Bend it Like...The World's First Flexible Smartphone

By Nathalie Bonney

SMARTPHONES are getting slimmer, lighter and bigger - and in the near future they are set to become BENDIER too

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The Reflex could be available to buy in as little as five years

The world’s first flexible smartphone ReFlex is as little as five years away from becoming a high street reality say its makers.

Currently in development at Queen’s University’s Human Media lab in Kingston, Canada, the first prototype was recently unveiled to industry experts at a conference in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

The Reflex's bend sensor technology works well with facilities such as Google Earth

Calling it ‘revolutionary’, Queen University’s school of computing director Roel Vertegaal says the ReFlex will change how we use our smartphones in the future and make the current ‘rigid’ smartphones seem out of date.

"This represents a completely new way of physical interaction with flexible smartphones", said Vertegaal.

"The iPhone is eight years old now and it’s time for a change. Given the interest we’ve seen in this prototype and that it’s almost market-ready we believe that it’s going to change things very shortly.’

The innovative bendy design means users can replicate the turning of a page

Thanks to an ultra thin film screen, users will be able to bend the smartphone just as they would a book or piece of paper.

Clever 'bend sensor' technology will make smartphone use easier: reading and browsing lengthy books and documents will be quicker and simulated actions on games and apps will feel more intuitive as users bend the phone to manipulate what’s happening on-screen.

The video demonstrates how the turning is intuitive with the flexible motion

"When this smartphone is bent down on the right, pages flip through the fingers from right to left, just like they would in a book," Vertegaal added.

More extreme bends speed up the page turns and vibrations from the phone replicate the sensation of the pages being turned through the users’ fingertips.

‘This allows eye-free navigation, making it easier for users to keep track of where they are in a document, ’ explains Vertegaal.

Users will be able to flick through electronic pages slow or fast depending how much they bend the device

Able to detect the level of force used by the smartphone owner, the bend sensors also enable phone users playing games to experience a more realistic simulation of physical forces.

Confused? Allow Angry Birds to enlighten.

The Human Media Lab believe the Reflex could transform the iPhone dominated smartphone

"We can simulate the feeling of a rubber band through vibrations in the phone which makes it a really neat experience. So you can really accurately judge when to let that bird fly,” said Vertegaal.

ReFlex also features a touch screen powered by Android 4.4 ’KitKat’, a camera, battery and voice coil, adding to user’s tactile experience.

Vertegaal explained: "Voice coil is a speaker that produces very low frequency sounds with which we can make very precise vibrations within the phone - these are not the kind of vibrations you get when you put your phone on silent but very precise vibrations.”

Users are also able to zoom in and out using the bend sensor technology

The Queen’s University team say it’s taken them 12 years to get to this stage.

Vertegaal said: "In 2004 we put out a project called paper windows where we simulated the use of flexible displays by projecting on pieces of paper.”

By monitoring the shape, location and orientation on the paper the team hoped they could eventually simulate this experience of a paper computer into a real-life flexible smartphone.