The blueChute Concept

Don't know if you still remember what E Ink is but, although at the time when that technology was under the spotlight few people got excited about it, now things look better than ever. As you can see in the picture attached to this article, the blueChute, a device using that type of technology, is a lightweight portable display that can be used in conjunction with any kind of portable device you may think of (in this case cellphones :) ).

This gadget is thinner than an iPod nano (according to its inventor it is only 5 mm thick) and it is built out of two thin layers of aluminum that practically sandwich an acrylic core.

The blueChute is going to be powered with the help of a number of Lithium Polymer batteries that will total about 1300 mAh and, if the software that will be the brain of the whole thing will have the ability to provide a good power management, this thing will offer a pretty good battery life.

For now this is only a prototype with no controller due to it being in the developing phase but it sure looks promising. Its inventor expects it to offer Bluetooth connectivity, a microSD memory storage card slot, a long battery life, a LPC2148 ARM 7 host processor, 8Track display controller board, a hybrid frame scanner (its own custom hardware/software), short animation sequences with fast display panels and a case design to be very easily produced at a machine shop.

If you will purchase a blueChute when it will be launched on the market, not only will you be able to transfer files between such devices but you will also be able to navigate the memory card's file tree, read text files or pre-rendered pages, get news, schedules or weather info from your PC or cellphones or even send the emails or maps you have stored on your mobile phone for better viewing.

If the device's inventor will also be able to surpass the difficulties the people that have worked with this technology have also encountered (the ghosting effect that makes it look like a burned-in LCD screen for example) and offer it with a good price tag, then it will surely catch on.

That until someone will come on the market with a super thin foldable and bendable material that will do the exact same thing. That will be the moment when metal plates such as the blueChute will not be considered a viable solution.