Emopulse, a new California based company, embarked on a very ambitious project - to build a smart watch that uses two flexible OLED displays. The company hopes to raise $300,000 using crowd funding to develop this watch. The 128GB model will cost $480.
The watch uses two flexible OLED displays. The company's founder claims they are in discussions with two flexible OLED makers - which probably means Samsung and LG. He says that both makers guaranteed panel delivery by the end of 2013.
The watch is made from aluminum covered with glass, and will bend a little, but basically these are curved displays and not flexible/bendable ones. The rest of the watch components are also cutting edge: a new custom linux-based OS, OMAP 5 processor, NFC, 4G support and more.
So is this a real project? Hard to say. Seems like it is overly ambitious, and $300,000 is a very small amount for such a project. Even if Samsung and LGD will indeed manage to start producing flexible OLEDs by the end 2013 (LGD indeed seems to be on track, I'm not so sure about Samsung) it's highly likely they will keep the first panels to themselves - as production volume will be quite low. It's likely that they will actually focus on larger (5" or so) panels for mobile phones.
In any case, we first need to see whether Emopulse will be able to raise the funds they need. The project currently raised just over $7,800. There are 28 days till the campaign ends.
Comments
I want to bye this watch.
can I bye this??
Arnob,
This watch never made it to commercialization - which is not really surprising...
It looks unlikely to happen. First, it's not something LCD can not do. And second, the battery life won't be long enough for a "watch".
A foldable smartphone with a rigid side to hold the battery is the more practical approach to apply flexible OLED display technology I think.