Samsung Incorporates E-Ink Panel Technology for Their Alias 2 Phone
May 15, 2009 by John Messina
(PhysOrg.com) -- E-ink panels have become very popular for e-book readers; however Samsung has taken this technology one step further and using it in the keyboard for their Alias 2 3G cell phone.
The Alias 2 is the successor to Samsung's Alias that was released in 2007. Both the Alias and Alias 2 is a dual hinge phone which makes the phone into a full keyboard when opened in landscape mode.
One of the problems facing Samsung's Alias was that the keys are difficult to read and small. The keyboard is also confusing to use. The Alias 2 now takes the guess work out of texting. The e-ink technology allows the phone's keypad to change according to what you're using the phone for.
When the phone is held vertically numerical keys are displayed. Switching the phone to the horizontal position gives you a full QWERTY layout that can also change to numeric with symbols. Other controls, such as the navigation arrows and the soft keys, also change positions.
Utilizing the e-ink technology on the keypad makes for a much cleaner and simple layout. Unfortunately the remaining features for the Alias 2 are similar to Samsung's original Alias 3G phone with only a few minor additions.
The Alias 2 is available from Verizon for anyone that might be interested in this type of phone. The Alias 2 is not a smart phone so there is no expensive data plan you need to purchase.
via Reghardware
© 2009 PhysOrg.com
Feb 08, 2010
Err, the keypad is e-ink in this product, not the screen. Although researchers are working on colour e-ink.