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Frankfurt debut for high-res portable Plastic Logic display

UK-based Cambridge University spin-off Plastic Logic has pledged to demo a 150dpi bendy active-matrix display system today at a show inFrankfurt. Fold it, roll it - crucially, you can still read it.

The technology uses pixels based on E Ink's non-volatile display system, but also brings in Plastic Logic's own techniques for 'printing' electronic components onto flexible circuit boards. Put the two together and you get a freely moveable SVGA (800 x 600 pixels) panel with 50 per cent more resolution than past such displays.

In December 2005, Plastic Logic produced what claimed was the world's largest flexible display, again based on E Ink technology. The 0.4mm wobbly panel had a diagonal dimension of 10in but a resolution of just 100dpi [above, left]. It was also limited to four greyscales. The new 150 dpi [below, right] screen is much easier to read.

Plastic Logic said today's demo, which will take place at the 2nd Plastic Electronics Conference in Frankfurt, is a step toward achieving the company's goal of mass-producing 10in, 150dpi panels in 2008.

Guy Kewney writes: This flexible backplane technology has now reached the stage where mobile devices can be prototyped.

Initially, they'll be things like e-books, which already exist as technologies, but need a lower power display, or a more rugged display, or a display that has better daylight contrast - or even, lighter weight - or all of the above.

The main advantage of the Plastic Logic screen for mobile applications is going to be its permanence.

Today's mobile phones are pretty much illegible in bright sunshine. In the dark, they can be read for as long as their backlight is on - but the designers quickly turn that off to save precious battery life. By contrast, the new Plastic Logic display will keep whatever message was on the screen virtually for ever - certainly for years - until it is deliberately changed. And it will be very easy to read in all lighting conditions except darkness.

At AFAICS Research, it is expected that the real breakthrough will come with a range of "e-page" devices - single page portable gadgets with all the content in the world inside them. Ideas seen so far range from a single piece of sheet music with every score ever written, never needing to be "turned over" by the player, to cliip-on hospital labels for accident victims.

AFAICS founder Nick Hampshire said: "This step is impressive, but it's important to realise that the industry is going much further than this. These are early stages, still. We're predicting much higher resolution, much faster response, and many more grey-scale options within two years. That's when the real mass market will take off."

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