Scientists
claim to have developed the world’s first holographic flexible smartphone that
lets users interact with 3D videos and images without any headgear or glasses. The
device, dubbed HoloFlex, is capable of rendering 3D images with motion parallax
and stereoscopy to multiple simultaneous users without head tracking or
glasses.
“HoloFlex
offers a completely new way of interacting with your smartphone. It allows for
glasses-free interactions with 3D video and images in a way that does not
encumber the user,” said Roel Vertegaal, from Queen’s University in Canada.
Holoflex
features a 1920×1080 full high-definition Flexible Organic Light Emitting
Diode (FOELD) touch screen display. Images are rendered into 12-pixel wide circular
blocks rendering the full view of the 3D object from a particular viewpoint. These
pixel blocks project through a 3D printed flexible microlens array consisting
of over 16,000 fisheye lenses. The resulting 160×104 resolution image allows
users to inspect a 3D object from any angle simply by rotating the phone.
Holoflex
is also equipped with a bend sensor, which allows for the user to bend the
phone as a means of moving objects along the z-axis of the display. Vertegaal
envisions a number of applications for the new functionality of the HoloFlex
technology. “By employing a depth camera, users can also perform holographic
video conferences with one another,” said Vertegaal.
HoloFlex
can also be used for holographic gaming. In a game such as Angry Birds, for
example, users would be able to bend the side of the display to pull the
elastic rubber band that propels the bird. When the bird flies across the
screen, the holographic display makes the bird literally pop out of the screen
in the third dimension.
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