
LG made an 18-inch display you can roll up like a newspaper - prostoalex
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/3/10706180/lg-rollable-display-flexible-screen-announced-ces-2016
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frik
A $50 color e-ink display (letter size) could replace newspapers and
magazines. (The same goes for a flexible display.) Make it dust and water, and
people will use it everywhere (bath, beach, restroom, etc.).

I wonder why Amazon hasn't updated their bigger Kindle DX for 6 years? Color
e-ink displays that can play small videos at a good enough framerate exist for
3+ years, though no reader devices I know of make use of them.

~~~
dogma1138
>I wonder why Amazon hasn't updated their bigger Kindle DX for 6 years?

It didn't sell people didn't want it, it was way to big for most users, and
way way too expensive (~400$ for the 3G version). People aren't going to pay
iPad prices for an ereader of the same size, weight and these days almost the
same battery life....

I love my kindle voyage but given the choice between a Kindle DX and an iPad
air which costs almost the same most people would get an iPad and so would I.

~~~
frik
> same battery life

The Kindle battery last for 1-2 months (book reading, it only consumes energy
if you turn the page -> e-ink display!).

The iPad battery last for 1-7 days, depening what you do with it and how
bright you set the IPS display.

Many own both an iPad as well as a Kindle - both have their advantages.

(edit: I meant WiFi-only Kindle)

~~~
jerrysievert
not the 3g voyage, unfortunately. with mostly default settings (including
auto-brightness on the screen), mine barely lasts a plane-ride across the
country.

my partner's dx, on the other hand, had no problems whatsoever.

~~~
mikeash
eInk achieves excellent battery life by being completely unpowered when the
screen isn't changing. When you press the "next page" button, you're basically
booting the whole device, having it render the next page, then shutting it off
again. If you're using any sort of backlight (as "auto-brightness" suggests)
then you won't get that benefit and I'm not surprised your battery life is
more like that of a traditional tablet. The DX doesn't have a backlight so
wouldn't have that problem. If you turn your backlight off then you should see
similar results.

~~~
jerrysievert
turn off backlight, turn off 3g, turn off touch, and turn off force feedback
(i am not sure if turning off touch will actually render it to act like a dx).

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unklefolk
I wonder if this will evolve into large flat screen tvs (50 inch plus) folding
down when not in use (just like a portable projector screen). That would be a
nice feature for those who don't like having a huge TV on display.

~~~
dsr_
If you want a huge TV on the wall, but you don't want to look at it when it's
off, you have a few existing choices:

\- put on a screensaver of art that you like

\- close the doors of a cabinet around it

\- roll down a screen in front of it

\- roll it into a closet

~~~
mistermann
> put on a screensaver of art that you like

That's a great idea, although I wonder what the typical power consumption is
of a big screen TV and how much it would cost to leave it on 16 hrs/day.

~~~
bjelkeman-again
This commercial LG LED[1], suitable to be on 24/7 has a power reduction mode
at 100 watt. Let's assume that works when it is in screensaver/art mode and it
would use 2.4 kWh/day.

A Tesla model S can get 240 wh/km, so the energy use of the display would
power an electric car for 10 km. so for a year then it would be the equivalent
of moving an electric car 3650 km. I don't drive that much, but it is actually
about half of my yearly driving averaged over the last 10 years. Personally I
rather turn that screen off and power my next car with it.

Edit: just saw you said 16 hours. Well you can do the math. :)

[1] [http://www.lg.com/uk/commercial-
display/lg-55XF2B](http://www.lg.com/uk/commercial-display/lg-55XF2B)

[2] [https://my.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/tracking-lowest-
kwhk...](https://my.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/tracking-lowest-kwhkm-whm)

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gloves
This is cool. Waiting on my flexible screen cell phone...

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codecamper
is power consumption in something like this less than prior tech?

~~~
Brakenshire
In theory it should be less. LCD's start with a white light, then attenuate it
through red, green and blue filters. OLED's don't lose light to generate
colour, they produce red, green and blue light directly, so all other factors
being equal should have a significantly higher potential efficiency.

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SoulMan
I remember it seeing in the "Human Edge" of Nat GEO 15 years ago.

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elcct
I am waiting for a display that can be rolled up like a toilet paper. That
could make some threads really shitty...

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joelthelion
I keep hearing about stuff like this, but where's the market for it? Who wants
to buy an expensive display that will likely get damaged very fast due to its
flexibility ?

~~~
jib
Getting mobility right is a big step forward.

The intermediary steps are not so financially rewarding or even interesting,
but the end game is significant.

Durable, flexible screens allow a whole series of new technology.

Off the top of my head:

Imagine a laptop with a screen that seamlessly folds in four. For travelling
work you use a quadrant, for office work or presentations you fold it out to
full size.

Imagine a screen that folds around your arm like a cuff - perfect for leisure
activities like cycling or diving, or work that requires both hands (an
alternative to google glass style displays).

If you can make something durable and flexible, there are a lot of new things
you can do that you currently can't.

~~~
dogma1138
>Imagine a laptop with a screen that seamlessly folds in four.

Flexibility isn't folding, you can't fold these displays that's one of the
main issues with them they'll crease and then break.

>Imagine a screen that folds around your arm like a cuff - perfect for leisure
activities like cycling or diving, or work that requires both hands (an
alternative to google glass style displays).

A screen also fits in a pocket, there is no reason to put it on a cuff I like
that Nokia demo like the next guy but come on... why would you replace your
4-6" display with a much smaller one? not to mention that a smart
watch/wristband would work just as well. And if you want to curve a display
around something that would fit your wrist you don't need a "flexible" display
you can mold traditional TFT's also.

P.S. If I'm doing something with both hands the last thing i need is a display
on my wrist distracting me ;)

>If you can make something durable and flexible, there are a lot of new things
you can do that you currently can't.

Not really sure you can do quite a few neat things in a different way but
hardly new things.

~~~
jib
So - real life example where I personally would have benefited from wearable
screens.

In another life I was a mailman using a bike.

To do that efficiently you steer the bike with one hand, keep the mail on a
tray in front of the bike and deliver it with the other hand as you keep
biking.

When I was doing a new area I needed to bring a map to know what way to go.

Having that map be interactive and visual would have been a real benefit to me
- it was an A4 sheet that I needed to stop the bike to read. Audio wouldnt
have been as good, as I was veering, slowing down and accelerating a lot so
the directions would have been confusing. It's a situation where something
strapped to my arm would have been a lot more effective - a paper map was too
small to strap to the arm, but an interactive map would have been perfect.

Google glass, or a flexible screen would have both solved that situation for
me.

~~~
dogma1138
Well in that case a normal screen attached to your bikes handle bar
[https://www.google.com/search?q=bike+phone+holder](https://www.google.com/search?q=bike+phone+holder)
would probably work better....

