Motorola Rizr “Rollable”: the star smartphone of MWC 2023 is a fascinating concept

It is only a “proof of concept”, that is to say a product without commercial vocation and serving as a technical demonstration, but it attracts almost more the curious than the smartphones announced during the show. Because at Mobile World Congress 2023, it is the Motorola Rollable that everyone wants to see. This concept is not new: it was formalized at Lenovo’s Tech World conference (Motorola’s parent company) in October 2022. But this is its first real demonstration to the general public, who can therefore observe this smartphone with a roll-up screen with your own eyes.

Flexible screens are used in folding smartphones, including those from Motorola, which offers Razr – a new generation of which will be presented shortly – in clamshell format. But the brand doesn’t stop there. form factor which, if it is not yet accessible to all budgets, is now an integral part of the mobile landscape. It therefore formalized four months ago its Rollable concepts, that is to say rollable, embodied in both a PC under the Lenovo brand and a smartphone in its colors.

The Motorola Rollable, nicknamed Rizr by the brand, is a relatively conventional Android smartphone, and fully functional. Its 5-inch screen (15:9) makes it a particularly compact device when folded. But the magic happens when the user double clicks on the button located on his right edge: his screen then stretches upwards, to reach a total diagonal of 6.5 inches (22:9), more in line with the current smartphones. If the screen gives the impression of stretching, it actually “unrolls”: when the product sports its smallest format, the screen is rolled up to the back of the smartphone, and is not protected. The part of the screen visible on the back of the mobile turns into a secondary screen if necessary, like the cover display of a flip smartphone, and allows you to find your notifications without having to turn on the entire surface.

If the Rizr / Rollable is not destined to be marketed, Motorola has taken care of the link between its screen and its software, in particular with Google applications. When the user opens the Gmail app and creates a new message, the screen automatically scrolls to provide more space for text entry. If you launch the YouTube application, simply switch the smartphone to landscape mode for the screen to stretch: the videos are then displayed on the entire screen. We also note that, with the screen rolled up, the part of the screen visible on the back of the smartphone becomes a monitor, which makes it possible to obtain visual feedback when recording selfies with the back camera of the smartphone.

A flimsy format

Concept requires, the Motorola smartphone is not made for daily use. The brand is not able to guarantee a number of “windings” of its screen, and we are entitled to worry about its durability, especially since the slab, which therefore covers the facade, the lower edge and part of the back of the smartphone when rolled up, is very exposed to shocks and scratches. When the screen is extended, the thinness of the part protruding from the case of the device also raises fears that a fall could be fatal to it. And it must be admitted that the motor allowing the screen to move lets hear a little roar not really pleasant to the ear. But no matter: it is above all a question of recalling that the smartphone of the future could take many forms, and of pointing out that innovation is still possible, even in the field of form factors of smartphones.