What ChatGPT did to search, what Midjourney did to photography, what iPhones did to cameras, the Bored Keyboard is doing to mechanical keyboards. Designed to be the first mechanical keyboard with built-in predictive models, the Bored Keyboard supercharges your workflow by making you type faster, switch between tasks faster, and game more lethally. A touch-sensitive display along the top of the keyboard serves up autocomplete suggestions as you type, boosting your typing speed by nearly 3x. The display also stores items in your clipboard, allowing you to copy-paste text more efficiently, and even lets you toggle between multiple keyboard modes as you work. Think of it as the MacBook TouchBar, but with MUCH more potential, within a mechanical keyboard that’s like a symphony for your fingertips.

Designer: Marzex Bored Inc.

Click Here to Buy Now: $169 $252 (33% Off) Hurry, only 5 days left!

The reason why the Bored Keyboard is so exciting is because it thinks outside the box. To be straight, there’s nothing wrong with conventional mechanical keyboards. I’m using one right now, and it serves its purpose well… but it doesn’t explore its potential. The Bored Keyboard does just that – it explores the idea of a keyboard on a much more fundamental yet broad level. It supercharges your typing with autocomplete, gives you a lengthy clipboard that lets you paste stuff you copied 5 hours ago, and even has RGB backlit keys that do everything from highlighting predictive keys to lighting up in zones during games to help you understand where your enemies are located. Not a single mechanical keyboard can boast those features, and let’s face it, Apple clearly didn’t explore the full potential of the TouchBar either.

The Autocomplete feature is easily the Bored Keyboard’s biggest USP. Borrowing from the experience of typing on a smartphone, the mechanical keyboard’s lateral display lights up with word suggestions as you type. See something you like, hit it instead of typing out the entire word. The predictive models get better with time as you keep using the keyboard, shooting up predictions faster and more accurately, effectively reducing the time between thinking and typing so you can work as fast as you think. The autocomplete model doesn’t just work with the English language, it works while coding too, helping you type and push out code fast simply by letting the keyboard complete lines of code for you. Things get even better with the keyboard’s RGB backlights as they predict the next key you want to type before you do. The lights highlight the key for you so you can find the right key faster – a feature that’s incredibly useful for people who aren’t quick typers and who spend time scanning the keyboard as they click each key.

The Bored Keyboard’s Clipboard feature is perhaps its most underrated. Think about working with spreadsheets and needing to copy multiple pieces of data and paste them in individual cells. The traditional way of doing it would be to copy one item, go to the sheet, paste it, then go back and copy item number two, paste it again, and repeat the process multiple times. The Bored Keyboard’s clipboard feature eliminates that back and forth. Copy multiple pieces of data, go to your final document, and access each individual copied item through the display on top. Just hit CTRL and the Bored Keyboard reveals its entire clipboard of all the stuff you copied. Click on an item to paste it, or select another item to paste that instead… your clipboard can hold more than one element now, allowing you to bulk-copy and then bulk-paste.

When you begin using the Bored Keyboard for gaming, you realize what I meant when I spoke about a keyboard’s ‘potential’. While gaming, the keyboard’s entire canvas becomes an audio ‘heat-map’. The keyboard listens to in-game sounds to determine where footsteps and gunshots are coming from, lighting up those respective areas. This helps you track your enemies in a much more intuitive way, often even without headphones. The keyboard becomes your pair of extra eyes, keeping tabs on the whereabouts of your enemies for you. Follow the lights and they literally lead to victory.

The Bored Keyboard just continues to tick all the right boxes with its design and software. On the software front, the Bored Keyboard is designed to be entirely open-source. You can customize the autocomplete settings, configure key mappings, set shortcuts and macros, run your own custom scripts/actions, and obviously tinker with the RGB backlight settings. The folks behind the Bored Keyboard encourage you to hack the keyboard to suit your needs, giving you a piece of hardware that truly fits your exact requirements.

On the hardware front, it’s delightfully mechanical, with Gateron switches (red/brown/yellow/blue) and double-shot PBT keycaps that can be hot-swapped to retrofit keycaps of your own. Depending on whether you choose the standard or the premium variant, the keyboard’s body comes made either from ABS plastic or machined Aluminum, houses either a 6000mAh or a 10,000mAh battery, and has either an LCD or a PMOLED lateral display up top. The standard version connects to machines via USB-C or Bluetooth, while the premium model also packs a 2.4GHz receiver.

The Bored Keyboard has a compact 75% layout, which means it loses the number pad, but packs an entire row of function keys. It measures 320mm across (12.5 inches) and 171mm in depth (6.7 inches) thanks to the presence of that added touchscreen. The Bored Keyboard is compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS devices, starting at $169 for the standard/basic variant, or $363 for the premium variant, with global shipping included.

Click Here to Buy Now: $169 $252 (33% Off) Hurry, only 5 days left!

The post World’s First Mechanical Keyboard with Built-In Autocomplete Lets You Type (and Code) 3x Faster first appeared on Yanko Design.

As a digital native (meaning I live and breathe online), I have not been very conscious of all my data that is uploaded to various websites and all the cloud-based applications out there. There have been a lot of horror stories about people whose identity have been hacked or compromised because of their data on the cloud but so far, I have been lucky enough to not experience any of this. But if you’re the type of person that is very careful about these kinds of things, this new product may be something worth having.

