Directly from Xiaomi‘s ideas factory, it brings us the brand’s first Concept Smartphone, a Smartphone that boasts a “cascading” screen with four curves that make the phone the ultimate “ all screen ”. But, is a device with these benefits viable?
The all screen arrives
It has been imagined for years with a thousand different designs, and it seems that Xiaomi has hit the key. The long-awaited and dreamed of all-screen phone is already shaped, and the manufacturer describes it as a waterfall screen with four curves. And it is that the screen of this device is called hyper quad-curved , a panel with curved edges with a radius of curvature of 88 degrees that is responsible for surrounding the entire frame of the phone completely.
Referencing a waterfall is nothing more than a simile of the behavior of water, since this is how a liquid would behave when falling from the ends of a flat surface.
The result is a device that, holding it in your hand, does not have any visible bezels, and that, as you may already be imagining, has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it would be necessary to see what plans the manufacturer has to avoid unwanted touches, and on the other, the fragility that a priori would have the four corners of the device scare just thinking about it.
A very complicated engineering process
If the design of a device with rounded edges was already difficult to achieve, achieving the round edge of the four corners to perfection is something that borders on the impossible. To achieve this, Xiaomi has developed machinery and a manufacturing process that melts the glass at 800 degrees to shape the four curved corners.
There are no bezels, but there are corners
It is important to emphasize that this conceptual design does not avoid one of the design problems that today are impossible to overcome due to the limitations of technology. The corners on this phone still exist, so that imaginary design in your head is still not possible.
So Xiaomi has just launched a Quad-Curved-Waterfall Display smartphone.
I’m all for this constant stream of new ideas, but this one probably ain’t for me (check the corners of the brightened image 😂) pic.twitter.com/ijSPIoadEj
– Arun Maini (@Mrwhosetheboss) February 5, 2021
This Xiaomi idea comes close, but it’s still not the full-screen phone that some are probably still imagining. Even so, this will serve to withstand the occasional blow, since the four corners will be part of the visible chassis that will be responsible for withstanding blows and the occasional fall.
No buttons and no connection ports
If there is another detail to highlight, it is the absence of any type of physical button or opening in the form of a connection port. This phone would give absolute prominence to the screen, and for this it is forced to eliminate all kinds of physical buttons and connectors on its body.
The result is a unibody piece in all its glory, since there is no type of charging port, hole in the screen for the front camera, SIM tray or headphone port. Xiaomi understands that current technologies make it possible to do without all this, and that is why the phone would have wireless charging, a front camera hidden under the screen, an eSIM card, a speaker integrated in the screen, touch sensors and a host of technologies that reduce the device to a single piece.
A leap that requires adaptation
We love the idea. Aesthetically it could be the most advanced leap at the design level that can be achieved right now beyond folding screens, but its technology could be a handicap for many users. Not having a charging port or physical buttons could be a problem for many, so we’ll see how this type of proposal would be received.