Flexible Italian e-book shaping the future

The Readius e-book's display can be rolled up into its case.

That electronic-paper vision of the future we've been gazing after for so long may finally be upon us if the new flexible e-book from Polymer Vision lives up to expectations. Although an on-sale date (sometime this year) and pricing have yet to be announced, we're already impressed.

The Readius e-book, which will initially be marketed only in Italy by Telecom Italia, is compelling on many fronts. Foremost is the 5-inch greyscale e-paper screen that is sufficiently flexible to be rolled up into the device's housing. The folded book looks to be around the size of a small phone. As the name of the manufacturer suggests, the Readius screen is polymer based.

Then there's the fact that the device uses a regular mobile phone SIM card to maintain an EDGE/UMTS connection to the Telecom Italia network that will deliver newspapers, books, email, local maps and more. Downloaded data - or, indeed, anything introduced via the USB port - can be stored in an impressive 4GB of internal memory. The rechargeable battery inside the Readius is expected to last ten days between charges.

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J Mark Lytle was an International Editor for TechRadar, based out of Tokyo, who now works as a Script Editor, Consultant at NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Writer, multi-platform journalist, all-round editorial and PR consultant with many years' experience as a professional writer, their bylines include CNN, Snap Media and IDG.