The pervasive rectangular touchscreen, which has dominated the display industry for decades is slowly giving room to a future in which devices may have any shape. For example, circular displays are already available on many smartwatches. However, little is known on the interplay between the rationale for the form factors of handheld devices and their interactive content.

We conducted two studies consisting in design sessions using modeling clay props to explore how users may interact with handheld freeform devices. We found three themes central to grasping such devices: freeform dexterity, shape features discoverability and shape adaptability. We further explored the interlink between shape dexterity, discoverabiliy and freeform shape features.