Flexible display design concepts from Plastic Logic

Alexander Turcic · 06-27-2006, 03:55 PM

Say what you will about form over function, but we've not been failed to be impressed by the sultry curves of Plastic Logic's latest five design concepts which all incorporate bistable flexible display technology that we hope to see one day.

The first prize went to Timothy Yeoh for his concept of "Turnover": an e-book reader where the screen can be rotated to the back, and while you rotate it, it refreshes the next page, thereby stimulating a whole book with only two pages. Touchscreen capability lets you bend the corner to toggle bookmarks on or off, with a bookmark symbol on the page for easy reference when scrolling through.

My hope is that some big name like Sony will pay off Timothy's college tuition and then offer him the position as the leading designer for their next commercial e-book reader.

[via Yanko Design]

yvanleterrible · 06-27-2006, 05:05 PM

Gorgeous !
I want It !

tribble · 06-27-2006, 05:24 PM

I like the idea, but personally i think it will be annoying to use. the advantage of the eink device is not having to flip pages. Holding it with one hand and do the pageflip with your thumb. Thats convenient. But that guy will probably come up with a few more genious ideas

Snappy! · 06-27-2006, 08:03 PM

I think there are too much attempts to emulate the paper book feel in ebooks. IMO, the top 4 things about paper books that *must* be emulated is 1) Price 2) Battery life or the irrelevance of it and 3) Legibility of the book and 4) Weight

Sure, there will be some pbook pundits who will need a daily dose of paper-touch to survive (

) ... and there will be those who need to smell the book while reading it ... but me thinks newer generations can do away with them.

I don't really need a book to be paper thin, I just need it to be lighter.
I don't need it to be flexible for the sake of being flexible, I need it to be handy.
I do need it to be readible *everywhere* where paper can be read.
I do need it to *not* cost a bomb.
I do need it to *not* require me to carry multiple batteries or hunt for a power point, 'cos that will be too geeky to be cool.

Other than that, I don't need anything else about a pbook to read.

iPod is cool, 'cos its geeky, but not *that* geeky.

TaKir · 06-28-2006, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tribble

Holding it with one hand and do the pageflip with your thumb. Thats convenient.

So Irex is not convenient for you

It will be a big problem to read it using one hand...

tribble · 06-28-2006, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaKir

So Irex is not convenient for you

It will be a big problem to read it using one hand...

Why? Hold it in your left and flip with your thumb. But you are right on the other hand (literally) because if i have it in my right hand, there will be no flipping

TaKir · 06-28-2006, 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tribble

Why? Hold it in your left and flip with your thumb. But you are right on the other hand (literally) because if i have it in my right hand, there will be no flipping

Using only one hand (left) will be posssible, but only few minutes - believe me

It's not pda (small, light), very small margins around the screen, small buttons, etc...

You can take a p-book of similar size and try hold it for a long time by edges (20mm)... Even with no need to pess buttons...

"E-ink - your eyes will thank you, but not your fingers"

CommanderROR · 06-28-2006, 05:27 AM

we'll see about that TaKir...^^

I started out thinking that the idea to put the page-par on the left was stupid...but then I started observing my reading behaviour....and voilá...it makes sense!
If I read using both hands it doesn't matter where the page-bar is. But I like to read during mealtimes (I know you're not supposed to do that...) and I can't eat very well with my left hand...^^ so the placement makes sense. If you're going to read one-handed using the left makes sense so you can use your "stronger" right hand for other tasks.
also, I usually don't read free-handed (e.g. holding the book up in the air). I usually place the book at an angle between the table an my lap or let the lower end rest on some surface and only use my hand/hands for stability, so the weight should not be too much of a problem.

Back to the topic:

I think the design ideas are ok, but I wouldn't dream of using one of thes over a device like the Iliad or Hanlin devices. Imagine that winner-prototype...to turn the pages you have to go full-circle and that means you need space in from of and behind the device...not good.
I'm with most of the others here...I think it's pretty dumb to try and emulate a real book and all it's inconveniences like page-turning or two-page layout (the book closes itself if not held open...very annoying if you don't have two hands free), although the two page layout can be good for putting a picture on one side and the text on the other or question and solution or 2 languages, so there is some use in that. I think ebooks shouldn't try to emulate paper too much or they'll fail because they will always have their "drawbacks" and if you take away their strengts just to make them more paper-like then there is no sense in making htem at all.

yvanleterrible · 06-28-2006, 08:33 AM

The design could be more practical with only one page. The cylinder acting as a handle, there should be a way to flip the display top to bottom for left or right hand hold. I would admit that the main drawback of the whole thing is to store It. Does'nt fit as easy as a book in any carrying case, although it makes a great coffee table display.
The best reader should look like the ones in the Sci-fi show "Andromeda", a simple flexible plastic touch screen .

CommanderROR · 06-28-2006, 09:06 AM

talking of SF...could we make a StarTrek liike interface frontend for the Iliad? It looks a bit "Trekkie" anyway, but it might, just might, look really cool to have a greyscale LCARS interface for the Iliad (LCARS is the abbrev. for something like Library access system after all if i'm not mistaken).

