He Mobile World Congress it is a perfect showcase for many mobility technologies that the user will be able to carry in his pocket in the coming months. Typically, mobile phones renew their hardware or their design by adopting the latest technologies.
However, the MWC also leaves a gap through which a privileged few can look to the future with projects and prototypes that will still take a few years to reach the market… or maybe not so long.
Lenovo has presented its new range of laptops and convertibles for 2023, but it has also let us see some of its plans for the future, in which folding screens will leave part of their role to extendable screens that allow the screen surface to be expanded of mobiles and laptops without doubling their thickness as it happens with folding devices.
Lenovo’s proposal comes on two fronts on which the brand focuses a large part of its business: mobile phones, hand in hand with its subsidiary Motorola, and laptops with an extendable screen.
Extendable mobiles: the future expands in the palm of your hand
In a private session, Lenovo has shown us a prototype of Motorola mobile with a 5” screen that slides past the chassis of the device itself to become a 6.5 inch screenan increase of 30% at the touch of a button.
It is a prototype, so what was most valued is the concept it develops. In this case, the device has reminded me of those BlackBerrys that are so popular as a productivity device, but without a physical keyboard.
The mobile is about 14mm thick and is very suitable for one-handed use. By double-clicking one of the side buttons, the screen slides from the rear through the bottom of the smartphone, protruding from the top to convert it into an ultra-widescreen 21:9 format. 30% bigger what was.
Is extendable screen it reacts depending on the context, so that, for example, if you start a video on YouTube with the mobile vertically, activate the full screen view and rotate it, the mobile automatically displays the screen to display the video in a more cinematic format, and when you close the video it returns to its collapsed state.
It can also be displayed when using apps vertically to make room for the keyboard when you want to write an email, for example, thus preventing the keyboard itself from covering the text you’re writing. When the keyboard is hidden, the screen slides back.
A new double click on that side button and the screen returns to its original position. If it is turned over, the part that has been hidden in the back is visible as a second screen perfectly operationalin which you can receive notifications or use it as a preview to take selfies with the main camera.
The screen extension mechanism takes into account other daily functions such as taking a call or taking a selfie with the front camera, so lower the screen slightly from the top edge to expose the front camerathe call speaker and the proximity sensor.
Extendable 13″ laptop that converts to 15″ vertically
Lenovo is one of the main manufacturers of laptops, so one of its pillars is the development of R&D to continue in the future. That has led to the development of laptops with folding screens. The next step was clear: extendable screens.
The prototype that Lenovo has shown us in petit committee is an ode to what is to come in the field of laptops, especially those oriented towards productivity, programming, etc.
Initially, Lenovo presented us with a laptop that could fit into any of its IdeaPad ranges, or productivity-oriented ThinkPad. However, at the push of a button the magic happens and the screen frame starts to slip slowly up increasing its height by 50%.
With that move, its OLED display slides out from under the keyboard. converting a 12.7-inch screen into a 15-inch screen verticallyperfect for displaying a document in full screen, or a programming prompt showing the entire string of code at a glance.
A single press of the same key returns the laptop’s screen to its original size while maintaining portability typical of a 13” laptop.
The rail system that guides the screen under the keyboard It does not have a notable impact on weight or dimensionsTherefore, in the words of Lenovo representatives, this system could be integrated into most of the brand’s laptops, including Yoga.
From the brand they confess that they still they are polishing the integration with the softwareso that the screen responds when opening certain applications, as we have seen with the extendable screen of your mobile.
Despite the fact that from the brand itself they recognize that they cannot specify how long will this technology take to arrive to consumer devices, the truth is that I have no doubt that this is the next step in the evolution of laptops and mobiles. Now I can’t help but look at my phone and feel like it’s a thing of the past. I have seen the future and I no longer want anything else.
