From foldable devices to smarter assistants, technology to expect in 2019

In new year 2019, gadgets are expected to get a major transformation, setting the stage for devices that would change the way we interact with technology.

From the news of when to expect a first 5G smartphone to a glimpse of a foldable screen device, the year 2018 set in motion a lot of things that would materialise in the new year 2019. The technology and gadget space is expected to get a major transformation, setting the stage for devices that would change the way we interact with technology. Business Standard lists some of the upcoming devices and technologies:

FOLDABLE DEVICES WITH BENDABLE SCREENS

Since its inception, mobile phones have been bearing a bar shaped form factor that cannot be bent, twisted or folded. However, things are about to change and soon there would be devices with bendable screens, making the concept of foldable devices a reality. Last year, South Korean electronics giant Samsung unveiled a working prototype of its first foldable device at its developers’ conference. Called the Galaxy X, the device boasts an inward bendable screen and a secondary screen on the outside. The convertible device (tablet-cum-smartphone) is expected to be unveiled this year.

Not just Samsung, other smartphone makers like LG Electronics, Lenovo, Motorola and Huawei are also known to be working on their own foldable devices, which are expected to be unveiled sometime this year.

ROLLABLE TELEVISIONS

The rollable OLED screen technology has been around for some time. However, it has not yet found its way into consumer-ready products like smartphones or televisions. Last year, LG showcased its 65-inch rollable OLED TV at the Consumer Electronic Show. This year, Samsung and Sony are expected to unveil televisions with rollable screens. While the utility of such televisions is still unknown, it is safe to assume that these upcoming televisions would at least address the space and portability issue that the current generation televisions face.

5G IN SMARTPHONES

With all the optimism around the 5G network, it is safe to assume that the next generation of mobile connectivity would start to roll out by the end of 2020. However, to ensure that consumers have compatible devices when the technology rolls out, smartphone makers are working over time on devices with 5G network support. These are expected to be launched sometime this year. Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has already showcased a 5G-ready prototype based on its Find X smartphone. OnePlus, another Chinese company, also revealed its plan to launch a 5G smartphone this year. Likewise, Samsung, Huawei, Honor and other smartphone manufacturers are also said to be working on their own smartphones with 5G network support.

Business Standard

Samsung smartphones with flexible, folding screens could soon be a reality

Businesss Standard : Samsung's flexible OLED screen is likely to be have the most basic level of flexibility.

We rarely see a truly remarkable new technology more than once a decade. After years of undelivered promises, such a technology looks finally set to enter the market: the flexible computer screen.

Imagine, a tablet display you can fold up and put in your pocket, a smartwatch whose strap is the screen, or a handbag that is also a monitor and keyboard. Nokia originally called this proposed technology “Morph” back in 2008 because of the plethora of applications it would make possible. Now it looks like it will become a reality.

After nearly two decades of work, Samsung is rumoured to be getting ready for the launch of the first flexible smartphone. The company’s head of mobile recently said it was “time to deliver” such a phone, and that the development process for it was “nearly concluded”.

But perhaps more significantly, the Samsung Display division of the company recently said it had developed an “unbreakable smartphone panel” that had passed rigorous safety testing. Even after being subjected to temperatures of 71˚C and -32˚C, and dropped from a height of 1.8 metres, the display showed no signs of damage and functioned normally.

This display is a flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) panel made of an unbreakable surface with a plastic overlay window attached to it, making it simultaneously lightweight and tough as glass but a lot more robust. Manufacturers have yearned for many years to make displays with flexible, bendable properties and a paper-like feel with electronic functionality. If Samsung has truly found a way to protect a flexible OLED then it has solved a major technical challenge in removing the need for the glass screens used on most other displays today.

Glass was originally needed to actually stop displays from bending. Old-fashioned liquid crystal displays easily distorted when bent because the molecules in the liquid inside them would become misaligned. Today’s OLED screens are based on a solid layer of light-emitting material that doesn’t easily distort in this way. But glass is also used to protect the organic molecules in an OLED display from being degraded by water vapour and other gases that would shorten their lifespan.

Until now, encapsulating displays in flexible plastic hasn’t been enough to protect them.

A more advanced, better quality kind of screen known as a quantum dot light emitting diode (QLED) display can also be made flexible. These use nano-crystals to produce high-quality, pure and sharp monochromatic light. They convert the backlight into the pure basic colours without the use of filters. But encapsulating QLED displays is even harder than OLEDs and so are likely to take a lot longer to turn into a flexible product....Read More