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Flexible Phones 'Out By 2013'
dryriver sends this quote from a BBC report:
"Imagine treating your phone like a piece of paper. Roll it up. Drop it. Squish it in your backpack. Step on it — without any damage. Researchers are working on just such handsets — razor-thin, paper-like and bendable. There have already been prototypes, attracting crowds at gadget shows. But rumors abound that next year will see the launch of the first bendy phone. Numerous companies are working on the technology — LG, Philips, Sharp, Sony and Nokia among them — although reports suggest that South Korean phone manufacturer Samsung will be the first to deliver. Samsung favors smartphones with so-called flexible OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology, and is confident that they will be 'very popular among consumers worldwide.' Their screens will be 'foldable, rollable, wearable and more, [and] will allow for a high degree of durability through their use of a plastic substrate that is thinner, lighter and more flexible than conventional LCD technology,' says a Samsung spokesperson.'"
One question to ask would be the types of features that one would expect in these flexible phones in the near-term. Would they start out as having similar capabilities as current smartphones in the market, or would they be more "bread-and-butter" phones that will only see incorporation of additional capabilities in the long term?
Of greater interest to me is the possibility of flexible laptops and tablets. The reason why we have things like smartphones is because we can easily carry them around (e.g. in our pocket) and still have sufficient computational for day-to-day use. But if we can get flexible tablets/laptops to work, I think that'd be very useful in terms of packing greater amounts of computational power per (folded) surface area.
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Mmmm... OLED... Tasty!
I've cracked the screen on my last 2 phones because of the stupid "gorilla glass". A flexible phone would be much more impervious to damage from being chucked around (accidentally or otherwise). I don't see how it's "weak minded" of me to want a more durable phone, while retaining the benefits of a smart phone.
which is totally what she said
I've cracked the screen on my last 2 phones because of the stupid "gorilla glass"...
No, you cracked the screen on your last 2 phones because you are careless, so much so that they cracked in spite of being made of gorilla glass.
To me, bendable means that I can put it in my pocket and have it conform to the curve of my leg. I could put it in my back pocket and it might be less uncomfortable. Hell, if it's paper thin and as flexible as the summary claims it will be, I could stick the damn thing in my wallet.
Whatever "killer feature" even means, I'm in for one.
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No, you cracked the screen on your last 2 phones because you are careless, so much so that they cracked in spite of being made of gorilla glass.
I know people like this. Occasional accidents happen to everyone. Frequent and repeated damage is not an accident. Those who frequently smash gorilla glass will end up destroying a floppy phone just as quick. Oops, I dropped it in a blender. Oops, I dropped it on a burning grill.
Like the "Earth: Final Conflict" Global Link Communicator, this will allow the creation of small devices with large screens that unroll when in use.
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Add a stylus and some handwriting recognition, then invent some kind of adhesive micropayment system and a physical distribution/collection network, and it could be used as a high latency message transmission system?
It seems like in all the pictures, there is a flexible part (screen, keyboard, whatever depending on the concept) and a rigid part. There would have to be... as even if they had bendy leads, displays, and batteries, good luck coming up with a bendy processor.
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Why would I care to have a flexible phone? What does this give me that a regular phone doesn't? These won't be "foldable" like a dollar bill so it won't go in my wallet. I doubt it would be durable enough to be indestructible so, again, why?
Because the phone would be more durable. Wouldn't be a big deal to keep it in your back pocket while sitting. And seeing as small as phones are now, I could see these being small enough to fit in your wallet. Ya, there ya go. A disposal backup phone you can keep in your wallet for emergencies.
Ever break a phone by dropping it? Won't have that problem with these phones.
You also forgot "get off my lawn" in your post.
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I agree with you that this form factor won't be super useful. However, flexible displays could be integrated into an incredibly useful design. Something like the Globals form the old scifi show Earth: Final Conflict would be incredibly handy. If you havent' seen the show, it's an oblong device that rolls out to show a fairly large screen. pic. By storing the screen away from view, it becomes a whole lot more damage resistant.
At least Americans know not to wear speedos to the beach when they have huge guts, unlike a lot of Europeans. ;p
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