Samsung Shows Off Flexible AMOLED Display

[niz]

This is not new news. Sony had it in 2007.
http/www.pcworld.com/article/132249/sony_philips_unveil_flexible_oled_displays.html

More to the point, Sony have had it for at least 3 years and haven't put it in an actual product yet either.

This tech is just another example of the cool things these companies prototype in their labs that are still years (or even decades) away from being in an actual product.

 

[Pyroflea]

These have been around for awhile, but they're damn cool anyways. I'm excited to see what kind of products come out of this technology. I have a couple ideas myself.

 

[Guest]

I want to see a smart phone that can be stretched into a tablet. If this screen can really be rolled as tight as Samsung says then there is a real possibility that a tallish phone could be stretched out laterally to create a nice 7 inch tablet.

 

[lejay]

[citation][nom]niz[/nom]This is not new news. Sony had it in 2007.http/www.pcworld.com/article/132 [...] plays.htmlMore to the point, Sony have had it for at least 3 years and haven't put it in an actual product yet either.This tech is just another example of the cool things these companies prototype in their labs that are still years (or even decades) away from being in an actual product.[/citation]
That was LCD. Display was smaller. Resolution was lower. Bending was less.
So, for anyone who understands that LCD and AMOLED are different technologies, understands what size means, understands what resolution means or understands what it means to bend an object, this is indeed news.

 

[bv90andy]

[citation][nom]xerroz[/nom]Pip boy 3000 please[/citation]
Am I missing something? Aren't those flat and non-flexible?


Now they need to design circuit boards that can be bent in the same way, to be mounted on the back of those displays.

 

[Guest]

This has absolutely nothing to do with the technology itself. It has EVERYTHING to do with the stable, reliable, and cost effective MANUFACTURING of these devices, which had always been relegated to research projects coming out of the R&D department of Sony, Samsung, panasonic, and your local graduate research university.

people keep commenting that the technology has been around for years. Please... the Technology has been around for DECADES, the Nobel Prize in chemistry was given for the technology that underlies these devices in 2000, referring to work that was done in the late 1970s.

The limiting factor has ALWAYS BEEN: Cost. These devices are AMOLEDs. ORGANIC light emitting diodes.

These organic polymers are made using incredibly expensive materials that must be synthesized using expensive reagents (like platinum, rhodium, and rhenium catalysts) and techniques (microwave synthesis)...


That is just to get the chemicals. The actual manufacturing of the devices has ALWAYS been the subject of a Ph. D. research project, taking years to master...


Sony actually sold some, comparatively small, OLED screens for a while... They were something like 10-15" and cost $2500.

they were just proof-of-concept devices, made using painstaking and expensive manufacturing processes.



If you were even remotely intelligent you would realize that the POINT of samsung's demos is this:


they can now manufacture these AMOLEDs with high yield and regularity, thus allowing their use in currently available mobile phones.

the Flexible AMOLEDs are also manufactured in a high enough yield and with a high enough regularity to allow their demonstration with PERFECT examples at CES and equivalent.


look up the pics of previous examples of this technology. Google image results displays the same 5 pictures on about 100 different websites.


You will notice that, conspicously, one of the most eye-catching images, of a flexible 1"x1" (roughly) display HAS A BUNCH OF DEAD PIXELS!!!!


Samsung is proving their strengths with PROPRIETARY MANUFACTURING ADVANCEMENTS... not the technology itself

 

[mikem_90]

[citation][nom]lejay[/nom]That was LCD. Display was smaller. Resolution was lower. Bending was less. So, for anyone who understands that LCD and AMOLED are different technologies, understands what size means, understands what resolution means or understands what it means to bend an object, this is indeed news.[/citation]

The AMOLED screens are getting better and more flexible. The Big improvements are moving into durability and lifespan. They've been doing flexible screens for a while in the lab, its just that the price for these things are not cheap. With some work the prices will come down enough to be used in consumer goods.

 

[gmarsack]

[citation][nom]john_e[/nom]My thoughts exactly except i was thinking of a 240 degree dome structure where ur surrounded by the images, great for flight simulator games and F1 or any racing games.[/citation]
Mechwarrior! All I want in life is a Mech style simulator.. Please give us the display to do this!!!

 

[stevo777]

Wasn't there a big breakthrough this year in OLED manufacturing. http/www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4199291/DuPont-claims-OLED-record-fit-for-TV-apps
Seems like this would make such products more practical. I'm no expert on the subject--just a hunch.

 

[sgdidache]

PDA/Smartphone on the wrist... Tap-Tap Full-Revolution, anyone?

 

[alyoshka]

Old news coming back..... they keep burping this up every year in different forms but we still haven't seen them being used...... anywhere except for a video of some guy with a rubber hammer hammering the display while it was on a few months back.....

 

[lamorpa]

[citation][nom]cmartin011[/nom]interesting i would like this for a laugh and awww with my friends or when it the tech improves to carry around a 17in or bigger version to make a nice mobile gaming screen u can carry with a portable power house computer in a phone format give 5-10 years that is[/citation]
next time u shud take a xtra 30 sec to proof read ur post n include correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling instead of this nonsense

 

[demonhorde665]

actually i see this as a apossble future flat panel tv , ever seen an lcd take a kick or punch form silly kids horsepalying , or ever seen one get dropped by even a few feet onto a reasonally soft carpet , these are not pretty ideas in the head of most LCD owners. ans horse playa dn dropped screens are not covered in the warranty. sure it's got a long ways to go before this tech is applied to a HD or UD (ultra def) tv but i can certainly see it done in my life time at some point.

 

[Guest]

This could be epic, previous examples were easily breakable, or without color, but this actually looks like a semi-solid product.

Now imagine a 10 inch wide screen, all rolled up like a tiny toilet paper roll into a tiny size as your cell phone. Simply unroll it and bam, a huge screen on a device that also fits in your pocket.

Now if only they could make the battery and other components foldable.