The popularity of foldable smartphones has paved the way for the development of numerous new products, with laptops benefiting the most from the flexible OLED panels used in these devices. There are already several foldable laptops available for purchase. Now, rollable devices have arrived, which appears to be the next step. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Lenovo recently previewed its rollable laptop and smartphone (Moto Rizr). However, are these items the future?
The rollable laptop and smartphone from Lenovo are a compelling, unfinished vision of the future.
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Lenovo recently previewed its rollable laptop and smartphone. The new laptop and smartphone have been labelled as early proof-of-concept devices, and Lenovo representatives refused to disclose when they might be made available to the public or how much they might cost.
Before its screen unrolls, the rollable laptop has a 12.7-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio. With the flip of a switch, a couple of motors in the laptop pull the screen out from underneath the keyboard and raise it almost vertically in front of the user, leaving them with a 15.3-inch, 8:9 aspect ratio display.
The display has a resolution of 2024 x 1604 in compact mode and 2024 x 2368 when fully extended. Sharp provides the display, the same company with which Lenovo has collaborated on its foldable ThinkPad X1 laptops. The unrolling mechanism of the rollable laptop consumes a few watts of power while in motion, which may not be ideal compared to laptop batteries that struggle to last a day.
The oddly tall aspect ratio of the display on the rollable laptop could be useful for both office workers and creative professionals. People who struggle to work on a single small laptop display and have considered purchasing a portable second monitor may find the form factor advantageous.
Lenovo believes that such a tall display could provide a number of benefits, including the ability to write on the bottom half of the screen while keeping notes and sources visible on the top half. It resembles the dual-screen Yoga Book 9i that Lenovo demonstrated at CES and is scheduled for release in June.
Even though the device appeared polished during the demonstration, Lenovo is not yet prepared to release the rollable concept as a consumer-ready device. Lenovo has been uncommunicative regarding durability, weight, and battery life. Lenovo hopes to achieve the same level of durability as its foldable ThinkPad X1: 20,000 to 30,000 rolls. Lenovo did not specify the number of rolls the prototype can currently withstand. Lenovo has already released a foldable laptop, and the durability of its foldable laptop is comparable to that of its rollable concept.
