Toshiba readies über-thin 7in touchscreen
Tap tech integrated into LCD
Seven-inch tablets may soon become rather thinner than they currently are. Toshiba has taken the wraps off a 7in, 1024 x 600 touchscreen that's a mere millimetre thick.
The so-called "low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) TFT LCD" panel incorporates capacitive touchscreen tech right into the LCD structure.
Touchscreen devices currently bond a separate sensing system on top of the display module. Combining the two components into one makes for a 57 per cent reduction in the unit's thickness, Toshiba claimed.
The combo modules consume less power too.
The company has its eye on in-car displays, but there's no reason that the panels won't appear in tablets once they become sufficiently cheap.
Indeed, this sort of integration is clearly the way touchscreens are going. This week, it was claimed that the similar LTPS displays that are currently being developed by Sharp will find a home in a future iPhone and, possibly, iPad.
Interestingly, Toshiba has been said to be a future iPhone screen supplier, suggesting 7in is not the only size at which its LTPS screens will be produced. ®
COMMENTS
What would be useful...
...is to make the devices the same size and use the extra space for battery...
Not necessarily
That is certainly true for the larger size screens, but on a 7 inch or smaller it could be narrow enough that in portrait mode you would hold it on the edge, not the bezel, just like a phone. You would likely still need a sufficient bezel on the short ends though for use in the landscape orientation.
It would be almost exactly the same size as a typical paperback book, only thinner. When someone makes one in this configuration then they will have hit the right size. Big enough to be usable yet small enough to fit in a coat pocket.
In-Car Displays
I notice they have an imitation faux-walnut veneer background; aiming for the discerning buyer in the luxury car market.
Fail
You do realize the photo is a cropped, shopped image right? The screen can have any size of bezel a manufacturer wants to put around it. The image is likely a in-car dash demo unit, not a tablet.
Sir
Am I the only one that doesn't really like all this touchscreeniness goings on? Whatever happened to voice control? And mind control for that matter, I'd like some more progress in that area please.
