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[Cartoonishly exaggerated Crocodile Dundee accent] This is not foldable. this foldable. More specifically, it’s a foldable concept device from Lenovo/Motorola that was shown off on the floor at this year’s MWC. The company showed us a demo of a device that’s another great example of its ability to get weird in design.
The rollable phone (as Lenovo is currently calling it, rather than giving it an actual marketing-approved name at this point) doesn’t exactly appeal to the same audience as the see-through laptop we told you about yesterday, but it’s a prime example of what conceptual devices can and should be.
And “concept” is really the key word in all of this. He. She
- Highlights that there is absolutely no guarantee that the device will become a product and
- It points out why the company is a little stingy with demos. There’s no guarantee that the device at this point will be able to withstand up to four days of continuous demos, so Lenovo is working to protect the hardware it has available.
Image credits:
Before Samsung’s first Galaxy Fold arrived, when you envisioned a foldable phone, it usually looked like this — that is, much more bendable than just a single hinge point. Rollable displays are certainly not new as a concept, and there are likely some very practical issues that currently prevent companies from manufacturing them on any meaningful scale.
I keep thinking back to the early days of the Galaxy Fold and how all kinds of screen issues cropped up, causing Samsung to go back to the drawing board. The reality is that you can build robots to perform thousands of folds before launch, but there is a limit to understanding how a product will behave in the real world until it actually launches.
Image credits: Brian Heater
Yesterday, someone asked me if I thought Lenovo would actually put the device into production. I can’t tell you one way or the other. I can only say that this thing would have to undergo some very rigorous testing first if that happened. I suppose there’s a sense that showing it for several hours a day here at MWC is an important step in the process.
Shows like these are also used to gauge public interest. With new form factors like these, there are always open questions about whether this is something people actually want in their lives and whether it will rise to a level beyond simple novelty. I can definitely see interest, assuming the company is able to deliver it at or below the foldable price point (manufacturing prices are falling massively, and I suspect it costs a lot to produce currently).
Image credits: Brian Heater
The foldable design is more versatile than the foldable design, although the lack of a crease means you can’t close it and put it in your pocket. But what you can do is turn it into a giant temporary smartwatch. It looks a bit like a giant high-tech bracelet, and it is believed that this bracelet requires the wearer to have a magnetic strip on their wrist to keep it in place.
We don’t know much more about the device than we can see it with our own eyes. It has a fabric backing, which is much more flexible than traditional phone covers – although one wonders if you’ll be washing your hands constantly. The operating system adapts to the device’s orientation, prioritizing the part of the screen you’re most likely to use. We also know that it can handle a Connect 4 game for two.
Image credits: Brian Heater
Lenovo says the rollables have multiple batteries — though it won’t reveal how many. In the same way that foldable devices have two separate battery compartments, the hardware will need to be distributed throughout to allow for flexibility — at least until we get equally flexible batteries.
One thing I will say in favor of production is that Lenovo seems more likely than anyone else to put something like this out into the world. Compared to competitors, the Chinese company is fearless when it comes to quirkiness in product design – something I fully support. Whether this translates into actual product sales is a different question entirely.
Image credits: Brian Heater
Sure, people had doubts about the first foldable devices. Although this category represents only a small portion of the total smartphone market, I consider it a success. As always, the question of whether Apple will try it still looms large over this topic.
Assuming the design offers no limitations in terms of everyday use, I’d be happy to take one of these out for a spin, if only for the sake of the weird looks I get on the subway (although New Yorkers stay cool). I still have a lot of questions, of course. How strong is it? Will it still work after falling to the ground? What will the case look like? It should be equally flexible with at least the corners protected. It’s a bit like this question of how The dog will wear pants.
But it’s stylish, new, weird and I’m interested in it.
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