TCL metal phone with a sliding screen, here is a ranked version of it, the company did show us some video of a real life working metal, unfortunately we can't show you that, we tried, keeping in mind this lender it's a little more sleek than the real version we saw, first it starts of like a regular phone.
You get the nice big screen and a front facing camera setup like you expect.
But what if you want a bigger screen, no problem with the gesture the screens right edge moves outward, on the left side more screen unfurls We got to spend some time with TCL talking about the slider.
Unfortunately, the working model was stuck in China.
While we are in the States.
However, we've got to play with a dummy unit to get a feel for the device.
Now Originally, the TCL slider would have been shown off at Mobile World Congress The event was cancelled due to concerns regarding COVID-19.
Then the phone was going to be shipped to the States for a briefing.
COVID-19 stopped this from happening aswell.
Now the working model has a motor to extend te screen.
Due to the fragile nature of this screen,making it manual could be problematic.
The dummy unit we got to play with Had no such motor, as that was opening and closing the device by hand.
I can see the top of what would be the screen crinkling a little bit.
A motorized version definitely makes sense.
Unlike other flexible phones, the TCL slider screen is kinda like a scroll.
That means when the device is extended, the screen is held taught, there was no crease or bend necessary because the screen would be rolled up in the left part of the phone.
That would take care of a problematic part of folding phones.
You shouldn't be seeing a crease on the display.
That's kind of great.
This design brings up a lot of questions though.
What if there's material on the screen when it's retracting?
Will it cause scratches?
Will there be brushes to dust away debris?
How resilient is that flexible screen?
How long could a motorized screen assembly work?
Adding in any moving elements creates another point of failure.
Also, does a slider phone have anything to offer in the real world?
The concept is undoubtedly cool.
The slider goes from a large phone to either a slightly larger phone or a tiny tablet.
The full screen size is around of the size of an iPad Mini at the size we saw.
Maybe the slider has some limitations in the real world.
However, if a company could pack in even more screen in that form factor That could be very useful.
So what is TCL trying to do at all what's going on TCL is trying to show off what it can do with its display technologies.
The company has gained some notoriety in the US with its Roku televisions.
The company is not exactly new to phones either.
It has made phones under other brands like Alcatel and Blackberry.
As an aside, TCL stopped making Blackberries.
This year, the company's working to introduce a line of budget android phones.
We're talking 5g phones at under $500.
This lighter concept might be a way to get attention, maybe it's a way to create awareness of the TCL brand.
Plus the company could be gauging interest in such a device.
Remember, this is a concept device.
It has no official name.
TCL has no official plans to roll this product out.
If you got any questions, comments, or news, let me know on Twitter.
I'm at IS.
Also, I'll be releasing the video interview With the head of Google Assistant there, so check that out.
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