From front it looks as if one other plain smartphone — dark, nondescript, and perhaps a bit like an iPhone 4 that’s had its right-most extent sliced off. Pick it up, though, and also you realize this little thing isn’t so nondescript. In reality, it feels oddly substantial, with an odd bevel cutting round the edge and a curious amount of heft. After which you flip it open. Suddenly it is a little tablet, two screens forming one 6-inch slate bisected by just a few millimeters of bezel.
Shades of the Echo ? Sure, but here’s actually a completely different device to carry, and a completely different device to apply. The software customizations built over Android 2.3, the bezel gestures, definitely the right multitasking, all make this right into a unique device that feels incredibly familiar yet altogether different. It is a prototype device from Imerj and Frog (formerly called Frog Design ) something that’s months clear of production and hasn’t even been blessed with a model designation more specific than “2-in-1 smartpad.” So, is that this poncho-clad Phone with out a Name a valid threat to the established families of devices that own our little wireless San Miguel? Or, will it ride straight off right into a sunset of obscurity when it launches? Read directly to discover.
Hardware
After you get a glimpse of the Imerj prototype from around the room, as we first did, it’s hard to not think “Oh, it’s another Kyocera Echo.” That’s, in spite of everything, a dual-screened smartphone with a hinge down the center that brings two disparate displays together into one. However, Kyocera comparisons do that device a robust disservice.
First impression is considered one of heft and solidity. Each half the device feels firm, dense, and the easy hinge within the middle doesn’t click or give any type of protestations in any respect as you fold or unfold the article. When doubled over the 2 halves subtly pop together owing to the wonders of magnets, but except that it is a smooth trip out to completely extended. There is no mechanical assistance here.
When compared with the Echo, the hinge is easy and the device just folds in half. It is a little like opening a book backwards, that’s unintuitive in the beginning but ultimately feels reasonably natural. Desire a simple phone? Give it somewhat fold and the second one screen is disabled. Or, once you would like to use it like a tablet, just grab it and pull the halves flat. If the device is locked it’ll immediately pop to life when unfurled, bypassing the unlock screen and getting you right back to where it’s essential be.
When extended the device is truly quite thin — just 7mm (.28-inches), and with none unsightly bulges or protrusions. When folded in half it’s still thinner than the thickest extent of the Droid Charge , for instance, or about 50 percent thicker than an iPhone 4. Unfolded, it’s in regards to the thinnest smartphone we’ve ever seen, and in case you compare it to the spate of tablets it bests even the Galaxy Tab 10.1 by a few millimeter.
So it’s impressively svelte, and for such an early device it’s impressively constructed. The outside is roofed in what looks to be a thick coating of metallic paint that provides a cultured look and a funky, smooth feel. After all , half it’s covered in glass, not paint, and that is the reason naturally of the Gorilla variety, edges mostly tucked behind the lip of the case.
Unfold the device and people two panes meet within the middle, sadly still divided by a pair millimeters of bezel on both sides. It’s an unfortunate gap inside what’s otherwise a generously sized 6-inch unified display, and we’re told it is about pretty much as good as we are going to get until foldable OLEDs come into play.
There is a lot of minimalist design occurring here, with the subtly swoopy beveled edges interrupted by three buttons all at the upper left: power, volume rocker, and silence. At the far right edge (when opened) is a three.5mm headphone jack, somewhat door hiding a SIM card, and a large, flat proprietary connector inside the middle which can easily be mistaken for something with an Apple or a Samsung logo on it.
Displays
As smartphone users crave more screen real estate smartphone displays keep getting bigger and our pockets keep getting tighter. The answer here’s, without a doubt , to give two much more moderate-sized displays and mix them into an all-conquering mega-display. Each half is 4-inches of WVGA AMOLED, for a combined resolution of 800 x 960 and a combined diagonal of about 6-inches.
If we needed to guess we’d say these are the similar Samsung AMOLED panels found earlier within the 0 Focus 0 , that have some issues with color representation and on this deployment get increasingly cool the further off-axis your viewing angle becomes. Still, images are bright and colourful.
Internals
Powering the works is a dual-core TI OMAP processor with the intention to be running at an as of yet undisclosed speed, pending final discussions between TI and Imerj. But, expect it to be equivalent to your average superphone (i.e. within the gigahertz range). There’s 1GB of DDR3 RAM available for the hardware, while this model has 32GB of internal storage, which isn’t expandable via microSD. We’re told models would be available with up to 128GB of breathing room, which should offer you an concept of one of these premium market this device is targeting.
Performance on this prototype seems good but falls wanting great. There is a good amount of lag here and there as you progress between landscape and portrait, but in fact we’re going through a prototype; there is a good distance to head before the software is final. That said, apps launch quickly and are smooth to work with.
