Dual-Screen Siam 7X Smartphone Portends Competition For YotaPhone
CRBT Inc. is running a Kickstarter campaign to bring the first dual-screen smartphone to the U.S. market, and if it's successful, the device should be shipping in time for Christmas this year. Like the YotaPhone, the Siam 7X smartphone will feature a screen on both sides on the device. One side of the phone features a 5-inch Full HD color screen for consuming media, and the back side features a 4.7-inch E-ink display suitable for e-books, text messages, news feeds and other content that doesn't require rich visuals. The phone runs Android Lollipop, and CRBT said that all Android apps are compatible.
CRBT said the E-ink display is easier to see in sunlight and consumes less energy than the standard screen so you can keep things running and still cut down on battery drain. CRBT said having two screens will enable new ways to multitask using your smartphone; for example, you can have the calculator on one screen and a grocery list on the other while shopping, or you could have your music on one screen and GPS map on the other.
Not only is the Siam 7X a dual-screen phone, it is also a dual-SIM phone. The phone comes fully unlocked, so it can be used on all GSM networks.
Backers of the Kickstarter campaign will receive an extra bonus with the phone purchase. Each Siam 7X will come bundled with BioSport smart earbuds from SMS audio. These earbuds double as a heart rate monitor that feeds into the Siam 7X, allowing active owners to ditch extra heartrate monitoring devices.
One feature about the phone that isn't immediately apparent from the Kickstarter campaign page is the way ring tones on the Siam 7X work. CRBT Inc. isn't just a random name for a company. It actually stands for Caller Ring Back Tone, which is technology that the company owns that feeds customized greetings or advertisements back to callers instead of a standard ringtone. The Siam 7X smartphone includes this technology, which CRBT said this is perfect for small businesses to connect with customers.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | CRBT Siam 7X Dual-Screen Smartphone |
|---|---|
| Main Screen | 5.0-inch IPS Multi-touch / 1280 x 720 |
| Back Screen | 4.7-inch E-Ink paper touch 16 grey level / 960 x 450 |
| Rear Camera | 16.0MP auto focus with LED flash |
| Front Camera | -8.0MP front camera-Records 1080p @ 30 fps |
| Processor | Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 64 bit 1.2 GHz |
| GPU | AMR MailT760-MP3 @ 450 MHz |
| Dual Sim | Micro SIM and nano SIM |
| Sensors | Gravity, Proximity, Light, Magnetic, Gyroscope |
| Network | LTE FDD/DD Cat.4 (150 MHz/50 MHz), WCDMA, EDGE, GPRS |
| Band | -2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz-3G WCDMA 850/1900/2100 NGZ TD-SCDMA-4G FDD-LTE Cat.4 150 Mbps |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, WLAN Hot Spot, iEEE 802.11 a/n/b/g/ac, built-in GPS, A-GPS support, Bluetooth 4.0, IR Smart Remote, FM Radio, 3.5 mm Earphone jack, Micro USB |
| Battery | 2100 mAh |
| Dimensions | 142 x 70.6 x 8.9 mm |
The Siam 7X dual-screen smartphone Kickstarter launched on November 2 and is set to wrap up on December 1. The company is selling the phone for $420 to the first 100 backers, and a version with a 32 GB micro SD card is also available for $470. If the company reaches its $50,000 goal, the phones will go out to backers in December. As an added bonus, the company is offering free upgrades so backers can get to the next model Siam smartphone in the future at no additional charge.
Follow Kevin Carbotte @pumcypuhoy. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
-
aldaia Dual screen is a dead end. The way to go is a hybrid screen that either behaves as rich color Oled or low power e-ink depending on the situation.Reply
In 2010 Pixel Qi developed a hybrid LCD screen for netbooks that lets the user toggle between a low-power reading mode and a brighter, standard LCD mode.
The 2011 Apple patent, “Systems and Methods for Switching Between an Electronic Paper Display and a Video Display,” illustrates a method for displaying static content in e-ink while other portions of the screen appear using standard LCD technology.
However, the question remains if it is cost competitive to implement, since no phones (where the screen is known to be the main battery drainer), have been produced with such screen yet. -
InvalidError Reply
And I doubt any ever will be: adding an eInk layer on top of the LCD/OLED causes additional optical loss and light dispersion even in "translucent" mode, which means you need a stronger backlight/OLED and end up with a slightly more blurry display. Not ideal if you want to design a device that has ~10 hours of LCD/OLED screen-on time per charge using the smallest, thinnest, lightest battery possible.16891305 said:However, the question remains if it is cost competitive to implement, since no phones (where the screen is known to be the main battery drainer), have been produced with such screen yet. -
jasonelmore i can already tell the build quality is crap.. notice the sim card slot wont go in all the way and is crooked, notice how bad the micro usb port is scuffed up, and this is supposed to be a impeccable quality sample for promotional videos.Reply -
aldaia Replyadding an eInk layer on top of the LCD/OLED causes additional optical loss and light dispersion even in "translucent" mode, which means you need a stronger backlight/OLED and end up with a slightly more blurry display.
OLED dosn't use backlit, and OLED can be made transparent.
http://www.oled-info.com/transparent-oleds
So the actual way to go for hybrid screens is probably OLED on top of e-ink
By the way Geak Watch 2 Pro smartwatch has an innovative display that uses both colour LCD and E-Ink, aparently its a transparent LCD display on top of a e-ink.
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2014/10/dual-e-ink-and-lcd-displays-gives-the-geak-watch-2-pro-smartwatch-an-18-day-battery-life/
P..S: sorry for previous double post (probably due to reloading page)