Elite Traveler Spring 2019

DISCOVER

elite traveler SPRING 2019 28

LG’s Signature OLED TV R can be rolled away sleek base or used as a sound bar when no out to full

into a t rolled screen

Technology by Samantha Coles

ROLL WITH IT Those little (or large) black screens are everywhere in our modern lives. A home without a television is a rarity (only 2.6 percent of American homes don’t have a TV) and most of us have multiple sets, along with various other smart devices. An emerging trend at this year’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas saw a move away from the omnipresent devices to flexible screens that can be folded, rolled or bent out of sight LG Signature OLED TV R The prototype for LG’s rollable TV was first unveiled at CES in 2016, and now the finished product is about to hit the market for the first time. It has the same components as the prototype, albeit with a few updates such as a 100-watt Dolby Atmos speaker. LG tapped into the fact that some people don’t want their TV to dominate their room, especially if the views are too spectacular to be obstructed. The 65-inch screen quietly and quickly rolls down into a sleek- looking base when you aren’t using it, and can be used at half-mast as a sound bar. LG states that it can be rolled and unrolled up to 50,000 times — that’s twice a day for 34 years. The picture quality isn’t compromised either; it’s a 4K HDR OLED screen, so you can expect crisp viewing with perfect blacks and a wide mix of vivid HDR color. The screen is incredibly thin (a signature of LG’s OLED TVs) at 3mm, so it still looks slick when rolled out at full view. lg.com

Royole FlexPai The world’s first fully flexible smartphone, the Royole FlexPai is a pioneer in this field. Not only was it the only flexible smartphone on display at CES, but it’s the only one currently on the market. It’s actually a smartphone-tablet hybrid; when it is unfolded it has the screen size of a tablet (7.8 inches with full-color flexible display and 1920 x 1440

resolution), but when folded 180 degrees it is smartphone sized, but with three available screens: the primary screen (810 x 1440 resolution) , the secondary screen (720 x 1440 resolution) and the edge screen (390 x 1440). It has two cameras — one with 20 and one with 16 megapixels —and can take photos at very unique angles. The thin OLED screen is incredibly tough and, to prove its

durability, it was folded 200,000 times without a single crack. While it is super cool, it is not without faults, and has been greeted with mixed reviews. It seems more like a pioneering prototype (and if you want to say you’ve got the world’s first bending phone, it’s a winner), which needs a fewminor issues to be straightened (sorry) out. From $1,720 for 256G, royole.com