Sony has developed a large (A4 paper size) flexible digital paper notepad using E Ink Mobius; high precision thin film transistors on plastic instead of glass has been used.
(Sony's A4-Sized Flexible Digital Paper Notepad)
"We've succeeded in mass-producing these large flexible panels, by combining E-Ink's flexible paper technology and Sony's mass-production technology."
"Usually, devices are made by sandwiching TFTs between glass sheets. But these panels use plastic instead of glass, so they're much lighter. Another feature is that, unlike glass, these panels are very durable."
This prototype digital notepad weighs 358 g and is 6.8mm thick, with the 1200x1600 pixel display itself weighing around 60g, 50% less than if glass was used. The prototype also features a battery life of approximately three weeks.
Arthur C. Clarke had the same thing in mind when he described a newspad in his 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.
When he tired of official reports and memoranda and minutes, he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world's major electronic papers; he knew the codes of the more important ones by heart, and had no need to consult the list on the back of his pad. Switching to the display unit's short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him.
(Read more about Arthur C. Clarke's newspad)
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