Motorola unveils foldable phone concept that straps around your wrist like a bangle bracelet and changes colors to match your outfit
Imagine adapting your phone to the clothes you own, like a new flexible smartwatch.
That’s the promise Motorola and parent company Lenovo made this week with the company’s new Adaptive Display Concept.
Called the world’s first wearable smartphone, the device features a seemingly conventional 6.9-inch Full HD+ phone, with a display that wraps around your wrist like a jingling bracelet.
But the upcoming bendable phone, backed by an orange fabric that connects to a magnetized wristband, has more versatility than just a smartwatch and a smartphone.
The device adjusts itself to a 4.6-inch screen when the user bends part of the device lengthwise, turning the phone into its own portrait screen.
Additionally, the wearable device has a generative AI on board that can study your current outfit and create a new wallpaper pattern that will help match your chunky new “smart watch” with your current ensemble.
As a company spokesperson joked after Motorola showed off the adaptive display at Lenovo Tech World ’23, “the new device molds itself to our consumer needs.”
Imagine folding your phone into a flexible new smartwatch. That’s the promise Motorola and parent company Lenovo made this week with the company’s new Adaptive Display Concept: a 6.9-inch full HD+ phone, with a display that wraps around your wrist like a jingling bracelet
The device adjusts itself to a 4.6-inch screen when the user bends part of the device lengthwise, turning the phone into its own portrait screen
Motorola’s Innovation Research Lead, Lexi Valasek, took the stage at the event to show off the new concept’s fashionable AI application.
A tech reporter noted that the device appeared to be an improvement over the company’s 2016 promise of a foldable smartwatch/smartphone.
“This version seems more advanced than the one we saw seven years ago,” Nathan Edwards wrote in The Verge.
“We only saw someone go into snap bracelet mode (with a downright disturbing creaking sound),” Edwards wrote, “while the 2023 model can do a few more poses, from happy worm to tent mode.”
On stage, Valasek suggested that this somewhat bulky wearable was only intended to keep the user “hands-free” in an emergency. No indications were given that the device could replace more rugged, fitness-tracking sports watches anytime soon.
But Motorola emphasized that the concept phone is ‘working at full capacity’ Android experience, just like any smartphone,” said a statement which was accompanied by the Lenovo Tech World ‘2 presentation.
The device bent in half and pitched itself almost like a small tent, with both sides of the screen facing outward, perhaps hosting multiplayer gaming applications.
Additionally, the wearable device has a generative AI on board that can study your current outfit and create a new wallpaper pattern that will help match your chunky new “smart watch” with your current ensemble. Motorola’s Innovation Research Lead, Lexi Valasek, took the stage at the event to show off the new concept’s fashionable AI application
Some industry insiders also noted that the device appeared to be a significant advancement over the foldable ‘clamshell’ design, which Motorola may have already perfected with the Motorola Edge 40 Pro.
Considering this version of this super-smooth, ultra-flexible concept is something the company has been pursuing for more than six years, some critics are skeptical that this new pOLED smartphone display will ultimately lead to a final product for Motorola.
The rattling, banging ‘smart’ accessory was, judging by the company’s presentation, more of a flashy way to promote their new AI features – like the internal image and pattern maker that helps the concept device compliment the user’s clothing .
“The modern smartphone experience is undergoing a transformative shift, with AI at its core,” Motorola said, “serving as both a personal assistant and a tool to enhance everyday tasks, improve performance and create more meaningful experiences for our users.”
AI that helps turn your phone into a mobile document scanner, and one that puts a privacy veil on your screen, were just some of the other new promised features that build on recent advances in machine learning AI software.
“Motorola is taking its AI efforts to another level,” the company said, “demonstrating innovations that redefine the capabilities of flexible hardware while also introducing exciting new AI features.”