Samsung readies bendy smarties for 2013 Development work on Samsung mobiles fitted with flexible OLED displays is nearing completing, with handsets set to be released in the first half of 2013, it has been claimed. A source said to be close to the matter reckons Samsung is almost ready to launch flexible displays for mobile handsets, the Wall Street Journal reports …
I was going to comment about how this tech has zero practical use in the mobile phone market - but a cyberpunk style smart phone device wrapped around my forearm? oh yes please!!!
Sadly, i doubt it'll come to that. Those prototypes in the picture suggest that while they can create a curved screen, they don't want you changing it after it's been produced. Which means we'll just get a load of phones that look a lot like today's phones, but with a slight curvature into the screen that picks up a reflection from any light in the room now.
Did you guys NOT read the article... the phone will not bend, for the most part they will look and feel the same but they'll be cheaper to produce, lighter and perhaps (and I am adding this) more scratch/break resistant
Those 3 features have huge practical uses.. the device will still come in a hard plastic/metal base which will make it unbendable
Oh buzz off, Killington. They were merely speculating on what could eventually be achieved using this tech.
Those mockup units do appear to show a fully-flexible screen, only attached to the rigid base on one edge (they're contained within rigid cases but it looks to be just for protection). If the real tech matches up to that, then a display "bangle" with just a small rigid box-o-chips in the middle is quite feasible.
Further, while the chippery (and most currently-viable battery tech) does have to be rigid, PCBs don't, so there is possible scope for a semi-bendy casing as well. (Not saying it'll be easy to make such a package robust, but it's conceivable.)
I prescribe several of these and a few episodes of Star Trek to get your fantasticator muscles back in shape.
I "presume" it makes themn less breakable and possibly more wear resistant.
They will also adapt better when in your pocket, most notably the front jeans pocket... I know the idea is a gimmick but wait until we see what the bofins will eventually manage to integrate them into, could be interesting.
Just occurred to me - this would be great for tablets.
Finally a 10" tablet that you can fold in half to fit in your trouser pocket.
Actually, this is Samsung isn't it? So they'll have a 10" Galaxy S5 phone that folds in half to be 5 inches in your pocket (fnar fnar) in "retro" clamshell styling
It'll be a design feature - a very slight curve in the screen, possibly as another stylistic point of difference to the fruity firm. Alternatively a grid of apps that really did curve around the edge of the phone would look pretty cool (if completely pointless).
It's uses as a "foldable" screen are dependent on the minimum curve radius that the screen can handle.
Samsung tried this via a design effect with the Nexus S, where at a glance it looks like the screen is slightly curved. Would produce some great looking phones, even if a slight curve is as far as it goes.
More exciting though is the idea of a "port-less" phone, with wireless charging and bluetooth headphones etc, where the screen is the entire outer surface of the phone. Cool.
Nooooooo!
We've just got away from plastic screens that scratched easily, obliging a load of fannying around with crappy screen protectors.
Who the hell wants to go back to that, now apparently with the added fun of getting the sodding things to stick, straight and bubble free, onto a curved screen?
It would help to know the minimum bend radius so one could better imagine the possibilities.
Design & Tech Patents pending for below:
My thought is a scroll where the display rolls up like a window shade and all the electronics are in the roller. Simply pull out the screen on a flat surface and voila instant tablet computer with enough display surface to have full 8.5 by 11 (okay A4 for you guys) work area and below that a touch screen keyboard as permanent part of the Oled display. There are collapsible antennae for military radios that are made on the principle of pretensioned steel tape like a tape measure that could be used to make the display stand up vertically and still be very compact.
Obviously, I am available to discuss any liscencing or royalty deals. 10% of the gross should be sufficient....
Clearly the pictures are showing something they won't actually be selling, but even if the screens are as bendy as a transparency sheet, what exactly is the rest of the phone going to be made out of that will bend? How is the case going to bend like that? How about all the delicate electronics and antennas? I highly doubt it'll fold over like a flip phone - that requires a screen that does just bend it folds like a sheet of paper, without damaging the electronics within.
So there are two possibilities for why this might matter:
1) it is lighter than glass (good deal, so long as it's scratchproof like glass)
2) the flexibility of the screen can allow the touchscreen to be pressure sensitive, and react differently depending on how hard you press. I'm sure there are some useful things that could be done with that.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
