Don't miss this video showing Microsoft's FlexCase for smartphones, and some of the things it can do

A new flip case is purportedly bring developed by Microsoft in a partnership with the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. Besides being a protective soft and flexible flip case, the so-called FlexCase features an e-paper display that accepts additional input from the phone's user. This is built by combining an extremely flexible input sensor with a 4-inch flexible e-paper display bought off the shelf. The result is a smart and flexible secondary display that also doubles as an input board and navigation tool.

There are different configurations possible with the cover. With Book Mode, the secondary screen is on the left with the phone on the right. Laptop mode puts the handset on top in landscape. That is where the screen would lie on a laptop computer. The secondary display is also in landscape, but underneath the phone where it can be used as a virtual QWERTY keyboard. In Backside mode, the secondary display is open and rests against the back of the phone to create a two-screened device,
 
Content can be copied from an app to the e-paper screen, and then attached to an email. Bending an edge of the secondary screen allows the user to fly through pages of a book. Other gestures help navigate through video. The latter is shown on the phone's screen while the gestures are made on the flexible screen. A mapped route displayed on the phone can be transferred to the secondary screen by closing the flip cover and rubbing the screens together. Touching the right spot on the secondary screen will allow the app to navigate a 3D map by zooming, rotating and tilting the map.

Putting all controls for the phone's rear camera on the extra screen allows the viewfinder (the phone's touchscreen) to be less cluttered. Bending the corners of the flexible display will change some of the camera's settings.

The FlexCase will make its debut at the Computer-Human Interaction conference next month, which explains the hideous looking cables still attached to the case in the video. These will not be on the final version of the accessory. We still could be a long time away seeing the FlexCase offered to the public. Meanwhile, mere words cannot justify the capabilities of the FlexCase. If you want to see the future of smartphone cases, you need to view this video now.



source: MediaInteractionLab, Gizmodo