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RESEARCHERS at Queen’s University have developed the world’s first full-colour, high-resolution, wireless and flexible smartphone.
The phone, dubbed ReFlex, combines multi-touch with bend input, so users can experience physical tactile feedback when interacting with their apps through bend gestures.
When the smartphone is bent down on the right, pages “flip” through the fingers from right to left, just like they would on a physical book. More extreme bends speed up the page flips, and as the pages flip, the device vibrates.
As a result, the overall usage and sensation is intuitive, being similar to that of a physical book.
ReFlex is based on a high definition 720p LG Display Flexible OLED touch screen powered by an Android 4.4 “KitKat” board mounted to the side of the display.
Bend sensors behind the display sense the force with which a user bends the screen. Apps can use the input from the bend sensors to modify their behaviour.
ReFlex also features a voice coil that allows the phone to simulate forces and friction through highly detailed vibrations of the display. Combined with the passive force feedback felt when bending the display, this allows for a highly realistic simulation of physical forces when interacting with virtual objects.
According to the researchers, bendable and flexible smartphones could be in the hands of ocnsumers within five years.