Some of them are radically different from conventional phones, and perhaps far too bizarre to appeal to consumers. No list of weird phones would be complete without the devices we saw (or heard about) that won’t come out for years - if at all. We’re eager to test out how well the 32MP front-facing camera takes photos from under the display otherwise, it’s shaped up to be a decent upper mid-range/cheaper flagship phone with a Snapdragon 765G chipset, up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and a quad rear camera.
Haven’t heard of it? The ZTE Axon 20 5G was announced in China back in September and just came out in the UK, but it’s not clear when (or if) it will reach other countries. Of course, it would have to be a particular display to allow the camera to shoot through the screen - and the ZTE Axon 20 5G is the first we’ve gotten in our hands that pulls this solution off. We've seen several concept phones pose a new solution to the problem of notches and punch-holes: instead of putting the selfie camera in a cut-out in the screen or a pop-up section, just put it under the display. Then we’d have to figure out what to do with all that extra screen area we’re not watching but can still be touching. But if we can get to making both sides touch-functional, we could have very strange and very responsive devices. The Huawei Mate Xs and other ‘outie’ foldables more or less already do this, since their single large external display wraps front to back when the device is folded in half. This is pretty wild to achieve it doesn’t feel like it would take much more innovation to do the same for the glass rear cover, extending touch functionality to every inch of the foldable’s surface. More importantly, it means three-fourths of the phone’s surface is a touch display.
BEST SIDEKICK PHONE FULL
The Z Fold 2 functions like a full smartphone, and then when it’s unfolded, works like a small tablet. ‘But wait, didn’t the original Galaxy Fold come out in 2019, and isn’t this just an iteration?’ Yes, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 doesn’t mess with the formula of its jaw-dropping predecessor, but there is one improvement worth highlighting: the external display has been expanded to go from edge to edge. (Image credit: Future) Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 But for the value and sheer ‘wow’ factor, the LG Wing 5G is a weird treasure we didn’t expect in 2020. The execution isn’t without its issues, and it takes some work to switch between apps on the small and large display. but half the cost of a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, for instance. You’ll get more screen area from a true foldable, but in recent LG fashion, the Wing is cheaper, with a price tag equal to top-tier flagships. Ever needed to do a simple search or look up directions, but didn’t want to switch away from the video or show you’re watching? The LG Wing offers more discrete real estate than traditional smartphones, and all with an addicting swivel motion. This is cool, actually: in concept, you can watch something on the large screen while chatting or doing unrelated tasks on the small display. Remember the old Sidekick phones that swiveled out? This is the modern version - though instead of revealing a keyboard, the LG Wing’s top screen swivels out to reveal. One of our favorite phones this year is the LG Wing 5G, which is also one of the strangest. Plus, taking a selfie with a phone folded up to the size of a mint tin is so, so cool. But the Razr was first on the market and in our hearts. Some design flaws were ironed out in the Motorola Razr 2020 refinement released later in 2020, but even that doesn’t quite top the only other clamshell foldable released this year, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. Sadly, it’s significantly pricier than flagship phones without offering more functionality - even being able to snap the Razr closed to end a phone call doesn’t justify the price hike. And, yes, the Razr did manage to get a fully-functional smartphone to fold into a form factor that’s half the size of a typical phone’s footprint. Which is a shame given the design innovation it took to get the Razr to work: a hinge that bends the plastic display in such an esoteric way to keep it from creasing, while also integrating micro-brushes to automatically sweep away particles so they don’t gum up the works. While we first got our hands on the Motorola Razr in late 2019, delays pushed its release to early 2020 - and while the clamshell foldable captured the public’s imagination, it didn’t seem like it sold too well.
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