LG says first devices with flexible e-paper to arrive April
updated 05:35 am EDT, Thu March 29, 2012
LG first with flexible e-ink e-paper, ready April
LG Display has announced that that it has started mass production of the world's first plastic electronic paper display (EPD) for use in the next generation of e-books. The 6-inch monochrome e-ink-based plastic EPD sports a resolution of 1024x768, but its real trick is its ability to bend at up to 40 degrees from the center of the screen. It achieves this feat by being one-third thinner than existing EPDs, which continue to use a glass substrate instead of plastic, also making the LG EPD only half as heavy.
One of the additional benefits of making the new EPD out of plastic is that it is also more resilient to accidental drops. According to LG, 10 percent of users report dropping their e-books. In repeated drop tests from a height of around 3ft, LG says that its new e-ink display demonstrates no damage. The company even put the display through a break/scratch test repeatedly hitting the display with a small urethane hammer, which it also managed to survive unscathed.
LG says that as it applied a unique solution to overcoming the manufacture of plastic displays in the same 350-degree thermal envelope used in the manufacture of glass displays, it has been able to bring the technology to market quickly. The first products to hit the market with the new display tech will arrive at the beginning of April.
