back to article Samsung shows screen that folds seamlessly

Researchers have developed a display that folds in half without a visible crease, paving the way for a range of foldable mobile concepts to become reality. A team at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in South Korea have built a prototype of the screen, publishing the results of their work in a recent issue of …

COMMENTS

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  1. BorkedAgain

    At the risk of sounding churlish...

    ...given how remarkable this tech already is, I assume this isn't a touchscreen, is it?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Headmaster

      @BorkedAgain

      It would seem to be fairly trivial to add the touch sensor(s) in with the protective glass layer.

    2. ArmanX
      Happy

      Probably not... but it wouldn't be hard to do.

      Depending on the tech, of course. Most touch screen tech would be able to sense a finger on the fold, even if there were a gap in the actual sensor(s).

      A full touch-screen flip-phone, now that would be fun. Or a 'mini-tablet'. Or for a laptop, a fold-out widescreen display. Or a double-height tablet... complete with touch keyboard, that would be pretty cool, actually. You could read eBooks that look like, well, books! :-D

  2. Victor Ludorum
    Boffin

    I've been expecting you...

    I had a thought this would surface eventually. I had this idea a couple of years ago, but without sufficient fabrication facilities (and oodles of cash) I didn't manage to produce it...

    Ho hum, back to the drawing board...

    V.

  3. Warren G
    Happy

    not to be difficult but

    Basically they've said "make two screens and get something really stretchy that hasn't been invented yet to join them"....

  4. bluesxman

    RE: At the risk of sounding churlish...

    I don't see why not, from the looks of it a pretty much bog standard screen is split in two with a rubbery hinge in the middle, the join being hidden by the two screen halves being very close together when "open".

  5. Fat Bob

    I don't see a reason it cant be...

    ...seeing as each half is rigid as indicated by the protective glass.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Wait for it...

    Wait for Apple to tell everybody it had a patent on this, amounting to "Gee golly gosh! Wouldn't it be great if you could, like, fold screens. Here's a back-of-the-napkin drawing of what it might take. It was *my* idea, I thought of it first! Sir, they're copying off me!"

  7. Peter X

    I just want a screen that can bend... slightly!

    Rather than a whole, foldy-upy screen, I just want to not have to worry about bending my smart-phone when I stuff it in a pocket, so if it was just able to bend a bit without damaging the screen, that'd be great.

    1. M Gale

      Already exists, just hasn't been mass produced yet.

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/04/new_flexible_oled_displays/

      The Sony version of events looks rather cool. There's a vid somewhere of one of these screens being repeatedly rolled around a pencil-thickness rod, while active and displaying a movie.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    I'm waiting...

    ... for them to produce a car that does this.

  9. Michael Thibault

    And before we get there...

    a screen that you can roll up. Say, to the range of diameters of your forearm from wrist to elbow. There are already materials which, with the controlled application of a current, will take a particular shape - effectively, 'remembering' a particular state and returning to it. The folding business is perfectly suited, though, if we park our brains in pockets.

  10. The Infamous Grouse
    Thumb Up

    Hollywood got there first

    Anyone else remember the time travel TV movie Thrill Seekers from 1999? A mostly mediocre affair in almost all departments, but I do remember the agents had these rather cool tablet computer / video phones that folded in half when not in use, kind of like a book-fold iPad. Give this technology a few months and they could be a reality.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_m8SGnUp7U#t=1m39s

    Well, all except for the bit where they get messages from the future. I'm not sure even Apple's R&D budget stretches to that.

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