A new prototype has been developed by researchers at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, and Arizona State University which features advanced thin-film technology that allows it to be thin like a sheet of paper, but function as a smart phone that is operated by both touch and bending.
It features a 9.5 cm diagonal E-ink display and can carry out the tasks of most smart phone such as making phone calls, storing and playing music, and accessing ebooks. Flipping pages in an ebook can be programmed such that you bend the PaperPhone much like you would an actual book. A number of touch and/or bend gestures can be programmed to carry out various functions. The new smart phone prototype and a similar wristband computer called Snaplet are expected to be officially unveiled at the Association of Computing Machinery’s Computer-Human Interaction Conference being held on May 10 in Vancouver.