Neil
08-May-2011, 09:41 AM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13308452
The PaperPhone can do all the things bulkier smartphones can do such as make and take calls, send messages, play music or display e-books.
The gadget triggers different functions and features when bent, folded and flexed at its corners or sides.
"Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years," said creator Dr Roel Vertegaal.
The device emerged from a collaboration between researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen's University, Canada and Arizona State University's Motivational Environments Research group.
"This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said Dr Vertegaal in a statement. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen."
The millimetres thick prototype is built from the same e-ink technology found in Amazon's Kindle e-book reader and this is bonded to flex sensors and a touchscreen that interprets drawings and text written on it.
All sounds very clever, but I can't help but think after a few months of use it will look terribly worn!
The PaperPhone can do all the things bulkier smartphones can do such as make and take calls, send messages, play music or display e-books.
The gadget triggers different functions and features when bent, folded and flexed at its corners or sides.
"Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years," said creator Dr Roel Vertegaal.
The device emerged from a collaboration between researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen's University, Canada and Arizona State University's Motivational Environments Research group.
"This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said Dr Vertegaal in a statement. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen."
The millimetres thick prototype is built from the same e-ink technology found in Amazon's Kindle e-book reader and this is bonded to flex sensors and a touchscreen that interprets drawings and text written on it.
All sounds very clever, but I can't help but think after a few months of use it will look terribly worn!