Samsung Develops a Transparent OLED Laptop Screen 148
Dyne09 writes "The Design blog has posted an entry on Samsung's new laptop with a transparent OLED screen. The photos show a dark-tinted and dimly-lit screen that is fully see-through. While the utility of a see-through laptop probably isn't that high for the average user, several medical and industrial industries could greatly augment design work or frame 3-D models over real life in real-time."
Realistic Uses (Score:4, Interesting)
I had two ideas come to mind on ways to use this technology (laptop screens don't really seem like a killer feature).
- Glasses. It would be great to get a screen on the lenses of my sunglasses, most of the time they'd be clear like normal, but info could pop up throughout the day as needed. Or I could sit back and watch a video, and just turn it off if I needed to see something.
- 3D Displays. If one would take many layers of this together, it would be possible to create a 3D display a couple inches deep that would be able to be viewed without any need for glasses. It would be quite limited to the amount of depth available, but even a small amount could be revolutionary.
How about a tablet/laptop (Score:5, Interesting)
How about using this on a hybrid laptop/tablet? Instead of having an mechanical swivel for the screen that can break, just have a transparent screen like this. Open it up and it's a laptop. Shut the laptop and the screen mirrors so it's a tablet now. This is assuming you could get the outside (or back of) the screen to have touch capabilities.
-John
Re:How about a tablet/laptop (Score:2, Interesting)
If prices continue to drop, the same thing could be implemented using two screens (I guess the exterior screen would have other semi-useful applications when the laptop was open).
Personally, I think thin and cheap are a much bigger deal for OLEDs than semi-transparency.
Nook2 (Score:4, Interesting)
Instead of having LED below the e-ink, put it on top of the e-ink. With no current applied to either, you see the e-ink. When you need to use the faster more colorful tech, make the e-ink whitish and turn on the OLED.
Two thoughts. . . (Score:3, Interesting)
This could change the game for small tablets; you could hold the tablet on either side and use your fingers behind the screen to manipulate images without obstructing your view of them.
I've seen variations of such a solution which artificially create a 'finger' effect through graphics with the touch pad on the back of the device, but this would be the real thing.
Interesting.
Also. . .
People are obviously worried about the privacy factor of see-through computer screens, but I could see this being considered a huge plus in the evil corporate work environment; the drones would only be allowed to use laptops where the backside is a window to the front. A lot less Facebook and Farmville would eat into company time that way. Or at least, this may be how the pointy-haired dictator might think when placing bulk-orders for laptops.
-FL
Minority Report? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you combine this with Wii-type motion control, I think you have the photo/video system from Minority Report.
Re:Realistic Uses (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Nook2 (Score:3, Interesting)
It is too dim to have a purely reflective technology at the back. The OLED is only 40% transparent, any light bouncing off the e-ink has to pass through the OLED twice (once from the light source to the e-ink, and once form the e-ink to the viewer). At the end you only have 16% of the light being reflected, minus whatever the e-ink absorbs. The reflections of the top of the OLED will be brighter than the displayed information from the e-ink.
Tablet technology? (Score:3, Interesting)