A 1,750mAh battery gives it juice. It’s neither user-accessible nor replaceable, but we think that battery life must be resembling other phones — provided that you do not spend an excessive amount of time in dual-screen mode, anyway. We weren’t in a position to perform any proper battery life testing and, really, the hardware is just too early to attract any conclusions there. But, we’re told to expect longevity which will at the very least trump the Atrix.
Speaking of AT&T’s hottest hunk of Android, this device is running on that provider’s waves at present. Naturally nobody would decide to talk of which carrier will be carrying this device when it launches, it can seem that one or any other 1/2 the proposed AT&T&T family will be a secure bet.
Software
Android supports comprehensive multitasking, letting you pop from Google Music to Angry Birds and back again with a couple of long-presses of the house button. But, this device takes that idea to a brand new level entirely. Launch an app and it will pop up at the one screen, leaving the opposite alone. But, with a brief swipe around the top of the bezel that app can hop from one display to the alternative. You can now play Angry Birds and control your playlist simultaneously. So that you can swap their positions one can just pinch up at the upper bezel and your apps will perform a little Kriss Kross impression.
an extended press of the illuminated circular home button brings up a view of the running apps, you can simply drag and throw to either of the displays. But, needless to say, that’s only half the tale: with this much real estate that you must be doing a little full-screen app tapping, and you’ll — sometimes.
Unfortunately there isn’t a “tablet mode” like at the Echo to be found here, meaning that apps must be modified to run in full-screen. It is a simple modification that we’re told requires developers only make just a little manifest tweak, but as of now just a few apps have received said tweak, highlighted by slightly dual-screen superscript on their icon.
Thankfully the internet browser here was suitably augmented, and whole-screen surfing is surely a pleasing experience, as even high resolution mobile displays often leave us wanting. However, we found ourselves most impressed by the customized versions of ThinkFree Office Mobile, which allow dual-screen viewing and editing of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents, plus PDF viewing besides. Tapping your way through a grid in a spreadsheet is rarely an enjoyable experience, but having it spread across two screens certainly beats squinting at one.
To make a compatible app go full screen you again can reach for the higher bezel. A slow drag across will expand the app from one screen to both, that is an intuitive gesture but one who we would like lets be made at the bottom besides. (Sometimes getting as much as the pinnacle is a little a stretch.) Or, you would simply tilt the telephone in order that the app you need to go full-screen is up on top. It’ll then cave in to take over the lower screen. To change back to any other app, just rotate the telephone the wrong way. Nice.
The custom e-mail application installed here also makes good use of both screens. The left display supplies a folder view or a listing of individual e-mails, while the best screen can be utilized to indicate the e-mails themselves. The sole problem? It’s not the real Gmail app — kind of like at the Echo.
A custom, full-screen keyboard is on offer that takes over the lower screen — that’s somewhat a hassle if the text it’s worthwhile to enter is additionally at the lower screen. But, this provides it a number of room for not just a whole QWERTY layout but even a row of number keys that may be swiped from one side to the opposite, exposing a row of special characters or a row of different common buttons.
Camera
0 Latest smartphones have sprouted second cameras: a high-res version round the back and a second, lower-quality option that’s lookin’ back at ya. This device does away with that for the apparent reason that the back kind of is front — a minimum of a few of the time. There is a five megapixel shooter situated simply to the left of the earpiece. When folded, launch the camera app and also you get an easy message: “Turn Phone over.” Now the back is your viewfinder and also you use it to take pictures. Need a self portrait? Just hit the button, obey the instructions, and now you’veyou’ve got you have got a whole-sized view of yourself — and an entire-res profile picture.
We cannot bother giving detailed camera impressions at this point because there’s some issue with the sensor causing some bizarro chromatic fluctuations within the resulting stills. It’s like a trippy Instragram effect that you simply can’t turn off. Video, meanwhile, is captured at 720p — or may be. We couldn’t get this one to record a lot as a frame of footage.
Wrap-up
1 Can a Phone with out Name revolutionize the industry? We wouldn’t go that far, but we’re suitably intrigued. For not much extra thickness and a modest amount of additional heft you land up with twice the screen size and, if indeed that 128GB model involves pass, about four times the storage capacity of your average superphone of today. The question is, needless to say, how much will it cost, and given the premium construction and hardware, we will be able to say with confidence that this will likely not be a Free After Rebate device.
After which there’s the software. Without the power to natively run Android apps full-screen, a great amount of developer support goes to be required to make this thing really shine. Developers won’t be inclined to support it with no lot of sales… which won’t happen without the developer support. You know the way it goes. But, if going full-screen really does require just diddling a line in a manifest file, we’re thinking most devs will throw that during to the “why not?” category.
And, needless to say, there’s the question of what to name the article. We will not help getting a Clint Eastwood vibe here, and sticking along with his most renowned character’s Italian Spaghetti Western roots, we similar to Senza Nome. For now, anyway, until we work out exactly which company could be bringing this thing to market.
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