Check out a demo of Royal’s new folding phone, which sells for around $ 1,500 today

The world’s first commercially available folding-screen phone was not made by Samsung, Huawei or Motorola – it was the Roy Yol Flexpie, a device we call the “charming horror.” But in March, Royal promised to refine the idea with the new Flexpy 2, and the company is officially launching the phone in China today at 9,988 yuan, or about US $ 1,471.

And while the company today is only sharing renders instead of photos, you you can Watch a demo of the phone in about 38 minutes in the company’s presentation:

Does it look so amazing? Flat. At 12mm thick when flat (12. fold mm fold), it’s not as thin as a dual screen microSurface Surface Duo, but it’s Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold’s 9.mm mm frame (including camera) and bulging 1.8..8 The MM fold looks thinner than the occupation. . Royle claims that there is “no gap” in its newly specially designed hinges, which are apparently PR-spokes for distances of 1 mm or so.

Image: Royal

That 8.8-inch screen might be a weak spot, though: it says nothing about Royal Glass, so it’s probably plastic – and its 1920 x 1440 resolution compared to its Samsung and dual-screen rivals Microsoft. These days, it’s a pretty big screen for a few pixels. And of course, we’re talking about a single, full-display screen that you’ll be folding in half, with nothing to speak of on the other side of the phone.

The rest of the specs seem fairly competitive: the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor; 8GB or 12GB RAM; 256 GB or 512 GB storage, 4450 mAh battery and 5G support with an array of four cameras (MP 64 MP wide, MPMP MP UltraVide, MP MP with 3x MP optical zoom and MP૨ MP’s “portrait” camera for selfies). Anyway). There is also a pair of stereo speakers, two SIM card slots, Wi-Fi 6 and USB-C fast charging.

Aside from the hinge and screen durability – the company’s rating is at that 1.8 million turn, but turn tests are never the whole story – the biggest question is probably the software, which has been the heel of Achilles for more than one folding phone before.

There, Roy Wolle’s promised “WaterOS 2.0” will intelligently split the screen into multiple applications, drag and drop you between them, and use the folded screen to give you and your photography subject a full portrait. The company says that WaterOS 2.0 is based on Android 10.

We will have more ideas when we can take a real phone for a spin; In the meantime, here’s the company’s product page. The 12GB / 512GB model will be priced at 11,588 yuan or about 70,707.