HoloFlex – The world’s first flexible holographic phone

The future is here people, Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab has created the world’s first flexible holographic smartphone, the HoloFlex. 

Researchers at Human Media Lab at Queen’s University have created a smartphone with probably the best viewing angles not out now. No glasses are needed as multiple viewers can look at the screen and see a low-res images displayed.

Impressively the screen is interactive with a holographic version of Angry Birds (above) demonstrated. Bending the screen back with haptic feedback help replicate the sensation of pulling an actual sling, although it’s far from the real thing of course.

The Holoflex could change the way we use our smartphones, it’s quite like 3D Touch but a hundred times more impressive. Watching TV shows that support the HoloFlex technology could offer a more immersive experience. Imagine checking out your favourite TV stars in full scope, tempting right?

Not quite ready

Want to upgrade to a smartphone with HoloFlex? Well you’re in for a long wait and there’s no chance we’ll be seeing this on the iPhone 7.

You can see from the video how low-res the screen is, nothing like the high definition, pixel-free screens we’ve become accustomed to. The HoloFlex features a 1920 x 1080, full high-definition Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode (FOLED) touchscreen display. The HoloFlex sports 1.5 GHz Snapdragon 810 with 2 GB of RAM, running Android 5.1.

The technology is too early to adopt for current handsets, but it shows how interesting the future of smartphone technology will be. What Mobile spoke to Dr. Roel Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Laboratory who said:

“There’s been quite a bit of interest and I do think this kind of technology will become mainstream, I think the issue with HoloFlex is revolution, theres a still a couple of years until it comes to mainstream markets.”

Dr Vertegaal strongly believes this the flex screen is the future for smartphone technology, stating to increase market share, you need to do something innovative. Samsung seem to be getting ahead of the curve with investments into curve screen technology. Due to the evidence Dr Vertegaal thinks flex screens will be making their debut in the next couple of years.

The guys at Human Media Laboratory don’t just want to revolutionise smartphones, they want to get their holographic technology in everything to stop us all becoming recluses with obstructive virtual reality helmets. Referring to Mark Zuckerberg’s surprise appearance at Samsung’s Mobile World Congress presentation Dr Vertegall said:

“That is not a future. The photo of all these people wearing the Oculus Rifts and Mark Zuckerberg walking down, like you were all drones or something like that. It’s not a world I look forward to, let’s take off these headsets, and project these holograms on any surface/material, that’s our goal.”

Check out the HoloFlex in action below.

For more news, visit What Mobile’s dedicated news page.

Via Human Media Lab.