Taking a hammer to the English language the way only the inventors of a portmanteau of two already-single-syllable words (“quick,” and “bite”) could, upcoming phones-only-but-somehow-Steven-Spielberg-is-still-making-stuff-for-it streaming service Quibi has done it once again. Per Deadline, the service is now forcing our brains to think the words “Turnstyle viewing,” the company’s revolutionary, proprietary new technology that basically amounts to, well, turning your phone to switch between landscape and portrait modes while you’re watching TV.
Okay, okay, so it’s slightly more involved than that: Quibi shows will apparently stream two edits of a show simultaneously, one optimized for landscape, and the other for portrait, and will switch between the two whenever the device is rotated. In a demo that the company released of the technology today, Turnstyle (ugh) seemed to allow users to switch between close-ups and wider shots somewhat seamlessly—a technical marvel previously replicated only by the laborious process of pinching your phone’s screen to zoom in the shot. (Other videos also show the technology switching to an entirely different shot.)
Okay, no, sorry, we’re really trying to take this seriously; aspect ratios are important, and having a curated version for each format is a lot better than having stuff be letterboxed or scrunched automatically every time your phone moves. And while we’d argue that little things like when to switch between close-ups and wide shots might be better chosen by a show’s editor, rather than the dictates of putting your device down to shove some more popcorn in your mouth, the idea of working to put something close to the creator’s vision—especially with the ludicrous list of creators, including Spielberg, Ridley Scott, and more, that Quibi has managed to recruit—onto the screen isn’t at all a bad one.
Still, though: “Turnstyle.” Ugh.