We explore the use of bend gestures in gaming with flexible devices and investigate the size differences between smartphones and tablets. We conducted a study asking users to select bend gestures for nine tasks derived from gaming, grouped by navigation, action, and deformation. Our results suggest pairing opposing tasks, such as navigating left and right, by gesture location. We saw low consensus for action tasks, and strong association between the location of the gestures and the location of the visual, relating to the Simon Effect. We suggest guidelines for the design of game controls for flexible devices. We implemented the proposed gestures into six games using an interactive flexible prototype in our second study. Our results are similar between sizes, yet with an overall user preference for the smaller prototype. We observed that hand positioning is an important usability issue to consider when designing flexible devices.

Smartphones are becoming larger, mainly because bigger screens offer a better experience for viewing content. One drawback of larger screens is that they make single-hand interactions difficult because of hard to reach touch targets and of the need to re-grip the device, both factors significantly reducing their usability. Flexible smartphones offer an opportunity for addressing this issue. We first set out to determine the use of common single-hand mobile interactions through an online survey. Then, we designed and evaluated one-handed deformable gestures that offer the potential for addressing the finger reach limitation on large smartphones. We identified that the top right up bend and the center squeeze up gestures are the fastest and preferred gestures. We found no hand preference, which indicates that the gestures could be implemented to fit the needs of a wider range of the population, instead of favoring right-handed users. Finally, we discuss the impact on deformable gestures on one-handed interactions issues.

Bend gestures have a large number of degrees of freedom and therefore offer a rich interaction language. We propose a classification scheme for bend gestures, and explore how users perform these bend gestures along four classification criterion: location, direction, size, and angle. We collected 36 unique bend gestures performed three times by each participant. The results suggest a strong agreement among participants for preferences of location and direction. Size and angle were difficult for users to differentiate. Finally, users performed and perceived two distinct levels of magnitude. We propose recommendations for designing bend gestures with flexible displays.

We explore the use of multi-finger input to emulate full mouse functionality, such as the tracking state, three buttons, and chording. We first present the design space for such techniques, which serves as a guide for the systematic investigation of possible solutions. We then perform a series of pilot studies to come up with recommendations for the various aspects of the design space. These pilot studies allow us to arrive at a recommended technique, the SDMouse. In a formal study, the SDMouse was shown to significantly improve performance in comparison to previously developed mouse emulation techniques.