We’re delighted that phones are getting strange again, so the latest patent filing from Lenovo has filled us with baffled glee.
We’ve already seen some potential foldy phone designs from Lenovo, being that the company owns Motorola, which is working on a bendy version of the classic Razr.
Now, Lenovo’s patented its own fold-up smartphone, and it is bizarre.
As ever, the patent was discovered by LetsGoDigital, who did us all the kindness of making some renders so we can see in full colour exactly how bonkers this design is.
Look at it:
Why would you want a tiny little screen on the bottom that folds over onto the big screen?
We’re sure Lenovo has its reasons, and of course patents are always lacking in information about how the phone would actually be used, but we can’t say this is the smartphone we’ve been waiting for.
The bendy hinge reminds us of a woodlouse, or perhaps more kindly, Microsoft’s Surface Book. But like the Surface Book, it doesn’t fold flat, which will drive some people crazy.
Yeah, honestly, we just don’t get it. But clearly the tech industry knows something we don’t, because Google recently patented a similar design that also doesn’t fold flat:
Maybe the galaxy brains in Silicon Valley have a genius use case for this kind of design that’ll make us all change our minds. We shall see. [Slashgear]
All images courtesy of LetsGoDigital