Electronic paper—basically foldable, flexible touchscreens—is an idea that has been around for some time, something we’ve seen several prototypes of in the past. But Paperfold, an e-paper prototype from Canada’s Queen University Human Media Lab, is one of the first devices to use such technology as a potential mobile device.
Queen University describes their invention as a “multi-display, shape-changing smartphone.” The Paperfold uses three separate e-ink display sheets, each of which can be arranged or twisted into varying shapes. If you need more space for a certain task, additional flexible e-ink sheets unfold from the device in much the same way you would unfold a map.
The Paperfold device also adjusts the function of its screens automatically, to match the shape you’ve configured them into—for instance, should you set up two sheets as a laptop screen, the device will automatically turn the third display into a touch keyboard.
Or, if you use the device to search Google Maps, you can either flatten the sheets into a three-panel display, where Paperfold will automatically change the viewpoints into a three-sheet widescreen map of the area, shape the device into a globe, where you’ll see the Google Earth view, or even fold the display sheets into a 3D-shape for Paperfold to show you a 3D street image.
While the current device is thick and bulky, Queen’s Media Lab wants the finished prototype to be a lightweight, ultra-compact device that will certainly change what can be done on a mobile device. At the moment, the device is in the very early prototype stages, but it’s currently the closest thing to a fold-out smartphone that anybody’s created thus far.
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