LG Announces Mass Production of Flexible Screens

In what could be considered a first step of many towards fully-flexible smartphones, LG Display has announced that it will begin mass producing a line of OLED-based flexible displays starting the fourth quarter of this year. The screens will be produced at LG Display's South Korean facility, made using its “4.5^th generation glass-cutting technology” with monthly output set to “12,000 sheets”.

LG also demoed a 5" flexible panel at the SID Display Week tradeshow last month.

There is not much more information available, but the panels will probably initially cater to devices with 5” screens and smaller, with pixel resolutions of up to Full HD (1920x1080). Predictably enough, LG Electronics, a stakeholder in LG Display, is planning to put out a new smartphone with the flexible screen technology also later this year. LG Display also plans to provide panels to other major manufacturers, forecasting that flexible screens will shape up the next mobile fad.

Now, as hinted at the beginning of this article, it is not reasonable to think that these flexible displays will instantly allow paper-like smart-devices, as batteries, chips, and circuit boards will also need to be made flexible, or just smaller. That kind of reality is still some years away, but until then we'll need to be content with the smart-watches and devices with slightly curved screens that will more likely be made with LG Display's new technology.

Facebook set to unveil android smartphone

Facebook is preparing a deeper push into smartphone software with a modified version of Google (GOOG) Inc.’s operating system as it seeks to boost sales from ads on small screens, according to sources with knowledge of the plans.

The new software will prominently feature Facebook’s social-networking tools, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private.

Facebook will likely announce a handset running the operating system at an event today (Thursday) in Menlo Park, California said Carl Howe, an analyst at Yankee Group.

The Zuckberg-led company has said the gathering is focused on a “new home on Android.”

Now that the majority of users access Facebook via mobile devices, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg needs ways to keep them engaged longer while coaxing advertisers to pay to place promotions on small screens.

The company is betting that a handset packed with Facebook-centric software will do a better job wooing users and marketers than the current approach, which emphasizes a downloadable application, Howe said.

“The problem with apps is they’re a click away from wherever you are,” Howe said in an interview.

“Facebook wants to remove that barrier.” Derick Mains, a spokesman for Menlo Park, California-based Facebook, declined to comment, as did Gina Weakley Johnson, a spokeswoman for Mountain View, California-based Google.