ReFlex: A Flexible Smartphone with Active Haptic Feedback for Bend Input

Abstract

ReFlex is a flexible smartphone with bend input and active haptic feedback. ReFlex's features allow the introduction of sensations such as friction or resistance. We report results from an experiment using ReFlex in a targeting task, as well as initial users' reactions to the prototype. We explore both absolute and relative tactile haptic feedback, paired with two types of bend input mappings: position-control and rate-control. We observed that position-controlled cursors paired well with relative bend feedback, while rate-controlled cursors paired well with absolute bend feedback to indicate targets. We also explored an eyes-free condition. Results suggest that while eyes-free, haptic feedback conditions were more error-prone than visual-only conditions, the size of the error was relatively small, and users were able to complete the task in all cases. We present two application scenarios that take advantage of the unique input and output modalities of ReFlex and discuss its potential for within document navigation.