HoloFlex Phone: Researchers Develop World's First Fully 3D Holographic Cellphone [VIDEO]
We've seen flexible smartphones from LG. We've seen a supposedly 3D smartphone in the form of Amazon's largely-unsuccessful Fire Phone. Now, an independent group of researchers from Queen's University's Human Media Lab has developed the world's first real flexible and holographic smartphone, the HoloFlex.
While the HoloFlex is but a prototype, the possibilities of the technology utilized in the phone have enamored quite a number of people, many of which are stating that the HoloFlex might very well give consumers today a view of what the future of smartphones might look like.
What's particularly interesting about the HoloFlex is the technology featured on the screen. Though the prototype notably has a very low-res 160 x 104 resolution as a result of a full 1080p screen being divided into the phone's X, Y and Z axis, the handset does manage to give the impression of images popping out of the handset's screen.
The researchers who came up with the phone admit that the HoloFlex is mainly a prototype or a test unit of a technology that is yet to be perfected. Nevertheless, the researchers believe that the technology has great use in the future, maybe even for full-on holographic video conferences.
Another notable aspect of the HoloFlex is the handset's flexibility. While mainstream smartphones which are flexible are designed with durability in mind, HoloFlex actually utilizes its flexibility as a means to interact with the device. For one, using the handset actually requires users to bend the phone, as could be seen in a demo featuring popular mobile game Angry Birds.
Dr. Roel Vertegaal, one of the researchers involved in the creation of the phone, described the technology featured in the device.
"When bending the display, users literally pop out of the screen and can even look around at each other, with their faces rendered correctly from any angle to any onlooker," he said.
The HoloFlex prototype is equipped with very modest specs, featuring a 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and Android 5.1. The awesome prototype is set to be displayed at the upcoming ACM CHI 2016 conference in San Jose next week.
