Blog: Revolutionary New Paper Computer Shows Flexible Future for Smartphones and Tablets

Revolutionary New Paper Computer Shows Flexible Future for Smartphones and Tablets
Queen's University (Canada) (05/04/11)

Researchers at Queen's University, Arizona State University, and E Ink Corp. have developed the PaperPhone, an interactive paper-sized computer. "This computer looks, feels, and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," says Roel Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Lab at Queen's University. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen." Vertegaal expects paper computers to revolutionize interactive computing within five years. The PaperPhone smartphone prototype offers all of the functions of a smartphone, but has a 9.5 cm diagonal thin film flexible E Ink display, which makes it more portable than mobile computers. The researchers say that the interactive paper-sized computers do not consume power when nobody is using them, and the devices do not feel like a sheet of glass or metal. Larger versions will be able to store and interact with documents. The researchers also developed a wristband computer based on the technology called Snaplet.

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