Motorola pulled out a really heavy caliber before the start of this year’s MWC fair. In Barcelona, it showed a working prototype of its first rollable smartphone Motorola Rizr. It is one of the most advanced concepts of this type of device that we have seen so far.
Motorola Rizr. A prototype of a smartphone with a scrollable display. When inserted, a pleasant five-inch compact, when extended, the display has a traditional 6.5″ diagonal
After phones with a classic design and the slowly expanding foldables (clamshells and smartphone-tablet hybrids), this is another “form factor” – a type of construction that manufacturers trust. LG planned the scrolling, but then it completely stopped with mobile phones, Oppo has also made an attempt in this field.
The display does not roll inward like a blind, but on the other side of the phone roughly halfway to the back. Content independent of the front of the display can be displayed here
The Motorola Rizr is, in our opinion, the furthest yet, although the final product is still a long way off. This is also why Motorola has not yet said when (or if) the Rizr will go on commercial sale. Technologically, however, it is very good. The prototype we were able to test was not far from the final product in feel, the scrolling mechanism worked reliably, the phone felt solid in the hand.
From five-inch compact to 6.5″
The main idea of rollable devices is basically to bring a phone with compact dimensions to the user, and only if he needs a larger panel area in some application or for some purpose, he will bring it to him by extending a certain part of the panel above the floor plan area.
The display is pleasantly small in its basic state, but when you need an application that requires a larger area, the display slides out by itself. Or you can force it by double pressing the side button regardless of the application
In the case of Rizru, the screen is rolled up, or part of it, “hidden” on the back. Hidden in quotation marks, because the display is not actually hidden as when rolling the blind, but is simply folded back over the bottom edge. It has 5 inches on the front when folded in, and the diagonal extends up to 6.5 inches when fully rolled out.
This can bring use for certain user scenarios – typically when photographing another person with the main (rear) camera, where that person can see a preview of their future photo on the folded part of the display on the back. In the same way, the folded “rest” of the panel can serve as an area with the display of the clock or notifications, if the user puts the phone back up.
A very promising concept
It can be seen that a lot of thought was put into the design of using a larger display area. It is used in applications where it makes sense, in addition, in these cases the panel extends itself – for example, when writing an email, where the surface is enlarged by the virtual keyboard, or when playing a video on YouTube, where the display is extended by the necessary part according to the ratio sides of the video being played.
The protruding part of the display when rolled out is really thin. The bend over the bottom edge is decent
Engineering wise, the phone is well designed, the scroll panel doesn’t come loose anywhere (not even in the area of the bottom edge), there should be no risk of damaging it by normal use of the phone, e.g. holding it at the bottom, putting it away, etc. The user will have to pay attention to the panel when it is in the extended state – that’s a really thin surface that could potentially be prone to breaking or bending.
The phone already looks very good at the current stage of development, from the user’s point of view it seems as if it could soon be released for commercial sale. However, there will still be some work before the final launch, so Motorola did not provide any specific date. Let’s believe that it will not stay only with the concept – a device of this type would make a lot of sense. Of course, it also depends on the price level of the rollable smartphone. It will probably be significantly more expensive than current puzzles.
