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First Mobile Device with Rollable Display

TC writes "Telecom Italia and Polymer Vision today [February 5, 2007] announced an agreement which will see the leading operator of the Italian mobile industry and the pioneers of the rollable display industry join to develop and launch the world's first rollable display enabled mobile device to market in 2007. After seven years of gestation it seems that E Ink is coming of age."

7 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Too bad. by Aladrin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is a really neat device. It's too bad the company is so stupid.

    It's completely locked down by DRM. The ONLY books it'll read have to be bought from them.

    It's only marketed in Italy. Holy cow... That's awful short-sighted.

    The webpage there is also riddled with stupid comments like 'display larger than the handset itself' ... Paradox? No, just stupidity. They mean larger than the handheld when in storage form.

    --
    "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
    1. Re:Too bad. by Mateo_LeFou · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, I like that it's only marketed in Italy. That means someone could (and should) get one, bring it to the states, reverse-engineer the DRM off of it, and publish a HOWTO so we can all use these things to access whatever books we want. If telecom isn't selling the thing here, I don't think you can SLAPP that kind of activity down. (IANAL, just thinking aloud)

      --
      My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
  2. Software by Hiween · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder about the software in the device. From the article I understand that content "can be delivered and bought through TIMs mobile network via a regular SIM Card within the device". This may screw up the device, not only because the provider can ask for insane amount of money for the service, but because it may not have what I want to read. I guess most popular newspapers will be there, but what about PDFs I download from the net?, what if I have a Safari account that allows me to download books in PDF format?

  3. Good idea, maybe will pass onto other devices. by danpsmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Everyone seems to be complaining about the company involved, but I see this as a revolutionary development. The problem I've always had with tiny devices is tiny screens. It's great to have the ability to surf the web on your phone, but why bother when you got a 1"x1" little screen and have to squint the whole time. Watching movies on a 1.5"LCD just isn't really that attractive. With something like this applied more in the industry you could fold out your display when you are sitting about, fold it up when you need to move and never miss a step. Could be a great development for lots of mobile uses. Even if this model and company don't pan out, as long as the product makes it to market and wows a couple of people, it could indicate a trend that could expand into further possibilities, which is always a good thing.

    --
    Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
  4. It already happened by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    E-Ink finally coming of age? I just finished reading the new Dan Simmons novel on my E-Ink Sony Reader, thank you very much.

  5. Nature's End by lazarus · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Score another one for sci-fi. The first reference to this kind of technology I came into was a book called "Nature's End" by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka which was published in 1986. The protagonist used a rolled-up display on a portable computer called an IBM "AXE" if I remember correctly (was a long time ago).

    Reading through the book summary today gives me something of a deja-vu (on the heels of the UN report on the environment):

    "The authors of the best seller ... depict in powerful detail a 21st-century Earth with devastated environment and rampant overpopulation. A rich and comfortable elite coexists with malnourished, pitiful billions, "the victim generation." The rich enjoy youth preservation treatments and other biomedical wonders while the rest just endure the toxicity and pollution."

    The book was set in 2025. A deal today at $0.20!

    --
    I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
  6. Re:Wait a minute... by plover · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Really old CRTs and LCDs only had one cell per pixel, for grayscale.

    No, Fairly old CRTs and LCDs only had one cell per pixel, for grayscale. Really old LCDs had seven segments per digit. Really old CRTs were character oriented, and you had no control over individual pixels (back when ASCII art was the height of computer graphics.) Ancient CRTs were vector oriented storage scopes, allowing you to draw lines, but not erase them without erasing the entire display.

    You kids these days and your fancy bitmapped screens.

    --
    John