Playing your favorite Ripper Casino games using a folding phone or a folding tablet screen sounds in theory like a really cool idea … but my gut is telling me that the folding area is a “weak point” in the screen and your $2000 investment within a year or two is going to become a broken brick. Are my fears justified or is it old grandma fears of new technology talking? So I decided to take a scientific approach to answer this question.
Folding Flip Phone
A folding flip phone is a mobile device characterized by its innovative design that enables the device to fold in half, typically along a horizontal axis.
This design allows the phone to compactly transform from a traditional rectangular shape into a more pocket-friendly form factor, offering both a compact size for easy carrying and a larger screen when unfolded for enhanced usability.
The folding mechanism often employs advanced hinge technology, and the phone’s exterior and interior screens enable users to interact with the device in various configurations, providing a blend of nostalgic familiarity and modern functionality in a single device.
These are phones that fold like the old Nokia flip phones (which are still available for purchase, if you want that design).
Folding Phones
Folding phones are innovative mobile devices that incorporate flexible displays and hinge mechanisms, enabling them to seamlessly transition between a traditional smartphone form factor and a larger screen size akin to a small tablet.
By utilizing cutting-edge materials and engineering, folding phones offer users the convenience of portability while providing expanded screen real estate for enhanced productivity and immersive media consumption.
This revolutionary design allows the device to fold open and closed, effectively merging the functionalities of two devices into one, all while pushing the boundaries of technological advancement and redefining the way we interact with our smartphones.
The folding phones have a folded phone size of a regular phone, but when they are unfolded, they are the size of a tablet.
Some people believe that this category of foldable phones will replace tablets. One down side is the crease down the middle. The second one is that the aspect ratio is more like a square than a rectangle. When streaming videos (movies, TV shows, YouTube), they were all designed for rectangle screens of movie theaters, modern television, modern monitors, etc. That is why the original tablets were given a rectangle screen size instead of a square screen size.
Another major pitfall with tablets is that a lot of children’s games are designed for the large screen of tablets. I would never, in a million years, give a foldable phone or foldable flip phone to a toddler. I would never even given kids a tablet without a cover that can handle the tablet being throw across the room in a temper tantrum, or stepped on, or whatever.
Giving a child a folding screen would be the equivalent of of handing the toddler $2000 is paper money and tell them to “add paper to fire” … your $2000 is going to go up in smoke.
Do Folding Flip Phones Break Easier than Regular Phones?
Foldable phones do introduce additional complexities due to their hinge mechanisms and flexible displays, which could potentially impact their durability and screen breakage rates.
Regular mobile phones with rigid screens have been on the market for a longer time, and their durability has been refined through multiple generations. Foldable phones, on the other hand, represent a newer technology with evolving designs and materials that could impact their long-term reliability.
Laptop Screen Extenders
Laptop screen extenders are innovative devices designed to enhance productivity and user experience by providing additional screen real estate to laptops.
These compact and portable accessories connect to the laptop’s USB ports and seamlessly expand the display area, allowing users to multitask more efficiently, work on multiple applications simultaneously, and enjoy a more immersive computing environment.
With the ability to extend or mirror the laptop’s screen, these extenders cater to professionals, students, and enthusiasts who require more screen space without the bulk of traditional monitors, enabling enhanced workflow and improved content consumption on the go.
This option is obviously designed for laptop computers. But the major difference between this design and the folding phone and the folding flip phone is that the screen does not actually fold. It pulls out.
So you essentially have 3 screens stored in the laptop screen space. You pull them out, one of the right and one on the left, and you now have a laptop monitor that is 3 screens wide. It is not seamless, but it also does not have the weak bend point either.
The WESTHOD Laptop Screen Extender, Portable Monitor for Laptop FHD IPS Triple Monitor Display, Plug-Play Tri-Screen for Windows, Chrome, Mac and Switch, Work with 13”-16” Laptops. The cost is around $399.
The sales page on Amazon is kind of weird. It list “incompatible” models, but not the compatible models. It just says, “Contact us to make sure that you are buying the correct product.” I guess that it is good that they are at least warning people.
Oh, and not to state the obvious, but when you are converting a laptop from 1 screen to 3 screens … it is going to add on a lot of weight. So understand what you are buying before you buy it.
Portable Monitors
Portable monitors are compact and lightweight display devices designed for on-the-go use, allowing users to extend their screen real estate beyond the limitations of laptops or mobile devices. These monitors connect easily to laptops, smartphones, tablets, or gaming consoles, providing an additional visual workspace for improved productivity, immersive gaming experiences, or enhanced multimedia consumption.
With features like USB-C connectivity, touch screen capabilities, and adjustable stands, portable monitors offer convenience and versatility, making them ideal companions for professionals, students, travelers, and anyone seeking a portable and adaptable secondary screen solution.
These are pretty much what you think they are. You are essentially buying what looks like the screen-only part of a laptop computer. So you can plug that into your laptop for an extra screen, a tablet, a phone, etc. It comes with cables (not a Bluetooth connection).
Traditional Flip Phones
Traditional flip phones are those phones that were used back in the 1990s to early 2000s.
A traditional flip phone is a classic mobile device known for its iconic clamshell design. It features a hinged construction that allows the phone to be folded in half, protecting the screen and keypad when not in use.
When opened, the phone reveals a compact layout with a physical numeric keypad for dialing and texting, while the upper half typically hosts a small display for caller ID, notifications, and basic information. These phones were popular before the smartphone era, offering practicality and simplicity.
Despite their basic features compared to modern smartphones, traditional flip phones were prized for their durability, long battery life, and easy pocketability, making them a staple communication tool for many people.
Summary
A traditional flip phone is a classic mobile device known for its iconic clamshell design.
It features a hinged construction that allows the phone to be folded in half, protecting the screen and keypad when not in use. When opened, the phone reveals a compact layout with a physical numeric keypad for dialing and texting, while the upper half typically hosts a small display for caller ID, notifications, and basic information.
These phones were popular before the smartphone era, offering practicality and simplicity. Despite their basic features compared to modern smartphones, traditional flip phones were prized for their durability, long battery life, and easy pocketability, making them a staple communication tool for many people. In some ways I am an “old fogie”.
The flip screen does not impress me, because I see too many disadvantages and no advantages. On the other hand, the laptop screen extenders and the portable monitors do impress me. So if I was looking for more screen real estate for my traditional phone, one of those two options would be the one I would go with.
Let’s face it. Either I will make it work with a mobile phone or I want descent real screen estate.
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