shopping
Toray’s Touchscreen Film Self-Repairs a Scratch in 10 Seconds
For most of us, our tablet and smartphones rank among our most beloved options and when your screen-protector does its job so well that you can hardly see the screen because of the residual scratch marks left, you rush to the nearest mobile shop to get a new one and watch intently as the person in charge completes the procedure for you air-bubble free.
All that is about to change because Japanese company Toray has found a way to manufacture self-repairing film. Although the film isn’t exactly new, Toray has been offering it as a decorating element for laptop casings and other larger devices. Now however, the company plans to mass produce the screen protectors for tablets or mobile phones. At room temperature, the film is capable of repairing minor scratches in as little as 10 seconds.
Cracking or peeling of the film has also been avoided with the manufacturers making it very flexible. For now, the longest the self-repairing film has lasted is not yet known because after scratching the film 20,000 times, it has repaired itself every single time. The film will feature in the highly-functional Film Technology Expo in Tokyo next week and yes, we’re not making that up. After the expo, hopefully we will be given access to a video showing the process of how the Wolverine of screen protectors works. Let us know if you will be in the line for one of these when it does eventually launch. I will be nearby too.
When is a phone not a phone? I suppose that seemingly paradoxical question is easily answered with the presence of the NoPhone. The NoPhone happens to be a successfully funded Kickstarter project, where it intends to be a smartphone substitute for folks who are unable to live without a smartphone.
It sports a similar form factor to the average smartphone out there today, but what it lacks would be that of a display, and everything else that makes a smartphone, well, a smartphone. In other words, this is but a slab of plastic, but it has its uses – such as letting thieves relieve you of your NoPhone as they think that this could be a newfangled device, where it is actually priced at at $12 a pop. The NoPhone has seen more than 2,000 units sold in time for the holidays, where orders placed by December 7th is tipped to arrive by December 25th.
We have awesome but expensive news for you on the Samsung Galaxy S3 front. If you’re looking for an unlocked version of the phone, you can apparently now purchase either the Pebble Blue or Marble White version of the phone from either Amazon or Expansys for $799 and $700 respectively. Prior to this article, we’ve seen a leaked image of the phone being sold on Amazon, but now apparently its official here in the States.
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Star Micronics has come up with another option to provide mobile users with a portable method of printing services. The funky-colored portable printer with the model number SM-T300 can be used outdoors for mobile purposes with most smartphones or tablets. While you might be having thoughts that it could allow you to print photos on the go, we unfortunately have to bring you back to earth by telling you what it is actually for. The company’s statement reads, “Basically, this product is for printing receipts and delivery slips. The battery lasts up to 11 hours, so you can use this printer for a long time.
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