Lenovo's Rollable Laptop and Smartphone Are a Compelling, Unfinished Pitch For the Future (theverge.com) 16
At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Lenovo demoed a laptop and smartphone with rollable screens that "can gradually expand to offer more screen real-estate, rather than needing to be completely unfolded like books," writes Jon Porter from The Verge. These are early proof of concept devices that don't have any public release dates as of yet. From the report: Before we get into the concept laptop's signature feature, it's worth pointing out just how unassuming the device looks before its screen unrolls. Lenovo had the device sitting alongside its other laptops in a conference suite, and not a single one of the dozen-or-so journalists in attendance clocked that it was anything other than a standard ThinkPad. In its unextended form, it's got a regular looking 12.7-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio. That all changes with a flip of a small switch on the right of the chassis, at which point you can hear some motors whirring and the screen extends upwards. That switch causes a couple of motors in the laptop to spring into action, pulling the screen out from underneath the laptop's keyboard to hoist it up more or less vertically in front of you. It's an admittedly slow process on this concept device (from our footage it seems to take a little over ten seconds to fully extend) but eventually you're left with an almost square 15.3-inch display with an 8:9 aspect ratio. The device brings to mind LG's fancy (and eye-wateringly expensive) rollable TV that's designed to roll away when you're not using it. Only in Lenovo's case the screen is rolling down into the laptop's keyboard rather than a small box, and it also can't roll away entirely. Once fully extended, Lenovo's laptop screen has a small crease where its screen originally bent underneath the keyboard. But again -- it's a prototype.
Lenovo's other rollable device it's demoing at MWC is a Motorola smartphone. We've seen numerous companies including Samsung Display, Oppo, TCL, and even LG (RIP) show off rollable concept devices in various stages of development over the years, but we're yet to see the technology break through in a consumer device. Like a foldable, the idea is that a rollable smartphone can be small when you need it to be portable, and big when you need more screen to get the job at hand done. Lenovo's phone -- which it's calling the Motorola rollable smartphone concept -- is all about taking a small square of a display and making it longer. It's almost like a foldable flip phone, but without a secondary cover display because it's the same screen the entire time. When all neatly rolled up, Lenovo's Motorola rollable offers a 5-inch display with a 15:9 aspect ratio. Then, with a small double tap of a side button, the screen unfurls to give you a remarkably tall 6.5-inch display with a 22:9 aspect ratio. [...] "In 2019, it seemed like foldable phones were about to become the next big thing in the world of smartphones," writes Porter, in closing. "But four years later, it feels like we're still waiting for this future to become a mainstream reality. Lenovo would be the first to admit that its rollable concept devices are far from ready for prime time, but they offer a compelling argument for an alternative, rollable future."
Lenovo's other rollable device it's demoing at MWC is a Motorola smartphone. We've seen numerous companies including Samsung Display, Oppo, TCL, and even LG (RIP) show off rollable concept devices in various stages of development over the years, but we're yet to see the technology break through in a consumer device. Like a foldable, the idea is that a rollable smartphone can be small when you need it to be portable, and big when you need more screen to get the job at hand done. Lenovo's phone -- which it's calling the Motorola rollable smartphone concept -- is all about taking a small square of a display and making it longer. It's almost like a foldable flip phone, but without a secondary cover display because it's the same screen the entire time. When all neatly rolled up, Lenovo's Motorola rollable offers a 5-inch display with a 15:9 aspect ratio. Then, with a small double tap of a side button, the screen unfurls to give you a remarkably tall 6.5-inch display with a 22:9 aspect ratio. [...] "In 2019, it seemed like foldable phones were about to become the next big thing in the world of smartphones," writes Porter, in closing. "But four years later, it feels like we're still waiting for this future to become a mainstream reality. Lenovo would be the first to admit that its rollable concept devices are far from ready for prime time, but they offer a compelling argument for an alternative, rollable future."
Sweet... (Score:4)
That all changes with a flip of a small switch on the right of the chassis, at which point you can hear some motors whirring and the screen extends upwards.
more points of failure, awesome...
Re: (Score:3)
more points of failure, awesome...
I'm sure Lenovo will be bundling a "Viagra" application to troubleshoot and resolve any issues which prevent the display from rising.
Re: (Score:2)
more points of failure, awesome...
Who cares? If I can get laid five times because of this then it already paid for itself.
Re: (Score:2)
Foldable phones were never going to be a thing, and neither will rollable.
The key problem always comes back to durability. No laptop or smartphone is made smaller by making it foldable, yet it puts a lot more stress on the folding joint. It's easier to argue to make a tablet "foldable" so it can fit in a smaller transport case, but to use a smartphone in "unfolded" mode goes back to the problem with the Motorola Startac's, V60's and Razr's. People will sit on it, and break the screen. People will overstress
Re: (Score:2)
Foldable phones were never going to be a thing, and neither will rollable.
I don't know about that. A good buddy of mine has had one of those folding Samsung phones for over a year now and is still in love with the thing and I have to say I do think it's pretty cool. I would have thought the crease down the center of the screen would be more distracting but he let me play around with it a bit and once you get an image up on the screen it becomes fairly hard to see. In fact, if they were a hell of a lot cheaper I would definitely buy one as the bigger the screen the better in my op
Rolling? (Score:3)
Are they on carts or something, like in the olden days?
Cool! (Score:2)
I can't see myself ever having a use for a folding phone. But a laptop screen that extends to 15 inches square would be really useful.
Re: (Score:2)
But a laptop screen that extends to 15 inches square would be really useful.
Is your laptop extending or are you just happy to see me?
Re: Cool! (Score:3)
The rolling phone looks no better than a typical smartphone when unrolled, and you have that fragile and awkward form factor to deal with.
2nd external screens made sense in the flip phone era when the phone was shut and you needed to see at a glance the time and caller ID, or if you had new messages. The flip phone was just about the perfect form factor as they almost entirely eliminated pocket dialing and could be built like tanks.
Now pocket dialing is back, and we have 'innovative' phones
After watching the video of it extending (Score:2)
I feel it needs an obligatory Beavis and Butthead [youtube.com] reference.
Cool (Score:1)
Laptop makes more sense than mobiles (Score:2)
Phones and tablets have such limited capacity for structural elements that a moving component is just doomed to fragility. Laptops have a lot more space for bracing and decent rails. A laptop can absorb a few millimeters while that is a meaningful impact to a phone's thickness.
Is that a rolling phone or are you real happy to s (Score:2)
"Lenovoâ(TM)s idea is that the phone will automatically adjust its screen to better suit different apps"
What could possibly go wrong?
Expect malware to make it look like men are getting erections if the phone is kept in the front pants pocket.
Taelon technology is here (Score:2)
Doesn't sound that compelling (Score:3)
Lenovo will charge double for a device with one party trick at the expense of much increased fragility. Extra screen space is great but not if the screen will get damaged by sideways glances, a stiff breeze, ingesting grit or just somebody accidentally tipping it.