Sony Folding Tablet P
Long before flexible OLED screens were available on consumer-level devices like the Samsung Galaxy Fold, Sony tried to make a foldable tablet using the tried-and-true technology of the time. The result was a clamshell device called the Sony Tablet P that opened to reveal side-by-side 5.5-inch LCD displays separated by a sizable bezel that was impossible for users to ignore.
The idea itself wasn’t bad, but the Tablet P was a victim of the limits of technology back in 2011. The design meant a tablet could easily be slipped into a back pocket, and it was surprisingly lightweight given the technology inside, which included wifi, 4G, and a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. As with many innovative gadgets, the Tablet P was also let down by software. Running Android 3.2, Sony created a series of custom apps that took advantage of the Tablet P’s dual screens, like a video player that put a movie on one side and playback controls on the other. But the entire point of a folding tablet is taking full advantage of the larger screen it provides, and the Tablet P’s hard-to-ignore hinge made that all but impossible.
