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Scientists Make a Touch Tablet That Rolls and Scrolls (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Research scientists at Queen's University's Human Media Lab have built a prototype touchscreen device that's neither smartphone nor tablet but kind of both -- and more besides. The device, which they've christened the MagicScroll, is inspired by ancient (papyrus/paper/parchment) scrolls so it takes a rolled-up, cylindrical form factor -- enabled by a flexible 7.5inch touchscreen housed in the casing. This novel form factor, which they made using 3D printing, means the device can be used like an erstwhile Rolodex (remember those?!) for flipping through on-screen contacts quickly by turning a physical rotary wheel built into the edge of the device. (They've actually added one on each end.) Then, when more information or a deeper dive is required, the user is able to pop the screen out of the casing to expand the visible display real estate. The flexible screen on the prototype has a resolution of 2K. So more mid-tier mobile phone of yore than crisp iPhone Retina display at this nascent stage. The scientists also reckon the scroll form factor offers a pleasing ergonomically option for making actual phone calls too, given that a rolled up scroll can sit snugly against the face. The team posted a video showing the prototype in action. They will be presenting the project at the MobileHCI conference on Human-Computer Interaction in Barcelona next month.

39 comments

  1. This is stupid. by Highdude702 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    According to TFS This will not be a usable device for most. GLHF.

    1. Re: This is stupid. by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Watched the video. I christen it God damned gay.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    2. Re: This is stupid. by tsa · · Score: 2

      I watched the video too. Not sure if it's gay, but you must have a purse or very big pockets to carry that thing around in. Furthermore it's clumsier than a normal iPad and the screen moves when you touch it. Sorry guys, but it's back to the drawing board for you.

      --

      -- Cheers!

    3. Re: This is stupid. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      But that huge cylinder can house one hell of a battery, with maybe a month of standby time. Which of course will make it very heavy in addition to being unwieldy.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    4. Re: This is stupid. by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      Yea, I didn't make it past TFS because... Well, I have already said everything that was important in the first post.. lol

    5. Re: This is stupid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But that huge cylinder can house one hell of a battery, with maybe a month of standby time. Which of course will make it very heavy in addition to being unwieldy.

      TFS says explicitly that it is a prototype and the ultimate size when in production could be as small as a Bic pen. in fact it is really more natural than a flat, small screen. it could pack a lot more battery and components.

  2. Doesn't fit in women's pockets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or men's for that matter. So it has that going for it.

    1. Re: Doesn't fit in women's pockets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If it vibrates I think it's supposed to fit somewhere else.

    2. Re: Doesn't fit in women's pockets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, it is made for your asshole.

  3. beware falling gargoyles.. other stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    starvation & deception still leading killers of us.. even the monkeys pity us? cease fire stand down.. there's more than enough creativity left for everybody..

  4. Admit it by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    I first read that as Scientists Make a Touch Toilet That Rolls and Scrolls

    Which would be sooooo much cooler.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    1. Re:Admit it by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      And even, somehow, more useful.

    2. Re:Admit it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And it's a Torah as well.

  5. Re:Moscow Don's Pooper Can Be Filled With Cocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i can't seem to figure out if you're a bot, or a teenager with too much time on their hands. i can't see this being an adult posting this nonsense off-topic, on every article.

  6. If you're going to make a thin screen in a frame by bobstreo · · Score: 1

    Please feel free to make it 80-100 inches, with the "roller" on the remote, with ethernet/wifi, and antenna and HDMI inputs,

  7. Re: If you're going to make a thin screen in a fra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You forgot the most important thing: replaceable battery.

    Seriously, I would kill for that feature.

  8. Re: Moscow Don's Pooper Can Be Filled With Cocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is a Chinese IP paid for by a Russian Account.

    Nobody knows why.

  9. Re:Moscow Don's Pooper Can Be Filled With Cocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cool story, Boris.

  10. Scientists Make a Stupid Pointless Device by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's seems like a better summary.

  11. already done by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am pretty certain this form factor was already depicted in the movie Red Planet.

  12. Um..... K by markdavis · · Score: 2

    >"The flexible screen on the prototype has a resolution of 2K. So more mid-tier mobile phone of yore"

    Right, because a 6" screen should be 8K or 24K or 300K or something like that. So important for using that small, flexible, curled, toilet paper roll thing... nothing else in the design matters much when it is only 2K.

    1. Re:Um..... K by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For shit and giggles I looked up the first iPhone Retina. The res is 1K!

    2. Re:Um..... K by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its not 0K.
      #me2K

  13. Earth: Final Conflict by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So we're finally one step closer to an Earth: Final Conflict style global?

