Microsoft maybe still dreams of bendy phones, judging from 360° folding screen patent

Microsoft's first attempt at a folding phone didn't go so well, though a fresh patent from the Windows giant suggests it might be holding out hope that a 360-degree foldable screen could make the difference.  The patent, published this month by the World Intellectual Property Organization and only just spotted, details a …

[jmch]

Why???

I can understand the idea of 180 degree folding... screen is on the inside of the fold, it's protected, and the whole device packs smaller. You straighten it out, the whole screen is available. A 360 degree fold means you continue to fold the opposite way until the screen is on the outside of the fold. But at that point you can only see half of the screen at any one time, so it's less useful. You can't use this form factor for a laptop / convertible or anything that needs a keyboard anyway, so it's aimed at tablet / phone size devices, and for that size of device, losing half the screen size leaves you with a tiny screen, and you fold it to pack it away. I just don't see what advantage it could give over a similairly sized device with 180 degree hinge, and a secondary screen on one side of the 'back'

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why???

I can see niche uses but mostly it would be duplicating the screen and not necessarily mobile devices. Things like menu tents in cafes, or you could be sat across a table from someone and showing them what you're working on.

I guess if it's thin enough it'd make a nice form factor for e-books, but it looks like it would be too big and heavy.

Despite all that, I can't see any need for the display to wrap-around the hinge; two separate screen would be fine.

[RockBurner]

Re: Why???

2 people watching the same movie/youtube whilst sitting opposite each other?

[Headley_Grange]

Thick

When we wanted a phone with a battery that lasted more than a day we were told that it wasn't possible because people didn't want thicker phones. Now, however,........

[Anonymous Coward]

Er, 360 degrees means it would wrap right through the front half and end up exactly where it was, with an interesting singularity at the `hinge'. Why, indeed.

[Kev99]

If cell phones weren't the size of cigar boxes and not used at psuedo-computers, folding phones wouldn't be even remotely necessary.