Flexible Touch Screen Bends, Saves Battery Life (VIDEO)

A new generation of highly sensitive, bendable touch screens may be the future of the mobile user interface. The screen technology, called XSense, was developed by Atmel, a San Jose, Calif.-based semiconductor manufacturer that makes hardware used in Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Note products.

(VIDEO BELOW)

While the merits of the new, flexible screens may seem predominantly aesthetic at first glance, there are actually several important advantages to the design. Namely, they use thinner, larger sensors that require less power to run.

According to a promotional video released by Atmel, the screens offer "larger, sharper displays, longer battery life [and] new ways to use touch." Utilization of these improvements could potentially lead industrial designers to innovate with touch display technology in ways that might make your average "Star Trek" gadget look charmingly retro.

In addition to edgeless smart phones and tablets, the new screens, which are based on a proprietary roll-to-roll metal mesh technology, may be applied to products from watches to espresso machines.

Production quantities of the XSense touch sensors will be available in the third quarter of 2012.

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Comments

[melvsbadon]

02:05 AM on 05/06/2012

Type your comment hereThis is a very informative article to me. You can also take a look at the latest devices that uses the latest touch screens technologies at http://touchscreenstoday.com/

[HiramWdwsn]

12:29 AM on 04/09/2012

Utter nonsense. It assumes that the all VLSI can be also made on a flexible substrate which is nonsensical.

[Max Sevilla]

12:57 PM on 04/08/2012

Oh look an idea that Apple didn't rip off I mean "innovated" .....yet.

[Raymond Kim]

08:13 PM on 04/07/2012

has no use until the LCD can be bent

[deluk]

01:01 PM on 04/06/2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2072683/Sony-OLED-Flat-screen-TV-rolled-pocket.html

already been done.

[mairs]

01:56 PM on 04/06/2012

No products released until the end of next year, according to your link. This will be interesting!

[sergybin12]

04:12 AM on 04/06/2012

Apple now go to Atmel. They are doing something great like Xerox PARC

[Draekia]

08:28 AM on 04/06/2012

Except this time, Amtel seems to recognize that it's doing something great and probably won't part with the product as easily.

[Johnangry]

06:30 PM on 04/07/2012

I just wish they'd come out with something. The tablets were greatly marketed, but were only giant smart phones that cost more for whatever reason.

They haven't put out anything that fundamentally changes human culture since the PC. It is now time.

[SpaghettyIrish]

02:27 AM on 04/06/2012

A touchscreen that can be rolled? Magazines and newspapers especially will die even faster now if they can't adapt.

[JFetch]

01:55 AM on 04/07/2012

That's not what it is. The headline is a little misleading. The touchscreen is bendable, but there is no way to make the actual product that it's on bendable.

[SpaghettyIrish]

05:25 AM on 04/07/2012

Maybe there's no way today, but I would wager that's not a permanent problem.

[Dippa]

08:09 PM on 04/05/2012

It doesn't seem to be bendable, just able to be made in a bent design

[JFetch]

01:55 AM on 04/07/2012

It's bendable. The hardware it's attached to isn't.

[Joseph Sutton]

07:39 PM on 04/05/2012

Oh look an idea that Apple didn't rip off I mean "innovated" .....yet.

[vierge99]

05:12 PM on 04/05/2012

Nice simulated images. Come back when you have a prototype

[Houstondiago]

02:47 PM on 04/05/2012

I could see where this would be a good idea for phones however, seems rather unnecessary for a tablet to bend.

[BaPef Amheh]

03:36 PM on 04/05/2012

You may want to roll it up and stick it in an inside jacket pocket?

[kramereng]

09:18 PM on 04/05/2012

Disagree. If the stylus can be used like a pen and paper (unlike the iPad styluses which suck) due to the softness of the screen, while also retaining the multitouch capabilities of the iPad, it would be amazing. That's really the only thing holding the iPad back. I still use a legal pad.

[bamacab]

02:38 PM on 04/05/2012

That's just cool...

[Brogrammer]

01:12 PM on 04/05/2012

Old news is old....
Nokia came up with the idea in 2007/2008:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9878005-7.html

Later demoing the tech at CES 2011:
http://www.oled-display.net/nokia-show-kinetic-prototyp-with-a-flexible-amoled/

[JohnTheMac]

01:04 PM on 04/05/2012

Looks cool!
Even if just the outer edge of tablets and phones were flexible, it would solve 90% of the damage from falls, I would think.