Smartphone technology just got a lot cooler (and thinner).
Paper-thin computers have been popular items in movies and literature for quite some time, but it seems as though they’re finally becoming a reality. A group out of Ontario is getting ready to show off a prototype machine that is not only super-thin, but will supposedly work like “a small sheet of interactive paper.”
The prototype -seen here in this video- is currently being used with smartphone technology. Unsurprisingly, it’s called the “paperphone.” It can do everything that a smartphone does (play music, store books, and make phone calls) except play videos … though that will undoubtedly change in the future. The way the technology works is that it’s on a “9.5 cm diagonal thin film flexible e ink display.”
Basically, the flexible display allows it to form the shape of the pocket it’s stored in. The device’s creator, Roel Vertegaal, believes that the paperphone is going to revolutionize how offices work: “the paperless office is here. everything can be stored digitally and you can place these computers on top of each other just like a stack of paper, or throw them around the desk.”
Admittedly, this technology is pretty slick. However, claiming that it’s going to usher in the era of the paperless office seems a little presumptuous at this point. Last time I checked, flinging paper airplanes at coworkers was too much fun to stop doing.
Source: Human Media Lab via Geeks Are Sexy
