Science and techno world topic: Future
Tablets with paper-thin screens that can be folded and
tucked into your back pocket, artificial intelligence and augmented reality --
the stuff of science fiction may be coming to a store near you.
It's been two years since Apple Inc launched the iPad and
spawned rival tablets from the likes of Samsung Electronics Co, Amazon.com Inc,
Sony Corp, and now Google Inc and Microsoft Corp.
Much of the competition so far has centered on making
smartphone and tablets lighter, slimmer, faster and longer-running than their
predecessors, and the trend shows no signs of slowing. The increasingly crowded
marketplace is also galvanizing hardware designers and software engineers to
explore new technologies that may revolutionize the look and feel of mobile
devices in coming years.
"We should think beyond just the touch-screen
device," said Lin Zhong, a professor at Rice University who does research
on mobile systems. "Why do we have to hold tablets, carry many displays?
We should think about wearable computers."
Few of these new technologies will hit store shelves any
time soon - companies and researchers are more actively working on touchscreen
innovations in the near term.
In particular, organic-light-emitting diodes, or OLED, is
widely touted as the successor to liquid crystal displays. OLED displays, such
as in Samsung's Galaxy Note smartphone, are lighter, thinner and tougher than
current displays.
The main attraction of OLED at first are their
ruggedness, but the technology could one day allow tablets to be folded or
rolled up like a newspaper. Reaching that point poses challenges like making
the delicate chips and components inside them more flexible and resistant to
damage.
"Flexible and foldable displays will first be
implemented on smaller sizes like smartphones," said Rhoda Alexander, IHS
iSuppli's tablet analyst. "Tablets may follow in a later progression, once
manufacturing costs and yields have been tested."
An unfolding NewSSlate concept developed by
Innovation+Bermer Labs shows a foldable tablet that one can use to read news
and watch videos. These are not expected to be ready for prime time for another
few years.
NEXT UP: WRAPAROUND GLASS
Apart from experimenting with various materials in their
own labs, manufacturers are partnering with premier academic institutions in
their quest for the most interactive screens. Samsung is working with Stanford
University's chemical engineering department, and Microsoft is working with
Rice University.
Professor Zhenan Bao's team at Stanford has developed
stretchable, super-sensitive and solar-powered "electronic skin," or
sensors that can feel a touch as light as that of a fly. One of its obvious
applications is in touchscreens, and Bao said the research has generated a lot
of inquiries from companies.
"Right now there is a lot of interest in having
sensors in the screen that can have pressure input for the touchscreen,"
Bao said. "Companies are also basically looking for replacement material
for the current silicon that is cheaper and compatible with plastic substrate
but has the same performance level."
Specialty glass company Corning Inc, famous for its
"gorilla glass" used in Apple devices, has an ultra-slim flexible
glass called "willow glass" that has the potential to enable displays
to be wrapped around a device. Corning said it is currently shipping samples of
willow glass, which is compatible with OLED displays, to companies.
SIZE MATTERS, FOR NOW
Each new generation of tablets boasts big improvements in
pixel density and image quality, making photos, games and movies more
life-like. Manufacturers and software designers have made less progress finding
ways to let computers give physical, tactile feedback -- but they're working on
it.
The stakes are high as tablets become more and more
integrated with smartphones and other devices at home. Betting on the right
technology and features is imperative, since the still-new category has already
claimed many victims, including Hewlett Packard's Touchpad tablet that was
killed last year after only a few months on the market.
With many companies entering the fray, vying to take
share away from Apple's iPad, those who get it right may end up influencing the
way people communicate and consume all media.
For now, size and price is where most manufacturers are
competing as they try to break the dominance of Apple in the tablet market. Six
out of 10 tablets sold are iPads.
"The big open area that is left to tackle is truly
great input," said Tony Fadell, co-founder and chief executive officer of
Nest Thermostat, who previously led the team at Apple that created 18
generations of iPods and three generations of the iPhone.
"There is tactile input as well as voice input.
Those are the two inputs that still need to be addressed in tablets,"
Fadell said.
In a recent patent application related to tactile, or
haptic, technology, Apple in May outlined how features could be added to a
screen that would make it possible to alter the feel of its surface.
Manufacturers are also working to improve gesture
recognition, augmented reality and voice controls like Apple's Siri.
IBM Fellow Bernie Meyerson expects major breakthroughs in
artificial intelligence in the next several years. He envisions people having
real, spoken conversations with their devices, which will boast technology much
more advanced than IBM's Watson computer that defeated two champions on the
Jeopardy gameshow last year.
"You hand it to your grandmother and it just works.
It will adapt, tune itself to your voice," Meyerson said. "You'll
have something that you carry around in your pocket and it listens to you when
you want it to."
Laser projection keyboard devices that connect to mobile
devices by Bluetooth are already available, although some say the technology is
still buggy. In June, Microsoft unveiled its Surface tablet, with a 10.6 inch
display and a protective cover that doubles as a keyboard.
Other new and upcoming improvements in tablet hardware
are seen as attractive but less important differentiators. At an industry event
in Madrid earlier this year, manufacturers dunked tablets and smartphones in
aquariums to show off new waterproof coatings.
Intel Corp recently showed off "ultrabook"
laptops with screens that swivel from their keyboards or detach completely to
act as tablets.
Source: Reuters
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