As someone who is currently in the market for a new big screen, LCD, HD television, any future developments in this department are of the utmost interest to me. So while a new technology that sees TV and computer screens thin and bendy enough to fit inside your pocket needs a lot of work before it hits consumers, even the fact that it exists intrigues me.

Technology is ever-evolving, and it makes life for consumers such as you and me tough. We want the latest and greatest advance but in order to do so, we have to be early adopters and pay through the nose for the privilege. We can also end up being shafted when we make our choice only to see it end in misery – HD DVD owners will surely agree.

But sometimes you hear of new technology that is so out there that you know it’s not going to see the light of day, at least in a mainstream consumer sense, for many years to come, or even at all. A new technology currently called All-Organic, Flexible and Transparent Multicolour Display (catchy title) is such a technology.

The New Journal Of Physics has revealed the technology which, according to a report in The Daily Mail, equates to a “bendy TV screen that folds up to fit in your pocket”. There’s more to it than that but in essence that is what’s being researched at this moment in time. I know it sounds like something out of Minority Report but it’s here and it’s now.

The screens are ultra-thin (less than a millimetre thick), and flexible enough to fold up many times. What that would actually do to the integrity and quality of the product isn’t clear. The technology is being mooted for use in televisions, computers, and phones. But it could also lead to more fantastic products such as electronic newspapers, TV jackets, and TV blankets.

The screens are made up of organic molecules (they’re basically alive) that emit light in order to make an image. There are no size limitations, there is the possibility of 3D images being created, and the viewing angle is infinite.

The one problem seems to be that, at the moment at least, the screens are only capable of very basic images rather than the highly detailed and life-like pictures that would be required for the screens to be used in any real commercial sense.

The technology is being developed by Sony and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. The chances of this ever actually leading to anything is remote, but if it ever does, remember not to leave your new purchase in your trouser pocket when it goes in the laundry.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 12:32 am under Opinion, Technology.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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