Dr. Vertegaal of Queen's University’s Human Media Lab is expected to present a flexible cell-phone that is built upon E-Ink technology. The phone is a result of a joint development effort between the academia and commercial interests. The prototype has been christened PaperPhone and it is capable of handling most of the basic tasks that are expected of a contemporary handset.


The display portion of the phone measures 9.5 cm diagonally and the built-in software is capable of displaying e-books, playing music; in addition to placing calls. One thing it still cannot do is play videos, due to E-ink based displays’ low refresh rate. The user interacts with the phone by bending certain areas of the phone; something that can best be described as bend-gestures. This interaction is possible because of the resistive bend sensors across the length of the display. It is still capable of monochromatic display; however, it does not seem to have the ink-bleeding problem that was common with some of the early application of the technology. Research paper on this technology will be presented during the Computer Human Interaction conference that is scheduled to take place in Vancouver, Canada on May 10. Also expected at the conference is a strap-on computer called ‘snaplet’ that can be tied around the wrist.

Via: Technoholik