ReFlex first prototype flexible smartphone

Flexible phones of the future won’t just be tougher, they could also bring completely new operating features, if this cool prototype flexy smartphone is the shape of things to come. Developed by Queens University in Canada, it shows how bending a phone using two hands could become an input method, evolving beyond simple touches, swipes, and even haptic feedback https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfc_Peev660.

It’s called the ReFlex, and one of LG’s flexible OLED displays is fixed between two hardware units containing all the phone’s guts, making it look longer and thinner than most smartphones on sale today. The screen is equipped with special bend sensors, which can read the amount of force applied to the screen when it’s being bent. Vibrations from a haptic feedback system recreate how much tension is being applied.

ReFlex uses a display LG Flexible OLED with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, powered by a micro-PC with Android built on the side screen. It’s just an experiment, but the Human Media Lab Director, Roel Vertegaal, argues that this type of technology will be ready for the market within the next five years. 

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