Nokia Kinetic Device flexes its muscle with a new twist on the traditional smartphone

October 28, 2011 By Amir Iliaifar

Unveiled this week at Nokia World 2011, the Kinetic Device is a flexible OLED smartphone concept that responds to every twist and bend.

Along with the long-awaited Lumia 800 and 710, Nokia unveiled a unique OLED smartphone this week at Nokia World 2011 in London. Dubbed the Kinetic Device, the twisty and flexible device’s was shown off at Nokia’s Future Technology booth and features a UI that is wholly dependent on the way in which users interact with it, specifically by bending and twisting it to navigate its various functions.

The Kinetic Device is extremely flexible, and is comprised completely of durable and strong plastic, which includes an AMOLED display. In its current form, the Kinetic device simply contains the hardware required to power it, with none of the traditional functionality enjoyed in the current host of smartphones on the market. There is no GPS, camera, or capacitive touchscreen — with the tech demo focusing mainly on scrolling through photos and music albums.

As mentioned, the UI is quite simple and intuitive. Zooming in on pictures is done by bending the phone’s side back and bringing the center towards you, while changing the volume on the device is done with a twisting maneuver.

Of course the Kinetic Device is still in its infancy, and Nokia refused to outline or delve into the technology behind the flexible device. No doubt though the possibilities and applications with such are unique and ambitious, but time will tell whether Nokia will truly be able to transform this from a mere tech demo into something marketable and successful.

Take a look below for the Kinetic Device in action.

[Images Courtesy of The Verge]

Showing 6 comments

jesterking at 8:25am 1st November 2011 yeah I can see myself trying to bend it so much where it's going to break.
Ara at 3:39pm 30th October 2011 I wish that Nokia would stop aiding and abetting the murderous regime in Iran by not providing them with technology that helps it to track down, arrest, torture and kill those seeking freedom from the oppression of the mullahs...
1. jesterking at 8:26am 1st November 2011 murderous? really?
digitalprincess at 8:14pm 28th October 2011 This is definitely a cool idea but unless they can integrate a camera at least its just fun to look at.
1. Ian Bell at 9:15pm 28th October 2011 I'm not sure I see the advantage to a flexible phone like this. Does its flexibility make it more rugged? If so, then that would be good to use while mountain climbing or doing athletic jobs.
  1. Zipties at 11:10pm 28th October 2011 I don't know about more rugged, but it may be more comfortable to have in you pocket, especially for females or people who were tight clothing. As apposed to a "brick" in your pocket it may feel more natural for the phone to conform to the users body (in tight clothing, like jeans) other than that I have no idea what it could be used for. Also (I know this is a prototype but) if the phone does not have a touch screen and doesn't have a keyboard/ number pad, how do you make calls/ text messages?