Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is all set to launch a new smartphone featuring a curved display screen in the next month. In October 2013, South Korea is going to witness the unveiling of the next set of hardware innovation coming from the hands of the world's top handset maker. At CE, for the past one year, we have been frequently covering research news about bendable screens and foldable displays. So, this hasn't been a surprise for the tech town. Since the fall of 2012, we have been seeing prototypes of the foldable and stretchy screens from the Samsung Display Co. that are made of plastic instead of glass. Famous for its AMOLED screens, Samsung had made a choice of OLEDs here again instead of Plasma or LCD because they can be made flexible and transparent.
So, the news of a smartphone featuring these foldable screens came to light when Samsung's mobile business head of strategic marketing D.J. Lee said, "We plan to introduce a smartphone with a curved display in South Korea in October," at an event launching the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone in Seoul. The last time we heard about Samsung's handheld flexible displays was back in CES in January, where a 5.5-inch prototype device named Youm was revealed.
In fact, we all know that curved display is already commercially available in large-screen televisions. Samsung and LG Electronics Inc have started selling curved OLED TV sets this year priced at about $9,000. There is not much information about the features or specs of this new Samsung handset so far.
But if the curved screens aren't very impressive, you should be reading about something called the 'Morphees'. Developed by Scientists from Bristol University, the Morphees are the devices that can change their shape as required. Yeah, so, not just bend, we may now have devices that can alter their form altogether to say make a game easier to control or make the screen easily hidden when entering passwords or secure keys. Bristol's scientists have successfully developed 6 different prototypes using dielectric electro-active polymers (DEAPs), shape memory alloys (SMAs) and other wood-like materials. These 6 prototypes are being tested to see which one is safest to use and consumes least electricity.
What do you think about Samsung's move to bring a curved display smartphone? Would there be a solution that lets these tech giants mass produce the parts cheaply and come up with display panels that can be as thin as a sheet and highly heat resistant? Time will tell.
Courtesy:'Engineering & Technology News'
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