Slashdot Mirror
Collapsible LCD Screens
Schart writes "I can't seem to find any pictures of exactly what they mean by 'collapsible LCD,' but NEC today announced a new line of low(ish) priced LCD screens that 'fold up for easy portability.'" Anyone out there who can supply visual documentation?
whats the point in having a folding lcd monitor? it's not like portability is a huge factor when you still have to plug it into your computer
Several years ago (circa 1995 if my memory serves me right) IBM produced a regular-sized notebook which had a full-sized keyboard. This "butterfly" keyboard was the closest anyone has ever come to producing a desktop-type experience in a notebook package but the screen was still no better than that on any other notebook.
Now, with these foldable screens, we'll finally see ultra-ultra portable notebooks with 15in. dispays and usable keyboards in smaller packages than currently possible.
Of course, it'll be a long time until these babies are anything but top-of-the-line models but, eventually, they'll be available at the lower-end of the market too.
I can't wait to see one.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Can't find a photo of it yet, but the article says "The seam between the two panels is less than 1 mm"
I was reading an article that was given a link by another poster - http://www.samsungsdi.co.kr/sdi_en/news/news_view. jsp?page=3&no=775&type=null&searchtext=nul l - and it would seem that this is intended to be more along the lines of an e-book reader, as opposed to a new pda or a new style of laptop. Personally, I see this as a great leap forward for e-books, which i have had a fair amount of interest in from their inception a few years ago. I think it would be really great if i could go back with serial numbers from all of the hard copies of books that i have and get e-book versions of them, which would allow me to take more than a half-dozen paper backs with me whenever i travel or go TDY. Can't wait to see where this tech goes from here.
I have no regrets, this is the only path.
My whole life has been "UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS"
you could take say quake3 bend the screen a bit and up the fov that way when you look to the left you see guys that are to the left of you, without so much distortion from just uping the fov on a flat screen
I like the idea. Some may think "well, it's 13lbs, that's not so portable" But you have to look at it this way. Whether you haul your system to and from LAN's every week, or even move it from location to location once a year, it's common knowledge that if you can the make the package smaller, it won't get harmed as easily. Even with current day LCD's, the worry of scratching the screen, or something else, makes people put them in a box, which takes up room, and is a general pain in the ass. If you can fold it up, especially so that the entire screen is enclosed, what the hell, put the monitor in your glove box and save room in the moving vehicle for other stuff (like that abnormally large chair that is just really comfortable and you just CAN'T compute without it)
your sins into me, oh my beautiful one.
Forget folding LCDs - a technology whose time will NEVER arrive. What we want is fold-up or roll-up screens. Remember the "electric paper" display units? These things will be in colour pretty shortly, plus they don't lose the image when you remove the power!
;)
Imagine your laptop, which is half the size of a normal keyboard (folded in half), with a display folded like a map inside it. Remove the display, unfold it to 2 metres x 1 metre, stick it on any wall less than 6 metres away, and presto - wireless display.
The unit will auotmatically select what display mode you want, and what size, based on how you unfold it, and the display will know where it is still folded, and only display across the area intended for viewing. So you'll be able to unfold it to quarter-size while it's close to you (on a desk) but move up to the full size when you unfold all of it.
LCD - BAH!
OLED and I might be impressed...
1980's, Sony: "You'll never notice those two 'faint' grey lines!" 2003, NEC: "You'll never notice those three 'small' spaces between sections!"
Please help metamoderate.
Man, I really want a 3-D blackboard. Life sucks.
What if life is just a side effect of some other process and God has no idea we exist?
Where are those paper displays I keep hearing about. The only redeeming factor in that craporama that was Red Planet was that cool pull out film that was a computer display. Imagine having something like a pen, that you pull a display out of, now that's the real future!
If you want an opinion... it doesn't look like what I expected. If you want a link (like the guy asked for) here it is: http://www.nmv.co.jp/nmvisual/hardware/index.html
I am going on a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in a couple days, and have downloaded some topo maps that display poorly on my tiny LCD. (Buying paper maps cost money that I don't have...)
As a previous poster said though, folding is not where it's at, what we really need is a cheap-ish roll out display, one that will also be able to take the wear and tear of repeated use.As long as I am on my little wish list here, I also think that there is a market for a outdoor/weatherproof/rugged PDA. If such a thing already exists, please excuse my ignorance.
Karma: Can there be a void?
.. -. - . .-. .-. --- -...
I can see an ideal use in the business sector. Depending on the cost and the size of the display, you could use it for your powerpoint presentations without dropping $10,000 for a projector and still get the same effect. For those of you that use your computer for music production with a MIDI keyboard, picture setting up a 2 ft. screen over your keyboard instead of having to keep your head on a swivel to manipulate your programs. Keep an open mind on this.. i'm sure there's plenty of other uses out there.
Sig not found.
Exactly, I forgot to mention that but topo maps are also one of the things on my mind, since they display so poorly on a PDA screen. And with an external ePaper display, you could update the paper and then disconnect from the PDA - so you could load content on demand.
I think an outdoor PDA is a great idea... My Palm V in a hard case is very rugged but not at all waterproof. Something with the same durability but also with environmental seals would be perfect.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
stick it on any wall less than 6 metres away, and presto - wireless display.
... and it won't even matter if the wall is flat, or if you're looking at it straight on because the screen will reccognise these differences and adjust pixel placement to give a non-distorted, parralell perspective view no matter /where/ you look at it from!
Assuming foldable screens fold as well as paper, you get 8 or 9 folds max. (Try this. Any piece of paper will do, it's the same for all sizes, supposedly.) I can see that being a problem - 2m^2 / 2^7 is as small as you describe - just - but any fewer folds and you'd be in trouble. Also, folded at 8 times, it's 256 layers - perhaps a bit thick to fit in a compartment in your laptop...
I thought most ideas on this sort of thing assumed that a screen would be rolled up rather than folded, anyway. So your shortest dimension is 1m.