Designers: Wenkai Li and Yu Dan

ZimaBlade is a x86 personal server that will let you have control over most things even while you’re connected to the world wide web. It will basically remove your files from the cloud and let you have control over things like file sharing, media playback, key management, and even encrypted P2P transmission. It also has a lot of expansion ports and slots including for storage, high-speed networking, PCIe slots, a USB port, and other ports that you may need as you use this server.

The design of the server is more old-school Sony Walkman than actual server or it may also look like a small robot that will transform anytime. It is around the same size as the Raspberry Pi devices but it does not have the usual GPIO pins found in devices like this. It seems to not be that heavy so it can be portable and is made with low-power and modularity in mind. It has an aluminum alloy heatsink so it will not overheat in case you’re a heavy user.

It is pre-installed with the open source CasaOS operating system that has more than 50 Docker apps. The early reviews seem to be positive for those who are in need of portable, personal servers. I don’t have any need for it right now because I am still basically unconcerned with clouds but if one day I do realize that everything I send to the Internet is a risk, then this is something that can be useful for someone like me.

The post This Walkman-inspired gadget is a personal server to keep your online life safe first appeared on Yanko Design.

You’ve got portable grills, induction cookers, and portable stoves, but there’s no portable version of the microwave. Most microwaves today are heavy, bulky, and aren’t designed to be carried around… but what if they were? Designer Park Saun created the Foldwave concept to show what a portable microwave could look like. With a collapsible design that turns into a portable carry case when not in use, the Foldwave gives you the option of being able to carry your microwave around. Use it at home from one room to another, carry it to work, or even to a picnic. The collapsible design makes it easier to carry on your shoulders… and if you’re wondering whether portable microwaves are even feasible as a concept, a Japanese company developed the world’s first battery-powered microwave this year!

Designer: Park Saun

The Foldwave’s innovation, as a concept, lies primarily in the way it goes from cube-shaped to compact. The sides of the microwave buckle inwards, allowing the top and the bottom elements to join together into a smaller, more manageable carrying volume. A handle on the top makes it easy to carry the Foldwave around with you, and using the Foldwave is as simple as opening the door in front, adding your food, and turning the knob on top to run the appliance.

Even though conceptual, it’s important to really address how this technology would be feasible in the long run. Microwaves are usually sealed shut to prevent radiation leakage, and it’s important that the Foldwave keeps that in consideration too. As far as the components go, the microwave magnetron sits on the top, while the rotating platform can be found at the bottom. One would assume that the high-voltage transformer sit right at the top with the magnetron, powering the device, while a battery unit could be potentially stored at the bottom, allowing the microwave to balance its components and weight out while still being bottom-heavy enough to stay stable when open.

The Foldwave is a winner of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept for the year 2023.

The post This Award-Winning Foldable Microwave Oven Concept Turns into a Portable Carry Case first appeared on Yanko Design.

When large, not to mention expensive, foldables didn’t seem to be appealing to people, manufacturers tried a different angle and sent a different message. Taking lessons from the somewhat inexplicable popularity of clamshell flip phones from the 80s and 90s, brands found the perfect opportunity to market a foldable phone that seemed hip, classy, and a bit more relatable. Thus, the flip-style foldable phones were born, straddling the fine line between compactness and usability, and we’ve been witnessing big changes in design and features in every iteration. But like their larger foldable siblings, these stylish phones have traditionally been held back by space constraints, especially when it comes to squeezing advanced cameras inside cramped bodies. With the Find N3 Flip, OPPO is trying to change the formula once and for all, so we put it through the wringer to see whether that large bump on its back is worth its presence.

Designer: OPPO

Aesthetics

There’s no denying the fact that two things will immediately catch your attention when you behold the OPPO Find N3 Flip. First is the large rectangular external display, formally called the Cover Screen, which has been the signature design of the OPPO Find N Flip. It’s admittedly smaller than ones from Samsung and Motorola, but its shape more closely resembles a phone screen and doesn’t force the cameras to be stuck with a particular design only. As we’ll soon see, OPPO added some new features for the Cover Screen, but it really only takes a second seat to the other most obvious design feature of its new flip foldable.

There is a distinct camera bump on the Find N3 Flip, and it isn’t some discreet bump either. It’s a large raised circle that houses no less than three sensors arranged in a symmetrical triangular pattern. It takes inspiration from the OPPO Find X6’s “Cosmos Ring” design, with an added “Starlight Track” that aims to mimic the control ring on camera lenses. On a wide area on a large phone like the Find X6, this design element is striking and quite pleasant. Squeezed into a very small space, the raised structure looks more pronounced and visually distracting. Some will love the luxurious style and materials of the ring, but there will also be some who will criticize its almost obnoxious presence, especially when the rest of the smartphone can stand up as an elegant accessory that you can proudly show off at a gala.

This isn’t surprising since the Find N2 Flip before it already flaunted stunningly good looks, and OPPO wisely preferred not to change that winning formula. The glass back panel’s edges gently curve toward the metal frame to produce a pleasing aesthetic that also increases comfort when holding it in your hand. It’s a departure from the predominantly flat trend of smartphones these days, but one that still works in the Find N3 Flip’s favor. The color options are just as gorgeous, with Cream Gold and Misty Pink offering soft hues and Sleek Black carrying a classic character. The phone has a minimalist charm to it as well, broken only by that large circle whose presence can, fortunately, be justified by its performance.

