Ask a few technology companies for their thoughts on the future and you're likely to get some interesting answers. Most agree that touch, gestures, augmented reality, and speech recognition will play a major part in our future lives, but the divergence is where it gets interesting. Here's one flexible vision of the future from a company most investors have left in the past.
Feeling flexible
Moribund feature-phone-maker Nokia
Take a look at the device in action:
Will it bend?
The tablet's key component is a bendable OLED display. Universal Display
Ministry of silly interfaces
The concept might be nice, but there are two glaring flaws. First, who wants to be forced to use two hands to make things happen on their devices? Second, who wants to use a device that requires you to twist, bend, and squeeze to get things done? I don't want to disparage the idea of bendable surfaces -- which could make large displays portable and greatly reduce the likelihood of screen damage -- but an interface built on flexing is incomplete at best. Flex commands might be a great feature for tablet-based games, but I wouldn't want to sort my pictures that way.
Still, this is an interesting step forward in device functionality, and could be a portent for ideas to come. Add these companies to your watchlist to keep an eye on their approach to a more flexible future.