Bend me, shape me: Flexible phones 'out by 2013' (Bendable Phones)

BBC ^ | 11/29/2012 | BBC

[Dallas59]

Imagine treating your phone like a piece of paper.

Roll it up. Drop it. Squish it in your backpack. Step on it - without any damage.

Researchers are working on just such handsets - razor-thin, paper-like and bendable.

There have already been prototypes, attracting crowds at gadget shows.

[Secret Agent Man]

wow, so Jabba the Hut voted Obama....

[who_would_fardels_bear]

All we need is a pair of glasses that projects whatever seemingly small or large size object we need on our retinas. The glasses will have a built-in headset so we can hear/talk. They will emit some sort of infrared light that we can move our fingers through to simulate key strokes, swirls, etc.

No need for any kind of gadget, no matter how big or how small or how bendable.

[bramps]

Did you steal those from Maxwell Smart?

[Boogieman]

Another feature for your dream smartphone...

Motion detection on the retina to move a cursor, combined with wink detection. Look at something on the screen, and close your left eye to “left-click” the cursor, or your right eye to “right-click”. Come up with some simple wink patterns to handle different click/select/drag actions.

[Boogieman]

When they really implement this stuff successfully, it won’t be so flimsy as a total package. They have stuff like, a cylinder that the flat screen rolls up into. It could be a keychain size, for a small phone, or something the size of a pocket flashlight, to roll out a tablet. You’ll still have something solid and substantial to hang out to, I think.

[USNBandit]

[Gil4]

That’s me, too, but I did have one phone (RIP) that could have benefited from this feature.

[Repeat Offender]

Roll it up. Drop it. Squish it in your backpack. Step on it - without any damage.

Flimsy, squishy, and not a rigid component in its body? Sounds like an expensive waste of time. They should name it "the Republican."

[Nowhere Man]

Too bad we’ve lost the “space race”.

We might be able to make bendable phones but we cannot get a man to the Moon or even into orbit. Still, think back to the technology of 1970, we were able to achieve both the latter back then.

2012 Man: Look, we got bendable phones we can carry!

1970 Man: Yeah, but we can get a man to the Moon, you can't even get a man into orbit.

2012 Man: .............

[Dr. Sivana]

Nothing new under the sun!

I prefer the classic model.

[Dr. Sivana]

Nothing new under the sun!

I prefer the classic model.