- A Nokia E51, a typical bar phone
- Sony Ericsson W800i, released 2005
- Sony Ericsson W810i, released 2006
- Siemens S25 from 1999
- Nokia 7600 in an unusual bar shape
The form factor of a mobile phone is its size, shape, and style, as well as the layout and position of its major components.
A bar (also known as a slab, block, candybar) phone takes the shape of a cuboid, [1] usually with rounded corners and/or edges. The name is derived from the rough resemblance to a chocolate bar in size and shape. This form factor is widely used by a variety of manufacturers, such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Bar-type smartphones commonly have the screen and keypad on a single face. Sony had a well-known 'Mars Bar' phone model CM-H333 in 1993 that was longer and thinner than the typical bar phone. [2] Bar phones without a full keyboard tend to have a 3×4 numerical keypad; text is often generated on such systems using the Text on 9 keys algorithm.
These are variants of bars that have a full QWERTY keyboard on the front. While they are technically the same as a regular bar phone, the keyboard and all the buttons make them look significantly different. Devices like these were popular in the mid to late 2000s, but lost popularity afterward. The BlackBerry line from Research In Motion (RIM) was particularly popular and influential in this category.
"Brick" is a slang term used to refer to large, outdated rectangular phones, typically early devices with large batteries and electronics. These early phones, such as the Motorola DynaTAC, have been displaced by newer smaller models which offer greater portability thanks to smaller antennas and slimmer battery packs.
However, "brick" has more recently been applied to older phone models in general, including non-bar form factors (flip, slider, swivel, etc.), and even early touchscreen phones as well, due to their size and relative lack of functionality compared to current models on the market. [3] [4] [5]
The term "brick" has also expanded beyond smartphones to include most non-working consumer electronics, including a game console, router, or other device, that, due to a serious misconfiguration, corrupted firmware, or a hardware problem, can no longer function, hence, is as technologically useful as a brick. [6] The term derives from the vaguely cuboid shape of many electronic devices (and their detachable power supplies) and the suggestion that the device can function only as a lifeless, square object, paperweight or doorstop. This term is commonly used as a verb. For example, "I bricked my MP3 player when I tried to modify its firmware." It can also be used as a noun, for example, "If it's corrupted and you apply using fastboot, your device is a brick." In the common usage of the term, "bricking" suggests that the damage is so serious as to have rendered the device permanently unusable. [7]
A slate is a smartphone form with few to no physical buttons, instead relying upon a touchscreen and an onscreen virtual keyboard for input. [8] The first commercially available touchscreen phone was a brick phone, the IBM Simon Personal Communicator, released in 1994. [9] The success of the iPhone, which was released by Apple in 2007, is considered by some to be largely responsible for the influence and achievement of this design as it is currently conceived.
Some unusual "slate" designs include that of LG New Chocolate (BL40), or the Samsung Galaxy Round, which is curved.
The phablet is a subset of the slate/touchscreen. A portmanteau of the words phone and tablet, phablets are a class of mobile device designed to combine or straddle the size of a slate smartphone together with a tablet. Phablets typically have screens that measure (diagonally) greater than 5.3 inches, and are considerably larger than most high-end slate smartphones of the time (i.e. the Samsung Galaxy Note II smartlet versus the Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone), which have to be 5.2 inches or less to be known as a smartphone, though significantly smaller than tablets (which must be 7 inches or above to be considered as such).
The multi-screen is basically the slate form factor, but with two touchscreens.
Some have a small separate screen above the main screens, the LG V10 and LG V20.
Other multi-screen devices have screens on both sides of the phone. In the case of Yotaphone and Siam 7X, they have normal touchscreens on the front, but on the backside is an e-ink screen, which enables using the cases in a fashion similar to reading a book.
The presence of the front camera for taking selfies has been an essential feature in smartphones, however, it is a difficulty to achieve a bezelless screen as is the trend in the later 2010s. The Nubia X, Nubia Z20 and Vivo NEX Dual Display have solved this combining the use of the main camera and a smaller second rear screen, eliminating the front camera. [10] [11] [12]
Xiaomi revealed Mi Mix Alpha, a smartphone with a display that surrounds almost entirely its body, only interrupted in the back part by a column that contains the cameras. Back part of display can be used as viewfinder for selfies and videocalls. [13] [14]
The taco form factor was popularized by the Nokia N-Gage, released in 2003. It was widely known as the plastic taco for its taco-shape and the placement of microphones on the side of the device, which, when one talks into the microphone, gives the appearance of eating a taco. [15] Other models include Nokia 3300 and Nokia 5510.
