Motorola’s bendable concept phone is the biggest, craziest smartwatch I’ve ever seen
After the past few years, I’m starting to wonder if we’ve reached the peak of smartwatches. How much difference can they get? Once you can capture all possible health metrics, provide support for third-party apps, release new animated watch face designs with Snoopy, and even put AI into it, what else can you do?
Even the best smartwatches look increasingly iterative upon release. There are usability issues that need to be addressed, such as better battery life across the board and more accurate heart rate sensors, but the basic design of the smartwatch has barely changed in years. That’s why I love hybrid smartwatches like the Withings Scanwatch Horizon and Garmin Instinct Crossover: without new things that work, we’re getting dangerously close to boredom with the same wrist-mounted wearables.
Then at MWC 2024 I saw the new bendable concept of Motorola’s new wearable hybrid concept, the Motorola Adaptive Display. From the wrist of a Motorola representative glinted at me a flexible, full-sized smartphone, camera and all, looking for all the world like some ridiculous sci-fi communicator. The representative held it up next to a mannequin decked out in a colorful dress, and the onboard generative AI conjured up a color scheme to match the mannequin’s outfit in about 10 seconds. Admittedly, it was quite impressive.
It’s a concept phone, so no specs or details about the device itself have been released by Motorola, beyond the simple demonstration given on the stand.
Although it looks crazy, it’s actually quite clever. Fully flexible phone screens have been around for a while, but one sticking point is the battery, which has to be a solid block. Motorola has gotten around this by placing multiple thin batteries horizontally on the back of the Adaptive Display, which act as anchor points so the rest of the phone can bend.
As a result, you can rotate the phone and prop it upright into a curved position, like an upside-down Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, or into another structural position, like an arc. However, if you want to carry it around, a strong magnet can attach the phone to a wristband at key anchor points. This way you can match your outfit and easily take calls like Buzz Lightyear.
Would you wear it? Who knows. Would I wear it? Not really. But despite the fact that I hate the look, I do enjoy Motorola’s creativity and ingenuity here. The nice thing about concepts is that they allow technology designers to get creative and put things to the test.
Would I wear a smaller, sleeker version of this ‘smart bracelet’ powered by generative AI with unlimited design possibilities? Under the right circumstances I would definitely consider it.
Many people have defended the Apple Vision Pro and its bulky frame, high price, and external battery because it is a first-generation device. We need to express these types of concepts with the same courtesy: even though it looks strange now, I see the potential. It’s a creative take on smart wrist wearables, and while it looks weird now, just wait and see how cool the Motorola Adaptive Display 5 looks…