The technology up for discussion today is one of those appearances that, if you're not prepared for something big to come your way, kind of blows your mind. So, get ready, because a Taiwanese research institute has just made a pretty amazing discovery, as it claims, with the smartphone in mind.

The institute developed a smartphone, just for this demonstration, that seems to have a 2.5'' screen but that can actually be expanded to 5''. Half of the screen is hidden, thus invisible because of the keyboard, which makes it so that, unless you know beforehand, you wouldn't realize that the screen is enlargeable. In order to be able to close the screen over the keyboard, a portion of about 1cm in the center is flexible.

The Taiwan Technology Research Institute (IRTI) dubbed this development TFTEPD (Thin Film Transistor Electrophoretic Display), with the mention that, even if the 5'' screen is the only one available at the moment, other, larger ones are underway. Right now, it is certain that a half screen can be made of 3'' instead of 2.5'', but this project will be surely further developed.

When you are looking at this device, you might think that it is actually made up of two displays, because it carries a taskbar, like the ones used on PCs, that breaks it in two. Nonetheless, this taskbar can be removed, so that users can use the whole screen for video, pictures or whatever else they might think of.

This technology is most welcomed, not to mention that many have been waiting for long for it to surface, as they would love to watch movies or to go online using a big screen, which makes it so that a screen can never be “too big” for this kind of things. Also, the timing for this breakthrough is nothing short of excellent, because it drops at a time when everyone is doing their best to improve the smartphone. However, similar reports regarding folding and larger screens have been recorded for some time now.

Pilotfish, which is working on the design for this smartphone, and IRTI have announced that this technology will be available next year, while also mentioning that they wish to improve it by introducing the touchscreen on the final device.