ShoutingInDigital

Universal Display Corporation today showed off a flexible OLED display screen that has the ability to show high quality images.

The material – fabricated on metal foil – has the potential to be worn as a watch and although it was initially created for military purposes there are a number of possibilities for consumer products that come straight from sci-fi movies. They claim that it will happily bend, fold and be shaped in almost any position, the chances of it breaking through strain are extremely thin.

Designers say that OLEDs are the future of flat panel display technology with many advantages over the current favourite, LCD. Physically superior – lighter and thinner – the OLED screen also offers faster response times, better viewing angles and higher contrast ratios. Operating lifetimes, one of the biggest problems faced during development, are now beginning to match and surpass the standards set by LCD. Certain devices, such as the latest SanDisk radio player, have started to use OLED screens but the increased flexibility shown by this latest unveiling is what has got most people interested.

The approach of a commercial flexible screen is being greeted with excitement and possibilities such as mobile phones with shaped screens, watches with wraparound displays and the ability to put a screen on almost anything could soon open up a whole new range of products and must-have accessories.

Blogs have been coming up with ideas for the new technology already. Teleread has posed the question of using it for e-books – an idea quite similar to Universal Display Corporation’s suggestion to use it as a “foldable, electronic, daily-refreshable newspaper” while others are looking forward to wrist-computers and televisions you can tape to the wall.