A smartphone in the form of a wristwatch is typically referred to as a smartwatch.
A flip or clamshell phone consists of two or more sections that are connected by hinges, allowing the phone to flip open then fold closed in order to become more compact. When flipped open, the phone's screen and keyboard are available. When flipped shut, the phone becomes much smaller and more portable than when it is opened for use. On most modern flip phones, there is usually a small display on the back of the screen to indicate the time and any incoming calls/text messages whilst the phone is closed.
Motorola was once owner of a trademark for the term flip phone, [16] but the term flip phone has become genericized and used more frequently than clamshell in colloquial speech. Motorola was the manufacturer of the famed StarTAC flip phone in the 1990s, as well as the RAZR in the mid-2000s. There were also flip "down" phones, like the Motorola MicroTAC series and was also widely used by Ericsson.
In 2010, Motorola introduced a different kind of flip phone with its Backflip smartphone. When closed, one side is the screen and the other is a physical QWERTY keyboard. The hinge is on a long edge of the phone instead of a short edge, and when flipped out the screen is above the keyboard.
Another unusual flip form was seen on the luxury Serene, a partnership between Samsung and Bang & Olufsen.
Clamshell came to be used as generic for this form factor. Flip phone referred to phones that opened on the vertical axis. As clamshells disappeared from the market, the terms again became disambiguated.
By the mid-2000s, "flip" designs reached the peak of their availability and declined afterward, being replaced by sliders which in turn were completely replaced by slate smartphones.
In April 2011, Kyocera International released the Kyocera Echo smartphone with two 3.5" screens. The phone's primary display could lie on top of the second display, reducing its size. [17] In November 2017, ZTE announced the Axon M. The screens could fold to either have two forward facing screens, or one forward and one rear facing screen. [18] The combined display size is 6.75-inch when unfolded. [19] The second screen allows the Axon M's single camera to be both rear and forward facing, as well as acting as a kickstand or tripod. [20]
Following advances in display technology, OLED screens can now be manufactured on a flexible, plastic substrate, meaning that glass is no longer needed; allowing the displays to be rolled, bent and folded; which makes new form factors possible. In January 2017, rumors emerged of a Samsung foldable phone, [21] and in November 2018, the Samsung Galaxy Fold [22] was revealed, with a combined display size of 7.4 inches. [23] Other manufacturers, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, have also announced phones with foldable displays. [24] [25] In November 2019, Motorola officially unveiled its horizontal-folding Motorola Razr.
The Oppo N1 made use of a manual flip camera. Asus, in the Zenfone 6, Zenfone 7 and Zenfone 8 Flip smartphones, includes an all-screen front, eliminating the dedicated front-facing camera notch; instead, the main cameras are housed in a motorized flip-up module that rotates 180 degrees to focus forward. [26] [27] The Samsung Galaxy A80 also has a similar flip-slide camera mechanism.
Some companies are experimenting with rollable displays in order to make devices that can convert from smartphone to tablet. [28]
A slider is composed of usually two, but sometimes more, sections that slide past each other on rails. Most slider phones have a display segment which houses the device's screen, while another segment contains the keypad or keyboard and slides out for use. The goal of a sliding form factor is to allow the operator to take advantage of full physical keyboards or keypads, without sacrificing portability, by retracting them into the phone when they are not in use. Many different companies have developed smartphones that slide: Samsung has the Corby and BlackBerry has the Torch.
The Siemens SL10 was one of the first slider smartphones in 1999. [29] Some phones have an automatic slider built in that deploys the keypad. Many phones pop out their keypad segments as soon as the user begins to slide the phone apart. Unique models are the 2-way slider where sliding up or down provides distinct functions: the Nokia N85 or Nokia N95 are examples of this.
A version of the slider form factor, the side slider or QWERTY slider, uses vertical access of the keyboard on the bottom segment. The side slider form factor is primarily used to facilitate faster access to the keyboard with both thumbs. The Motorola Photon Q, Danger Hiptop, Sony Mylo, and HTC Touch Pro are four primary examples.
