Paper Phone : Technology for Future Smart Phones and Tablets

The introduction of Paper Phone will revolutionize the way we interact with smart phones and computers.

Accoding to Dr Roel Vertegaal, director of Queen's University's Human Media Lab, this device looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper. As a protype it has 9.5-cm diagonal, thin-film flexible display screen and users can interact with it by bending it like a cell phone, writing on it with a pen or flipping its corner to turn pages.


Screen of the Paper Phone uses the e-ink technology that is used by Amazon's Kindle (e-book reading device). It also incorporates the function of interpretting drawing and text written on it and sensing the curvers and matching them according to the users behaviour.

It is just a prototype and has limited functionalities and take millions of dollars to take the idea through commercialisation, but it provides a way to the next generation super thin, flexible smart phones and computers. The prototype of Paper Phone is scheduled to be demonstarted at Vancouver event on 10th May. The prototype is being developed collaboratively by the research teams at Queens University Canada and Arizona State University.

At the same show one more high tech device is planned to show off, i.e. Snaplet.  This device performs different functions depending on how it is worn and bent.