Thinner Phones Could Enable New Display Technology

As the devices keep getting thinner and thinner, which makes us think about just how thin our smartphones and other devices can really get. A development by engineers at Queen’s University Human Media Lab is any indication, our future phones may be a lot flexible, thinner than existing ones. The engineers have created a “PaperPhone.” As you might assume from its name, this slim smartphone is so thin that it’s almost like paper. In fact, it can even bend like paper, and you actually control the phone by bending the device.

The PaperPhone can memorize bend points and directions and will respond with different actions depending on how you bend the phone. The developers hope the technology could replace current smartphone technology in as little as five years. However that may be an optimistic goal, especially since the current prototype uses a monochrome display and requires a rigid border for things such as the power supply.

PaperPhone is the world’s first nextgen, thin film smartphone and interactive paper computer. It is based on a 3.7″ flexible electrophoretic (E Ink) display that does not consume electricity when it is not refreshed. Thinfilm sensors allow the phone to respond to bending of the screen to navigate pages in ebooks, play or pause mp3s, make phone calls, or navigate apps. A flexible wacom tablet allows users to draw on the screen with a pen as if it were a sheet of paper.

One thing is for sure: It’s a very unique concept and we’ll be interested to see if anything comes of it in the future.

Short URL: http://theasiantimes.com/?p=703

Posted by admin on May 10 2011. Filed under Headlines, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry