By: Nick Gambino
Foldable phones have become more and more prevalent in recent years as companies like Samsung and Google have perfected, or at least improved, the concept. Now Motorola, who has already impressed with the foldable Razr, has unveiled a phone that can bend around your wrist like a wearable.
The success of smartwatches has proven that consumers like the idea of a smart device conveniently accessible on their wrists. The thing is, an Apple Watch is small enough that wrapping it around your wrist makes sense. Now imagine a bendable iPhone wrapped around your wrist. That’s a bit of a tougher sell, but Motorola doesn’t seem to think so.
The new bendy phone sports a plastic OLED screen that allows it to still be HD while bending. Motorola calls it full HD+ pOLED. A glass display wouldn’t allow the screen to bend, hence plastic. Again, 6.9 inches wrapped around your wrist is going to be difficult to hawk onto the average consumer. They’ll have to figure out scaling it down and at that point you simply have a smartwatch.
One thing the smartphone has going for it is a feature that allows it to adapt based on how you bend it. If it’s bent around your wrist, your information display will change orientation so you can quickly glean what you need.
But if they’re going to promote the “wearability” of the device, they’re going to need to lean into the accessory aspect of the bendable. And they’ve accounted for that. You can do things like transform the display to reflect your outfit. For example, you might choose to wear a splashy outfit, take a photo of it and the display will complement said outfit when you wrap it around your wrist.
The bendable Motorola phone is still in the concept stage and may never make it to market. That said, you never know what will catch on and you have to throw these types of ideas at the wall to see what sticks.
