A smartphone without even a button, an idea that many smartphone manufacturers (not just Android) have been caressing for some time but which has not materialized so far. It could soon materialize at the hands of Samsung within the line of folding smartphones in which the fruit of years of research and development has recently ended.
It is a far-off scenario to completely eliminate the keys from the next generation of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, expected by the end of 2021. This is suggested by a patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) entitled Galaxy Z Fold Squeeze Gesture. Samsung thinks that some users may find it difficult to use the physical buttons on the sides of the frame when the phone is folded, hence the idea of replacing them with gestures. They would arrive with a renewed user interface that the company would have already developed taking into account the different conformation of the folding and of course the absence of physical keys.
The Samsung Z Fold 3 UI
The user interface adapted to the lack of keys and with the new gestures to replace them would already have a name, Split UI. Just as expected, Samsung would have done a painstaking job in taking care of every detail: the Split UI would be able to dynamically adapt to the configuration of the fold, whether open or closed.
For example, with the device closed, a touch on the side could turn the phone on or off and a swipe with the fingertip would allow you to adjust the volume as you would with the classic rocker, only without keys and with a scroll instead of one or more presses.
And if you ask yourself the reason that pushes more and more companies to evaluate a total removal of the buttons from smartphones, foldable or not, well, it's not just one. First of all, the reasons of a practical nature: the thinning to which we aim for the future would be almost impossible to achieve with physical keys.
Then there would be the question of waterproofing, complicated by keys and inputs such as the jack or USB, and finally an economic one, because a software solution - which can be replicated over the entire range - of the production of various keys will always be more convenient. physical for as many models.
Personalities usually well informed about what happens inside the corridors of the Samsung home such as Ice Universe, already at present consider very likely a debut of the Split UI with the next generation of Samsung folding, Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 .
What do we know about the Galaxy Z Fold 3
Other rumors, published by LetsGo Digital, suggest that among the novelties of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 there will be an update to Ultra Thin Glass (the glass of the folding) which in this way could introduce support for the S Pen.
It is also said that the display area above the opening and closing hinge can better hide the consequences of opening and closing (in the current model, with the phone open, the screen is not exactly smooth but the hinge can be seen) and that it can debut a certification for resistance to liquids.