Meet the Wove Band – a wrist-worn wearable with a flexible E Ink touch display that you’ll be able to buy in 2016.
Flexible electronics have fascinated us for years, with concepts like the Nokia Morph and Samsung’s prototype display technology teasing at a future of technology no longer constrained by the candy bar form factor of the conventional smartphone.
Whilst we’re starting to see phones and other devices with curved displays, the upcoming Wove Band looks to be the first consumer-facing device with a fully flexible one.
Details from creators Polyera are slim right now, however an interview with CNN revealed at least some of the magic behind the Wove Band’s workings, which apparently underwent ten years of research and development to reach this point.
The main technology that allows the band’s E Ink display to function is a sheet of flexible transistors that bend and twist with the screen whilst carrying a current. This flexibility also translates to durability meaning the Wove Band’s display will also boast high impact resistance.
The most complete prototype synchronises with your smartphone, similarly to a Pebble smartwatch and displays information in ‘blocks’ whether that be weather, emails or the time. The most obvious strength to having such an expansive screen is that it can support a lot of information at once or completely change appearance to match an outfit.
Right now Polyera’s plans for the Wove Band remain entrenched in the wearable space, but CEO Phil Inagaki’s reference to treating its display technology as ‘digital fabric’ hints at far more varied applications going forward.
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