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Smartphones can be replaced by paper

by on05 May 2011


At last you can blow your nose on an Iphone
A boffin from Queen's University's Human Media Lab is convinced that fairly soon all those expensive toys will be replaced by a piece of paper.

Roel Vertegaal, is showing off an interactive paper computer that duplicates many of the functions of an iPhone. It can make calls, play music, sharing books and you do not have to mortgage your house or sell your children to Steve Jobs to pay for it. Vertegaal expected all phones to be made of paper within five to 10 years.

His phone has the look and feel of a small sheet of translucent paper a bit  like a conference badge. The e ink screen is similar to what you find in the Kindle except this screen is flexible. To make a call on the prototype phone, you squeeze the interactive paper, which has a layer that senses how it is being bent, and hold it to your ear. "Just curving the screen, it knows you want to make a phone call," said Vertegaal.

The technology is early days yet, but given that is the way technology is going it makes queuing for an iPhone looking even more insane. The problem is that the prototype has limited functionality and it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to take the idea through commercialization.

More here.

 

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