Motorola is back with another slap bracelet phone concept
Behold the zany charm of Lenovo Tech World ‘23.
Motorola showcased some wacky concepts at Lenovo Tech World ’23 that may or may not ever see the light of day. The smartphone maker (a subsidiary of Lenovo since 2014) unveiled an “adaptive display” prototype that can be rolled into a phone, stand or smart bracelet. (It looks like a more advanced version of a prototype Lenovo exhibited in 2016.) In addition, the company highlighted several developmental AI-powered features for the Lenovo devices you can already buy.
The display concept is a rollable smartphone with an FHD+ pOLED display. The prototype “can be bent and shaped into different forms depending on users’ needs,” the company wrote in its announcement blog post. The device can stretch out entirely flat to use as a traditional smartphone, or you could bend it partway to sit on a desk (similar to foldable phones). You can even wrap the concept device partway around your wrist as it transforms into something akin to a smart slap bracelet.
The conceptual prototype has a 6.9-inch display and runs “a full Android experience, just like any smartphone” (well, except for iPhones). When upright in a stand mode, it switches to a compact form of Android on a 4.6-inch section of its display.
As fun as it can be to gawk at futuristic concepts, we wouldn’t recommend holding your breath for this gadget to become an available consumer product anytime soon. However, Lenovo has repeatedly proven that it isn’t afraid to go zany with shipping consumer products, so who knows?
In addition to its flexible prototype, Motorola also introduced several AI-powered concepts since that’s what corporations do in 2023. The company is tapping into generative AI’s powers to supply the people with… better wallpaper?
“With this concept, users can upload or capture a picture of their outfit to produce multiple unique AI-generated images that reflect their style,” the company wrote. You can then transform those AI-made images into a custom wallpaper for your device. A video the company published on its blog post shows a person taking a selfie of an outfit (using the rollable display device, of course), which the software then turns into a variety of wallpaper options for the bendy phone.
The company also announced that it’s working on a personal voice / text assistant for PCs and smartphones that runs on a large language model (LLM). Dubbed MotoAI, the company says the assistant could “answer questions, draft messages, schedule tasks, and so much more.” MotoAI would emphasize privacy, processing data and running tasks locally rather than in the cloud. The company says the tool could uniquely personalize your device as it learns more about you, becoming more useful over time.
Motorola also tackled document scanning, teasing a feature that can minimize wrinkles and shadows when scanning physical images or documents with a phone’s camera. “This innovation aims to improve final image quality by minimizing wrinkles and shadows to ensure documents or images appear as crisp and clear as possible,” the company wrote.
