If you thought folding smartphones were the next big thing, think again. We now have a fully functional smartphone in town that can bend without a crack! A bendable smartphone was showcased by Motorola at the ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. When laid flat, the Motorola smartphone or one could call it Motorola bendy, appears to be like any other device you’ve seen in the market. It offers a relatively taller 6.9-inch display with full-HD+ resolution. But once bent, the smartphone can even double as a bracelet or watch on your wrist, giving you the best of both worlds… kind of.
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Design
The Motorola bendy is a slightly more polished version of the concept first showcased in 2016. The new iteration is slightly wider with a better in-hand feeling. The display technology has also been refined. Motorola says it continues to leverage an “adaptive display” technology but with a better viewing experience.
The back features an orange fabric, which may resemble the Apple Watch Ultra strap. However, the fabric feels airy and is smoother on your skin in the cuff mode. The new iteration can also do a couple of more poses, letting users have some extra use cases. For instance, cuff mode lets you use the phone as a smartwatch, but only offers time for now. The tend mode can be useful for taking selfies or video calls. And of course, the flat mode will give you a full-blown regular smartphone experience.
Display
The Motorola bendy continues using a flexible display, but this time by utilising an OLED panel. The technology is not entirely new. ASUS also has Zenbook Flex, which features a 17-inch bendable OLED display.
Another good thing is that there aren’t any awkward noises while bending the phone, which may put potential users at ease. Motorola spent a reasonable time explaining an AI feature to change the wallpaper aesthetics. You can even create wallpapers based on the outfits you’re wearing, which is pretty cool.
Once the Motorola bendy is bent, the phone offers a “compact form of full Android” on a 4.6-inch display. You can’t run a host of apps as of now. But the small viewing area is good enough to let you see time through a neat watch widget or scroll through notifications.
Overview
Since it’s a concept, the likelihood of Motorola bendy becoming mainstream or commercially available is very low, at least for the next two years or so. The price of the phone remains unknown. But it won’t be cheap if we go by past Motorola foldable phones with cutting-edge display technology.
Meanwhile, if you’re not convinced by moldable displays, you want to check out Lenovo’s concept laptop with a transparent screen.
