And just when I thought the “slider” form factor was dead too. We’ve seen feature phones with slide-out keypads, old Windows Mobile devices with slide-out QWERTY keyboards, and even BlackBerry devices with slide-out keyboards too. To my knowledge, though, we have yet to see a device with a slide-out touchscreen but that looks like it could be the plan for the upcoming LG V30.

Evan Blass, the guy who always seems to have the insider knowledge on all things mobile, sent out a series of tweets over the weekend revealing what could eventually hit the market as the LG V30. It’s the evolution of what was once called Project Joan. These are older mockups of an original concept, he notes, so a lot could have changed since then.

Whereas the LG V20 followed in the footsteps of the LG V10 with a smaller “ticker” display above the main display, the next iteration could have this slide-out portion with multiple possible usage cases. It could turn into a virtual keyboard for typing, a series of extra controls for the camera app, quick access to frequently used apps, a widget for sharing or previewing what’s on your clipboard, or simply as an extension of the main screen.

The LG G6 may not have the secondary screen of the V20, but the LG V30 could end up with the best of both worlds. My concern would be the end product will be decidedly thicker and chunkier than the typical slates that we have today. More moving parts could also prove unnecessarily troublesome. What do you think? Would you want a slider phone like this?

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