Lenovo showcases bendable smartphone and tablet at Tech World 2016

[Shawn Knight]

Lenovo unveiled several new products at its Tech World 2016 event today but perhaps the ones that stand out the most represent the company’s vision of the future.

Manufacturers have been working on bendable / flexible display technology for years. The problem they’re currently facing isn’t so much the display itself but the supporting components. A smartphone with a flexible screen, for example, is pretty much useless if it’s mated to a non-flexible chassis / motherboard / battery.

At Tech World, Lenovo briefly demonstrated both a flexible phone that goes around your wrist like snap bracelets of yesteryear and a flexible tablet that folds in half to use as a phone (or is it the other way around?).

Technically, Lenovo had screenwriter and producer Meghan McCarthy show off the gadgets but that’s beside the point. Based on their brief appearance, the devices seemed to work – or at least, their displays did. CTO Peter Hortensius quickly walked through the technology including the other flexible components I mentioned earlier before moving along.

Hortensius noted that these aren’t actual products yet so unfortunately, it’ll be a while still before fully flexible phones hit store shelves… at least, from Lenovo.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/65168-lenovo-showcases-bendable-smartphone-tablet-tech-world-2016.html

 

[theruck]

Lenovo, how pathetic...

 

[misor]

What I want from these companies (Lenovo, Asus, Samsung) is to release cheap android 6.x tablet computers (android 7-capable).

a sibling's android 4 tablet (Samsung tab 4, 16GB) was recently updated to android 5.1.1. while Samsung's lollipop update release was very late, the move was appreciated. I guess it will no longer be updated to android 6.0.1.

 

[Capaill]

Why do we need bendable phones?

 

[Rippleman]

Why do we need bendable phones?

my thoughts exactly. I have no interest in bending my phone like the *****s try to do on youtube. However, I can see this being "pre-formed" into watches and other displays on other products.

 

[nulll]

Why do we need bendable phones?

In light industrial applications this design could be extremely functional. For example my career business is as a contracting pharmaceutical transporter, I currently use an older model Galaxy rugby in an otterbox hip holster case. I conservatively holster and de-holster that lil guy 2-300 times a day to chech orders and acquired signatures for items. Something like this with a secure wrist mount, weather proofing and screen based finger print recognition would make my day a hell of a lot easier.

That's just an application that relates directly to my day to day, with the diversity of industry in the world there have to be literally millions of applications for a wrist wearable fully featured smartphone. My fiancee is capping of her studies in pediatric respiratory medicine and a version of this that could be reliably sterilized could be the ultimate in digital diagnostic assistance (most modern MD's who are keener's use some type mobile device in the diagnostic capacity constantly but they lose that tool when in a clean room), think an early half step toward something like a tricorder.