Because everyone is talking about a smartphone and a computer that do not exist in reality

For several years, companies that produce smartphones and laptops – but also TVs – have been involved in this area The rush towards foldable screens Which can better meet user needs.

For example, a foldable smartphone makes sense because Its screen inch is doubled if necessary. A foldable laptop takes up half the space. The TV that unfolds (and rolls up) aims to save home space.

But flexible displays represent, ultimately, too a promise: One day, who knows when, we'll be walking around with our smartphone strapped to our wrist. A little like nightthe main female character in the anime FuturamaWho wears a flashy device on his arm.

He's been working on this idea for several years Motorolawhich this year in Mobile World Congress in BarcelonaThe most important exhibition in the world dedicated to mobile phones allowed some journalists to try out a “bendable” smartphone whose screen folds outward until it becomes bendable. Curved shape fits the wrist.

Motorola calls it, not surprisingly, “Adaptive display”. But to make it stay on your wrist, you have to wear a thin bracelet with a magnet that mates with the magnet on the back of the phone.

We tried Motorola's “bendable” device as well, And it felt exactly the same: a Proof of concept Very advanced with applications that actually work. Like the one, for example, that uses artificial intelligence to create wallpapers that match your appearance.

In short, we are talking about a product that today can be considered more or less useful But at least it's credible. So much so that Motorola promised to finally launch this device on the market During 2024Maybe in the second half of the year, with modifications to the shape or materials.

In fact, the Motorola smartphone bracelet is not without technical problems. and, most importantly – It has not yet found a feasible place in the market. Who is this product designed for? What are the advantages of wearing a smartphone on your wrist? And above all: why do we prefer such a cumbersome and unstable device to smart watches?

Many have rightly focused on these questions. However, overlooking the true purpose of the prototype: Proving that another type of smartphone is possible.

In the same vein Lenovothe Asian multinational company that acquired Motorola in 2014, wowed Barcelona visitors with a prototype of a laptop. Transparent display. The effect is similar to that imagined in the most famous science fiction films, where the heroes consult information that seems to “hang” in the air and can be looked into the past.

We've also tested this computer, as much as possible, and besides one obvious critical issue – anyone standing behind the laptop can see what's happening on the screen – everything works fine. Moreover, the screen is touchscreen It allows writing with a smart pen.

The bendable, “transparent” notebook grabbed a lot of the limelight at Mobile World Congress. At the show they attracted The attention of many visitors. They have destroyed the online competition. Opening Instagram or TikTokand conducting a search using keywords related to the Barcelona exhibition, the devices that draw attention are the concepts of Motorola and Lenovo. Two products that don't actually exist yet.

Interest in these two prototypes – even from traditional media – has exceeded that for many “real” products, launched specifically on the occasion of the Mobile World Congress.

“My wrist phone finally arrived”he wrote CTNET About bendable. head androidpolice He is more skeptical: “Motorola's flexible smartphone is a dead end future.”.

Reporter from CNNHowever, it claims to be Lenovo's transparent notebook “It's the most amazing thing” Which he tried this year (it must be said that 2024 has just begun). However, TechCrunch has some doubts, expressed through careful play on words: “Lenovo's concept is transparent but the goal is not entirely clear”.

If interest in the two prototypes is so high, it's due to the fact that Motorola and Lenovo have made them available to journalists, influencers and even visitors. Prototypes that companies are usually careful not to touch.

In 2019 Huawei and Samsung Presented at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Their first foldable smartphone. But at the time, even though the two phones were one step away from commercialization, no one could come close. And in the exhibition They remained under glass boxes the entire time.

The risks Motorola and Lenovo have taken in recent days have certainly paid off in terms of visibility. Suffice it to say that Motorola in Barcelona did not announce any new phones But only services and partnerships: one with TurnsFor example, which in 2024 will bring the most resistant glass into circulation, Gorilla GlassOn all company phones. But this type of advertisement is not worth publishing.

However, the success of the two prototypes was not determined solely by Smart marketing strategy. I was equally impressed by the sudden hunger for innovation Predict the future.

Just a few weeks ago apple – which has never set foot at Mobile World Congress – has been developed VisionProthe viewer that allows you to live Augmented or virtual reality.

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence allows us to do increasingly extraordinary things. From the text generation, it moved to creating images and music, and more recently He learned to produce videos: Soralatest model OpenAIIt can create high-quality videos from text.

While algorithms and software advance at unprecedented speed, hardware lags behind, or at least tries to – much more slowly – To find new forms. “In the next five years, we will need more than just a smartphone to make the most of AI,” he said. Demis HassabisCEO of Google DeepMindThis was during his speech at the Mobile World Congress 2024.

Hassabis was referring specifically to For smart glasses and viewers. But that doesn't mean that a bracelet like Motorola's, which is more refined than the current version, can't have a big impact on the future.

And if it's normal these days to think so, it's also because Mark Zuckerberg – Not long ago – he talked about the technology he was working on half Which will allow, through electromyography, to capture nervous system signals that start from the brain and reach the hands, with the aim of controlling other digital devices. Through mental “gestures”..

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