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Kyocera's flexible, folding phone concept

By Rain Noe - April 14, 2009

in Object Culture

Kyocera's EOS folding concept phone incorporates a flexible OLED screen, changing its form factor from a clamshell into something more closely resembling a wallet or clutch-purse. Explains Kyocera industrial designer Susan McKinney:

The concept Eos envisions a future where we have a more humanistic relationship with our phones. Appealing to our haptic senses, a soft, semi-rigid polymer skin surrounds a flexible OLED display. The metaphor of a "living" skin was used for its notions of protection and constant evolution, providing a heightened user experience.

Shape memory allows keys to morph up from its surface when needed and fade away when not in use. The flexibility of the screen allows for greater adaptability of form and interaction â€“ it maintains a compact shape (the size of a small wallet) for simple phone calls, and unfolds to reveal a large widescreen display. The device feeds off of our physical interaction with it, translating kinetic energy into an electric charge via an array of nano-scale piezoelectric generators. The more we interact with Eos, the more energy it creates - without using batteries.

Though the Kyocera future concepts are still in their early design stages, the design teams from San Diego and Bangalore are exploring many different ways and possibilities of infusing some of the concept ideas into their near future lineup of phones and devices.

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Christophe Koch

15 years ago

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Glad to see yet another shape memory morphing concept!
Nothing really new here however, but another copy of TIMEX 2154 "Time-Aid" concept i generated back in 2004.
tof
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Sikantis

15 years ago

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Why do I not find any comment on this new cell phone concept at Kyocera?
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Simon Sage

15 years ago

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More of a UMPC than a phone, isn't it?
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Andy Polaine

15 years ago

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I always find it hard to get all that excited about these kinds of concepts. Roll-up, fold-up, bendy displays and devices have featured for years in concept designs and there's still little sign of any of them making it to market.
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