Ergonomics

Unlike with the larger book-style foldable, holding the OPPO Find N3 Flip is less of a hassle and risk because it can be easily held in one hand. In fact, you can even open it up with a single hand, if you’re not afraid of digging your finger in between the two halves. The phone folds completely flap with no gap in between, though there’s still a bit of space created by the raised edges of the foldable screen where you can slip your finger in. Some might still be a bit too wary of tempting fate, but opening and closing the foldable is quite easy and can even be quite addictive to be perfectly honest.

Holding the phone in your hand is just as pleasurable, thanks to both the texture of the materials used as well as their forms. The curved edges of the back panel contrast and complement the flat sides of the frame, providing both comfort as well as grip. It’s taller than most flat smartphones, of course, so you might still find yourself reaching elements higher on the screen with your free hand. Compared to other flip-style foldable phones, however, it has a wider main display and a wider body. This means the aspect ratio of the screen is more standard and that your hands won’t feel cramped when tapping away on it.

The improved Flexion Hinge also plays an important role in enhancing the usability of the foldable phone, especially when taking photos. Since it can stay open at almost any angle, you can take shots from difficult angles that would normally require a tripod or monopod and still have the confidence in being able to hold the phone firmly. Considering how this kind of foldable is being marketed primarily at Gen Z customers who love to take selfies or record videos, that kind of stability and ergonomics goes a long way in appealing to that consumer base.

Performance

The OPPO Find N3 Flip is quite the looker, but it thankfully isn’t just a pretty face. It boasts some of the best specs in the smartphone market today, like the latest LPDDR5x memory and fast UFS 4.0 storage technology. The one oddity in that hardware list is perhaps the choice of processor, a MediaTek Dimensity 9200. It’s definitely no Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, as synthetic benchmarks will show, and there will be some areas where the Dimensity 9200 might fall behind in terms of numbers. That said, the gap isn’t that wide, especially in practice, and you can expect premium performance from this foldable, no matter what task you throw at it.

The foldable display inside helps support those use cases, providing a vibrant and bright display when you need it but folding out of the way when you don’t. It’s the exact same screen as the OPPO Find N2 Flip, which means a 6.8-inch 120Hz foldable display with a resolution of 2520×1080, a few pixels shy of the standard ultra-wide format. Thanks to the aforementioned Flexion Hinge, the screen has no visible crease in the middle, not unless you intentionally search for or feel it. It presents a traditional user experience, the same you’d find on regular smartphones, just that you can fold it halfway to enable some extra features, especially with the camera.

Ironically, it’s the secondary display outside that’s more interesting than the foldable panel. The Cover Screen, after all, allows you to use the phone without opening it up as well as easily take high-quality selfies using the more powerful cameras on its back. It’s the same 3.26-inch 720×382 screen, though, with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection for this year’s model instead. The traditional rectangular shape might seem almost old-fashioned given these year’s flip phone designs, but its straightforward implementation actually makes it more flexible in features, at least in theory. It also frees up more space for bigger camera sensors, which is the true star of OPPO’s 2023 flip foldable phone.

The OPPO Find N3 Flip boasts the world’s first triple camera system on a clamshell foldable, which explains the decisions that the company had to make. It wouldn’t have been efficient to just have three dots lined up on the side of the phone, especially given the sensors’ sizes, so they had to resort to a more familiar design of having a large camera bump instead. Just having three cameras wouldn’t have been enough to justify such a large enclosure and, thankfully, OPPO didn’t stop there either.

Portrait Mode

The 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor makes its return from last year, but this time it comes with Optical Image Stabilization or OIS. The ultra-wide shooter has been upgraded with a whopping 48MP camera so you won’t have to sacrifice quality for field of view. The biggest change, however, is the dedicated telephoto camera with a 32MP sensor that’s useful not only for 2x optical zoom but also for taking stunning portrait photos, with some help from Hasselblad tuning. The results are simply impressive, with images containing lush colors and high levels of detail, no matter which of the three cameras you use. And thanks to that multi-angle Flexion Hinge, you can use these powerful cameras in more ways, taking breath-taking shots or videos without having to use sticks and stands.

Ultra-wide

1x

2x

The Find N3 Flip runs the latest OPPO ColorOS 13.2 based on Android 13. This flavor of Android has all the bells and whistles you’ve come to expect from the brand, including the dizzying amount of options and several pre-installed apps. Unlike with the larger foldable, the focus on this flip phone is not exactly multi-tasking but on “mini-tasking,” that is, the mini apps that can run on the small Cover Screen. OPPO has expanded that experience to include a few more Google apps and social networks, but the limitations are still the same. You can’t use it for anything other than OPPO’s sanctioned set of apps and experiences, which now includes having a furry pal on your lock screen. It’s a double-edged that keeps the experience simple and streamlined but also misses out on big opportunities. It gets the job done, which focuses mostly on basic tasks you can do without flipping the phone open, but that’s all there is to it.

Normal Mode

Night Mode

Powering this whole ensemble is a 4,300mAh battery that is quite generous for a flip foldable. It’s more than enough to last you a full day, though your mileage will depend on what you’re using it for, and it also charges up quickly thanks to SuperVOOC 44W technology. There’s still no wireless charging, which is a bit of a shame in this day and age, especially when you consider the premium price that OPPO is asking for.

Sustainability

Despite its rapid growth, OPPO has thankfully been mindful of the role it plays in keeping the planet alive for future generations of customers. It has a strong and detailed strategy for reducing its impact, at least as far as operations and production go. There’s definitely plenty of room for improvement, especially when talking about the use of recycled materials, but that will probably require a bigger investment and more partnerships than OPPO can muster at the moment.

