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)

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Lenovo officially launched the much-awaited Motorola Razr amidst much fanfare at an event in Los Angeles, US yesterday. The company launched the device this morning at the Tech World 2019 in China. At the event, the Chinese firm also showcased the world’s first foldable PC with folding displays. If it seems familiar, it’s because that’s the very same device that was revealed as ThinkPad X1 series device earlier this year.

What’s more interesting to note however is that the vice president of BOE Group, Wei Wei, revealed on Weibo that the folding displays for the Thinkpad X1 line and Motorola Razr were both made by them. In addition, the Huawei Mate X that was officially launched earlier today also comes with a display provided by BOE.

EDITOR’S PICK: Opinion: Motorola Razr is a cool flip phone, but an inferior 2020 smartphone

This is a rather interesting bit of news, as it shows that any smartphone company could technically put out a folding phone since BOE is now an established supplier of them. It would still require a sizable amount of R&D from the company’s side to accommodate a folding design, but the possibility is there.

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. You can read the thoughts of our own Joel Joseph regarding the Motorola Razr over here.

UP NEXT: New ThinkPad X1 line is a foldable PC, will it beat the Surface Neo?

(Source)

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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

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Leading smartphone manufacturers are reportedly hard at works on their versions of these hotly-anticipated smartphones. It is hardly surprising that Motorola is jumping on the foldable, dual-screen phone bandwagon.

Nearly fifteen years ago, the American multinational telecommunications company introduced the Razr series. If rumors making the rounds online are anything to go by, Motorola is gearing up to breathe new life into the brand by launching a new foldable phone under the coveted series.
Adding fuel to the fire of rumors about a new foldable RAZR phone, XDA Developers recently confirmed that Motorola is indeed making a smartphone that will feature two displays. Citing its own sources and a slew of disclosed software features, the site claims that the device is Motorola’s revamped RAZR phone.

• Related: Motorola foldable phone coming soon confirms the company’s Vice President of Global Product

A patent that surfaced online in January this year implies the revamped Motorola RAZR will come with a second display, which will be placed outside and show various information. Regrettably, a full Android experience will be highly unlikely, the report indicated.

Motorola will restrict specific applications from accessing the secondary display. In fact, there’s hearsay that only a few pre-installed apps including Moto Camera, Moto Actions, and Moto Display will be allowed to use the secondary display initially.

Other functions of the secondary screen include ceaselessly displaying about six Quick Settings tiles. Apparently, these will comprise options like NFC, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. Customization could be made available.

On the downside, the next-gen Motorola RAZR could set you back a pretty penny. Thanks to its newfangled design, the phone will be carrying a steep price tag of about $1,500. Moreover, only 200,000 units are rumored to be manufactured. The purported phone is expected to hit the store shelves later this year via Verizon. Under the hood, the much-awaited foldable flagship phone from Motorola will pack Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855. It will reportedly ship with 8GB of RAM and offer 128GB of internal storage capacity.

Taking the steep price tag into consideration, it looks like Motorola will also be offering more premium configurations in the near future. The announcement of the new foldable phone is expected to coincide with 15th anniversary of the first Motorola RAZR smartphone.

The phone could be announced during the summer months and made available to the huge Motorola RAZR fanbase and other smartphone users either in late August or early September.

(Source: 1, Via)

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