In just a few years, smartphones have taken over our lives – half of the UK population now owns one. We’re hooked on touchscreens, apps and smartphone smugness but there are still plenty of surprises in store.
Here’s a taster of the innovations you might carry in your pocket in years to come.
Bendy screens
Touchscreens made phones more intuitive than ever, and the next generation of screens promises to revolutionise our habits yet again. Several companies are working on the first phones with flexible screens, expected to hit the shops by late 2012.
The innovation inside these bendy screens is OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) - thin films of organic molecules that produce light when you run an electric current through them. Often less than a millimetre thick and offering a bright, crisp image with low power consumption, it’s not just flexibility that makes OLEDs a popular choice.
OLEDs could pave the way for bigger screens that fold away neatly, and new ways of controlling your phone by bending or twisting its screen.
The innovation inside these bendy screens is OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) - thin films of organic molecules that produce light when you run an electric current through them. Often less than a millimetre thick and offering a bright, crisp image with low power consumption, it’s not just flexibility that makes OLEDs a popular choice.
OLEDs could pave the way for bigger screens that fold away neatly, and new ways of controlling your phone by bending or twisting its screen.
Self-powered phones
It’s a simple trade off: the more processing power is packed into your smartphone, the faster its battery charge vanishes. A phone that powers itself sounds like a dream come true – and it might just happen.
Piezoelectric devices can convert mechanical movement into electric current. They rely on piezoelectric materials, which generate a tiny electric current when flexed or pressed. Microphones, amongst other things, use this effect to turn sound into an electrical signal.
The amount of power produced by piezoelectricity is usually miniscule, but at the nano scale, even the tiniest of movements can be harnessed. The latest research into nanomaterials promises ultra efficient systems that could power your phone using the vibrations of your voice or the tapping of your fingertips on a touchscreen.
BYEEE.
Piezoelectric devices can convert mechanical movement into electric current. They rely on piezoelectric materials, which generate a tiny electric current when flexed or pressed. Microphones, amongst other things, use this effect to turn sound into an electrical signal.
The amount of power produced by piezoelectricity is usually miniscule, but at the nano scale, even the tiniest of movements can be harnessed. The latest research into nanomaterials promises ultra efficient systems that could power your phone using the vibrations of your voice or the tapping of your fingertips on a touchscreen.
BYEEE.
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