TCL’s status as a major display manufacturer is only growing, coming from the top-down with its brilliant TVs and from the bottom-up with its growing smartphone business. But it isn’t resting on those technologies, it’s pushing forward with new form factors and display tech. At a CES 2021 press conference, TCL had two rollable displays to show off: One in a vertical-rolling smartphone-like display, and another in an insane 17-inch “scrolling” tablet display.
The 6.7-inch rolling smartphone concept is something I’ve seen many times over, even from TCL itself. This one’s slightly different because it’s a vertical-rolling display, showing a small near-square display expand out to a “normal” smartphone shape. That’s in contrast to earlier TCL concepts, and LG’s just-teased rollable, which start as a normal smartphone and expand out of one long side to a tablet-like design.
The concept certainly looks neat, and we can see the pathway for this technology making it into real smartphones in the not-too-distant future. On the other hand, there was another announcement right after it that looks like pure science fiction: A 17-inch “scrolling” display.
The extremely futuristic (and completely computer-generated) promo video shows how the huge screen can open up like a scroll, with the main components of the device on one side and a simple grab handle on the other to expand the display. The screen can roll up tightly into one side, and when expanded give you an incredible 17-inches of display space.
The display is actually a printed OLED panel, which is interesting in its own right and is just 0.18mm thick. The release likens it to a piece of paper flapping in the wind, and if that sort of flexibility is truly possible, there’s no doubt that it would be able to roll up into a tight scroll as was shown. The problem is, the rest of the device — it’s incredibly difficult to get a fully-functioning mobile device fit into that sort of a tube form, on top of the mechanism to scroll the display in and out. That’s why this is effectively still science fiction, not reality — but we want to believe.
These announcements technically came from TCL CSOT, which isn’t the TCL we know. It is a separate company owned (in part) by TCL that manufactures displays, and not the proper TCL that releases name-brand products. This is an important distinction because TCL today also teased that it will be releasing a foldable smartphone in 2021 — that’s most likely to be a traditional one-fold phone like the Galaxy Z Fold 2 or Motorola RAZR 2020, and not a rollable. But TCL CSOT technology can easily make its way upstream to a TCL product, as well as head out into the market for another company to use the display in its own mobile device design.
The future will look like this, we just don’t know when.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.