Several rumors are suggesting Motorola is considering releasing a foldable device soon, including a hint from the company's VP of Global Product, Dan Dery. After all, it's only fair to expect Lenovo's subsidiary to try to rival Samsung and Huawei in this promising market. According to the grapevine, the manufacturer is looking at reviving the iconic RAZR brand with a flip phone that features an internal bendable display and a smaller outer screen. Details on how the latter will interact with Android have leaked, and the least we can say is that it looks quite limited.

New information reveals the device's external panel would offer restricted interaction with the operating system, and won't be a fully functional screen, unlike the Galaxy Fold. Instead, only a few pre-installed applications such as Moto Display, Moto Actions, and Moto Camera would be able to access it.

When closed, the screen would feature six "quick settings" tiles based on a custom interface, so you can use some features without unfolding. Similar to Samsung's Always On Display, the external panel would show a clock, your notifications, media controls, and a custom wallpaper. Motorola is also working on displaying an animation when using Assistant, although it's unclear whether it'll take it further and show answers to your prompts as well. When unfolded, you'll reportedly be able to use the outer screen to scroll through web pages and timelines, as well as to control your camera by scrolling to zoom in, tapping to capture a photo, and using it as a countdown timer.

Based on these rumors, it seems the second display won't let you do much and will force you to unfold your device for most tasks. It's somewhat disappointing, especially given both Huawei's and Samsung's products allow you to fully interact with Android when folded. It may be early to jump to conclusions, though, and it's probably safer to wait a little longer to see what the handset will offer.

Source: XDA Developers