The future is foldable. Laptop screens get bendy

Foldable technology is almost here. Well, technically all laptops are foldable but that is verging on the pedantic. What I am talking about are foldable screens and while a lot of people may not see the point, I am very excited. I mean, when the iPad first came out people complained that it was essentially just a big iPhone. Which it was but they were missing the point and now everyone loves tablets.

If you are even vaguely into technology, you will be aware that CES (Consumer Electronics Show) has just occurred. My YouTube recommendations suddenly fill with gadget reviews this time of year and it’s great. One thing that really stood out is that any minute now we will all have foldable screens. Or rich tech types will and the rest of us will follow suit in a couple of years. These things are pricey.

I recently got to play with the new Samsung Foldable phone and it was pretty cool as you can see in my review here. It is the wrong kind of size for me though. It doesn’t unfold into something big enough for what I need in a tablet. For reading on the go, a phone is better and if I sit, then an iPad size is great. (Or even a paper based book but they can be heavy.)

My main laptop is a Microsoft Surface and it does everything I need. I knew foldable screens were coming but was not sure how handy they would be for someone who writes for a living. I can’t tap on a screen for any period of time, I need a proper clicky keyboard. Then I started to watch some of the videos and now I want one. In particular, I was taken with the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Fold. You can read the Verge review here.

The advantage is a full laptop experience that can go from this:

To this:

I travel a lot and this would be ideal. I have a couple of jackets where this would fit in my pocket. If they could have a screen on the outside when it is folded so I can read a book on a busy commute and also use as a phone, then it is all I will ever need. The main problem right now is twofold – it isn’t out yet and it costs $2500. Other than that, I am in.

At CES there were quite a few other ideas being mooted and shown. Most of them are still concepts and there still isn’t a decent OS for them but they are all in the pipeline. Microsoft is building a suitable OS but there is no word yet when it will be out. I guess the lack of actual hardware and the potential price for the next couple of years gives them a bit of slack. But it is all on the way and I can finally see the point. The main question now is, will my aging Surface Pro last until then?

To see a few of the new ideas and incoming products, check this out: