Motorola just announced its first foldable phone in the form of the new Motorola Razr, but the company is likely already looking into the possibility of a follow-up. And, according to a patent spotted by Let’s Go Digital, the device may sport an impressive eight touch sensors on its sides.
Those sensors could be super helpful in using the phone on a day-to-day basis — and they would work differently depending on whether the phone is open or closed. For example, when it’s open, they could simply launch some of your most-used apps. When closed they could be used to trigger things like Google Assistant. According to Let’s Go Digital, the combination of touch sensors could enable a hefty 20 different functions and gestures.
The device wouldn’t be the first to offer touch sensors along the edges of the phone. HTC and Google have both released phones that can trigger Google Assistant when you squeeze the edges — though this feature isn’t nearly as advanced as the Razr’s touch sensors could be.
Of course, having eight touch sensors along the sides of the phones could introduce some issues. For example, it would presumably be easy to accidentally trigger the sensors simply by holding the phone.
The patent shows off a few other features that the Razr follow-up could offer. For example, it has an in-display fingerprint sensor — which is a little more advanced than the fingerprint sensor on the current Razr’s chin. That said, the placement of the fingerprint sensor would make it impossible to use the sensor when the phone is closed — meaning that Motorola may have to include two fingerprint sensors if it wants to offer decent functionality on the secondary screen on the outside of the device.
When opened, it has a size that looks similar to a standard smartphone — while when closed, it looks like it would be much easier to fit inside a pocket.
Of course, as with any patent filing, there’s a good chance this tech will never see the light of day. There’s also no guarantee that this is actually for a follow-up to the Razr — so it’s possible that it could be for an entirely different line of foldable phones.
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