The flex phone

Meet The Flexible Smartphones & Tablets of THE FUTURE

The future is closer than you think AND the Samsung Galaxy Note EDGE is just the BEGINNING. Get ready for BIG changes

The advent of smartphone and tablets that can fold, morph, and shift into a myriadof shapes and form-factors is almost upon us. And while that might sound like wishful thinking – it’s not. Progress is already well underway, and this new wave ofmobile devices could be with us within the next five years.Some are already here, too, like theSamsung Galaxy Note EDGE. Although the EDGE, while cool, isn't really flexible; it just has a slightly curved display –– and it'sonly on one side too. But the EDGE is a sign of things to come. Samsung has long been keen on the idea of curved, flexible displays. But the biggest thing holding the technology back at present has nothing to do with screen technology –– it's the components. Things like batteries, storage and CPUs.As is usually the case with most up-and-coming technologies, all the really juicy stuff is taking place behind closed doors. But we’ve already seen hints of the technology enter the public domain on YouTube and at tech events like CES 2013, where flexible OLED displays were demoed for the first time.The real potential of flexible displays, however, is perhaps best demoed in the Samsung promo video below:Looks pretty futuristic, right? And to some extent it is – but as progress is made, both with display types and the components that make everything happen, things like the slide-out tablet and foldable smartphone-come-tablet on show will gradually make their way into Joe Public’s sweaty, tech-loving, hands.

The Genesis of Flexible Design: From here to 2018
Samsung YoumSamsung demoed its flexible display technology – ‘Youm’ – at CES 2013, and we’ve already heard plenty of talk about similar OLED setups from LG and Sharp. And that’s because these panels will feature inside devices very shortly – like within the next 12 months. Case in point: just this year Samsung officially released the Samsung Galaxy Note EDGE, one of the first commercial smartphones to feature a flexible OLED panel.But they won’t be anything like the devices demoed in Samsung’s promo video, unfortunately. No, the first wave of devices to feature flexible OLED displays will look and feel very much like the smartphone you own right now.‘The first outing of this technology will be inside standard looking smartphones with unbreakable display panels. The handsets themselves won’t flex or bend, however, on account of the OLED panel being fixed inside a rigid chassis,’ said Paul Cain, Head of Business Planning at Plastic Logic.

Unbreakable Smartphone Displays
Following on from these ‘unbreakable’ devices we’re like to see the introduction of curved displays. Things like Apple’s touted wrap-around Retina display are good examples of what we can expect. Flexible OLED panels will also open the doors for devices and tablets with rounded, convex, displays.
‘Beyond that you’re looking at truly flexible devices – ones that can roll up and fold,essentially,’ said Cain. ‘This will be the third phase and it’s here that we’ll really start to see some serious innovation with regards to design.’
Cain believes these types of truly flexible devices will be on market within the next five years. Although it’s not going to be plain sailing – OEMs will have to overcomesome pretty significant challenges to enable truly flexible design.
‘Up to now all displays have been made of glass. With flexible displays you have a whole new set of challenges to unlock before the full potential of flexible designs can be realised. Components, for example, things like batteries, chipsets, and memory aren’t flexible,’ said Cain.
He added: ‘this will require some thought but eventually all these components will also be flexible.
Research into developing flexible battery cells and circuit boards is already well under way, according to Cain, so it shouldn’t be too long before component suppliers catch up with advancements in display and design.
‘We’ve been working on our own technology for the past 10 years. We have industrialised that process. Those displays are in production. And we’re working with OEMs right now.’
Cain could not comment on who Plastic Logic is currently working with, although he did confirm many of its partners are ‘household names’. Asked about what other aspects of technology would benefit from flexible OLED displays, Cain was a lot more talkative.
Smartwatches will benefit a great deal from truly flexible design. With truly flexible design the sky is literally the limit in this regard, according to Cain. We’re also likelyto see big use of the technology in the e-reader space, too – imagine having a paper-thin Kindle that you could fold up and pop in your pocket? Amazing.
On the subject of smartwatches, Cain added: ‘You only get the true benefit of a 'smartwatch' when you can get a lot of information on to your wrist – people are used to getting a certain amount of information. Having dribs and drabs does not make sense. This type of technology offer OEMs a much better means of deliveringinformation to the user.'

Battery? Pixel Densities?
Good news. Cain says Plastic Logic has already produced flexible panels with pixeldensities of around 320ppi, although further advancements in the technology and manufacturing process should see full HD 1080p resolutions following very soon.And with batteries, Cain says there’ll be no negative impact – flexible displays will only require the same amount of power as their rigid, glass-based, forefathers.The only question now is who will be first to market with a truly flexible device. Our money’s on Samsung.