14 DAY TRIAL // Display technologies have been evolving at the same pace as every other piece of hardware up there, so it's not surprising to see newer and more unusual concepts being shown off by this or that hardware maker. ASUS, for instance, is already experimenting with a design based on flexible screens, the Waveface, a concept that was showcased at this year's CeBIT expo.
There is, however, another company which has been working on truly flexible display solutions for a while now, namely HP. Recently, the folks over at Hardware.info managed to make a video that shows how far along the technology's development has come.
Unfortunately, the product hasn't evolved enough to be used in actual products and, indeed, even the video only shows its current physical form. It looks much like a very thin foil that can bend to any shape. However, HP doesn't exactly plan on building upon this flexibility because, as is the case with most, if not all, interesting ideas, there is a drawback. In this case, it seems that the display sheet doesn't have a very high endurance, which essentially means that it can't survive being rolled up for more than five or six times.
This limitation likely means that HP won't be making shapeshifting monitors or rollable displays any time soon, though this doesn't seem to have phased the company in any way. In fact, HP doesn't really want to make such products, instead hoping to use its new technology to make displays that are thinner and lighter than those currently on the market. If one were to venture a guess, it is quite possible that, should HP also manage to implement a suitable lighting technique, it will eventually be able to make new kinds of laptops or tablets.
Unfortunately, it is still unknown when, if ever, such products make it to market.