ReFlex Flexible smartphone

ReFlex is a revolutionary flexible smartphone, allowing users to feel the buzz by bending their apps.   Watch the video…

Scientists at Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab have developed the world’s first full-colour, high-resolution and wireless flexible smartphone to combine multitouch with bend input.

The flexible phone, allows users to experience physical tactile feedback when interacting with their apps through bend gestures.

“This represents a completely new way of physical interaction with flexible smartphones” says Roel Vertegaal (School of Computing), director of the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University.

“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. More extreme bends speed up the page flips. Users can feel the sensation of the page moving through their fingertips via a detailed vibration of the phone. This allows eyes-free navigation, making it easier for users to keep track of where they are in a document.”

ReFlex Flexible smartphone

Prototype with internal structure: Dark gray areas are semi-rigid, light gray areas are flexible. Position and size of strain sensor is indicated by the red square. Middle, Right: ReFlex bending in both directions.

source Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab