Am I the only one that doesn't understand the advantage?
I don't want paper-like e-ink displays that start to feel all "used" after a couple of days. Bending them will presumably keep them from lying flat later on. People talk about wanting to "fold" them -- and then you'll never get the creases out. And I don't want a whole book of these sheets -- for me, the whole advantage is that an e-reader doesn't need page turning!
If I had a flexible display, I would just keep it protected in a hard-backed case, thus negating the whole point. Am I missing something here?
1. It doesn't break. In the article they say it repeatedly survives 1.5m drops.
2. It's easier to fit into your bag/pocket. You don't have to fold it for that, simply bending it a just bit would help in many scenarios. Plus again, it doesn't break so you can use your back pocket for your smart phone and sit on it.
But a display by itself is useless. I'm assuming that the electronics and battery that drive the display are going to be rigid too, and will break just as easily as anything else. Or are they working on those too?
Flexible batteries and wiring exist. If the "hard" electronics like the CPU and memory were placed along one edge of such a device you could still flex, bend or roll the display portion.
It's also possible that electrically activated memory-metals could be used to "snap" such a device into a stiff rectangle when in use, but we have a way to go on those technologies yet.
I don't want paper-like e-ink displays that start to feel all "used" after a couple of days. Bending them will presumably keep them from lying flat later on. People talk about wanting to "fold" them -- and then you'll never get the creases out. And I don't want a whole book of these sheets -- for me, the whole advantage is that an e-reader doesn't need page turning!
If I had a flexible display, I would just keep it protected in a hard-backed case, thus negating the whole point. Am I missing something here?