A few years ago we began to hear about foldable phones and, now, we can see them advertised on billboards, appearing in series and movies, or even the occasional one that comes to be seen on the street in the hands of more "tech" users. But of course, the market and technology are advancing by leaps and bounds, and the whole concept of mobile phones that become tablets has evolved with roll-up smartphones. OPPO has held an event to which it has invited us, in addition to showing us the data of the incredible growth that the company has had in the last year, so that we can test the OPPO X 2021, its own roll-up mobile. I tell you my experiences with him.
OPPO X 2021: first impressions on video
A mobile that becomes a tablet, is it worth it?
Even today, despite the fact that as I have told you, we already have a lot of information about this type of device, there are still many detractors of this type of concept for your day-to-day telephone. And the truth, personally I think it is a tremendously useful product for any type of user, although some get to take advantage of it more than others.
Think about the possibilities that having a “normal” phone can give you that, at any moment, can become a small tablet:
- For those people who need use multiple screens/apps at the same time on your smartphone, productivity is greatly increased. We don't need to put the smaller views to fit on a screen of the usual size.
- When play content such as series, movies or YouTube videos, if you wish, you can display a larger panel to see everything in a big way.
- If you would like to read a website or an e-book, with the enlarged screen it will be a more comfortable task.
- Editing photos or videos from the mobile, you will be able to do better if the front has a larger diagonal.
This is just a sample of the advantages that this type of device can bring us, but the list goes on and on adding advantages. Although surely you may be thinking something like, "but the size, weight, or thickness are greater, right?". And of course, here it depends on the model of this type of telephone.
On the other hand, all the folding mobiles that we have seen so far have approximately twice the thickness of a normal phone. This is due, as you can imagine, to that double screen that they hide. As for the weight, it is true that they weigh a little more than any smartphone, although it is not something dramatic either.
However, the concept of a roll-up mobile seems much more accurate to me. Apparently, if we see anyone take it out of their pocket, it's a normal phone. But, inside, it hides the possibilities of a tablet that we can deploy super easily as I explain now.
OPPO X 2021: the best mobile / tablet experience I've been able to try
Well, having said all of the above, let me tell you how my experience has been trying out what will be the first roll-up mobile that we can buy on the market. Of course, first of all I want you to know that this phone that has passed through my hands it was a prototype of what will finally be Oppo X 2021. That is, neither the hardware nor the software that it included are definitive. To give you an idea, the software that was running was Android 10 and, almost certainly, when we can buy it, it will come with Android 11. On the other hand, there has been a lot of talk about whether the cameras that will arrive will be those of the previous generation because they have Data similar to that of the Reno family of the manufacturer came out. And they have already assured us from OPPO that it will not be like that.
Then, What did I think of this OPPO X 2021? The truth is that, without seeming that my opinion is conditioned by being new, I believe that it will be the true future of mobile phones / tablets of the future. The solution as a roll-up smartphone comes from the hand of two small internal motors that are in charge of unfolding the screen of this phone. A display with AMOLED technology que pasa from 6,7 inches to 7,4 inches in just 3-4 seconds.
With the mobile contracted (in its normal position) we only have to swipe your finger up on the release button to activate the mechanism. Then we will see how little by little the body of the phone begins to stretch to the left, increasing in size without losing continuity at any time. And this experience is exactly the one that most attracts my attention, being enhanced at the software level by a readaptation of the system icons or the content that we are seeing.
The mechanism has given me total fullfilment of security requirementsIt doesn't look like something that isn't resistant at all. At the bottom edge we see how a rail moves along with the movement of the screen. And, on the back, there is a part of the mobile that we do not see when it is folded.
Another question that will surely be going through your head, especially if you already knew the history of folding phones, is if the curvature of the screen is noticeable when unfolding. Yes, it is noticeable, but much less than the fold of those phones that we can fold thanks to the fact that the panel inside the OPPO X 2021 keeps a more organic shape instead of folding on itself. And, if we pass our finger over this section, we will also notice that small relief but, once again, I can tell you that this first model of roll-up mobile has given me better sensations than the first folding ones.
As for how the content is used when using it, as it is a non-final software version, I cannot give a strong opinion. What I have been able to prove is the interface rescaling animation of the system, which I really liked as I have already told you, and the resizing that videos do when you enlarge the screen. In the latter, depending on the aspect ratio of the base video, we can see the larger content or not. In the example that I have been able to reproduce, we were facing a 16:9 video and the OPPO X 2021 screen will be around 20-21:9 (we do not have the official data). So, by making the phone bigger on its front, the video got bigger and looked much better.
So, considering that I have been in front of a phone that is still in beta version, I have enjoyed the experience very much. Seeing what OPPO offers with this phone, I can't wait for the final version to be there so I can test it thoroughly and tell you, right there, all the benefits of having a roll-up mobile like the OPPO X 2021.