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Mobility

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

By Andy Smith May 10, 2011, 10:15 PM PDT

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Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntThink your cell phone is too heavy? Just wait until you can get your hands on a PaperPhone. Researchers at the Queen’s University Human Media Lab in Ontario, Canada worked with the E Ink Corporation to develop a prototype (E Ink  helped develop the technology behind Amazon to develop Kindle.).

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ntProbably the most interesting aspect of this phone is that you bend it to execute commands called bend gestures. 

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ntFor more on the PaperPhone read Chris Jablonski’s ZDNet blog  and  David Meyer’s blog from ZDNet UK. Queen’s University Human Media Lab is also working on a snaplet watch shown later in the gallery.

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ntHere’s the research behind PaperPhone and a video showing how it works.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntIt’s paper thin.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntThe back of PaperPhone, shows a printed circuit board featuring the bend sensors.

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ntThe PaperPhone will be presented on May 10 at the Association of Computing Machinery’s Computer Human Interaction 2011 conference in Vancouver.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntThe Paperphone has a 3.7-inch screen. Bend the page to highlight an option on the main menu.

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ntProblems encountered have included the fact that it can only be bent on one side and the slow refresh rate makes real-time animations impossible at this time.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntBending the corner lets you choose your contact.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntBending the phone icon forward in the middle makes a call.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntYou can play music on the PaperPhone.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntWith an ebook, bending back turns the page.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntHere are some of the bend gestures you can use to operate your PaperPhone.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntAlso at the Association of Computing Machinery’s Computer Human Interaction 2011 conference, Queen’s University Human Media Lab will show off Snaplet, a device that’s a a watch and media player when curved in a concave shape on the wrist.

Gallery: Smart PaperPhone bends the rules

ntWhen it’s held flat, it’s works like a PDA or notebook. But when held in a concave shape, it works like a phone.

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