Before you get too excited about curling up this e-reader to stuff into your backpack, realize that the flexible e-paper display here is still inside a reasonably stiff chassis. But that doesn’t mean it’s not without its benefits.

The first to use a new line of flexible screen displays from LG is the Wexler Flex One. The 6-inch monochrome panel has a resolution of 1024×768. While you can’t exactly fold up this e-reader, the flexible plastic display–at 0.7mm–is about a third the thickness as an equivalent glass e-paper display. It’s also just 14 grams and has proven to be quite durable.

There is an unofficial (below) that demonstrates some of its functions and you can see the e-reader can be bent and flexed a little. Aside from that, you have a rather blasse e-reader. It supports the usual range of formats, like EPUB and DJVU, and you navigate through the menus and page turns using the provided physical buttons; this is not a touchscreen. LG’s e-paper tech will soon find itself in other e-readers too. We just have to wait for the one we can wrap around our wrists.

[Source]

The post Wexler Flex One E-Reader, First with LG Flexible E-Paper Display appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We’ve seen e-ink displays before. We’ve seen flexible displays too, but this is the first time that we’ve really seen the two put together in the context of a smartphone concept. Scientists at Queen’s University in Ontario have come up with just that, and they call it the Paperphone.  As you can probably gather from its name, the Paperphone is quite possibly the world’s first paper smartphone. The idea is that you get the same kind of functionality as an iPhone in a flexible piece of translucent paper, powered with similar e-ink technology as you find in something like the Kindle. The difference is this is flexible.  To make matters kind of strange, you don’t necessarily “tap” or “touch” the various displayed elements to make a call or play music. Instead, you bend and curve the 9.5cm (3.74-inch) display a certain way. According to professor Roel Vertegaal, the Paperphone is like a flexible conference badge in size.

I don’t buy into the projection that “all phones [will] be like this within five to 10 years,” but it is a fascinating form factor to consider. Imagine all the accidental calls you’ll make when you sit on the paper smartphone! This prototype is said to have cost $7,000 to build.

The post Video: Paperphone Concept takes e-ink Technology to the next level appeared first on Mobile Magazine.