So you guys may have heard of Project Ara, Google’s attempt to create a smartphone which allows the user to swap in and swap out certain parts of the phone with modules purchased separately. Ara supposedly allows the user to make a custom smartphone out of the pieces they require.
Well, according to online sources, Google’s future tech lab, Google X, are also working on a modular display system which may make it to future devices, or become a standalone product in its own right. The project, unnamed so far, allows the user to combine mini displays together into one seamless display.
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Likened to Lego for the ease of construction these displays apparently will not show any kind of dividing lines between the mini displays that make up the building blocks of the system. The Wall Street Journal says that Mary Lou Jepsen, Google’s current head of displays and a former MIT professor, is heading up this ambitious project.
Jepsen has already come up with her own startup – Pixel Qi, specializing in low power displays. It’s still not clear if Pixel Qi’s expertise or product lineup is to feature in the modular display kit, either in its current form or using some of the same technology.
Google X has already been responsible for some of the more futuristic projects from within the search engine giant – the self driving car, and more recently internet balloons – Project Loon, an equally ambitious outing to provide global internet via flying internet hubs, supported by these balloons.`
Apparently another tech firm, albeit a less notorious one than Google, named Gecko Design, is also on board for the seamless display project. Gecko Design’s CEO Jacques Gagné revealed in August that the company had been working with Google X for the past year on ‘secretive cutting edge projects’.
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The real challenge with this modular display building kit is making sure those previously mentioned seams between displays is not noticeable. At this current time no genuine prototypes or pictures have emerged, so how Google is working on this impressive feat of engineering prowess is still unclear.
Google hasn’t yet commented on the insider info that The Wall Street Journal claims to have been fed, but we’ll soon hear about whether this project is soon to be a reality or not. Watch this space.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Via: Pocket Lint