TCL’s rollable smartphone concept could be a Nokia E7 successor (in a parallel universe)
With the entrance of smartphones with flexible displays on the market late last year, the smartphone market again became somewhat interesting. Huawei and Samsung each presented two foldable smartphones, while other companies also showed concept and released devices in some markets. We even heard rumors that Nokia Mobile is developing a foldable as well.
As someone who loved slider phones with QWERTY keyboard, I was impressed by the “rollable” smartphone concept Chinese company TCL presented to the media. TCL is also the licensee of the Alcatel brand, owned by Finnish Nokia.
The rollable smartphone uses a flexible display that makes a futuristic slide-out smartphone. When you want to be more productive, you just slide out the rollable screen and turn your smartphone into a tablet. This approach makes the smartphone more thinner than a foldable, while offering at least the same surface area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR7PbHHNlFE
Maybe if things were different almost a decade ago for Nokia, the rollable concept might have carried the Nokia E-series brand. It is nice to reminisce of past in newer smartphone, just like we saw the F(x)tech Pro1 smartphone with a slideout QWERTY keyboard some time ago. The rollable smartphone concept looks to me as the best approach on foldables for people that want a tablet-size device with their smartphones, while Samsung’s Z Flip seems to be a the best approach for folks that want a compact gadget, that will still allow them to surf the web or watch videos comfortably. It will be exciting to see what approach will Nokia Mobile take with a foldable smartphone. 🙂
