A Canadian research company has now come up with a flexible phone.  It's made of electronic paper.  Alexander Graham Bell would be proud, or would he?  Phones have come a long way since his incredible invention connected the world.  This is going to be the next big thing.  Watch out iPhone!  It does everything your smartphone does now but it will also do some new things based on bending the corners or sides.

"This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper," said Dr Vertegaal in a statement. "You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13308452

They hooked the early prototypes of  this new "paper" to a laptop to monitor how people will use the

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Photo By Getty Images
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phone.  It recorded how they bent the paper, wrote on it and used it in daily life.  That was then built into the technology of the phone.  They also want to create a larger version that would eventually make offices paperless.  The phone is built around the same technology that the Amazon Kindle e-books are built on, called e-ink.  A disposable cell phone was invented at one time but I haven't seen those widespread so I don't think they took off.  There are also multipurpose gadgets called Snaplets that have different functions based on the way they are worn.  It's a watch on your wrist, a phone if it's bent a different direction and a PDA if it's layed out flat.  The new Paper Phone will be on display tomorrow at the Computer Human Interaction conference in Canada.

This is all great technology, I'm just not sure how practical it will be.  How do you carry something like

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Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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this in your pocket?  I would end up leaving it in there like I do money and wash it!!!  I also wonder about this version they want to make that would turn offices paperless.  I love my Kindle but it's making actual paper books extinct...which is good for saving trees.  But the thought of not ever writing on paper!  So will schools stop teaching "writing" and start just teaching "typing"?  Technology is good and bad in so many ways.  I will revolt though if they take my pen and paper away...I'm old school and I love to actually write my thoughts out on paper as opposed to typing them into the computer.

So what do you think?  Would you like to see this phone?  Would you buy one?  Would you buy any of the other gadgets mentioned?

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