SOURCE: Independent
Canadian researchers have developed what they claim is the world’s first flexible smartphone.
The technology, which is still in the prototype stage, could one day make shattered screens and permanently bent phones a thing of the past if it hits the market.
The team, working in the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, have called their device the ReFlex, and a short video showing its capabilities is seriously impressive.
Other than making the phone a little more resistant to drops, the bendable body offers some interesting new methods of navigating.
Rather than swiping the screen to turn pages when reading an ebook, as they would with a regular smartphone, the user can just bend the phone and flip through as many pages as they need to, in the same way they would with a regular book.
A vibrating unit embedded in the phone also provides haptic feedback, so users can feel the ‘pages’ flipping past their fingers as they move through the book.
It also has applications in gaming, too – when playing Angry Birds, the vibration changes as the catapult pulls back, giving the sensation of an actual rubbing band stretching out and snapping forward.
Equipped with a high-definition OLED screen, the display actually looks quite good, with sharp images and bright, vibrant colours.
Importantly, the Android-powered device can also make calls. But who uses their phone to do that?
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