The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has not yet started and we already have among us a strong candidate to dominate the podium of the most curious mobiles: the Motorola Rollable, a five-inch smartphone which, when you double-click its button feeding, Rolls out your screen up to 6.5 inches. Like a blind man. And with automatic operation depending on the application used, Motorola’s new creation aspires to offer a compact phone that does not do without a large diagonal.
This is not the first time that we have seen a screen that unfolds to extend and thus enlarge the surface of use: apart from several TCL prototypes, OPPO has created its own concept of horizontal deployment with the OPPO X 2021. And Motorola decided to give it a return to this concept, and never said it better: the Motorola Rollable is a prototype with an automated extension screen which, curiously, can be used on both sides of the phone
Compact and with an extendable screen that can be used on both sides
Lenovo had plenty of laptops in store for us, including a ThinkPad that could extend its screen vertically with the press of a button. And they must have thought: if it works on a laptop, why not take the idea of a smartphone? No sooner said than done.
Motorola Rollable is the name of the new concept of the brand which aspires to find new uses for flexible screens (and of which we had already seen a preview). Taking advantage of this quality, the OLED panel mounted on the phone slides on the bottom edge to project the screen above. And when said screen isn’t extended, it can be used on the back to act as a notification stand, camera viewfinder, or personalization of the phone itself.
We barely know the characteristics of the prototype apart from the operation of the device and the screen diagonals: from the original five inches, the Motorola Rollable extends to 6.5 inches
The extension takes place after pressing the power button twice: in this way, the automated mechanism is activated. And not only that: the Motorola Rollable extends the panel if it detects that the user places the mobile horizontally to watch videos, For example; or if you need an extra area to show the keyboard while composing emails in Gmail. As this is an experimental mobile, the use cases will grow.
In hand it feels a little thick, although very compact in size. The construction seems to be of quality, at least from what I could perceive during the short time that Motorola showed me the mobile. I found some fragility when using it with the screen unfolded, the thickness of the extension is too thin
A curious vertically extendable mobile that avoids hinges
The Motorola Rollable retains the same inspiration as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, the Motorola Razr or the OPPO Find N2 Flip: a very compact mobile once folded and extended vertically to become a “more or less ordinary” smartphone. These use hinges in the middle of the phone, a component that ends up printing a crease on the screen. The Motorola Rollable no.
Since the rollable movable screen maintains a wide curvature of rotation, the panel is not forced into a reduced angle bend; which should prolong the useful life by moving the crease away from its surface. This improves touch with the extended screen; in addition to printing, another advantage: the mobile can be fully used both rolled up and extended, all with a single screen.
It is currently an experimental mobile that Lenovo does not intend to market in the near future. A proof of concept to demonstrate that flexible screens They have more possibilities of use in addition to offering folding in their central area. .