A closer look at Lenovo's bendable concept phone and tablet
These might never become real products, but we hope they do.
We knew Lenovo's Phab2 Pro and Motorola's Moto Z series were breaking cover today, but the moment that drew the loudest gasps was when a YouTuber bent a phone around her wrist. Lenovo's crazy, flexible devices are incredibly far from being real products, but we still had to track them down to get a closer look at what makes them work. After all, these aren't Kyocera Echo-style, half-assed folding screens -- the Folio tablet and the Cplus phone have display panels that actually contort when you bend their respective bodies.
Crafting gadgets that can handle these usage scenarios is tricky, though, but Lenovo has a sense of humor about it. When bending the Cplus to curve around someone's wrist, the Android phone's tall display "cracks" -- actually just a software trick that distorts the screen. The Folio, on the other hand, was more straight-laced. Folding the tablet in half bends the screen around the outside of the chassis, effectively turning it into a big ol' phone.
Sheer wow factor aside, the Folio didn't actually do much; it's likely the more-polished Cplus had a considerable headstart in development. Alas, Lenovo representatives barely let us touch them. As CTO Peter Hortensius said, "These are not things that will survive in the wild." Even so, we're still pulling for the Folio and the Cplus to become full-fledged products. We're just not holding our collective breath.
Get all the news from today's Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
