Forget rings, beeps and vibrations: a new phone developed by a Canadian computing team literally changes shape to let you know you have a call or text message.
Dubbed MorePhone, the paper-thin device created by researchers in Kingston, Ont., features memory wires that contract when the phone receives incoming alerts — allowing it to curl up or flap its corners.
“The full body curl is indeed what you would want for an alarm or for a phone call, and lifting a tip is what people would like for emails or text messages,” Dr. Roel Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University, said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca from Paris where he is unveiling the MorePhone at a technology conference.
The visual cues can be tailored to the type of incoming call or text: the body either curls up, or “lifts” one of its corners.
The concept eliminates the reliance on ringtones or silent vibration notifications that users often miss if they’re not holding the phone.
“You want to drop a call, you simply put it down and make it flat again,” Vertegaal said.
Vertegaal has been working with this technology since 2008. In 2011, he unveiled the first paper-thin smartphone prototype, dubbed the PaperPhone.
This past January, he followed it up with the PaperTab, a tablet computer as thin, flexible and stackable as sheets of paper.
Flexible screen technology is a burgeoning field in the world of computers and telecommunications, Vertegaal said. Several companies are getting on board, with reports that electronics company LG is preparing to launch a phone with a bendable display.
“It’s going to be very interesting because, I think in the future, we will have displays …. that can show three-dimensional objects,” Vertegaal said. “That’s one of the things we’re working on.”
He expects the bendable phones to be available to consumers within five to 10 years.
