Tablets with paper-thin screens that can be folded and tucked into your back pocket, artificial intelligence and augmented reality - the stuff of science fiction may be coming to a store near you. It's been two years since Apple launched the iPad, and now tablets and tablet makers are proliferating. The increasingly crowded marketplace is galvanizing hardware designers and software engineers to explore new technologies that may revolutionize the look and feel of mobile devices in coming years. “We should think beyond just the touch-screen device," said Lin Zhong, a professor at Rice University who does research on mobile systems. “Why do we have to hold tablets, carry many displays? We should think about wearable computers." Some researchers are experimenting with wearable devices, such as Google Glass, a stamp-sized electronic screen mounted on eyeglass frames to record video, access email and surf the Web. Others, such as Microsoft, are investigating the use of 3-D cameras to create images that pop up when a person calls. Samsung has a concept video that shows a bendable, transparent 3-D smartphone-hybrid tablet that can also be used as a real-time interpreter. Few of these new technologies will hit store shelves any time soon – companies and researchers are more actively working on touchscreen innovations in the near term. In particular, organic-light-emitting diodes, or OLED, is widely touted as the successor to liquid crystal displays. OLED displays, such as in Samsung's Galaxy Note smartphone, are lighter, thinner and tougher than current displays. The main attraction of OLED at first is its ruggedness, but the technology could one day allow tablets to be folded or rolled up like a newspaper. Reaching that point poses challenges which include making the delicate chips and components inside them more flexible and resistant to damage. Apart from experimenting with various materials in their own labs, manufacturers are partnering with academic institutions in their quest for the most interactive screens. Samsung is working with Stanford University's chemical engineering department, and Microsoft is working with Rice University. Professor Zhenan Bao's team at Stanford has developed stretchable, super-sensitive and solar-powered “electronic skin," or sensors that can feel a touch as light as that of a fly. “Right now there is a lot of interest in having sensors in the screen that can have pressure input for the touchscreen," Bao said. “Companies are also basically looking for replacement material for the current silicon that is cheaper and compatible with plastic substrate but has the same performance level." Specialty glass company Corning, famous for its “gorilla glass" used in Apple devices, has an ultra-slim flexible glass called “willow glass" that has the potential to enable displays to be wrapped around a device. Corning said it is currently shipping to companies samples of willow glass, which is compatible with OLED displays. Currently, each new generation of tablets boasts big improvements in pixel density and image quality, making photos, games and movies more life-like. Manufacturers and software designers have made less progress on finding ways to let computers give physical, tactile feedback – but they're working on it. “The big open area that is left to tackle is truly great input," said Tony Fadell, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nest Thermostat, who previously led the team at Apple that created 18 generations of iPods and three generations of the iPhone. “There is tactile input as well as voice input. Those are the two inputs that still need to be addressed in tablets," Fadell added. In a recent patent application related to tactile, or haptic, technology, Apple in May outlined how features could be added to a screen that would make it possible to alter the feel of its surface. Manufacturers are also working to improve gesture recognition, augmented reality and voice controls like Apple's Siri. IBM Fellow Bernie Meyerson expects major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence in the next several years. He envisions people having real, spoken conversations with their devices. “You hand it to your grandmother and it just works. It will adapt, tune itself to your voice," Meyerson said. “You'll have something that you carry around in your pocket and it listens to you when you want it to." For now though, the competition will still be on lighter, slimmer, faster and longer-running tablets than their predecessors. — Reuters
