You know when you’re playing a game on your phone and you find yourself tilting it to one side, as if that would magically make the scene move or your character swing?
We’ve all done it at least once, it seems to be a natural and instinctive act although we are not exactly sure why: we do understand that physically moving the phone will not affect the result of the game at all and that the only way to make the character move is by giving it virtual instructions through the touch screen controls of our smartphone.
But what if we could explore also that dimension and bend our phone for a more sophisticated experience? Well, this might happen sooner than you think!
A Canadian team of researchers at Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab has been working since 2016 on a prototype that has a unique and attractive feature: its screen is flexible and can be bent (without breaking, of course).
This prototype has soon evolved into an almost tangible reality and now we’re sitting with ReFlex, a flexible smartphone that allows the user to interact with the apps also by bending the phone from side to side. When the device is bent, the pages on the screen will flip as those of a book; depending on the angle and the “strength” applied to the bending, the pages will go faster or slower.
This idea is revolutionary and creates a fantastic and more tactile user experience that goes beyond the actual screen.
The ReFlex smartphone is built with a high definition 720p LG Display Flexible OLED touch screen and is powered by an Android 4.4 “KitKat” board, mounted to the side of the display. We have to admit that the whole device looks a bit bulky and requires two hands to be held, not unlike a tablet or e-book reader, but this is certainly something the creators are keeping in mind and will work on to optimise user experience.
The implications are endless, and the real question is not whether this technology will be available, because we already know it is, but when and most importantly how it will be used. Just imagine how much our standard of mobile networking and entertainment will change! Reading an e-book will be an even closer experience to reading an old-school book, for example. Playing and gambling online will have a more tangible flare, especially as this industry is renowned for embracing new technology with the sole purpose of enhancing the user experience. So it is safe in assuming innovative brands such as mFortune, who create their very own bingo games, will already be thinking about how this exciting technology can be incorporated into its service.
Of course, we will have to wait for a bit to see how the main mobile brands employ the new tech in their devices. We suspect like everything else in the mobile world, developments will quickly come to the fore, with perfection not far behind. This is a very inviting pie and the main brands are all on a race to get the biggest piece. Huawei, Samsung, LG… who will win the race?