Some unusual sliders have also been made, such as the Nokia 7280 modeled like lipstick, Samsung SGH-F520 from 2007 which slides three ways with a QWERTY keyboard, and the Samsung Anycall SCH-B550; which is a gaming phone. [30]
Sliders supplanted the flip form, since they allowed manufacturers to pack more keypad buttons and features (especially the side slider or QWERTY slider) into the same form factor, while touchscreen interfaces were still in their infancy. By the late-2000s, "slider" designs reached the peak of their popularity and declined afterward, being completely replaced by slate form factors with well-developed touch interfaces. In 2015, BlackBerry Limited (previously RIM) released the BlackBerry Priv, the first mainstream slider phone in several years (based on Android, not the Blackberry operating system they sold so far). [31]
Nokia E7, released in 2011 and F(x)tec Pro 1, released in 2019 are notable examples of smartphone sliders as they bring out the keyboard from the side and tilt the display so they reminisce a laptop. [32]
Today, manufacturers are trying to develop bezel-less smartphones; the greatest difficulty being the presence of front-facing cameras and face recognition sensors. While most brands expand display real-estate, some depart from that approach, returning to the slider form factor; [33] like the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3, [34] [35] Huawei Honor Magic 2 [36] [37] and Lenovo Z5 Pro. [38]
A variation of this design is the kick-slider, a slider with an extra hinge to conform to face like on Motorola Rizr Z8.
Phones like the OnePlus 7 Pro, [39] Oppo Find X [40] and Vivo Nex [41] hide front cameras within the body of the devices in motorized pop-up modules to create a bezelless front face fully occupied by screens without any cutout while keeping a front-facing camera that can move up when required. Vivo V15 Pro [42] and Centric S1 [43] also come with a pop-up front-facing camera mechanism. One major drawback with pop-up cameras is their inherent complexity due to the mechanism used, as the components such as the motor take up valuable space within the phone's internals which may also fail over time. [39]
A swivel phone is composed of multiple—usually two—segments, which swivel past each other about a sagittal axis (most of the time). Use of the swiveling form factor has similar goals to that of the slider, but this form factor is less widely used. Samples are, LG U900 + 960 + V9000, Motorola Flipout + V70 + V80, Nokia 7370, Siemens SK65, Samsung Juke + Samsung SGH-X830, and Sony Ericsson S700i + W550. The LG Wing implemented this feature into a slate design smartphone, with two touchscreens.
Other examples include the Sierra Wireless Voq which combines a candybar with a keyboard "side-flip"; the Nokia Communicator series which utilise both a candybar and a clamshell with a QWERTY keyboard; or the Siemens SK65 which is a swivel candybar with a QWERTY keyboard. [44]
Some implementations, that do not use the sagittal axis, are presenting in phones like Nokia 3250 and Oppo N1, with twistable components: a keyboard, and main camera (doubling as a selfie one), respectively.
Some mobile phones use more than one form, such as the Nokia N90, Nokia 6260, Philips 968, Sharp SX862, Samsung SGH-P910, Samsung FlipShot SCH-U900, Amoi 2560, Samsung Alias series or Panasonic FOMA P900iV, which use both a swivel and a flip axis.
Some phones use a combination of form factors, so, Nokia N93, P906i, W61SH use a combination of swivel and flip. Bezelless Samsung A80 [45] only has rear cameras that are housed in a motorized module, using a combination of slider and swivel they achieve the rotation to the front to be used for selfies.
A smartphone, often simply called a phone, is a mobile device that combines the functionality of a traditional mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multimedia playback and streaming. Smartphones have built-in cameras, GPS navigation, and support for various communication methods, including voice calls, text messaging, and internet-based messaging apps.
The Motorola Razr is a brand of mobile phones manufactured by Motorola Mobility. Its current iteration since 2019, styled motorola razr, consist of foldable smartphones reminiscent of the original Razr line of flip phones.
A clamshell design is a kind of form factor for electronic devices in the shape of a clam shell. Mobile phones, handheld game consoles, and especially laptops, are often designed like clamshells. Clamshell devices are usually made of two sections connected by a hinge, each section containing either a flat panel display or an alphanumeric keyboard/keypad, which can fold into contact together like a bivalve shell.
Pantech Inc. is a South Korean company that manufactures mobile phones. Established in 1991, its market is mainly domestic with partners in the United States, Japan, China, Europe and Vietnam. In 2012 Pantech was the second best-selling handset maker in South Korea, according to Gartner. In 2013 Samsung Electronics bought a 10% stake in Pantech. Pantech also partners with PCD for specialized phones.
A flexible display or rollable display is an electronic visual display which is flexible in nature, as opposed to the traditional flat screen displays used in most electronic devices. In recent years there has been a growing interest from numerous consumer electronics manufacturers to apply this display technology in e-readers, mobile phones and other consumer electronics. Such screens can be rolled up like a scroll without the image or text being distorted. Technologies involved in building a rollable display include electronic ink, Gyricon, Organic LCD, and OLED.
