Today we're going to open up the world's first folding phone that you can actually buy – the
FlexPai.
And we're gonna see how it's put together from the inside.
The hinge in the screen should both be pretty interesting.
Yeah, the Royole FlexPai did kind of break during my durability test, but it did put
up a fantastic fight and almost survived being bent from both directions.
Flexible AMOLED screens are much more durable than we initially thought.
Before we take apart the FlexPai though, I want to show some tech that still turns on.
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Now it's time to take apart the FlexPai.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
The Royole FlexPai has two halves separated by a sturdy metal hinge.
And as we learned from the durability test, each of the back plates are made from plastic.
Remember how Royole calls this a cicada wing flexible display?
Turns out my negativity towards cicadas was only cultural.
In China, singing insects like crickets and cicadas are symbols of good luck and sometimes
even kept as pets.
The cricket in 'Mulan' suddenly makes a lot more sense.
So I apologize if my dislike towards cicadas came across as insensitive.
I can peel off the second panel.
The nice thing about plastic panels, just like we saw on the Samsung Galaxy A50, is
that they don't shatter and they come off really easy.
They can also be awesomely colored just like glass can.
Plastic can now have all the perks of glass without the fragility.
I kind of want my next one to be plastic.
With both panels removed, we get a glimpse of the 33 Phillips head screws holding the
whole phone together.
Once those are off, I can lift off the large plastic panel revealing the Royole branded
motherboard with a loudspeaker in the upper left corner that can also come out right now
with the Royole branding right underneath that speaker as well.
Most companies don't bother spending time or money to brand the internal frame or the
motherboard since, you know, nobody usually sees it except for us.
But it's definitely paid off for them in this video at least.
It's hard to forget the name of a company when it's kind of plastered everywhere.
I'll remove the SIM and SD card tray, you know, before I try removing the motherboard.
And there are two more screws holding the motherboard into the metal frame.
The screen and battery extension ribbons unsnap like little Legos with my plastic pry tool.
I do sell these plastic pry tools on Amazon by the way, if you've ever wanted one.
Color plastic rods are like super exciting so grab that merch.
Link in the description.
There is some thermal paste on the back of the motherboard No heat pipes to be seen.
And there is no optical image stabilization either, on either of the two rear cameras.
Royole does claim to have OIS on their website.
But as you can see, there is zero movement in the cameras themselves.
So I assume they mean the cameras are equipped with EIS or electronic image stabilization
and something was lost in translation.
Physical movement of the camera lens is a prerequisite of optical image stabilization.
This massive gold ribbon tucked under the motherboard is for the flexible display.
We'll have to see if we can get it off in just a second.
My display is very much destroyed after the rigorous durability test, so it's kind of
good that I don't have to worry about putting this phone back together again and expecting
it to work.
The other sides of plastics come off easy enough.
And look at that, another Royole branding under the loud speaker.
Nobody's going to forget who made this phone.
There are two long black ribbon extensions covering up the battery.
And look, another Royole logo.
The battery itself is wrapped up in a little cocoon of plastic, and if you grab the two
little legs next to the cicada hinge and give it a little tug, it comes out.
Secure removable batteries are not hard to implement at all.
Nice job, Royole.
Thumbs up for that.
It's a 3790 milliamp hour capacity.
Let's take a closer look at the cicada hinge.
The hinge itself is fastened to both sides of the phone with 4 metal brackets, each with
4 screws holding the little slider mechanism.
I can remove all 16 screws along with 2 more screws along the center of the hinge.
But first there are 2 massive magnets on either side of the phone.
These help keep the phone in the closed position when it was all in one piece.
You can see my magnet has been secretly collecting all the screws.
My razor blade can pry it out of it's slot in the phone frame.
It's a super big, super strong magnet.
I'll pull the long extension ribbons out from the center of the cicada hinge, and then I
can wiggle the hinge contraption out from the right half of the phone.
With the hinge disconnected, the only thing holding the two halves together is the paper
thin flexible AMOLED display which has a very serious amount of adhesive holding it to the
phone body.
Not too shabby.
I'll pull the display off of the other half of the phone.
It's actually kind of satisfying.
The screen finally meets up with the glued down piece of glass at the top of the phone,
but with a little bit of aggressive razor bladed persuasion, the glass can be removed
and the display ribbons can come free from the device.
And there it is.
The flexible AMOLED display.
I imagine this is very similar to what Royole has attached to the T-shirts and hats that
they sell for a cool $900 a piece.
Personally, I think this technology is pretty awesome.
Yeah, it's a tad bit expensive right now, but all tech is expensive when it first comes
out.
Soon it'll be cheap and commonplace, and I'm totally down for that.
I can pull a broken portion of the hinge away from the rest of the phone.
This thing kind of snapped when I bent it backwards.
It is adhered to the flexible sheet of metal that's under the display, and it also looks
super interesting.
Interlocking parts that fold into a “U” when shut, and then expand to lock out into
a totally flat surface.
It takes a considerable amount of force to bend such a short segment of the hinge.
Normally the person bending the phone would hold it from the extended sides, giving a
lot more leverage and making the phone easier to fold in half.
The hinge is pretty strong.
Last year I felt like phones plateaued for a while, but now there seems to be some cool
things in the pipeline for mobile technology.
I hope that Royole keeps making cool stuff.
I'm definitely a fan.
I'll be giving the same treatment to the Galaxy Fold if Samsung ever, you know, gets around
to releasing it.
So hit that subscribe button if you haven't already so you don't miss that video.
And don't forget to check out SimpliSafe.
You get 60 days to try it out, and if you don't like it, they'll even pay for the return
shipping.
It's a win-win.
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And thanks a ton for watching.
I'll see you around.