Fortunately, the OPPO Find N3 Flip is built to last, and not just because of its improved hinge. Earlier generations of foldable phones have been notoriously vulnerable to the slightest accidents, especially when it comes to dust and liquid. The Find N3 Flip’s IPX4 rating still doesn’t hit the mark, especially when it comes to protection from small particles, but the waterproofing goes a long way in inspiring confidence in such a pricey investment.

Value

It was quite easy to impress crowds with foldable phones, but they turned out to sell in practice. Durability and usability have always been concerns, but there’s also the question of practicality vis-a-vis their expensive price tags. Modern flip phones are an attempt to make the idea of foldable phones more approachable while also pushing down the price just a bit. Unfortunately, many of these devices failed to match expectations when compared to flagships on the same price tier, especially when it comes to the photography experience that many users consider to be critical to their smartphone use.

That’s where the OPPO Find N3 Flip comes to the scene with guns blazing. A glance at the specs sheet suggests an incremental upgrade from last year’s model, but you can immediately see there’s something different once you behold that large camera ring on its back. It is perhaps the closest that flip phones have gotten to matching the power of traditional flagships, both in the overall experience as well as in photography. It’s still a bit pricey, but that price finally makes sense considering you’re finally getting what you’re paying for.

Verdict

Foldable are here to stay and the market will only get noisier in the coming years. There’s plenty of room for improvement, especially as they try to catch up with features that have become standard in buyers’ eyes. Durability and reliability are always top priorities, but matching the photography prowess of flagships without giving up thin and light designs is something that has eluded even the biggest smartphone brands.

The OPPO Find N3 and the Find N3 Flip raise a challenge to the status quo, proving that, yes, you can put great cameras on foldable phones, too. While much of the Find N3 Flip hasn’t changed, it steps up its game with a team of imaging sensors that empowers any user to become a content creator. Yes, the large camera ring looks a little awkward, but we’ve seen worse designs on regular smartphones. It’s one of the prices that OPPO and users have to pay to achieve this level of performance, and it’s definitely worth that design cost. Fortunately, the rest of the phone looks as elegant as ever, so if you’re in the market for a stylish phone that has both a “Wow!” factor and impressive cameras, the OPPO Find N3 Flip deserves a spot on your list.

Aki Ukita contributed to this review.

The post OPPO Find N3 Flip Foldable Phone Review: Refinement with a Big Twist first appeared on Yanko Design.

With a fully-enclosed design that makes it incredibly user-friendly and safe for even homes, the xTool S1 is the most powerful laser cutter consumers can buy. It sports a slim design that doesn’t occupy the kind of vertical space required by other consumer-grade devices like 3D printers, and has a modular design that lets you swap out the laser attachments depending on the material you’re working with. The enclosed design eliminates the need to wear goggles while the cutter’s in action, and multiple flame-detectors keep the entire operation safe at all times. Despite all that, the xTool S1 sports a starting price of just $1,599 for the S1 with a 20W laser, going up to $1,999 if you want to pack ultimate power with a 40W laser diode.

Designer: xTool

Click Here to Buy Now: $1599 $2099 ($500 off). Hurry, deal ends in 48 hours!

Occupying the same footprint as a flatbed scanner, the S1 from xTool is an industry-grade laser cutter designed specifically for hobbyists, prototypers, designers, engineers, small entrepreneurs, and other creatively inclined folk. It packs a powerful laser diode into an enclosed flatbed-style design that isn’t just compact, it’s also much safer than most consumer-grade open-diode laser cutters that either require you to splurge another couple of hundreds on a safety enclosure, or require you to have goggles on at all times while operating the machinery. The S1 is a suitable alternative, and comes with its own enclosed design that doesn’t break the bank.

The 40W laser is powerful enough to slice through wood, leather, stainless steel to plastic, precious metals, acrylic, and almost all other common materials with absolute ease. A modular design allows you to swap between laser diodes of different powers so you can engrave too, while also letting you attach accessories like risers for working on taller/thicker elements, or a rotary module for engraving on cylindrical surfaces.

The modular design extends to even the laser itself, with the ability to switch between the 40W laser, a 20W laser, or a 1064nm laser. The entire process is easy for even first-timers to do, giving your S1 the range to work with a whole host of materials. Other modules include the riser, which elevates your S1 so you can engrave on products as thick as 125mm (4.9 inches), the RA2 Pro rotary module for engraving on cylindrical surfaces (covering 90% of the cylinder), or even the Automatic Conveyor Feed that lets you feed in longer pieces of material as the S1 does running cuts on them. You can even add a honeycomb lattice to catch your parts as they fall, filtering dust off in the process, or install a smoke purifier module that purifies 99.97% of the exhaust fumes generated while the laser is at work.

Experts as well as novices will appreciate how intuitive using the S1 is. Right off the bat, it accepts all leading file types including SVG/DXF/JPG/JPEG/PNG/BMP/TIF, while supporting working with a variety of material categories from paper all the way up to stainless steel.

While most laser cutters use cameras for positioning, the S1 offers a new twin-point positioning system that’s much more accurate than the traditional camera method. This sidesteps the camera’s own shortcomings like its ability to distort or succumb to small amounts of parallax. The twin-point positioning system offers higher accuracy thanks to xTool’s advanced algorithms, allowing you to accurately visualize previews within the software for the best possible results.

