You can wear Motorola’s bendable phone that has a flexible design on your wrist.
I got to try Motorola’s latest folding phones, and they were amazing (and baffling) to use.
Motorola unveiled its “adaptive display concept” device last October, showing off a crazy phone that can bend into different shapes, including a huge smartwatch that you can wear on your wrist. I was stunned by the images online, but also doubtful. It was unlike any folding phone I’ve ever seen, so did Motorola actually make it work? Or was it just a gimmick?
I tested the wild foldable myself at MWC 2024, and I can verify that it’s real, it really does fit on your wrist, and it’s really a remarkable feat of technology.
When it’s flat, Motorola’s adaptive display concept looks like any other Android phone … sort of. It has a 6.9-inch Full HD+ OLED screen that, despite being plastic, looks pretty good. Colors were nice, everything was clear enough, etc. You could use this screen like any other Android phone and not see any difference. That is until you see the back of the concept phone.
The back of the concept device is an orange cloth with very noticeable bumps all over it. It looks odd, it feels odd, and it’s the first sign that you’re holding a very unique smartphone. You can bend the phone in a few different ways — such as making it into a small tent or just folding the lower part of the screen as a temporary stand.
They both have the same function of holding the phone up on a flat surface and displaying its screen. As a little office buddy for watching a YouTube video, your calendar, etc., this could be useful in many situations. Motorola could have stopped there and had a cool idea on its hands, but it decided to go one step further — specifically, moving from its hands to your wrists.
The main attraction of Motorola’s concept phone is that you can put it on your wrist as a smartwatch. However, it’s not as simple as just wrapping the phone around your wrist and going on your way. You first need to wear a metal bracelet with a magnet center. Then, you align one of two magnetic bars on the back of the phone, and once it’s connected, then you curve it around your wrist.
It’s a more complex process than I had expected it to be. You’re ready to go once the phone is firmly attached to the bracelet. You can stroll around with it on your wrist, move your arms up and down, twist them around — whatever you want. Even with a lot of movement, the phone remains stuck to the bracelet surprisingly well.
However, that’s only true if you really ensure that you get the magnets aligned correctly. Failing to do so will make the phone fall off if you move your arms around, which is exactly what happened to one of the demo units I saw. Amazingly, the phone was totally fine and continued working even after its fall. When you’re wearing Motorola’s phone on your wrist, the part of the screen on the top of your wrist essentially becomes a cover screen from the Motorola Razr Plus.
You can see the time with a clock widget, check the weather, look at your calendar, call favorite contacts, etc. You can even run full apps if you want. You have 4.6 inches of screen space to work with in the smartwatch mode, so whether you just want to look at the time or watch a YouTube video, Motorola’s concept phone has you covered.
Motorola’s bendable phone
All of this sounds cool, right? But here’s the important question: Is this Motorola’s vision the future of folding phones? Is this a phone I’d want to use every single day? That’s where things get complicated.
The phone’s ability to fold is impressive, but I could really sense the various hinges shifting around when I folded the phone. It worked fine the whole time during my demo, but sensing the hinges so much through the fabric back was a bit worrying.
There’s also the fact that Motorola’s phone is large when you wear it as a smartwatch. The idea of having a full Android phone on my wrist is cool, but it also looks pretty ugly. There’s also the issue of the bracelet, which — while essential — doesn’t feel like something I’d want to wear or deal with all day long. But despite those criticisms and concerns, I love that this thing exists. It’s easy to look at the current smartphone market and say that phones are “dull.”
That may be true for some devices out there, but it’s clear that companies like Motorola are still doing incredibly fascinating things. I don’t think this is the next big shape for folding phones, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Motorola doesn’t proceed with this concept device to turn it into a retail product.
However, I’m excited that Motorola is thinking of new ways to use folding phones. This may not be the next big thing, but I’m sure the people inside the company have plenty of other ideas about what its next concept phone will look like. And I cannot wait to see what it’ll be.
