Motorola's Moto Rizr rollable concept hands-on

Lenovo’s MWC booth had something interesting up its sleeve with the Motorola rollable smartphone concept, which might be called Moto Rizr, according to some. Yes, a nod to 2006’s iconic Motorola Rizr Z3 slider phone. The new concept device features a 5-inch display with a 15:9 aspect ratio which expands vertically to a 6.5-inch diagonal with a 22:9 aspect ratio.

This means you can go from a mini-sized phone to a plus one with the push of a button giving you both an easily usable one-hand phone and a larger screen for media consumption when needed. All it takes is a double tap on the power button. Though Motorola says if there is a mass market device based off this one, the controls might be different.

The screen is a pOLED display manufactured by BOE and like all rollable and foldable displays brings its own set of durability questions. The panel wraps around the back of the device, leaving a small area of the display available for notifications or as a camera viewfinder to preview shots.

Another interesting bit is that the earpiece and selfie camera are actually tucked behind the panel so the display will roll down each time you make/receive a call or want to take a selfie.

The rollable mechanism automatically expands the display in apps like YouTube for a more immersive experience as well as in the email app to give you a larger canvas to type on. Icons and wallpapers on the home screen also realign when you expand or contract the display.

Motorola’s rollable concept phone weighs in at a substantial 210 grams and packs a 3,000 mAh battery – that’s pretty much all we get regarding specs. It would be interesting to see where Motorola goes forward with this concept and how it plans to bring a rollable phone to the market.

Durability is a big question mark with rollable devices even more so than foldables. The rollable screen on this Motorola is always exposed and a mere drop could potentially destroy the whole experience. We also have to factor in the moving mechanism that rolls the display up and down. Then again rollable phones make better use of space in a more compact form factor which is an enticing proposition.