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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday December 05 2017, @04:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the phone-to-flip-over dept.

Samsung has announced its W2018 dual-screen flip phone, with a wide aperture camera lens, Snapdragon 835, and 6 GB of RAM. It will likely only be released in Asian markets:

Samsung unveiled a new expensive flip phone, the Samsung W2018, during a launch event in China today, as first reported by GizmoChina. Many of the W2018's specs are on par with the S8 and Note 8, with one exception: the camera lens.

[...] With an aperture of f/1.5, Samsung claims that the W2018's 12-megapixel rear camera can capture sharp images in less light than the cameras on rival phones can. It also has a 5-megapixel front camera. Through software, the camera can sense when there's enough light to switch to f/2.4 and capture more of the background in photos. The phone will launch with Android Nougat, instead of Oreo.

[...] As an attempt to sweeten the deal for luxury lovers, Samsung says that W2018 buyers also get perks like concierge help at airports and subways, free software tech support, and a hotline just for VIPs. The phone will get released in China first and the price is yet to be announced, but we can guess it might be even higher than the W2017's price tag of $3,000. That's a lot to pay for tech support and taking clear photos at night.

In the West, you can expect a foldable instead of a flippable phone.

Also at Engadget and Android Headlines.

Related: People Opting for a Dumbphone Over a Smartphone


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  • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:22AM (4 children)

    by Reziac (2489) on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:22AM (#605949) Homepage

    [laughing] So do I. It cost me $12 (no shit) to buy outright four years ago. The battery is starting to get tired, but otherwise? does the job of a *gasp* phone, which is all that's required.

    --
    And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
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  • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:44PM (3 children)

    by urza9814 (3954) on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:44PM (#606228) Journal

    does the job of a *gasp* phone, which is all that's required.

    The *last* thing I want in my device is a phone. I've actually looked into getting a data-only plan with no phone line...I don't want to *talk* to people, I want to text, email, and browse the web! :)

    • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:51PM (2 children)

      by Reziac (2489) on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:51PM (#606232) Homepage

      Hence the rise of mini-tablets.... few years back some tech site pointed out that something like 61% of such use now happens on a phone, not on a desktop PC. Increasingly, average non-geeks have only a phone, and no PC at all.

      But it's not what all of us want. I just want the phone to be a phone. I want to do everything else on my desktop PC, with a big screen and a real keyboard. And I think the day is coming when the desktop PC is once again as rare and specialized as it was when an XT cost $4000.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
      • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday December 06 2017, @06:25PM (1 child)

        by urza9814 (3954) on Wednesday December 06 2017, @06:25PM (#606257) Journal

        Oh I certainly don't want to replace my PC with a "phone", I definitely want to use the PC when it's available. I just don't want to *ever* use a telephone. Voice is a terrible way to communicate, and real-time-only voice is possibly even worse. Give me asynchronous text and multimedia (with multimedia as and only if necessary) over that any day -- then I can refer back to it, look things up, take my time to properly prepare a response, and I can handle it on my own schedule instead of having to drop everything at whatever instant is convenient for the other person. And I can engage in multiple conversations at once. Hell, even if I call a corporate number I'd much rather punch numbers into an automated system than talk to some call center worker -- as long as the automated system is able to resolve whatever issue I called about, which they usually are.

        • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday December 06 2017, @07:25PM

          by Reziac (2489) on Wednesday December 06 2017, @07:25PM (#606310) Homepage

          I'd say rather that voice is a good way to quickly communicate, but sucks when it comes to documenting what was said, at least without an added layer of complexity, while the ability to document is built into text forms (email etc). However, the ability to alter that document is another problem, approximately proportionate to the ease of recording it in the first place.

          I prefer email myself, but when you need a response right this instant and don't care about fiddly accuracy or keeping a record, it's hard to beat voice.

          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.