ReFlex: World's First Flexible Smartphone Is Finally Here

Short Bytes: Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab has successfully made the world’s first flexible smartphone that uses haptic feedback motors to accept a new type of “bend input”. ReFlex uses an LG Display Flexible OLED touchscreen and runs on Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. While the flexible smartphones might not display their grandeur anytime soon, researchers expect that such kind of devices will hit the markets within next 5 years.

We’ve been seeing multiple efforts from the likes of LG and Samsung to make flexible smartphones. The companies have been able to make flexible screens that haven’t managed to cross the prototype stage. Showing them how it’s done, researchers at Queen’s University have been able to create the world’s first bendable smartphone that actually works.

Known as ReFlex, this extraordinary device is a creation of university’s Human Media Labs. The phone allows its users to experience physical tactical feedback when they interact with their apps using bending gestures. Just hold the smartphone with both hands and bend it a little to the right to flip the pages just like you flip them in a book.

ReFlex comes with an LG Display Flexible OLED touchscreen that supports 720p HD resolution and runs on Android 4.4 KitKat operating system.

This isn’t all — as the pages are turned, you are able to feel a sensation of the page being turned via a specially crafted vibration movement of the phone. More you bend, the pages flip more quickly. You would be well acquainted with the multi-touch input, but this kind of bend input really sounds fascinating.

“This allows eyes-free navigation, making it easier for users to keep track of where they are in a document,” explains Roel Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University.

Well, let’s talk about the most important question in your mind — where can I get this phone?

While the flexible smartphones might not display their grandeur anytime soon, Dr. Vertegaal expects that such kind of devices will hit the markets within next 5 years.