ReFlex is the smartphone that can really bend like a rubber band, activating certain functions when it does.
The device is fitted with a 720p LG Display Flexible OLED topped with a plastic touchscreen along with bend sensors and a haptic actuator at the back. The smartphone houses a board with an SoC to let it run on Android 4.4 and a battery pack on one side. As a whole, it's virtually shatterproof.
The user will be able to take advantage of physical gestures on the ReFlex, which lets users flip through pages of an e-book and play games such as Angry Birds. The input speed is based on the pressure the user puts into bending it, and the direction changes depending on how it's bent.
For instance, when it's flexed downward, it'll turn the pages of an e-book from right to left. Flex it the other way around, it'll turn the pages from left to right. Also, it produces a sound and vibrates to give a sensation of flipping pages, just like a real book.
Meanwhile, bending it downward on Angry Birds will cause the slingshot in the game to get stretched. Releasing the hold also releases the slingshot, snapping back and shooting the weaponized bird toward its swine enemies. This gives off the feel of an actual rubber band.
Researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen's University in Canada developed this technology and unveiled the prototype at the Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction conference held in The Netherlands on Wednesday.
According to Professor Roel Vertegaal, the head of the group, this outcome comes from 12 years' worth of research, and it's made using existing supplies and parts.
"The phone is mass produceable as it is today," Vertegaal says.
On that note, however, he does not intend to penetrate the market with a consumer-ready version, saying that the likes of Samsung and LG will handle that end. He also mentions that it'll probably be about three to five years until this technology hits the smartphone industry.
Of course, flexible smartphones aren't exactly new, as Nokia revealed the bendable Kinetic phone back in 2011, which was a continuation of Human Media Lab's idea, according to the research group.
More to the point, Samsung also filed a U.S. patent for a foldable device called Project Valley, a smartphone that can turn into a tablet in a snap and vice versa.
Interestingly, LG is reportedly working on another smartphone with a curved screen that "wraps over the top of the device," not to mention that the company showed off an 18-inch display that can be rolled up like a newspaper at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show. This means that LG could have something up its sleeve that's similar to the ReFlex – other than the G Flex lineup, that is.
At any rate, the LG Flex gave us a good look at the future of bendable smartphones, but the ReFlex could be the device that paves the way for a bigger picture.
It's a bit difficult to guess what'll happen in the future at this point, but what is sure is that flexible smartphones are going to make a big entrance soon enough.
Hit up the video below to see ReFlex in motion.
