Plastic Logic, maker of flexible e-paper displays, has revealed an intriguing new application for its revolutionary technology: the smartwatch. Offering up working prototypes of its displays in the form of flexible wrap-around smartwatches, Plastic Logic serves up the future of smartwatch technology and it is piping HOT!
The Plastic Logic flexible displays are less than 1mm thick and boast 4,096 colors that are alleged to be “brighter and more vibrant” than its competitors’ e-paper offerings. Although not as bright as typical LED or OLED solid display solutions as found with Pebble or the i’m Smartwatch, we found the Plastic Logic display to be more than adequate for its intended purpose. While “more than adequate” does not sound like glowing praise, we would not be disappointed in the least to implement such technology into our daily gadget quiver.
On an interesting note, the Plastic Logic flexible smartwatch is VERY similar in design and implementation to Apple‘s recently granted patent for a “wearable video device” that contains a flexible display, an integrated circuit for driving the flexible display, a processor, RAM, ROM, a wireless communications antenna, a speaker, a battery, and a data and power connector. We are not sure what patent coverage Plastic Logic has obtained, if any, for this technology, but their flexible smartwatch sure looks a lot like Apple’s patent drawings.
In the mean time, here are some videos of the Plastic Logic smartwatches, at least in prototype form. Where the processors and batteries will go has not yet been resolved by the engineers. However, it appears from these videos that truly unobtrusive smartwatch tech may be closer than we think.
Source
Plastic Logic: [Company Website]
