Motorola has just showcased its bendable smartphone at the ongoing MWC 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. It’s a concept device which, at first glance, looks exactly like a normal smartphone but can be easily folded around your wrist like a wristband. And we are not oversimplifying the description; the phone actually works like this. Here are our first impressions of Motorola’s bendable concept smartphone.
It’s not an accessory, it’s an actual phone
Motorola’s bendable phone is like the naughtiest kid in the class who disguises innocently in front of teachers. When you look at the phone, you can’t tell what’s so special about it with just a glance. The show starts when you start bending the phone, and it molds into a circular shape just like how you would wrap a paper around your wrist.
Unlike traditional foldable smartphones which fold into two or three parts, Motorola’s concept device creates a roll and introduces an entirely new category of bendable phones. Before attaching the device to your wrist, you have to wear a magnetic band first. After that, you can fold the phone around the band, getting it magnetically attached like a wristband. However, a pretty chunky one.
The phone quickly recognizes when you wear the device on your wrist and shifts to a different UI to make all options easier to access. You can still use all the functions of your phone, run apps, and play games while the phone stays wrapped around your wrist. You can also use the phone’s front camera in this position.
The Engineering behind Moto’s Bendable Phone
When you look at all the foldable smartphones in the market from Samsung, HONOR, Tecno, and even Moto, each one of them folds into two pieces at most, like a book. That’s because you can only bend the OLED panel of the phone and not other internal components like the battery, PCB, or any other part. So how did Motorola pull off this feat of bending the entire frame and chassis of the phone?
Instead of using a single piece of battery, the fabric woven back panel has multiple small batteries. These mini battery units are aligned inside the phone like a chain, which you can fold at the joints. The same technique is followed for other parts, allowing the phone to bend at multiple points. The hinges are placed on the side and replicate the human spine, making it bendy—maybe it does yoga too.
Interesting, Fascinating, But Still a Concept Though
Although foldable smartphones are slowly picking up pace in consumer markets, we are still in the early days of this technology where the practicality of the folding aspect has not been fully explored. These devices are engineering marvels but not something that everyone can benefit from compared to the productivity achieved from a regular smartphone.
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Source: MySmartPrice