Samsung has been granted a patent for an innovative hinge design for a mobile device. The hinge allows the phone to open in a number of directions and from the images below looks like it would be a popular addition to a Samsung smartphone.
In the past Samsung has been going in the direction of producing ultra thin phones so maybe this is why we haven’t seen the Hinge device for portable wireless terminal in production.
A hinge device for a portable wireless terminal with a first housing and a second housing being rotatably connected to the first housing is provided, comprising a double hinge arm rotatably connected respectively to the first and second housings and a pair of hinge modules for stopping the rotation of the double hinge arm at various angles. The hinge device includes a pair of rotary axes, allowing one selected housing to be rotated about the other housing by 360.degree.. A portable wireless terminal employing the hinge device can accommodate various units such as a display device, an inputting unit, among others, and the functions of the terminal are easily modified and extended. Furthermore, various information terminals are easily integrated as a single portable wireless terminal. Moreover, since a user can open or close the terminal at various angles, a portable wireless terminal employing the hinges is convenient to use.
As mobile communication services have been recently diversified, the number of functions the terminal serves has correspondingly increased. For example, the terminal now serves as a portable terminal, a PDA, and a personal computer, which, along with other functions, are integrated in a single terminal. However, the conventional hinge device has only one function, namely rotatably opening and closing the flip or folder of the portable wireless terminal from and into the main body in the range of a designated angle. Thus, there are many limits in modifying the specification of the terminal in order to perform various mobile communication services. As a result, the conventional portable wireless terminal and hinge device do not satisfy the aforementioned various mobile communication services and customers’ desires.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to substantially solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a hinge device for a portable wireless terminal with a pair of housings in which a selected housing is connected to the other housing so as to be rotate about the other housing by about 360.degree..
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It looks VERY similar to the metal case that is available to Palm Pilots…I should know, I have a Tungsten T5 with the metal case…the hinge is almost identical to the metal case too…It will be interesting to see.
Great. Now I’m going to have that tune in my head all day.