Perhaps the most funky smartphone conceptualised has been created by Queen University’s Human Media Lab. The Holoflex is a flexible holographic smartphone that lets stereoscopic images be seen by users without the need for souped up glasses or head gear.
Using microlenses, it allows multiple users to view stereoscopic depth images with motion parallax without the need for head tracking, whereas most 3D screens theses days create two images. The Holoflex’s microlenses instead disperse the light in multiple directions. Furthermore the bendable aspect of the phone actually has a use rather than being a novelty. Bending the screen lets users interact with what’s displayed in an almost three-dimensional way. In the example showed, bending the phone moves an object in the foreground closer to an object in the distance.
However there is a catch. Other than simply being a prototype, while the Holoflex uses a 1080p display, what you end up with after images been fed through HoloFlex’s lenses is a 160 x 104 pixel display which is something reminiscent of the cold war era.
