During the 49th SID International Symposium, Seminar & Exhibition (SID 2011) in Los-Angeles, USA, which is considered the biggest exhibition of display technologies, Sony Corp. unveiled its new invention — flexible electronic paper (e-paper, or e-reader) which is based on thin-film transistors and can be bent around a radius of 5 mm.

Image: www.techon.nikkeibp.co.jp. Bendable Organic e-reader. Click to enlarge.

At the moment, the concept has not been given any name and is still under development. Nothing is known regarding the launch of this innovation on the mass market.

Speaking of the e-reader characteristics, it has 1600х1200 (150 ppi) resolution, and the screen size of 13.3 inches. The prototyped black-and-white flexible e-paper uses electrophoretic front plane laminate produced by E Ink Corp.

«The e-readers on the market now are using up a whole lot of rare earth resources to make their clunky frames churn out novels at the rate desired by the public. With these flexible e-readers on the horizon we can look forward to reading in style without killing trees or causing destruction by mining for difficult to find minerals,» this is how inhabitat.com estimates the role of the invention.

Image: www.techon.nikkeibp.co.jp. Bendable Organic e-reader. Click to enlarge.