Tablet computers are a dime a dozen these days, but they all have one thing in common. They’re all slate-style devices with a single touch-sensitive touchscreen and run some sort of mobile operating system. Case in point, the Apple iPad is getting a lot of attention as one of this year’s headlining slate tablets. Well, Qualcomm is at least tinkering with the idea of a new kind of tablet computer. A new patent reveals Qualcomm’s ideas for a folding tablet with multiple, configurable displays.
According to the patent application, Qualcomm’s multi-display tablet thingy will feature a “processor configured to execute at least one software application having a graphical user interface, the processor being responsive to the folding configuration sensor to modify the graphical user interface based on the detected configuration.” That basically means that the device can detect how the displays are folded (or unfolded) and configured, so that it can tailor the display to fit your needs. Among the possible display orientations are “a panorama UI, a desktop UI, an application UI, a web browser UI, an alarm clock UI, a media player UI, or some other UI.”
We doubt we’d ever see this kind of form-factor in a smartphone, because a tri-folding body can be awkwardly thick. Even if the individual panels are super thing, there’s no way it’s going to rival, say, the Nexus One’s pencil-thin body. As a tablet, though, the tri-panel design would work really well.
Now, we just need Qualcomm to make this a reality.
[GoRumors via: UnwiredView]