Meet ‘PaperFold’: A Multi-Screen Smartphone Prototype

PaperFold is a shape-shifting smartphone that features three detachable displays that can fold the device into various shapes – from an ultra notebook shape to a foldout map.

The flexible ePaper displays are able to act either independently from each other, or work together when they are connected to one another via magnets.

Created by Queen’s University Media Lab, PaperFold automatically recognizes its shape and changes its graphics to provide different functionality upon shape changes.

For example, folding the device into a notebook form opens up a keyboard on the bottom screen which users could use to type an address into Google Maps, displayed on the top screen.

“In PaperFold, each display tile can act independently or as part of a single system,” says Dr. Vertegaal, a professor in the School of Computing and Director of the Human Media Lab at Queen’s.

“It allows multiple device form factors, providing support for mobile tasks that require large screen real estate or keyboards on demand, while retaining an ultra-compact, ultra-thin and lightweight form factor.”

For the meantime it’s merely a prototype, although PaperFold and other modular tech such as Google Project Ara demonstrate how personalized smartphones could be a thing of the future.

Check out the video below to see what PaperFold is capable of.

Source: T3