I don’t know about you, but it sure seems that as of late, consumers have no idea what they want. With the advent of smartphones and tablets (and their constantly updated versions), now comes the intent to renounce what seems to be the most infatuating part about these gadgets: their sleek, modernized look and feel.
Remember the first time you read an eBook or grazed the pages of a magazine with only the tip of your finger? It was a true phenomenon, and because of it, newspapers have been dropping like flies over the last few years. However now, it seems that we are craving something right in the middle – something that Plastic Logic and Intel (News - Alert) Labs had no problem jumping on to create – a flexible, ePaper tablet.
It’s almost like a modern day tale of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” where consumers (Goldilocks) tries one device saying it’s too slow then another, saying it doesn’t have enough functionality, then alas the light in the attic goes off when we find what is considered “just right.” The question is: could this new tablet be our “just right?”
It was reported today that these two companies along with Queen’s University came up with the concept, where the tablet would be created to basically look like sheets of paper. It measures at 10.7 inches, but the catch is that it’s extremely flexible and touch-sensitive which opens many doors that were previously locked tight.
For example, due to these kinds of capabilities users can tap one page on another to open a document, and you can even put a bunch of them together to create a larger screen, Gizmodo reported earlier today. To flip pages while reading, you merely bend the corner of the page rather than work with buttons.
So, it’s not exactly that we want to give up out tablet fetish, but rather want it to look more natural? If that is the goal, they’re not yet there. Although the device looks pretty incredible, it doesn’t exactly boast the fastest of download rates and is still for the most parts in the works. Another concern that may arise is that this tablet appears so frail, it looks like it might not take much for it to break or become damaged (In all honesty, it looks like something a fifth grader would carry to class in his or her five ring binder).
Check out the video below and share what you think about this new concept. All in all, it does look very impressive.