The SGH-F700, marketed as the Ultra Smart F700, is a smartphone manufactured by Samsung. Using Vodafone as its network provider, the phone was first introduced at the 3GSM World Congress that was held in February 2007. Sales to the European market started November 2007.
The Samsung SGH-i907, marketed as the Samsung Epix in the United States by AT&T Wireless, is a Windows Mobile-based quad-band GSM smartphone manufactured by Samsung.
Pantech Wireless, Inc. (PWI), formed in 2002, is the North American subsidiary of Pantech, one of Korea’s three largest mobile phone manufacturers.
The Motorola Backflip is a touchscreen smartphone released to the U.S. for AT&T on March 7, 2010, and for other countries on Telus and Optus. It runs the open source Google Android software.
The BlackBerry Torch 9800 is a 2010 model in the BlackBerry line of smartphones. It combines a physical QWERTY keyboard with a sliding multi-touch screen display and runs on BlackBerry OS 6. Introduced on August 3, 2010, the phone became available exclusively on AT&T on August 12, 2010.
BlackBerry Torch is a series of smartphones manufactured by BlackBerry Ltd. The lineup consists of the following:
The Nokia X3 Touch and Type also known as Nokia X3-02 is a smartphone handset produced by Nokia. This is the first mobile handset released by Nokia that possesses a touchscreen in a "candybar" phone form factor. It is also the first touchscreen handset from Nokia that runs the Series 40 operating system. Previously released touchscreen devices from Nokia have either not had a physical keyboard, or they have had a slide-out, full-QWERTY keyboard. It was introduced on 13 August 2010 as one of the most advanced Series 40 devices in terms of features and specifications.
Nokia's strategic nomenclature can be traced back in 2005 when the Nseries line was launched, offering devices with flagship specifications and premium hardware at various price points. These devices were considered the "bread and butter" of the company and were often positioned to showcase their latest technologies. Thanks to the newfound consumer and enterprise interest in smartphones at the time, the company introduced four additional collections to diversify their product portfolio and meet demands in most market segments. These new phone series were named Eseries, targeting small business and enterprise customers; Xseries, providing consumer-grade multimedia-focused devices; Cseries, which Nokia used to target both the low-end and mid-range market segments; and Tseries, for devices exclusive to the Chinese market.
A lock screen is a computer user interface element used by various operating systems. They regulate immediate access to a device by requiring the user to perform a certain action in order to receive access, such as entering a password, using a certain button combination, or performing a certain gesture using a device's touchscreen. There are various authentication methods to get past the lock screen, with the most popular and common ones being personal identification numbers (PINs), the Android pattern lock, and biometrics.
The Samsung Galaxy Star is a low-end smartphone manufactured by Samsung Electronics. It was announced in April 2013, it was subsequently released in May 2013. It is the cheapest smartphone in the Samsung Galaxy series. Like all other Samsung Galaxy smartphones, the Galaxy Star runs on the Android mobile operating system. The phone is available in 2 versions: a single SIM version (GT-S5280) and a dual SIM version (GT-S5282). The phone competes with other low-cost smartphones such as the smartphones from the Nokia Asha series as well as low-cost smartphones manufactured by Indian manufacturers such as Micromax, Karbonn, Spice Digital, Lava International and Celkon. It is available in certain Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia etc. where low-cost smartphones are very popular as well as in Morocco, Algeria, South Africa, Portugal, France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.
A foldable smartphone is a smartphone with a folding form factor. It is reminiscent of the clamshell design of many earlier feature phones. Some variants of the concept use multiple touchscreen panels on a hinge, while other designs utilise a flexible display. Concepts of such devices date back as early as Nokia's "Morph" concept in 2008, and a concept presented by Samsung Electronics in 2013, while the first commercially available folding smartphones with OLED displays began to emerge in November 2018.
The 2019Motorola Razr is an Android foldable smartphone produced by Motorola Mobility. Unveiled on November 14, 2019, it was released on February 6, 2020. The device is designed to be reminiscent of the original Motorola Razr feature phone series and features a horizontally foldable screen. An updated version of the phone, Motorola Razr 5G, was announced on September 9, 2020, and released on September 15 of that year.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip is an Android-based foldable smartphone developed by Samsung Electronics as part of the Samsung Galaxy Z series. Its existence was first revealed in an advertisement during the 2020 Academy Awards. Unveiled alongside the Galaxy S20 on February 11, 2020, it was released on February 14, 2020. Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold, the device folds horizontally and uses a hybrid glass coating branded as "Infinity Flex Display". It is available in three colors for the LTE version and two colors for the 5G version. The 5G version was also made available in a limited-edition "Mystic White" color.