The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has not yet started and we already have among us a firm candidate to dominate the podium of the most curious mobile phones: the Motorola Rollable, a five-inch smartphone that, when you double-click its power button, Unrolls your screen to 6.5 inches. Like a blind. And with automatic operation depending on the app used, Motorola’s new creation aspires to offer a compact phone that does not do without a large diagonal.
It is not the first time that we know of a screen that unrolls to extend and thus enlarge the surface of use: apart from various TCL prototypesOPPO created its own concept of horizontal deployment with the OPPO X 2021. And Motorola decided to give this concept a spin, and never better said: the Motorola Rollable is a prototype with an automated extension screen that, curiously, can be used on both sides of the phone. How you read it, I have verified it in the first person.
Compact and with an extendable screen that can be used on both sides
Lenovo had a huge number of laptops in store for us, including a ThinkPad capable of extending its screen vertically at the push of a button. And they must have thought: if it works on a laptop, why not take the idea to a smartphone? No sooner said than done.
Motorola Rollable, this is the name of the new concept of the brand that aspires to find new uses for flexible screens (and of which we had already known a preview). Taking advantage of this quality, the OLED panel mounted on the phone slides on the lower edge to project the screen above. And when said screen is not extended, it can be used on the back to serve as a notification support, 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. All by dint of projecting the panel through the upper area of the mobile, as if it were an eave.
The extension is carried out 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 display the keyboard when writing emails in Gmail. Since it is an experimental mobile, the use cases will expand.
In hand it looks somewhat 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 did find some fragility when used with the screen unfolded, the thickness of the extension is too thin.
A curious vertically extendable mobile that avoids hinges
On the back, the screen can be used when it is rolled up
The Motorola Rollable maintains the same inspiration as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, motorola razr or OPPO Find N2 Flip: very compact mobile when folded and extended vertically to become a “more or less ordinary” smartphone. These employ hinges in the middle of the phone, a component that ends up printing a wrinkle on the screen. The Motorola Rollable no.
Since the roll-up mobile screen maintains a wide turning curvature, the panel is not forced into a reduced angle fold; which should extend the useful life by moving the wrinkle 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.
At the moment it is an experimental mobile that Lenovo does not intend to market in the near future. A proof of concept to demonstrate that flexible displays They have more ways of use apart from offering a folding in their central area. .