According to a patent Google received in the US, the firm is envisioning a display that can be physically separated by the user to provide information on the separated display portion. The patent was awarded on April 28, 2016 but was filed in October 2014. The image from US Patent #20160117288, shows how you can take a part of the display similar to a paper sheet to take certain information with you. This gives a new meaning to the e-paper idea for sure.
If you think you have heard it all, well this idea will be part of this category for sure. In addition to the display being torn apart, the patent even expects the display parts to combine at a later date to create a complete display again.
Analyst Comment
As it seems this idea was born out of what we may want to do with a display instead of what we are actually capable of doing. While e-paper today can keep an image without applying any further voltage, other displays need a refresh process at least once in a while. Also, high resolution displays have a lot of data lines running through them that are not happy being torn apart and needless to say don’t repair themselves later on. And these are just a few of the issues I would see with this idea. A nice idea, but the implementation will be a killer. As they say, the devil is in the details. – NH
