Last year, Tecno launched a rollable phone concept called Phantom Ultimate. It was just a concept, though, and was only seen in a demo video, but now the company has some actual prototypes and is bringing them to MWC. We got some hands-on time with the Ultimate, as well as some other interesting ideas brewing at Tecno headquarters.
The Phantom Ultimate may never make it to retail, but it’s now a real working device. The phone starts with a 6.55-inch display that wraps around the left edge. It gets wider at the touch of a button and grows diagonally to 7.11 inches with more screen rolled out (with a different aspect ratio, of course), all in 1.3 seconds Finish.
Tecno Phantom Ultimate expands and contracts as needed
There’s a “second display” on the back – we put that in quotes because it’s actually the main (and only) display rolled onto the back. The display here is seen through a glass window, so you don’t have to worry about damaging it. This is a smart use of existing resources.
The rise of foldable phones has prompted Android to provide better support for screens that suddenly change size and aspect ratio. The Tecno Phantom Ultimate also demonstrates this very well, as the user interface and apps adapt when you expand or shrink the display.
UI dynamically adjusts to new screen sizes
At 9.93mm thick, the device was once thinner than any foldable device, although some horizontally folding models now reach under 10mm.
While Tecno is still experimenting with rollable phones, it already has two foldable phones in the market – Phantom V Fold and V Flip. The company’s engineers are always busy thinking of ways to make them better.
One thing they came up with is called a bezel-less foldable home screen. It’s pretty self-descriptive – it’s a modification to the way Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) attaches to phones, allowing manufacturers to shrink the bezels around the screen, giving it a better screen-to-body ratio.
Borderless folding home screen
At last year’s MWC Tecno introduced Chameleon color technology – basically, a panel on the back can be set to one of thousands of colors. This is achieved using submicron prisms that can be rotated by magnetic fields.
Chameleon color tech on clamshell foldable phone
This means that the effect requires ambient light to work, but on the other hand, it consumes very little power – around milliamps. It’s also pretty fast, taking just 0.03 seconds to switch to a different color. Plus, Tecno says it has a long lifespan, so you don’t have to worry about it wearing out.
To learn more about Tecno’s advanced concepts, check out the Tecno Pocket Go and Tecno Dynamic 1.