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Comment by jib | Hacker News Reader

Getting mobility right is a big step forward.

The intermediary steps are not so financially rewarding or even interesting, but the end game is significant.

Durable, flexible screens allow a whole series of new technology.

Off the top of my head:

Imagine a laptop with a screen that seamlessly folds in four. For travelling work you use a quadrant, for office work or presentations you fold it out to full size.

Imagine a screen that folds around your arm like a cuff - perfect for leisure activities like cycling or diving, or work that requires both hands (an alternative to google glass style displays).

If you can make something durable and flexible, there are a lot of new things you can do that you currently can't.

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>Imagine a laptop with a screen that seamlessly folds in four.

Flexibility isn't folding, you can't fold these displays that's one of the main issues with them they'll crease and then break.

>Imagine a screen that folds around your arm like a cuff - perfect for leisure activities like cycling or diving, or work that requires both hands (an alternative to google glass style displays).

A screen also fits in a pocket, there is no reason to put it on a cuff I like that Nokia demo like the next guy but come on... why would you replace your 4-6" display with a much smaller one? not to mention that a smart watch/wristband would work just as well. And if you want to curve a display around something that would fit your wrist you don't need a "flexible" display you can mold traditional TFT's also.

P.S. If I'm doing something with both hands the last thing i need is a display on my wrist distracting me ;)

>If you can make something durable and flexible, there are a lot of new things you can do that you currently can't.

Not really sure you can do quite a few neat things in a different way but hardly new things.

So - real life example where I personally would have benefited from wearable screens.

In another life I was a mailman using a bike.

To do that efficiently you steer the bike with one hand, keep the mail on a tray in front of the bike and deliver it with the other hand as you keep biking.

When I was doing a new area I needed to bring a map to know what way to go.

Having that map be interactive and visual would have been a real benefit to me - it was an A4 sheet that I needed to stop the bike to read. Audio wouldnt have been as good, as I was veering, slowing down and accelerating a lot so the directions would have been confusing. It's a situation where something strapped to my arm would have been a lot more effective - a paper map was too small to strap to the arm, but an interactive map would have been perfect.

Google glass, or a flexible screen would have both solved that situation for me.

Well in that case a normal screen attached to your bikes handle bar https://www.google.com/search?q=bike+phone+holder would probably work better....

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