I envied Futurama’s Leela for many reasons; awesome boots, purple hair, gets paid to ride around on a spaceship. But it’s her wrist-mounted smart device that got the tech nerd in me popping like an excited toddler with a fresh tub of Play-Doh. And finally — finally — that dream is becoming more of a reality with Motorola’s latest concept. In short, it’s a phone that can work as a regular, flat, candy bar-style device but can then bend around your wrist to be worn like some kind of futuristic gauntlet.Â
Watch this: Motorola’s Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist
The company teased its “adaptive display concept” last year, but I got hands — and, indeed, wrists — on with the device at this year’s Mobile World Congress. Here’s how it works: When flat, the phone looks like a regular Android device, but the back of it is covered in fabric (for comfort, you understand). You can use it as any other phone, swiping around and emailing and Instagramming to your heart’s content. But when you’re done with whatever nonsense you get up to, you simply bend the phone around until it forms an arch and you slide that onto your wrist.Â
You’ll be wearing a magnetic strap on your wrist already that essentially looks like an Apple Watch’s Milanese Loop strap, but without the actual watch part. The phone magnetically attaches to this to help keep it in place, as the phone doesn’t form a full circle. The phone then should stay in place while you go about your day, acting more like a smartwatch by showing you incoming notifications. Then, when you want it to be a phone again you simply pull it from your wrist, fold it flat again and away you go. Lovely.
Its bending mechanism also allows it to become its own kickstand, allowing it to stand up on a table to make it more convenient for video calls.Â
I was really excited to try it on, and I do find the idea of wearing your phone…
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