The S1 also features an advanced Intelligent Focus System, enabling multi-point high-precision ranging and automated 3D object modeling. The motorized Z-axis dynamically adjusts focus in real time during processing, ensuring meticulous precision. Once you’ve loaded and calibrated your job, the S1 gets to work at 600mm/s, offering a respectably speedy yet incredibly stable performance thanks to the robust guide rail system that guides the laser with ease.

40 watts of power is no joke, especially in the laser world, which is why the folks at xTool take safety as seriously as they do. Rated Class-1, the laser is certified safe to be used around humans given how many precautions the S1 takes with its design. A large, high-transparency cover offers excellent dual-wavelength filtering capabilities (diode laser and 1064nm Infrared laser), freeing you from cumbersome protective glasses while giving you a clear view of the job while it’s being processed.

The entire enclosure is fire-resistant, but the chances of a fire are drastically minimized thanks to omni-directional flame detectors that constantly monitor the S1 while it’s in action. A powerful smoke exhaust rapidly discharges harmful gases produced during laser processing, ensuring your safety and well-being, with the option of adding a purifier module that purifies 99.97% of the air making its way out of the S1. The device additionally has auto-shutdown protocols when you lift the lid in the middle of a job or when the S1 detects a tilt or impact, and at any other time, a conveniently placed emergency stop button lets you instantly pause a job.

The xTool S1 measures 765mm x 561mm (30 inches x 22 inches) in length and diameter, while being 183mm or 7.2 inches in height (going to 268mm or 10.5 inches with the riser module attached) and weighing 20 kilograms (44lbs). The S1 40W has a 498mm x 319mm (19.6 inches x 12.5 inches) work area, extendable indefinitely via the Automatic Conveyor Feed module. The device connects via both USB as well as WiFi, working with popular software Lightburn or even xTool’s proprietary XCS software that’s available for Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, and iPadOS devices. The xTool S1 starts at $1,599 for the 20W model, while the 40W variant costs $1,999, undercutting most powerful laser cutters that can run up even 5 figures in cost. Addon modules for the cutter are available separately.

Click Here to Buy Now: $1599 $2099 ($500 off). Hurry, deal ends in 48 hours!

The post This Compact 40W Diode Enclosed Laser Cutter Is Every Designer + Hobbyist’s Dream first appeared on Yanko Design.

Flippable and foldable smartphones are taking mobile phones where no mobile phone has gone… since the year 2007, when flip phones were still in vogue, and owning an iPhone was considered an unimaginable luxury for normal, tech unsavvy people. In 2023, things are coming full circle and we’re now seeing smartphones that mimic flip phones or double as foldable tablets.

Folding smartphones are more stylish than the conventional brick-shaped smartphone design, and even though they’re relatively new to the market, there are already a few great options as more manufacturers enter the foldable smartphone race – if you’re an Android user, that is. News about iPhone Flip is still slim, but you don’t have to wait to upgrade. Here are the top foldable smartphone designs you can find in 2023.

1. Galaxy Z Fold 5

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is widely considered the most powerful, feature-rich foldable smartphone on the market. It ties with the Google Pixel Fold for being the most expensive at $1799.99, but its 6.2 inch cover AMOLED 2x display (and 7.6 inch tablet display) are rated for brightness levels of up to 1750 nits at resolutions of 904 x 2316 and 1812 x 2176, respectively. That’s all possible because of its internal Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU and 4400 mAh battery. Much like other leading Samsung smartphones, it comes with support for the S Pen stylus that makes multitasking and precise interactions far simpler.

It also packs in 12 gigs of RAM, up to 1 TB of storage space (via the Samsung website), and a triple rear camera system with a 50 megapixel main sensor, 12 megapixel ultrawide, and a 10 megapixel telephoto lens.

Buy it now on Amazon

2. Google Pixel Fold

If you’re specifically looking for a powerful smartphone that also doubles as a tablet – but you aren’t sold on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 – you should also consider the Google Pixel Fold. It uses OLED displays, but it’s a little more compact than the former with a cover display size of 5.8 inches (2092×1080 resolution) and a tablet display size of 7.6 inches (2208×1840 resolution). It’s darker than the Z Fold 5, given that its peak brightness is 1450 nits, however, it has a slightly more powerful 4821 mAh battery to keep it powered longer. This is useful in Extreme Battery Saver mode, which supposedly lets you keep your Pixel Fold awake for up to 72 hours on a single charge.

Its Google Tensor G2 processor and 12 GB RAM make it similar in power to its immediate competitor, but it features a cleaner implementation of Android which makes it feel more buttery smooth in action. Unfortunately, its MSRP of $1919 makes it the least affordable of the bunch.

Buy it now on Amazon

3. Galaxy Z Flip 5

Flippable smartphones are more approachable to the average user, both in cost effectiveness and portability. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 phone is the best flippable smartphone around, thanks to its robust feature set and immaculate build quality. Both its 3.4 inch cover and 6.7 inch portrait display use AMOLED screens with 720×748 and 1080×2640 resolutions, meaning you can do a lot with the tiny cover screen and see it all with excellent sharpness and clarity.

It’s not going to compete in raw power with the foldable phones I talked about earlier, but its compact build size means it doesn’t need to. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 features a 3700 mAh battery, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, and 8 gigs of RAM. It can still be equipped with up to 512 GB of internal storage, and its 12 MP rear cameras produce crisp and clean photos.

