So it’s not surprising that the Razr packs in a below-average 2510mAh battery. That’s less than what Pixel 4 brings to the table and do you recall how terrible its battery life is?
You may argue that the 2.7-inch small display upfront will help in conserving this battery but what’s the use of a foldable phone if you are always afraid to use its larger sized display?

Now let’s take a look at its camera setup. It has a 16MP f/1.7 primary sensor above the secondary OLED panel and a 5MP secondary sensor on the flexible display’s notch. While the 16MP single sensor may turn out to be good, you are still missing out on major camera features like telephoto, wide-angle, and even macro, which have become standard among flagships of 2019. For a phone that costs $1500, this camera setup lacks a lot of important features.
Also, you have to settle for a decent but still mid-range Snapdragon 710 chip. The SD710 usually powers smartphones that cost only about a third of the Razr’s selling price. Ideally, you would have expected something like the Snapdragon 855 inside such an expensive device. And the phone doesn’t impress us in its software department either. It will come with the old Android 9 Pie when it ships in January 2020!

I agree that the Motorola Razr looks cool. If it was any cheaper, I would have probably thought about getting one, despite its hardware limitations. The flip design makes it one of the coolest smartphones of 2019. However, when I’m paying $1500, I would definitely expect top-end hardware as well. After all, a smartphone is not just defined by its design.

So despite the innovative hinge design (which is really cool btw) on the Motorola Razr, you have to settle for a limited camera experience, terrible battery life, and an average CPU if you are going to get the phone.

Are these sacrifices worth the foldable flip design?

I don’t think so.

And when you have competitors like the Galaxy Fold that features top of the line hardware, including fantastic battery life and powerful camera performance, it makes you think whether it’s a good decision to spend $1500 on the Motorola Razr. If you want a compact yet powerful smartphone, get the S10e. Or if you want a foldable, it’s probably a good idea to spend a little more and get the Galaxy Fold.

What are your thoughts?

UP NEXT: Xiaomi patents foldable phone with pop-up penta-camera

The post Opinion: Motorola Razr is a cool flip phone, but an inferior 2020 smartphone appeared first on Gizmochina.

At the Samsung Developer Conference yesterday, Samsung showed off a new vertical folding smartphone concept. This was quite different than the horizontal folding designs we have seen before, like on Galaxy Fold and the Mate X. The new design transforms a regular bar smartphone into a clamshell phone, allowing you to fold it in the middle, just like a flip phone. The teaser kind of confirms what we have in store for us in the coming months.

Pioneering foldable technology, to open up innovative user experiences. #SDC19 #SamsungEvent Learn more: https://t.co/DiQbEBKh4H pic.twitter.com/NQ6mHXTLo2

— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) October 29, 2019

This is not the first time we are hearing about Samsung’s clamshell-type folding design. And if you recall, a few weeks back, a poster for the Samsung W20 5G (W2020) was spotted at an event, which revealed it would have a foldable design. The ‘W’ series is the company’s premium flip phone lineup that’s traditionally launched in China. But it looks like the update to the ‘W’ series will feature a foldable screen. An old report said that the phone will have a 6.7-inch foldable screen and the company will start sourcing components from November this year.

Samsung's second foldable phone will be the Galaxy W20 5G, a "flip phone."
Someone caught its preheating poster at the exhibition. pic.twitter.com/KEMaSoQvJ6

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) September 16, 2019

Another report reveals that Samsung will use two batteries inside the upcoming flip-type foldable. One will feature a capacity of 900mAh while there’ll be another one featuring a larger capacity of unknown size. Galaxyclub.nl adds that this two-battery design of unequal sizes would be ideal for a phone with a foldable design like the Motorola RAZR.

In case you missed, Motorola is likely to reveal its first foldable at the November event and it could feature a RAZR-like foldable design.

UP NEXT: Patent reveals Samsung’s foldable phone with a clamshell design

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