3GSM 2007: Foldable screens a reality - video
After years of prototypes and hype, a brand new display technology was on display at 3GSM that looks set to revolutionise mobile phones. Polymer Vision were showing off their Readius, which is a gadget that features a foldable, rollable display.
As smartphones get ever smarter, their ease of use is still restrained by the fact that you just can't see all that much on a screen that is at best just 3" in size. The obvious way around this is to creat a screen that folds out, rolling up scroll-like when you want to put the mobile phone in your pocket, and unrolling it when you want to see its display.
This holy grail of technology has finally been demonstrated by Polymer Vision, who, not surprisingly, have won 3GSM's Most Innovative Technology Award for their Readius eBook reader, which features just such a display. Not a mock-up, or restricted prototype that only works for 10 minutes - a genuine foldable display on a real working gadget.
Just watch the video, and you'll realise that the mobile phone we know and love is going to be transformed beyond recognition next year.
The Readius is an eBook reader that also supports 3G, which means you can check your email, RSS feeds, browse the web and make phone calls on a screen that's tiny when folded up, but when folded out is a massive 5" in size.
The device is currently black and white only, but it's only the first version of the new technology, and Polymer Vision claim a full-colour version will be released early next year. Even if it's not, though, colour is well worth sacrificing for a screen that starts off tiny, yet folds out to a full 5", which is more than enough to meet the needs of even the most demanding smarpthone user.
This really is the technology the smartphone industry has been waiting for for years. From 2008, mobile phones will never be the same again. This technology is going to be everywhere.
[Source: ShinyShiny]
