
LG begins mass production of first flexible e-ink displays - mrsebastian
http://www.extremetech.com/electronics/124229-lg-begins-mass-production-of-flexible-plastic-e-ink-displays
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saturdaysaint
My first reaction was to scoff, but this actually improves e-readers in a few
critical ways. E-ink screens have been so easy to break that they all but
require a (usually) cumbersome case to survive a trip in a backpack or, say,
accidentally rolling over on it in bed. This should improve that, and it
sounds like the weight savings aren't negligible either. Amazing that we're
close to being able to carry a library in something barely heavier than a
sheet of paper. This will also make larger format readers more practical.

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stcredzero
_It’s unlikely that e-ink will ever compete with LCDs when it comes to
watching videos or playing games, but e-ink definitely has the edge on
reading._

When they can inexpensively support enough reactivity to support touch
interfaces, it goes much beyond just reading.

~~~
hmottestad
The active matrix in today's E-ink displays are actually very reactive. The
sony t1 scrolls "smoothly" on webpages: <http://youtu.be/OKCDXwCmPUA?t=20s>

It still needs to refresh the entire screen to get gradients though.

I'm also liking the higher dpi on LG's screen, after using my new ipad the
sony t1 seems pixelated.

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stcredzero
Sounds like they are getting there.

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smackfu
Interesting that they are beginning mass production. In today's manufacturing
process, doesn't that mean they already have a customer?

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corin_
> _According to LG, the first plastic display-toting e-readers are expected to
> emerge in Europe “at the beginning of next month,” with the US presumably
> following swiftly after._

So either they will be releasing their own device, or they already have
someone wanting to use their screens. Either way, the answer to your question
is "yes".

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crazygringo
Am I the only one that doesn't understand the advantage?

I don't want paper-like e-ink displays that start to feel all "used" after a
couple of days. Bending them will presumably keep them from lying flat later
on. People talk about wanting to "fold" them -- and then you'll never get the
creases out. And I don't want a whole book of these sheets -- for me, the
whole advantage is that an e-reader _doesn't_ need page turning!

If I had a flexible display, I would just keep it protected in a hard-backed
case, thus negating the whole point. Am I missing something here?

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Too
1\. It doesn't break. In the article they say it repeatedly survives 1.5m
drops.

2\. It's easier to fit into your bag/pocket. You don't have to fold it for
that, simply bending it a just bit would help in many scenarios. Plus again,
it doesn't break so you can use your back pocket for your smart phone and sit
on it.

~~~
crazygringo
But a display by itself is useless. I'm assuming that the electronics and
battery that drive the display are going to be rigid too, and will break just
as easily as anything else. Or are they working on those too?

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RodgerTheGreat
Flexible batteries and wiring exist. If the "hard" electronics like the CPU
and memory were placed along one edge of such a device you could still flex,
bend or roll the display portion.

It's also possible that electrically activated memory-metals could be used to
"snap" such a device into a stiff rectangle when in use, but we have a way to
go on those technologies yet.

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bane
Since the substrate they are using is lighter, in the short term this means
lighter e-books, in the long term there's no reason we can't have portable
roll-up computers like Val Kilmer had in Red Planet.

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evincarofautumn
I really love e-ink, and flexible displays are a nice gimmick—but until they
improve, they are still just that. I’m concerned that flexibility will
encourage people to bend the display beyond its limit, rather than serve its
intended purpose of insurance against accidental bending.

What I’m really looking forward to are outright _foldable_ (yet uncreasable)
display surfaces. Done reading the e-paper? Fold it up and stuff it in your
bag, worry-free.

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scdc
Or I like the idea of a rolling up an e-reader into a cylinder to tuck in a
bag.

~~~
dhughes
On the TV version of TekWar they had roll up mobile communication devices.
Whenever I read of eink or flexible displays I always think of TekWar.

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camiller
Also on the series Earth Final Conflict called the "Global Link" or sometimes
simply "Global"

Posts two and three in this thread:
[http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/221720-Your-
Dream...](http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/221720-Your-Dream-Device-
Post-Specs-here-))

show it partly and fully opened

~~~
dhughes
Also people bought Tek (a digital drug) by connecting two USB-like devices to
transfer credits which I assume going by the context are like cash not credit
or debit cards. That's very similar to what Bitcoin is attempting, I wonder if
the mysterious creator of Bitcoin was a fan of TekWar?

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tocomment
I guess they could make a "book" form factor with say 10 pages each made of
the flexible e-ink sheets. That way you could still have a book experience and
turn pages. Maybe when you get to the last page it refreshes all 10 pages for
the next section of the book.

I'm not really sure if it would be useful but it would be a cool magical book.

~~~
Too
I've heard this idea before and always thought it was silly until i saw it
live.

There's a museum in Oslo (can't remember which one) that has a book like this.
The book is really big, like an old school story book, and it's fixed into the
table, there's maybe 10 pages. They have a projector in the ceiling above the
book projecting images so they fit exactly onto the pages in the book. Each
page has an invisible rfid-chip embedded in the paper so when you turn the
book some sensor knows which page you have open and the projector changes page
accordingly. (it also displays video and has touch-interface but that's
irrelevant for this discussion). It feels magic to flip through it even though
the implementation is quite trivial once you decompose it. Too bad it can't be
done without having it in a fixed location.

When you are a group of people it is much easier to flip through and keeping a
mental map over physical pages instead of fighting over who gets to control
the scrollbar on a computer. But admittedly, it is also a bit gimmicky.

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JVIDEL
I'm really looking forward to FOLEDs and other similar technologies, but then
again I think the main problem is that nobody (as far as I know) has solved
the normal wear problem.

Sure there are demos where they hit on of these film/screens with a shoe and
nothing happens, but when I saw Samsung's flexible tablet video you could
clearly see how the section that folded was already damaged, like an old book
cover that's about to crack.

Whoever solves this is golden, high-scale manufacturing AFAIK has already been
solved by HPLabs.

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devolve
Living in a small apartment with no room for a television at the moment, I
can't wait for the curtain display concept to become reality.

Finally the display can be put to use, even when it's not in use.

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scarmig
Hmm, what kind of refresh rates can we expect? Similar to rigid e-ink?

Now the question is when we get flexible, touch Mirasol... which will
presumably be after we get Mirasol.

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stuartmemo
Is flexible much different than "thinner"? Does it naturally become more
flexible the thinner it gets?

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_mayo
Not necessarily. A piece of glass can be thin, but will snap if bent.

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stuartmemo
Sorry, I meant with regard to e-ink displays.

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yock
Other e-ink displays are made of glass, this is the first one that is at all
flexible.

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paparoger
I read it this morning and was pretty excited to see where this may lead into.
Very cool stuff!

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darxius
This has some exciting applications. Has there been an official announcement
on retail price?

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mrsebastian
No, the press release is pretty slim on details (volume, price, tech).
Presumably the cost/price is OK if they've begun mass production, though --
they'll be competing directly with conventional (glass) e-ink stuff to begin
with, so the price will need to be comparable.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
Yeah, this is just going to be used in normal ebook readers at first, until it
proves its worth. We're waiting a year or two before we have rolled up
displays we can stick in our pockets.

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riffraff
having cracked the glass in two kindles, making them useless.. this is such a
nice news, but too late :)

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samstave
I don't know how big these can be but I would love to see columns wrapped in
this stuff with scrolling patterns, maps, text etc