Buy it now on Amazon

4. Motorola Razr+

The classic Motorola Razr was one of the most iconic flip phones during the heyday of flip phones, and now it’s returned as the Motorola Razr+ (or Motorola Razr Plus, or Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, depending who you ask). This powerful little smartphone uses a 3.6 inch cover display (1066×1056) and a 6.9 inch pOLED vertical display (2640×1080). It uses a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU and a 3800 mAh battery with 8 gigs of RAM. It can store up to 256 gigs internally, and its selfie camera captures photos at 32 megapixels.

Buy it now on Amazon

5. OPPO Find N3 Fold

The OPPO Find N3 Fold is a powerful foldable smartphone that is especially useful to photographers because of its 48 MP rear camera, 64 MP ultrawide camera, and 64 MP telephoto camera. It sits just shy of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 in terms of cost with an MSRP of roughly $1745, but it hits the sweet spot with its 4800 mAh battery that can power its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU. Its 7.8 inch main AMOLED display is impressive with a resolution of 2240×2268, which looks great with games and action-heavy videos like live sports with its 120 Hz refresh rate.

The post Top foldable smartphone designs in 2023 first appeared on Yanko Design.

Samsung’s still stuck with the foldable format. Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi have limited themselves to an Asia-exclusive audience… and Google mentioned NOTHING about the Pixel Fold’s sales, hinting at disappointment. So did the OnePlus Open arrive at the perfect time to reinvigorate foldable sales the way Apple’s Vision Pro reinvigorated the metaverse? Or is the OnePlus Open a little too late to a rather lackluster party that Samsung’s been trying to throw since 2019? My gut tells me it’s the latter.

All Foldables are the same

Speaking of 2019, I remember when Elon Musk took to the stage to reveal the Cybertruck at a Tesla event in November of the year. Just before Musk revealed the truck’s unique design, he revealed an image of four pickup trucks kept side by side with the logos removed. Musk asked the audience to look at the truck and identify which one belonged to which brand. To the untrained eye, without the logo, every truck looked the exact same. Rightfully so, Musk’s point was to highlight that within the pickup format, companies weren’t imaginative in the least. Everyone just colored within the lines, churning out trucks that had no character and that couldn’t be differentiated in a lineup. Foldable phones are seeing a similar trajectory. Apart from the fact that they bend in half, there’s really no difference between a OnePlus Open, a Pixel Fold, a Galaxy Z Fold, an Oppo Find N2, or a Huawei Mate X2. Every single phone looks the same on the front and when you open the device, and the only real difference lies in their back and how many cameras they have crammed into that bump. If you REALLY want to look for innovation, it’s probably in the way those hinges are designed or whether the phones leave a gap when they fold shut or have a clean closing seam… but otherwise, these foldables are exactly like their unfoldable counterparts.

Image Credits: MKBHD

The OnePlus Open Looks Great! But…

Amid much fanfare, OnePlus released their highly anticipated Open phone today (although most people will argue it looks EXACTLY like the Oppo Find N3). For a first attempt, it’s a stellar device that has a beautifully thin design that folds shut. The bezels are practically invisible both on the outside as well as the inside, firing major shots at Google’s Pixel Fold that looks absolutely chunky and hideous in comparison, and the phone is slim when folded, but opens up to reveal a gorgeous 7.8-inch display that shows barely any crease when opened. It’s got a Hasselblad-powered camera, the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, and an impressive 4805mAh battery. The software is great, with a uniquely designed interface that prioritizes power-use, allows multitasking, and has an almost laptop-style dock of apps at the bottom that you can access on demand. Heck, the alert slider is back too, making this phone a true OnePlus icon. However, there are a few rather glaring problems. The phone is quite literally a rip-off of the Oppo Find N3, which most people would have figured out considering Oppo owns OnePlus now. So if you’re looking for something absolutely refreshingly different, this really isn’t it. The phone also skips wireless charging in a strange turn of events, and has a starting price of $1700, making it eye-wateringly expensive considering you could get a GOOD flagship phone for half that price. The overarching problem, however, is that if you view OnePlus’ own teaser from last week, it’s a vague message AT BEST. The teaser talks about how life bends you, and how your phone should bend too. It vaguely rants about “opening to new possibilities” and ties it to OnePlus’ “Never Settle” tagline. Sure, one could argue that it’s just a teaser, but what it’s teasing isn’t new. The OnePlus Open is great on paper, but it makes absolutely no compelling case for why you should buy it over any other foldable, or even any other regular non-folding flagship with a big screen, good battery, and a great camera.

Consumers aren’t asking for foldable phones…

The tragedy with foldables is that consumers find them interesting, but not interesting enough to buy. We love the idea of wowing at stuff, but just a small fraction of users are actually enthusiastic enough to put the money where their mouth is. The number is so small that companies don’t EVER talk about how many foldables they sold. Not to consumers, not to analysts, not even to shareholders. The reason behind this tiny number is beyond just the fact that foldable phones are more expensive than some laptops. It’s that consumers literally aren’t asking for foldables. People just want better cameras and batteries, more durable devices that last longer, and ease of repairability, whether it’s first or third-party repairs.

