Smartphone manufacturer ZTE unveiled the company’s latest device, the Axon M, earlier today at a press event in New York. The phone is more of a small tablet that can be folded in half to fit in your pocket. While there are plenty of different applications for the tech, gaming stood out as one of the major uses. Because of the phone’s dual screens, it may be the best mobile device for multiplayer gaming.
At first glance, the Axon M appears to be a standard phone. What sets it apart is the screen on the back that can be folded out to sit side by side with the first screen, like a book in reverse. Using these two screens, the phone can either be in an extended view, stretching the phone across both screens, in dual mode, with one screen running one app and the second running a different one, or mirror mode, with both screens showing the same image.
The mirror mode offers the most interesting possibilities for multiplayer gaming. Instead of passing a device back and forth after each turn, players can sit opposite each other, each having his or her own screen to use. This makes games like Chess, Checkers and even less traditional options like Star Realms much easier to play with a friend.
However, because of the mirrored screens, the Axon M does open itself up to cheating. One screen will show the exact same image as the other, so if you’re playing a game where you’re trying to keep information secret from your opponent (like in Battleship or a game of cards), you’ll have to physically look away to not see.
If you really want to be hardcore with your mobile gaming, the dual mode allows users to run two different games at once. This was kind of silly to do, and will surely destroy the Axon M’s battery life, but it was a fun sight to see two games running at once.
If there’s a game you already enjoy on your phone, but wouldn’t mind playing it with extra screen space, the extended view can be accessed with a few button presses. This would be perfect for something like a puzzle app. I know I’m outing myself as being kind of lame here, but I have a great app on my phone that lets me build a number of different puzzles. Having the option to play on a screen twice the size would make it easier to select pieces and see the whole puzzle at once without scrolling around.
The really interesting gaming prospects will come if developers embrace the device, or if more two-screen phones are released. Gamers would be able to prop up the phone and have proper one-on-one games without fear of screen peeking. It could also lead to simultaneous or asynchronous multiplayer gaming. Of course, developers would need justification to develop a game like that, so we’ll see what happens with devices from other companies.
So what do you think? Are you interested in seeing if developers will embrace dual-screen mobile devices like the ZTE Axon M? What two games would you run at once if you had the Axon M? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