I'm not a serious StarTrek fan, but some things like the LCARS design are pretty cool...^^
And they do use Pads (looking like color-variants of the Iliad) on voyager a lot to transport visual data...^^

06-27-2006, 03:55 PM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,163 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Flexible display design concepts from Plastic Logic Say what you will about form over function, but we've not been failed to be impressed by the sultry curves of Plastic Logic's latest five design concepts which all incorporate bistable flexible display technology that we hope to see one day. The first prize went to Timothy Yeoh for his concept of "Turnover": an e-book reader where the screen can be rotated to the back, and while you rotate it, it refreshes the next page, thereby stimulating a whole book with only two pages. Touchscreen capability lets you bend the corner to toggle bookmarks on or off, with a bookmark symbol on the page for easy reference when scrolling through. My hope is that some big name like Sony will pay off Timothy's college tuition and then offer him the position as the leading designer for their next commercial e-book reader. [via Yanko Design]

06-27-2006, 08:03 PM	#4
Snappy! Addict Posts: 260 Karma: 4256 Join Date: Feb 2006 Device: SHARP Zaurus C1000	I think there are too much attempts to emulate the paper book feel in ebooks. IMO, the top 4 things about paper books that must be emulated is 1) Price 2) Battery life or the irrelevance of it and 3) Legibility of the book and 4) Weight Sure, there will be some pbook pundits who will need a daily dose of paper-touch to survive () ... and there will be those who need to smell the book while reading it ... but me thinks newer generations can do away with them. I don't really need a book to be paper thin, I just need it to be lighter. I don't need it to be flexible for the sake of being flexible, I need it to be handy. I do need it to be readible everywhere where paper can be read. I do need it to not cost a bomb. I do need it to not require me to carry multiple batteries or hunt for a power point, 'cos that will be too geeky to be cool. Other than that, I don't need anything else about a pbook to read. iPod is cool, 'cos its geeky, but not that geeky. Last edited by Snappy!; 06-27-2006 at 08:08 PM.

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06-27-2006, 05:05 PM	#2
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	Gorgeous ! I want It !

06-27-2006, 05:24 PM	#3
tribble iLiad Maniac Posts: 1,382 Karma: 2369 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Germany Device: Bookeen Opus (i love that thing) and iPad (what an irony)	I like the idea, but personally i think it will be annoying to use. the advantage of the eink device is not having to flip pages. Holding it with one hand and do the pageflip with your thumb. Thats convenient. But that guy will probably come up with a few more genious ideas

06-28-2006, 05:27 AM	#8
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	we'll see about that TaKir...^^ I started out thinking that the idea to put the page-par on the left was stupid...but then I started observing my reading behaviour....and voilá...it makes sense! If I read using both hands it doesn't matter where the page-bar is. But I like to read during mealtimes (I know you're not supposed to do that...) and I can't eat very well with my left hand...^^ so the placement makes sense. If you're going to read one-handed using the left makes sense so you can use your "stronger" right hand for other tasks. also, I usually don't read free-handed (e.g. holding the book up in the air). I usually place the book at an angle between the table an my lap or let the lower end rest on some surface and only use my hand/hands for stability, so the weight should not be too much of a problem. Back to the topic: I think the design ideas are ok, but I wouldn't dream of using one of thes over a device like the Iliad or Hanlin devices. Imagine that winner-prototype...to turn the pages you have to go full-circle and that means you need space in from of and behind the device...not good. I'm with most of the others here...I think it's pretty dumb to try and emulate a real book and all it's inconveniences like page-turning or two-page layout (the book closes itself if not held open...very annoying if you don't have two hands free), although the two page layout can be good for putting a picture on one side and the text on the other or question and solution or 2 languages, so there is some use in that. I think ebooks shouldn't try to emulate paper too much or they'll fail because they will always have their "drawbacks" and if you take away their strengts just to make them more paper-like then there is no sense in making htem at all.

06-28-2006, 08:33 AM	#9
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	The design could be more practical with only one page. The cylinder acting as a handle, there should be a way to flip the display top to bottom for left or right hand hold. I would admit that the main drawback of the whole thing is to store It. Does'nt fit as easy as a book in any carrying case, although it makes a great coffee table display. The best reader should look like the ones in the Sci-fi show "Andromeda", a simple flexible plastic touch screen .

06-28-2006, 09:06 AM	#10
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	talking of SF...could we make a StarTrek liike interface frontend for the Iliad? It looks a bit "Trekkie" anyway, but it might, just might, look really cool to have a greyscale LCARS interface for the Iliad (LCARS is the abbrev. for something like Library access system after all if i'm not mistaken). I'm not a serious StarTrek fan, but some things like the LCARS design are pretty cool...^^ And they do use Pads (looking like color-variants of the Iliad) on voyager a lot to transport visual data...^^