The Folding Screen isn’t the solution… It’s the problem

Just like consumers have ‘range anxiety’ with EVs, they have ‘bend anxiety’ with foldables. We’re a generation that puts cases on phones, applies tempered glass on screens. I’m absolutely anal about making sure my phone doesn’t see a scratch on it, so you can imagine how neurotic I’d be if I had a folding phone worth twice as much as my current device. There’s an inherent fear of accidentally shutting your phone with some dust or sand in it, or having your keys get wedged as you fold your phone shut, or just the fact that folding a display may end up damaging it (Marques Brownlee’s OnePlus Open handset showed a few dead pixels within 3 weeks). Besides, foldables don’t have one screen – they have two, so that’s double the anxiety. After all, warranties don’t cover cracked or damaged displays. Fixing the display on a foldable costs as much as buying a new flagship phone. All that being said… those concerns may be generational. Foldables could scare off our generations but could somehow appeal to younger generations who don’t look at all these as concerns but as ridiculous hypotheticals. That puts us at an interesting turning point.

How Foldables benefit the entire Smartphone Industry

The minute you stop thinking of foldables as actual consumer gadgets and start thinking of them as R&D devices, you begin to appreciate them. First-generation foldables had horrible designs. Their bezels were unappealingly thick, the phones themselves felt incredibly chunky, the hinges made all sorts of noises, and the battery life was abysmal. Cut to nearly half a decade later and you really begin to see how far we’ve come. Newer foldables have thinner profiles, practically invisible bezels, highly engineered hinges, and split batteries that go up to 5000mAh in capacity, giving you all-day usage just like a regular phone. This innovation helps consumers in two ways – First, it carries over onto regular phones, which can now house better batteries, and which can be engineered to be more durable thanks to the material science that goes into foldables. Secondly, the ONLY way to make foldables more affordable is to make more of them. There was a time when OLED displays were terrifyingly expensive, but now even a $500 mid-range phone has an OLED display, showing how effective the economies of scale are at bringing down the cost of cutting-edge tech. If we’re on this trajectory, it wouldn’t be inconceivable to imagine a $799 foldable, which would appeal to a vast variety of users. That future, however, remains largely unknown… which is why it isn’t really easy to predict whether the OnePlus Open came too early or too late. My gut as an avid tech-lover tells me that foldables won’t die, but they’ll remain a niche. Before foldables become mainstream, we’ll move on to the next thing, which could possibly be spatial computing. In that eventuality, there won’t be much demand for a folding phone, however, folding technology will carry forward into other sectors like tablets and laptops. My gut tells me the OnePlus Open might just be a bit of a bust, but it’ll play a key role (along with other foldables) in helping spur innovation in multiple different directions.

The post Did the OnePlus Open Foldable Phone Come Too Late? Or Did It Launch At The Perfect Time?? first appeared on Yanko Design.

Storing massive amounts of data in the modern world is a lot more complicated and expensive than it would seem, given the persistence of the internet, which now dates back almost 40 years. Hard disk drives are relatively easy to break due to regular usage, and they only last an average of five years before becoming inoperable – making the information stored within disappear forever. Keeping the internet alive over the years requires a ton of electricity, and not just in terms of manufacturing and shipping new storage drives. Simply operating the massive arrays of computers where data is stored creates a tremendous carbon footprint, contributing significantly to climate destruction.

Microsoft’s Project Silica wants to solve one piece of that puzzle: data archival. The team behind Project Silica has been busy figuring out how to archive impressive quantities of data away in a physical vault that requires minimal amounts of electricity to maintain. In the automated vault, shelves of individual glass sheets storing up to 7 terabytes each (that’s over 1.75 million songs, according to Microsoft) are accessible by robotic servos that can track down a given sheet, then bring it back to a physical reader that transmits the data inside over the cloud. The only catch: once data is written to a glass sheet, that sheet can never be written over again.

Designer: Microsoft

An “ultrafast femtosecond laser” modifies the shape of the glass plates as it writes, storing information in voxels – 3D pixels that can store volumetric information. These voxels are encoded into the body of the glass, and can only be read with a quick-moving microscope that works similarly to a CD or DVD reader albeit at a much larger scale. Somewhere between those two interactions, robotic servos shuffle up and down steel rows, storing data away on shelves that look straight out of the Minority Report or The Expanse.

The entire four-step process is powered by Microsoft Azure AI, which makes sense given how complex it must be to make a foolproof automated system integrating digital and physical interactions, which is exactly what’s going on inside of the Project Silica library. Its robotic servos “climb the shelves, fetch the glass, and then zip back to the reader” before stopping to self-charge.

Each glass slab is designed to last for 10,000 years, which is evidently twice as long as it’s been since humanity’s oldest recorded writing was created about 5000 years ago. Even more shockingly, the entire library is “passive, with no electricity in any of the storage units” according to Microsoft.

Elire is already collaborating with Project Silica to store music in the Global Music Vault, but the technology isn’t quite ready for widespread use. Microsoft says there are about “3-4 more developmental stages” before these glass-based libraries become the norm for long-term data storage on a commercial level, but the benefits are clear. Project Silica could represent a massive step forward in minimizing humanity’s carbon footprint while ensuring its achievements live on through the ages.

The post Microsoft’s Project Silica glass storage system looks right out of sci-fi first appeared on Yanko Design.

The iconic phone maker unveiled a new logo this year, signifying a switch from consumer tech to actual infrastructure and business-focused solutions. Their latest product, a 5G-capable hexacopter drone drives that message home with its enterprise and industry-focused approach. The massive copter is designed to carry a variety of payloads, from cameras to scanning devices to even loudspeakers or modems. It’s crafted with robust materials, is designed to be reliable and repairable… but most importantly, it’s designed and manufactured entirely in the EU, offering an alternative to businesses and governments looking to shift away from China-developed drone technology.