  14. Re:Moscow Don's Pooper Can Be Filled With Cocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Putin wins the war
    2. Trump and Kim Jong Un win Nobel Prize
    3. NO COLLUSION!
    4. Trump pretends it never happened... Wait, not.

  15. Re:If you're going to make a thin screen in a fram by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Exactly what I wanted, a TV with a 20:1 aspect ratio.
    (see the picture at bottom of TFA)
    It'll work as a TV ping pong net

    Well without the snark I think a roll up TV is a good thing as well. Doesn't have to be motorized, I would like to unroll it myself and when unrolled it turns itself on instantly. Could be both but I'm not fond of whiny motors.
    If HDMIs are high up that's a bummer. Worse, Displayports. Not a biggie what I'm saying is these super high bandwidth digital cables are short. I hope VGA in is kept in.
    [seen my dream displays on website : 27", VA, 144Hz, 200 EUR (happens to be curved). everything great but no VGA in]

  16. Re:Moscow Don's Pooper Can Be Filled With Cocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only rational answer not involving actual mental illness is that it's a Trump supporter false flagging as a Stage 5 TDS patient to make liberals look crazy.

  17. 1990s television show by davidwr · · Score: 2

    There was a 1990s sci-fi show, Earth, Final Conflict I think, where people had a vertical version of this called a "global."

    It was basically a roll-up-into-a-tube cell phone/computer.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:1990s television show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I remember a show in the UK called The Gadget Show designed devices for the future and this was one of the device ideas designed.
      By Suzi Perry at that, she came up with an idea where a screen would be rolled up in to something about the size of a typical lipstick / lip balm diameter.

      I also remember designing an idea like this in Computing at school.
      In my case, I actually had an already existing screen of a typical tablets dimensions, then 2 handles at each side where one could be unraveled in to a wide-screen. The other just housed a physical keyboard you could disconnect for use. This was before the days of bluetooth being popular, so it was wired.

  18. So Clever! by Justathot · · Score: 1

    "We made this display screen so thin and flexible it can actually be rolled up - and thought that was so cool that we convinced ourselves that people would like storing it rolled up. And since it fails if bent sharply, we figured people would like it stored in a protective scroll case 10x fatter than a normal tablet or phone. When someone with common sense pointed out this was stupid, we desperately looked for some sort of use cases that might convince other people that this really is a good idea.

    "And because it's so darn cool to roll it up, it never occurred to us to just use two or 4 smaller screens that fold together on thin flexible hinges designed to edges fit precisely together when open. Not even after we had to add a seam between two displays to get an area bigger than a regular phone."

    1. Re: So Clever! by Sniper98G · · Score: 1

      This thing would probably appeal to the same people who bought the Magic Leap one.

    2. Re:So Clever! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "And because it's so darn cool to roll it up, it never occurred to us to just use two or 4 smaller screens that fold together on thin flexible hinges designed to edges fit precisely together when open.

      Nobody ever made a small multi-display unit where several displays fit together precisely. There is never pixels out to the edges, so you can't have the same pixel to pixel distance across the seam. This only ever worked for large displays, e.g. where pixels are the size of discrete LEDs - or bigger.

  19. "Scientists" by mark_reh · · Score: 1

    What ever happened to "engineers". Scientists don't make stuff like this. They do science.

    1. Re:"Scientists" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't blame engineers. Someone invented bendable screens and MARKETING has been looking to shove this crap down our throats ever since.

  20. Re:Moscow Don's Pooper Can Be Filled With Cocks by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

    Have you watched the news? And god forbid Youtube. Nobody has to help the liberals look crazy.

  21. Is this a joke? by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    The thing is bulky, awkward, clumsy, inconvenient to use, does not fit in an ordinary pocket, and does practically nothing that cannot already been done far more easily and conveniently with a flat screen.

  22. https://masr140.net/%d8%aa%d8%b1%d8%af%d8%af-%d8%a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://masr140.net/%d8%aa%d8%b1%d8%af%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%86%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%82%d9%84%d8%a9-%d9%84%d9%84%d8%af%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d8%b9%d9%88%d8%af%d9%8a-2018-%d8%aa%d8%b1%d8%af%d8%af-%d9%82%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%a9-ksa-sports-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%8a%d9%84-%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%aa/

  23. Imagine that, an actual novel idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It may not appeal to me or many others, but it's great to see someone actually come out with something different. Nobody has done anything but copy and slightly modify iPhones since 2007 (including Apple), and they fall way short of being good solutions for everyone.