Designer: Nokia

Nokia’s drone isn’t your average DJI or Parrot-style flying machine. It’s much larger, covering a span of at least 3 feet in diameter when resting on the ground. Designed for industries, construction, safety/security, emergency services, transportation, or even smart-city monitoring, the drone comes with its own docking station, dual gimbal cameras, and edge cloud processing using Nokia MX Industrial Edge (MXIE). “By connecting over public and private 4G/LTE and 5G networks, customers will benefit from the highest reliability,” Nokia’s team mentions. “Beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations with real-time kinetic (RTK) positioning improves situational awareness. Dual modem connectivity allows Nokia drones to simultaneously connect to multiple networks, complying with system redundancy that is commonly required by aviation regulatory bodies.”

The drone comes with a 6-rotor design that’s made for effective navigation no matter the situation, weather, or environment. For drones, this one is built like a tank, sporting a carbon fiber chassis that keeps the drone light but sturdy, and an overall construction that’s water, dust, and wind resistant. Dual modems ensure the drone stays connected through its entire journey, and if the connection ever falters, the drone has its own return-to-launchpad protocols built in that allow it to make its way back to its docking station while avoiding no-fly zones.

A highlight of the drone’s design is its modular lower platform that allows you to mount a variety of accessories that transform the drone’s purpose. You’ve got a dual-camera module with a Thermal and an RGB camera capable of 30x zoom, but undock the camera and you can swap it for a LiDAR sensor instead, allowing the drone to 3D scan objects and environments instead. Nokia offers other modules too, including a powerful spotlight for rescue missions, or a loudspeaker for delivering messages/warnings/alerts. If you’ve got a custom requirement, Nokia’s Payload Development Kit lets you build your own module to mount onto the drone, making it serve your mission/project’s needs.

The Nokia Drone Networks solution offers remote operation capabilities for search and rescue missions and damage assessment in hazardous environments. These drones can also be programmed to conduct autonomous flights for tasks like enhancing security at major events or conducting regular equipment inspections in remote locations. The docking station not only safeguards the drone and its payload, which may include sensor devices or a dual gimbal camera, from external dangers and severe weather conditions but also remotely charges the drone in preparation for its next flight.

Given its enterprise/industry-focused approach, the Nokia Drone isn’t available to consumers. For businesses looking to place orders, there’s an Enquiry button on Nokia’s website.

The post From Phones to Drones: Nokia’s New Hexacopter Targets Industrial-use with RGB and Thermal Cameras first appeared on Yanko Design.

Foldable smartphones (like the OPPO Find N3, which we loved) are filtering into the high-end smartphone marketplace, tying together the best parts of mobile computing. When you buy a foldable phone in lieu of a regular smartphone, you’re essentially getting two devices in one: a smartphone that can instantly double its screen space, and a tablet that can instantly halve its size to fit in your pocket.

OnePlus is the latest smartphone maker to release its own foldable smartphone, called the OnePlus Open. Reviewers seem to agree that it comes with a good collection of attention-grabbing features… tied to a less exciting $1699.99 price point and several unfortunate shortcomings. But it’s still accurate to say the OnePlus Open represents another step forward, further solidifying an industry-wide push toward foldable phones – a step which even Apple hasn’t taken yet, given that its rumored iPhone Flip still doesn’t have a concrete release window.

Designer: OnePlus

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The most striking feature of the new OnePlus Open folding smartphone is its dual 2k 120 Hz fluid AMOLED ProXDR displays. The cover display alone measures up to 6.31 inches and uses a 20:9 aspect ratio, but opening up the cover display and deploying OnePlus Open’s tablet mode reveals a much larger 7.82 inch form factor when the two displays sit side-by-side.

What’s impressive here, however, is the phone’s max brightness of 2800 nits, paired with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos integration. That makes the OnePlus Open a portable home theatre that rivals many modern high-end televisions in every way but size.

The entire thing seems sturdily built, with ceramic guard shielding surrounding the cover display. When the device is fully deployed in tablet mode, it’s protected by “Ultra-Thin Glass that sits above the flexi OLED, a layer TPU for shielding against physical impact, and an anti-reflection screen protector to reduce everyday wear and tear.”

The Hasselblad triple-camera system is packed full of sensors, including a primary 48 megapixel SONY LYTIA-T808, a 64 megapixel telephoto camera with 6x lossless optical zoom, and a 48 megapixel ultra-wide sensor. There are also two front cameras: a 20 MP selfie cam in tablet mode and a 32 MP selfie cam on the cover display. Hasselblad Portrait Mode seems like a major draw for photographers working in low light conditions, and according to OnePlus, “the revolutionary cameras work in tandem to deliver DSLR-level depth-tracking, bokeh and flare effects captured by Hasselblad cameras fitted with XCD 3,5/30, 2,8/65 and 2,5/90V lenses.”

That’s a lot of gear to keep protected from the elements, which is why it’s disappointing that the device’s water resistance rating of IPX4 means it is unprotected from full immersion in water, and is less dust resistant than other devices with a higher rating. That makes it slightly less competitive with other foldable smartphones like the Google Pixel Fold.

The OnePlus Open is now available for pre-order in the United States and Canada via the official OnePlus website, Amazon, and Best Buy, with phones officially shipping out on October 26. It starts in two colors: Voyager Black and Emerald Dusk, and you can now pre-order it for $1699.99 USD or $2299.99 CAD, though OnePlus offers an additional $200 trade-in discount.

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